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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

17 week old and baby rice

283 replies

pamelat · 16/05/2008 09:37

Any opinions?

The health visitor has asked me to wait another week as she is still gaining weight well but she is cranky (and has been for 2 weeks or so), waking frequently at night, grabbing my toast (!) and crying when she cant have it.

I believe she is genuinely hungry, especially at night.

Health visitor said to put her in her own room instead as that could be why is waking so frequently but personally I would rather satisfy her hunger and have her near us?

I know that 17 weeks is meant to be the earliest you start it but what are the negatives for starting it at 17 weeks?

OP posts:
MrsBadger · 16/05/2008 09:43

if she's hungry why not give her milk?
[baffled]

FioFio · 16/05/2008 09:44

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FioFio · 16/05/2008 09:45

This reply has been deleted

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kiskideesameanoldmother · 16/05/2008 09:45

your health visitor is giving out-dated advice regarding feeding and sleep patterns.

disregard her advice. Whether breast or bottlefeeding, she will do fine on milk alone till 26 wks.

Early weaning is linked to various bowel ailments in later life.

Baby's sleep pattern change as the brain and nervous system rapidly develops in a child's first year.

Your baby is normal.

You may want to read the book 'the No Cry Sleep Solution' which has a very good early chapter on the changes that happens to a baby in the first year.

wasabipeanut · 16/05/2008 09:54

She could be grabbing your toast just because its there and loks interesting as opposed to because she's hungry. If you think she's hungry then upping the milk intake is the best idea I think.

The frequent waking could be for many reasons, not just hunger. Am inherently uneasy about the thought of starting them on solids at 17 weeks even though people say you can. I only moved my ds to solids when he was still hungry after a full milk feed.

Caz10 · 16/05/2008 09:58

pamelat this is v much tongue in cheek, but i always remember reading on here someone saying something along the lines of "if you were snorting lines of coke your baby would be making a grab at that too, doesn't mean she's ready for class a drugs"

my dd is 23 weeks now and is exactly the same, has been from about 16wks, just trying to ride it out tbh. not saying it's easy but just give more milk and you'll get there. nhs guidelines are 6 months your hv should know that. see here

Highlander · 16/05/2008 11:39

your milk has more calories than solids, and milk will remain the main part of her diet until she is 1.

I think there is a gowth spurt at this age?

Both my DSs went through a night feeding frenzy ay 4-5 months, although they were very easily distracted during the day and big feeds were a nightmare when we were out and about(thus maybe making up for it during the night)

Highlander · 16/05/2008 11:39

PMSL caz

Original poster
pamelat · 16/05/2008 15:36

ok will ride it out, sometimes you just need the reassurance.

On Weds night I got 3 hours sleep and felt like a zombie, am mixing breast and bottle feeding (she was breast fed until 12 weeks but for various reasons I couldnt keep this up). I know that introducing solids isnt the sleep solution but I suppose I am hopeful.

I havent had more than 5 hours sleep for 2 weeks, and thats in total, never at once. Starting to feel run down and generally rubbish, mouth ulcers etc etc.

Have been to buy a black out blind

I thought she was meant to sleep in our room for the first 6 months but every mum I have spoken to has said that it was only when they moved their baby out (some as early as 6 weeks) that they got a good nights sleep. I can just imagine that I will be walking about a lot more!!

She is hungry after some of her feeds, breast and formula but not after each one. She screamed for more after 7oz of formula this morning at 430am so I breast fed her, she was ok 20 minutes later but wide awake and would not go back to sleep (hence black out blind)

On the positive side she has slept for 2 hours this lunch (unaided) and hasnt done that for 3 weeks, maybe she has rediscovered sleeping?!

Thank you

OP posts:
Original poster
pamelat · 16/05/2008 15:37

Mrs badger - hi, I obviously do give her milk but am starting to worry it doesnt satisfy her.

She wants feeding every hour and a half or so in the day and 2 hourly at night. I suppose there is no danger in "too much" milk though?

OP posts:
tori32 · 16/05/2008 15:56

I have my own views which don't follow guidelines to the letter. All babies are different. Some may be happy on milk until 7-8mths, others may want solids at 4mths. Go with your instincts.
I moved my dd1 into her own room at 6wks, by 8wks she slept from 2230-7. Coincidence?
She started waking inthe night again at 15wks so I started weaning at 16wks and the wakings stopped.
It is true there are more calories in breast milk than the same quantity of solids. However, the solids make them feel full for longer and thus they don't wake as much IME. This is why my dd1 slept better on ff than bf, changed at 6wks from bf to ff.

tori32 · 16/05/2008 15:58

No danger in too much milk, however, lots of problems with too little sleep If I am still feeding dd2 at the same age with the same frequency as she does now at 17wks then she will be getting weaned.

tori32 · 16/05/2008 15:59

sorry that should read 7wks not 17wks

welliemum · 16/05/2008 20:52

I think the really tough thing about all of this is that little babies aren't meant to sleep for hours and hours at a time. For most of them, their natural pattern is to wake up a lot and feed a lot at night.

