MSE Newborn to 1 year (& beyond!) baby club 2

martafdz

Bamama wrote: »

Had Dewi weighed today. He's now 14lb5 can you all please spam me with info on blw. He's great at grabbing stuff so may wean a little bit before the 6 months. Also...any tips on what to say to people who ask when we're weaning and why I'm not using purees?

I just say that the guidelines have changed and there's a lot of research that shows is best to have only milk until they are six months, unless your GP recommends otherwise after seeing your baby. In nature, babies would eat when they are ready, thus when they can grab and munch, if their hands and gums are not ready, why would we assume their stomachs are? That's what I say. Obviously your baby might be different and needs to be weaned earlier for whatever reason, but you usually are told so by your GP or health visitor. In common cases, solids fill their tummies but have not got enough kcal / vitamins and need to be supplemented with milk anyway, which is why blw follows your baby. ... Or you can tell them it's not their business lol. I don't know, I have digestive problems and I rather wait, as if you have history of allergies or intolerances is better to do so. I think it depends of your circumstances and your baby, but I'm sold on blw. I think it also allows for a more social experience, because your lo can eat when you eat sometimes.

Savage, thanks for sharing that, I feel less guilty now that I know I'm not the only one. Do you use a sleeping bag? Or sleepsuit and your cover?

Sunshine, how is your new house?

BadlyWrittenPoem

Bamama wrote: »

Had Dewi weighed today. He's now 14lb5 can you all please spam me with info on blw. He's great at grabbing stuff so may wean a little bit before the 6 months. Also...any tips on what to say to people who ask when we're weaning and why I'm not using purees?

Nobody has ever asked us or passed any particular comments of note so I don't have any experience but I would probably say I was planning to wean when he is ready and that I wasn't using purees unless he seemed to need them. (By putting it like that, it makes what you are doing less of an implicit challenge to what they might have done as generally if people are questioning you agressively it is because they feel that what they did/do is being challenged/criticism by what you are choosing to do.)

BadlyWrittenPoem

I co-sleep all the time too - we have LO in a sleeping bag in a sidecar cot although now that she is bigger, she sometimes ends up in the middle of the bed for half the night depending on which side I feed her on. I recently read some research on cot death and in some cases parents had accidentally fallen asleep with the baby on the sofa because they had been trying to avoid taking the baby into bed with them due to the belief that it would be dangerous to do so. Unfortunately most research doesn't distinguish between planned/deliberate co-sleeping and accidental co-sleeping. This website from the University of Durham has some interesting/useful information about typical practices and how to be safe: http://www.isisonline.org.uk/

fluffnutter

Bamama wrote: »

Had Dewi weighed today. He's now 14lb5 can you all please spam me with info on blw. He's great at grabbing stuff so may wean a little bit before the 6 months. Also...any tips on what to say to people who ask when we're weaning and why I'm not using purees?

Have you checked out this site, Bamama?

http://www.babyledweaning.com/

Just say 'Purees remind me of snot. I have a clinical aversion to body fluids and my GP's advised me to make sure the baby's food's got lumps in it so I don't vomit whilst watching him eat it'.

Or 'mind your own business'?

savageHK

martafdz wrote: »

Savage, thanks for sharing that, I feel less guilty now that I know I'm not the only one. Do you use a sleeping bag? Or sleepsuit and your cover?

We do have a sleeping bag but depends on my mood as to whether we use it! We started out with a cosleeping cot, but he's too big for it now so we've just packaged it up and sent it to a friend with a newborn; and haven't yet got the big cot set up next to our bed. If I'm likely to start the night with him asleep in the cot next to us for whatever reason then he's in the sleeping bag, otherwise just whatever he was wearing when he fell asleep for the night (usually a sleepsuit). Something with toe covering useful to prevent being shredded by sharp pointy toenails... He ends up in the bed with us though after the first feed even if he doesn't start out there and is on either side of me depending. We will need the cot back for when he is more mobile though to make sure he doesn't roll out the bed! Luckily he's quite still at night but I've noticed he's stiller in bed with us than in the cosleeper cot.

On the weaning front we're holding out for 6 mo too but if he grabs food and starts chewing it before then fair game (and I suspect he might). So I've started reading my weaning book again to see what they recommend you start with or avoid. (Although he has been displaying all the 'signs' of being ready for weaning for weeks but he clearly isn't.)

Mrshaworth2b

savageHK wrote: »

With all those worried about sleeping with their babies becoming a 'habit' - will it really? We're cosleeping completely here and he sleeps brilliantly, I would recommend it to anyone. I've read some pro cosleeping books which make good points. No doubt the anti ones also make good points, but for me cosleeping is just so *easy* I don't get why everyone doesn't do it from the start (excepting those where there is heightened SIDS risk due to smoking or alcohol obv).

I find that my lo has a better sleep when he sleeps with us, can I ask where you put your lo to sleep and how do you don't safely? I haven't read anything about co sleeping it just kind of happened and wasn't a conscious desision, i just love having him next to me

*Nutella*

Bamama wrote: »

any tips on what to say to people who ask when we're weaning and why I'm not using purees?

Uhm, what's your reason for wanting to do BLW? The answer to that question is what I would tell people I don't think you should have to give anyone else's reasons or feel that you have to justify your decision - it's your baby.

*Nutella*

We co-slept a lot in the early days - mainly for naps, but sometimes also in the mornings as it would keep her sleeping for an extra couple of hours. I don't regret it as everyone slept better as a result, but as she got older there was a risk of her falling out of the bed. This wasn't a problem whilst I was on maternity leave as I'd never get up before her (why on earth would I?!... ), but once I went back to work, if she was sleeping in my bed at the point at which I had to get up, I'd either have had to leave her there whilst I had a shower (which wouldn't be safe) or wake her up (which wouldn't be nice), as moving her to her cot never worked. It took a very long time to get her to sleep by herself all night and we're still not 100% there. That doesn't mean I'm against co-sleeping or that I regret making that choice (those naps kept me sane at the time and it's a lovely way to bond with your baby), but for most people there probably comes a time when it's not practical anymore and that's when some babies (and parents!) might struggle to adjust...

DayDreamBeliever_2

We've never got on with co-sleeping here, neither of us can sleep. Lil miss seems to have taken after me with needing/wanting her on space when it comes to sleeping, the hv kept mentioning it in the early days as the answer to our broken nights and seemed dismissive of my protests it didn't work in our case. It has made moving her into her own room a lot easier for us both I think although admittedly it's only been the 1 night but it was our best sleep in weeks so I'm keeping fingers crossed it carries on lol.

Cake4brains

We co-slept for the first 15 weeks. DH was sleeping in the spare room so had to get them in their own cot eventually! They went into their own room around 17 weeks but they are still in my bed for feeding and they wake up a lot from 4am onwards so pretty much stay in my bed from then. I do try and put them back if they fall asleep unless I fall asleep too. DH goes to work at 1am so there's plenty of room. Only thing is he has got 3 weeks off work in a few week so its going to be difficult then. We've decided to try and wean them off night feeds though if we can. I know we may not be able to cut them all out but I think most of it is habit rather than actually being hungry. Any tips?

Mollie also goes through a hyper hour around 4am. She stays awake for ages squealing and talking with her arms and legs going ten to the dozen. Not good when there's 2 sharing a room, so end up taking her into my bed just so she doesn't disturb Amelia

We gave Amelia a chunk of bread for her to gum on the other day. She loved it! What do you all suggest for her to gum on that's a bit healthier that wont break into bits in her mouth? Obviously bread wasn't ideal but just wanted to see what she did