Having a bit of a breastfeeding wobble at the moment

[mrsmugoo]

My DS is 6 months old. EBF but "sort of" on solids now. A staunch bottle refuser all his life despite months and months and many, many types of bottles and teats tried. I've given up on that now and have been persevering with a sippy cup since 4 months. He can take literally few sips out of one but mostly it goes down his front and is nowhere near enough for a proper feed.

He breastfeeds like a demon though - he literally can't go longer than 1.5 hours without grizzling, clawing at my top and trying to latch on to my arm, neck, wherever.

I'm feeling really touched out. I was supposed to be going back to work in October but at the moment that's not going to happen.

He's not really taken to solids with the gusto I hoped he would either. This was my plan B! We started about 4 weeks ago and for the first two weeks he would take 6 or 7 spoonfuls of puree but for the last two weeks his mouth has been clamped shut so I've just given him finger foods (steamed veg, toast, sandwiches, pancakes, eggy bread) that he mangles up, smears all over himself and makes a huge mess with but doesn't really eat. I know food is fun before one but his weight is plateauing and I literally can't BF him any more often than I currently am. Plus, the fact he is constantly BFing is almost certainly contributing to him not being interested in solid food anyway.

He still wakes in the night twice, sometimes on a good night we can get away with once.

I'm just feeling terribly claustrophobic. I want to carry on feeding him to a year but I'm starting to feel like the only way I can break him out of this is to maybe quit breastfeeding cold turkey (like, go away for a couple of days?) and then he'll just have to drink from a cup as surely he won't go hungry?

The whole situation is really starting to stress me out. I feel utterly trapped by breastfeeding.

Argh, that does sound stressful. If it's any consolation, I found around 5/6 months pretty relentless with both boys as they were feeding a lot/growth-spurting and either hadn't started solids at all yet or weren't really eating much. Don't forget he's only been on solids a few weeks! (and a lot more goes in than you think, if nappies are anything to go by)

For me it did ease off considerably pretty quickly - it was like a switch clicked about eating solids, and then solids consumption really ramped up around 8 months. I know by 9 months with both boys they were going around 4 hours between feeds, could easily be fobbed off with a snack if I wasn't around, and only waking up once at night (apart from teething, which was a whole other kettle of ball games). Second half of the first year was generally waaaaaaaay easier than the first half, even though I ended up never introducing formula.

Also please don't go cold turkey if you're feeding that much, you'll risk mastitis and it could be very distressing for you and your LO/whoever is minding them. He will get the hang of a cup eventually, it's more a matter of practice - something open like a Doidy is often easier for BF babies at first, or you can fill a sippy with water and make it into a game rather than stressing about how much you're getting into him with it/can he "take a whole feed yet".

Oh yeah I've tried a doidy cup - he just blows into it and thinks it's a hilarious game!

I don't think I ever really would go completely cold turkey, I'm just having drastic thoughts. My MIL has said she'll come and look after him for a few days and for me to go out to try to make him go a few hours in the day with no boob and only a cup to use. I'm not fussed whether it's formula or EBM he drinks at this stage, I just need to cut the cord a bit!!

Oh and I've not noticed nappies are any different at all to EBM so guessing pretty much next to nothing is going in!

I do think going out for a couple of hours might be a good idea, even just for your own mental health! Give a feed first and go for a swim, or shopping, or just a coffee by yourself, and leave someone else with baby and some snacks and/or a cup. I always needed a bit of time to myself even when my boys were weeny, used to sneak off for a swim when they were napping.

Try to relax. DD was a bottle and spoon refuser and I had to return to work at 7mo. She behaved so differently at nursery. I sent her in with those NUK bottles with latex (brown) teats, and she managed within a week or so to feed herself with a bottle. She learned to finally drink large volumes from free flow cups at 10mo. I think the main difference at self feeding a bottle is that she saw it as part of weaning. The NUK brown teats are supposed to be close to breastfeeding.

Her solids intake also ramped up massively at nursery.

It will work because the nursery is usually very experienced. and children won't starve themselves.

No words of wisdom really but just to say I hope things improve soon and definitely try to get out without him - I find it reassuring to know that at this age he is old enough to go without food for a while if I'm not there.

Also that mine (same age as you know) is always trying to suck/chew any part of me that he can get hold of (esp fingers and face), but I don't treat this as a hunger cue, I think it's just exploring/general chewing like he does on toys etc.
Or (sorry for tangent) I have wondered whether humans went through an evolutionary phase where parents regurgitated food for the baby and whether this explains his particular penchant for trying to eat my face!