Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

nadnad

oh i'm so angry. so so angry. grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

it must be wonderful to be a person that follows EVERY bit of government/who/ whatever guidelines ever set out. when the papers say one day red meats good for you and the next day say its bad for you. or red wine. or when they change the GUIDELINES for alcohol every other week. when they can't make their minds up how much (if any) pregnant woman can safely drink (i didnt drink any before you start). when the PC police say conkers should be banned and tinsel is a safety hazard. when they changed the rules about preparing bottle feeds in advance.

it must be nice to be able to know that you follow EVERY single GUIDELINE or piece of advice out there. because i'm sure you do dont you?!

wendyphant

I exclusively breast fed my son for 6 months and then went on to wean but he didn't tolerate pureed food so we did baby led weaning which was giving them normal food and he went from boob to cooked dinners in 3 weeks.

He is a really good little eater and eats a variety of food from sunday cooked to chilli and curries..........an at 20 months is still breast fed to bed

milliebear00001

nadnad wrote: »

oh how righteous we are! it is NOT inconvenient for me to feed my baby - i love feeding him. the reason i started him on baby rice is because he was waking so frequently during the night that he wasn't getting a good nights sleep and as a result he was permanently in a bad mood the next day. he was constantly tired, his eyes were red and he was so sad looking. so now he gets his rice and he sleeps better. he still gets fed very frequently duringthe day and at night he still gets fed 3 times. if i found it so inconvenient then i would have him bottle fed and be done with it.

can i also point out that you are sayingg it is "certain he will not suffer at all by waiting until 6 months". Nobody even knows that - a few years ago it was 4 months before that it was 3 months now they are saying 6 months - new research could come out tomorrow saying 1 year. So nothing is certain. Apart from the fact i am CERTAINLY doing the best for my child and am trying to balance advice from government, HV, midwives, family together with what I personally feel. I'm trying to keep my baby happy and healthy and I'm doing my utmost .

And as for the growth spurt idea - thats what i assumed it was to begin with but unless he's been having a growth spurt for nigh on 2 months then I don't think it is.

Can I also mention that the health of the mother is also vitally important in keeping baby healthy. My HV has been very concerned since he started waking so frequently - not for the baby but for me. She told me I simply couldn't go on doing what I was doing, and that tiredness was a big entryway into depression. I said I was fine and didnt mind etc and I repeat I didnt, it wasn't until I realised my little man was suffering from tiredness that i decided enough was enough.

And oh patronise much do you?! :mad:

Dear me - touch a nerve did I? If you're so confident in your choices, why on earth are you so wound up by my post? I didn't say that you were specifically inconvenienced by having to feed your baby in the night, I said 'parents' were. I know I was one of them, and certainly wouldn't claim that feeding throughout the night is 'fine' or that I 'didn't mind' because I certainly did mind!

I would hazard a guess that your baby could probably catch up on sleep the next day if he really needed to...:rolleyes:

milliebear00001

wendyphant wrote: »

I exclusively breast fed my son for 6 months and then went on to wean but he didn't tolerate pureed food so we did baby led weaning which was giving them normal food and he went from boob to cooked dinners in 3 weeks.

He is a really good little eater and eats a variety of food from sunday cooked to chilli and curries..........an at 20 months is still breast fed to bed

That's interesting because my second wouldn't eat anything sloppy either and so we kind of had to do baby-led weaning! He's also still addicted to the boob at 22 months, but have managed to get him down to bedtime and morning!

betterlife

hi everyone, well im sorry for starting a war lol, i did`nt think i would get this much response ,anyway i have read everyones post and am grateful to all advice on both sides as in before 6mths and at 6mths. ive looked up baby led feeding as i`d not heard of it before and it sound great and easier too. it is fustrating how much things change in what seems such little time really as my children are 7, 4, 2 and 11wks, not many years between them but how government advice has changed. i decided to try cody on a bit of rusk yesterday and he loved it, getting excited and little mouth chomping. but i have now decided im going to wait til nearer the recommend age. when i weaned my 7 and 4yr old the recommended age was 4 mths i did it around 12wks with the blessings of my hv at the time. with my daughter the age was 6mths, i tried her early as this was what i previously had done but she did`nt like and she was 5mths + before she did like. anyway both my boys had constipation problems now im wondering if it had anything to do with weaning early although my doctor has never suggested that. anyway cody has been very colicy (really really hard work for last 9 wks and im use to that with 3 others but he`s been the worse for it bless him) and although he seemed happier yesterday with rusk im thinking now its probably because his colic period is coming to the end so im going to wait with the solids, maybe wait till xmas day he will be 5mths and a week then, if i think he is ready he can sit up and have his xmas dinner with us. if he needs more feeds through the night well what the hec , who needs sleep anyway lol. thanks again everyone x

jellyhead

betterlife wrote: »

so im going to wait with the solids, maybe wait till xmas day he will be 5mths and a week then, if i think he is ready he can sit up and have his xmas dinner with us.

