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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Why I love feeding my baby...

67 replies

5goldrings4MONKEYBIRDs · 14/12/2007 18:51

This thread's for everyone whatever the food: breast, formula, mixed, chocolate, dog, whatever...

But just to acknowledge that feeding's part of the lovely labour of motherhood (and often fatherhood) and it is often a really lovely lovely experience.

So I'm gonna kick off with mine (not known for my brevity I apologise in advance...)

  • zigzag eyes: dya know what I mean, when they're feeding and really a bit tired and their eyes half shut while zigzagging about. So cute! Or is it just mine...?
  • food flirting! "take a sip, sneak a peek and turn away quick smiling in case mummy/daddy sees you. do it again. and again. do your daft half can't quite work out how to do it yet chuckle and then suck properly for a bit till you start all over again"
  • milk drunk smile, with a little dribble just down the chin...
  • no-one else can feel like this baby does in my arms, ever. And its gonna be over SO quick and then there's gonna be a baby shaped hole there for the rest of my life so I'm REALLY going to enjoy feeding now I've got over the bleeding nips!
  • my body made that! every bit of it! and yours did too, and if you're FF then you're just plumping up the bits you already made!
  • it makes him happy. He wants food, I give him food, it's what we do. Then he chats. For hours. Fuck knows what he's saying but I think 'fantastic milk mum' is somewhere in there...

There. Gone all soft an' all. Gotta go do outdoor assault course training or somesuch to toughen up again for the gruelling night feeds... Oh no, I forgot...

  • I even love those quiet dark suck suck suck moments just me and him in bed and no-one else... shouldn't own up to that with DH in the room ...snigger
OP posts:
GoodGollyMissMolly · 15/12/2007 11:11

I love the sounds DD makes when feeding her, she sounds so happy and contented, sucks vigerously then stops and lets out a big AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH.
I love the milk drunk look and the smile on her face when she comes off and has milk all around her chops.

muppetgirl · 15/12/2007 14:00

bump

My boobs were sooooooo full when I went to bed after this thread last night. Ds was nearly drowned at his 2.30am feed

runnyhabbit · 15/12/2007 14:07

ahh, this lovely

apart from the bf (morning feed is the best - snuggled up in bed before dh and ds1 wake up) I love it when he wolfs down homemade food.

Not only is my milk the best - so is my cooking

Original poster
5goldrings4MONKEYBIRDs · 15/12/2007 19:06

...bump bump bumpity bump bump

OP posts:
MaeWestYeMerryGentlemen · 15/12/2007 19:16

A couple of favourites...

When DS (16 months), who had been a bit poorly and off his food (and who doesn't normally bf in the day) was sat on my lap looking a little dejected. I asked him if he wanted milk and he said "yiss yiss" and clapped his hands before settling down for a good feed.

When he sits up in his high chair with his little bunny bowl (that was mine as a baby) and spoon and feeds himself something basic I've made like pasta in veggie sauce, enthusiastically 'nyum nyum-ing' all the way through. And looking so pleased with himself for getting it in his mouth

FlossALump · 15/12/2007 19:22

I wanted to start a thread like this!! Well done you for doing it in such a way that no-one feels it isn't about them!!

I love the noises my DD has made since birth when feeding 'mmm, mmm.' Nice to be appreciated!

I also love the way her tongue gets ready in anticipation for whats coming her way!

With DS the best bit had to be when he used to declare he was 'horny' when he was hungry!

FlossALump · 15/12/2007 19:25

Oh and when they get let down and their eyes go up toward heaven!!

muppetgirl · 15/12/2007 19:52

...am glad this thread is still going!

TheYoungVisiturkeyandstuffing · 15/12/2007 20:35

"when they get let down and their eyes go up toward heaven!!"

That is SUCH a lovely way to describe it! So perfect.

DS today was so funny (this is kind of yukky but it really made me laugh!) He was eating raisins (which he loves) and he very solemnly took the last one out of the box and popped it in my mouth. I made a big smile to show him how happy he had made me, and while I was smiling he evidently had second thoughts, lent forward, and took it back out of my mouth! Then he put it in his own mouth, bit it in half, and gave me back the other half, slightly drooled on. It melted my heart - especially because DP is exactly the same - amazingly generous but also rather greedy!

Original poster
5goldrings4MONKEYBIRDs · 15/12/2007 23:39

lol YV - I too have shared many fine morsels with my minimonkeys, including this very day half a chocolate cream meringue (I know but we were painting our living room in the house we're about to move into and they were being very good...) but this time it was shoved, custard pie style all over my chin. And it had been already sucked.

This was the 3 year old I hasten to add, and not the baby...

Aww, thanks Floss - I've been feeling like we don't do enough celebrating our hard work and patting ourselves on the back here and often we're all pitted against each other when we're often trying to get to the same place, even if we disagree about the route...

OP posts:
muppetgirl · 16/12/2007 07:32

I have just finished feeding my ravenous baby boy in bed. Wish there was a 'hungry baby' option to press on my boobs as it couldn't come out fast enough!!

Oh, and dh could heard to be singing to the tune of space pirates

nana na na naaa

BREAST MILK!

nana na na naaa

BREAST MILK!

Not just the babies that love the feeding then....

susiecutiemincepies · 17/12/2007 20:14

I'm with you all on all you have written above

For the last few months, my DD of 11 months, has decided that most of her feeds should be taken, kneeling or trying to stand, on all fours. baby animal like... reminds me of a calf nuzzzling it mummy.