I gather there are concerns about "fixing" babies' sleep so that they sleep longer. For example if you put them in a different room they'll sleep "better" but there is a worry that this deep sleep is what increases the risk of cot death for some babies.

I just don't think there are easy answers - and sleep deprivation is very grim as I know because mine were terrible sleepers early on. I'm not at all saying that we should all just put up with it and get on with life.

I just feel uncomfortable about the idea of sleep as a problem to fix. I think there's more to it than that.

beansprout · 16/05/2008 21:00

Over time and across a whole range of cultures, babies sleep with their parents. Babies need to do this!! I'm not sure why we are so keen to get them sleeping away from us so soon. The risk of SIDS is reduced if they are with you. For me, that's the end of the discussion!!

tori32 · 16/05/2008 21:42

beansprout babies need sleep just as we do as they use the time to process information learned while awake. Babies who are not sleeping well (the OP said feeding every 1.5hrs etc so obviously not sleeping much) become overloaded/stimulated and find it harder to settle. Also, I found that when my dd1 did this continual feeding she fed less well because she fell asleep on the breast before she had taken a good bf. Then it becomes a vicious circle of continual feeding with little sleep.
My dd1 started sleep training at 5wks and since then has been a fantastic sleeper, now 2.4yrs.

Nobody would deny that the best place for baby is in your room, but there are things you can do to help guide the baby into a more sociable pattern

foxythesnowfox · 16/05/2008 21:50

Pamelat, when I had feeding/sleeping issues with LO I co-slept. Some might say its not an ideal solution, but it got us over a tricky stage.

She sleeps better on her own in her cot, so it was a temporary thing.

Sidge · 16/05/2008 21:51

Ride it out and just give her milk, milk and more milk. If she drains 7ozs and is still hungry give her some more

Babies are pretty good at self-regulating their intake - she will take what she wants and needs. If she wants 9 or 10 ozs then let her have it; it has far more calories and nutrients than baby rice.

kiskideesameanoldmother · 17/05/2008 12:18

"babies need sleep just as we do as they use the time to process information learned while awake."

babies brains are still developing and their sleep and brain wave patterns are vastly different from that of an adult's. Babies are designed to wake up often during the night for at least the first year. There is ample research out there that shows this. there is also a lot out there showing that sleeping for long stretches during the night may put some babies at a higher risk of cot death.

I agree that they do need sleep to recharge and develop their brains but that does not mean that this sleep pattern has to more closely mimic what that of a 5 or a 25 year old's sleep pattern is like in order for them to have optimal sleep.

tiktok · 17/05/2008 12:29

Quite right, kiskidee....not all babies are the same, and some do develop sleeping patterns that permit them to sleep for longer hours, but it is not something we really should hurry babies into. It's very hard, though, as there is a cultural expectation that long sleeps are essential to enable parents to sleep - and with different night-time 'management' this doesn't have to be the case.

Giving a baby extra food earlier than he/she needs it in order for him/her to acquire a non-physiological sleeping pattern seems to me to be wrong...and it often doesn't work, either.

LookingForwardToSummer · 17/05/2008 14:46

this has worried me - my 11 week old dd sleeps from 11.30pm or so till about 6 or 7, i didn't train her - she just does it. but if it increases risk of cot death should i wake her in the night?

kiskideesameanoldmother · 17/05/2008 15:06

if that is your baby's sleep pattern which she developed on her own, ie as long as you have been responsive to her waking during the night before she started to sleep this long, I would not worry about cot death because of having a longer stretch of sleep.

do you breast or formula feed?
does she sleep in your room or in her own room?

I ask as breastfeeding and roomsharing both seem to reduce the incidence of cot death in babies.

Caz10 · 17/05/2008 15:17

LookingForwardToSummer - my dd did this at that age or thereabouts too - she is bf and slept next to my bed so i didn't worry too much - just enjoy it cos in our case it didn't last!!

seeker · 17/05/2008 15:18

All the current guidelines say that babies should have milk and nothing else until 26 weeks. There is no good reason for introducing solids early, and the practice has been linked to allergies and gut problems. Even once you start giving solids, milk should be a baby's main food until 12 months.

She is still a tiny baby - give her milk if she's hungry.

On a flippant note - I'm sure she's interested in the steering wheel of the car, but that doesn't mean she's ready to drive!

Have you tried taking her into bed with you?

llareggub · 17/05/2008 15:29

My DS hardly slept at all at night. He just liked to feed, feed, feed! We bought a kingsize bed in the end so we could all get better sleep.

Growth spurts were the worst time and I have bitter sweet memories of long nights on the sofa with baby and laptop. He'd feed, I'd mumsnet. But he slept during the day so I'd snooze then.

I'd summarise sleep with a newborn with the following observation: sometimes your baby will sleep for longer periods than others and by coincidence, this may coincide with darkness. Day and night have no meaning to a newborn so you might as well let go of it.

DS is now 18 months and has just about got the hang of day and night, although he likes to get up at 5.30am and I don't. He still likes to breastfeed at night sometimes and he eats plenty of solids, believe me!