don't forget he's not allowed gravy on his dinner

Glad Cody's colic is coming to an end, bless him :T

betterlife

jellyhead wrote: »

don't forget he's not allowed gravy on his dinner

Glad Cody's colic is coming to an end, bless him :T

i dont alway give gravy to my 2yr old unless im feeling brave :rolleyes: , thankyou

nadnad

milliebear00001 wrote: »

Dear me - touch a nerve did I? If you're so confident in your choices, why on earth are you so wound up by my post? I didn't say that you were specifically inconvenienced by having to feed your baby in the night, I said 'parents' were. I know I was one of them, and certainly wouldn't claim that feeding throughout the night is 'fine' or that I 'didn't mind' because I certainly did mind!

I would hazard a guess that your baby could probably catch up on sleep the next day if he really needed to...:rolleyes:

you see this is the problem you have when commenting on other people's choices - you do not know nor could you know the circumstances. my baby does not sleep well during the day. he never has. from he was a week old he will maybe have a couple of cat naps during the day and nothing will convince him to sleep for longer. i've tried darkened rooms quiet rooms, long long walks everything but this little boy hates to sleep. he will cry and cry and pull his face and do everything he can think of to stay awake during the day. he's incredibly inquisitive - the health visitor and doctor can't get over him as he's been this way from day 1.

so you see if he does not sleep at night he is grumpy the next day because nothing can convince him to close his little eyes and have a rest. :rolleyes: :mad:

you are so patronising and condescending. yes you have touched a nerve of course you have you are questioning that i am doing the best for my child. my hands are shaking as i'm typing this because i cannot believe anyone can be so sure of themselves that they can comment on other peoples choices and make judgement based on a half a dozen lines of text briefly outlining the situation. you do not know me. you do not know my baby. you do not know his characteristics.

please do not judge others. does it make you feel good in yourself to ridicule and try to belittle other hard working mums who are trying to do their best?

you are sanctimonious. and i'm seriously trying not to rise to your bait. but how i can i ignore someone who is trying to tell me that i am doing wrong by my son.

jellyhead

I was always told that babies who sleep well at night sleep better during the day. My first baby slept for 4 hours out of 24 though, the health visitor said she'd never seen a baby so bad at sleeping. I followed all the advice about routines etc. but once he'd had his 4 hours at night that was it, and no daytime sleeps. Not all children will 'catch up' on a bad night's sleep, and most kids I know go the other way, hyperactive and can't sleep.

My eldest was 3 years old before he slept for longer than 4 hours out of 24. If something simple such as feeding him would have made any difference I do believe I would have fed him. A sleep deprived mum who falls down stairs does the baby no good.

The doctor gave me a sedative for him and he slept for 7 hours when I gave it to him twice a week. Feel free to jump on me, instead of of a new mum who must be exhausted from broken nights and other children to look after. I did worse than feed my baby, i drugged him.

Nicki

Nadnad, for some reason you seem to have got very upset by Milliebear's first post on this subject, but it really didn't come across to me as being patronising or specifically critical of you, even though she quoted your post. She wasn't saying anything different to what a lot of posters had said about the reasons for the change in the guidelines and I read her remark about the inconvenience of 2 hourly night feeds as being sympathetic and recognising that its a tough time for newish mums. She did give a lot of useful and practical information imho.

Granted her "touched a nerve" post was a bit snarky, but to be fair you had ripped her a new one by then, so I probably would have posted like that too had I been her.

Anyway all I wanted to say was that this is a thread discussing the pros and cons of feeding early, and I don't think anyone is having a go at your parenting decisions in particular or saying that you are a bad parent, but there are a lot of people (of which Milliebear is one) who are giving good advice about how to make it possible to hold off to 6 months, as guidelines suggest.

BTW - I weaned my two on baby rice at the same age as your little one (as suggested by the guidelines in force at the time), so I'm really really not having a go at you myself. I'd just like you not to take the whole discussion so personally as I don't think it is meant that way, and a calmer debate may be helpful to other mums as well as you.