I feel like a prize milker! the first time it happened I nearly fell off the bed laughing. I woke up to find her about 2 foot away on all fours, attached firmly onto my right boob. I had no idea they stretched that far!!

Now, she tries to feed in any position possible. ended up almost upside down the other night!

Not sure i like the way she twists and pulls the other nipple though when feeding on the other side!

WriggleJiggle · 17/12/2007 22:41

I just love it when dd (20 months) suddenly decides she's hungry, gets her own bowl out, brings me her chosen box of cereal, drags a really heavy bottle of milk over, then stands there looking so proud of herself whilst I get ut it together. Then that big sigh as she settles herself down with a bowl of cereal almost as big as herself.

Or perhaps the first time she found yoghurts in the fridge and managed to open one herself. She walked over to sit and eat it on the mat by the front door. There was a trail of yoghurt from the fridge to the door!

Walking home with the dozen or so brambles she had picked, having only recently learnt to walk. Every 10 paces she carefully set her box on the floor, sat down next to it, ate one, stood up, picked up box, and moved on 10 paces. The brambles ran out long before we walked the 30 metres home .

TheTwelveDAISYOfChristmas · 17/12/2007 22:50

lol flossalump, my DD does that tongue thing too....she looks like Gene Simmonds from Kiss

I like the way she chomps down like it's going to escape if she doesn't get there quick enough.

I even like her freezing cold wee fist sneaking around my waist first thing in the morning.

and I liked the way she couldn't get enough of my homemade lentil soup tonight and mmmmm'd her way through it.

tastychristmaspud · 17/12/2007 23:38

i love it because dd is a right milk hog !
and i love it when she is feeding then comes off looks up with a smile and goes back on

almost as if to say ohhh mum this is goooood!

Stefka · 18/12/2007 11:40

I love the boob coma he goes into. He looks like he's been pumped up by a bicycle pump.

dal21 · 18/12/2007 11:51

the look that comes over his face when let down happens and he drinks away happily, one of sheer ecstasy!

the milk covered face, satisfied and happy once DS is done feeding

the rosy cheeks he has after being nuzzled up to me!

the smiles I get when he pulls himself off to coo at me, then happily puts himself back on.

all priceless memories!

ChubbyStuckForAFestiveNameBurd · 18/12/2007 11:58

The leg kicking away as he feeds ... "Things to do ... must keep moving ... mmmmmmilk ..."

The newborn drunk face, so cute! I miss it

Cuddling up for the last feed in bed at night - he dozes off with a hand either side of my boob, embracing it and making sure it can't get away.

Little soft sighs when he's full.

FlossALump · 19/12/2007 07:49

Oh one more, tense little bunched up hand when hungry and first on, gradually relaxing as her tummy fills up!

dal21 · 19/12/2007 08:54

ah floss - you remind me! ds starts with his arm at a 45 degree angle when hungry - stuck straight into the air! as he fills up the arm drops down! absolutely hilarious to watch!

Original poster
5goldrings4MONKEYBIRDs · 19/12/2007 09:57

this morning, DS3 who'd lay there for ages happily chatting to the air, gave a few half hearted sucks in between having a chat with me, my boob (holding up his hands to it like he was proclaiming...) and then, my, he was surprised when the let down happened. Gets him everytime. "Wow, what's that? Better suck like billy-oh cos god knows what I'd get covered in if I pulled away. Better keep raising my eyebrows and widening my eyes just to let it know I'm still here..."

OP posts:
susiecutiemincepies · 19/12/2007 17:35

haha!!! yes the arm in the air! I was laughing at that last night! Dd was gulping for england with her arm up in the air too. Always at about 45 degrees. then, as she slows down, it goes down too. she's nearly a year old now, and i fear, sadly, not so interested in it, except for first thing in the morning and at bed time. Although, she prefers a bottle at bed time now, as i htink it really does fill her up more these days

She woke at 3:30am last night, and i dosed off whilst she scucked away. when i next woke up, she had her bottom nad feet up on the pillow next to me, and was lying kind of underneath my boob, one arm behind her head, one hand hold the boob, still trying to suck. her little knees were bent with her legs crossed, if that makes sense? anyway, she was one hell of a laid back looking little lady!!!

She often tries, in the night, to feed, lying on her tummy. god knows how she manages it, but she sure tries hard... my poor boobs and nipples have to be the stretchiest in the land, i'm sure of it.

maybe we should have a measuring competition, who's stretched the farthest!

LoveAngelGabriel · 19/12/2007 17:39

My son is nearly 3 now and I really miss the closeness of holding him on my knee and feeding him (breast or bottle).

JacanneAbox · 19/12/2007 17:49

This shouldn't have "can of worms" written all over it because the OP was so nice.

I love the "quiet dark suck suck suck" moments too and I remember the milk-drunk smile along with the slightly squiffy eyes.

My dd is very slowely weaning - just one feed in the last 36 hours and that was just a few quick suck - it does go so very quickly so carry on loving it

ADDICTEDtosayingHAAAAAAAPYxmas · 19/12/2007 18:25

i don't feed my baby ... obviously he doesn't starve but he does it himself and boy am i glad. i hated having to sit there and feed him ... it's so dull!