Support thread for those keeping it exclusive till 6 mnths

[charitas]

I meant to start this yesterday but had to feed my lovely 20 week old about every hour soonly wrote half the op before being "called on". I need someone to moan at who won't suggest weaning or ff as I am not going to do that I am just moaning 'cause I'm tired fed up with babe who takes ages to feed in public 'cause now he's so damm nosey.

So anyone who wants to bolster their beliefs in the face of rl opposition or remind me why I am doing this please join in.

Reasons why I'm exclusively bf till 6 mnths:

I read the eviedence and I beleive it
Once made meal for friend with coeliac's and it took flippin ages to find all gluten free ingredients and make a torte for pudding. Am far too lazy to deal with allergy prone child
I want to blw as piglet is so determined to do things for himself I cannot see him taking to spoon feeding.
Piglet likes it, he falls asleep quickly afterwards.

There are more but there are now sounds coming from the bedroom

thanks everyone. actually i quite fancy this nursing dress from Isabella Oliver but considering how pricy it is I might have to stick with the vest-under-the-main-top option!

mentioned baby-led-weaning to my mum last night (she's a health visitor). she flipped out. i won't be mentioning that again.

i'll just let her see DS chowing down on a black forest gateau next time we come to visit. that'll sort her out.

ampster - if you want some nice nursing clothes that are not too pricey, try here

Of course, the vest underneath option is cheaper, but where I live it's far too hot to wear a vest underneath.

Or, if you want a dress, there are some here that aren't too bad

while I'm thinking about clothes, for anyone who might be interested, there are some nursing clothes here too. Let's face it, girls, why shouldn't we look good while breastfeeding! And if it helps someone who is a bit shy or worried about showing too much flesh or whatever to breastfeed comfortably for longer, then so much the better!

thanks alexpolismum, i'll check those out.

hey, nursing clothes rant - how come mothercare and h&m make these vests and tops that have both flaps for nursing access AND extra fabric for a baby bump? what's the point of that? if you're pregnant you're not nursing, and if you're nursing, you're not pregnant! my post-baby belly certainly doesn't need a load of extra fabric making it look like i'm still five months pregnant. it can do that all by itself!

ampster - erm, I was pregnant and nursing! (although I didn't have any of said tops).

Hello, just wanted to add my support to this thread as I ebf dd for 6 months and she still bfs now at almost 27 months. She wasn't really very interested in solids until about 12 months, I did the baby led weaning and now she will eat absolutely anything.
Am now feeding while pregnant (17 weeks) so i'm a proper lentil weaver!

Hello, can I join you all? DS is 19 weeks today and excl. BF.

Anyone else had a great sleeper going through the night and then around 18 weeks waking in night for a feed? Does this suggest he needs food? Would really like to excl. BF until 6 months (as per guidelines)....

Hi munchkinmum. My dd stopped sleeping through around 20 weeks after doing between 6 and 8 hours per night and didn't sleep through again (well hardly ever) until she was about 20 months old. Her starting solids made no difference at all to this, I think there are a lot of developmental things at this age that make it harder for them to settle if they wake at night and IIRC there was a study that showed only half of all 2 year olds consistently slept through the night.

Sorry if this is not the best news in terms of sleep but I don't think starting solids is the answer. It could also be a growth spurt (should pass within a week)or teeth (should improve with pain relief).
I remember feeling really smug about dd's sleep until she reached 20 weeks, what a fool i was!

idbi - thanks (even if its not good news!). Was dead chuffed last night as I had a go at feeding lying down and we did ok...

Just dipping into this thread - munchkinmum, there's a well-documented 4 month growth spurt where they have sleep regression and feed a lot more - just go with it and feed as much as your DS wants. It's definitely not because he needs solid food - milk is all he needs!

munchkinmum - feeding lying down is the best way at night, it means you barely have to wake up at all. I find it's great in the evenings too for the bedtime feed, baby seems to go to sleep much more quickly. My sister keeps telling me I'm making a rod for my own back and that baby will never learn to sleep by herself if I keep bf to sleep, but I didn't find this to be a problem with my first baby, and besides I personally find feeding lying down more relaxing, good for me as well as baby!

my dd is 10 weeks and I intend to fully bf for 6 months. I am already steeling myself for the negative reactions from people in rl. I weaned ds1 at 16 weeks (because I was bored and those were the guidelines then) and ds2 at 21 weeks, and wish I'd waited a bit longer.
I'd never heard of blw but this time I am def weaning that way!

alexpolismum - you are absolutely right about feeding lying down. It's fab!

isaidno - I just wish I could feed that way during the day as well, but unfortunately it's impossible. I have to watch ds as well, and he's not a child who sits down happily and plays on the floor. If you're not watching him, you can guarantee he's getting up to mischief!

So I often feed dd in the sling during the day so that I can easily wander about.

I don't lie down to feed in the day because I would nod off and the ds (5 and 3) would wreak havoc!

Just an update from me really, DD2 now nearly 24 weeks - at this point with DD1 I did cave in to pressure to wean and gave her a few tastes of solids, and from 26 weeks lots of finger foods (which she loved but really relied on milk, food was just an addition).

DD2 seems to be waking more at night (every 3 hours on the dot, but I know it could be worse!), and very hungry/thirsty, but she's not quite ready to start on finger food and in any case I don't think a few morsels would make the difference. Will hang on in there a little while longer. Her first foods might be in a couple of weeks on holiday at center parcs - chip anyone?! (joking!)

Well done to everyone, keep going and enjoy feeds while they're simple and not too messy

Hi everyone, hope all going well with you all.

I had a good time at my mum's last week; I still don't think she's convinced about BF, but she was pretty good all in all. NIP some more too - feeling a lot more comfortable with it. Mum told me she started to give my older brother baby rice at 6 weeks old - according to the guidelines then! She was quite shocked at some of DS's pooey nappies - I kept telling her they're supposed to be like that, she's used to FF ones! Anyway, quite successful all in all.

Although - DS has started to refuse bottles of EBM - he's been fine up til now. I don't give them that often, but I want him to be able to take an occasional one - so I can go out! Any tips from anyone?

Yay we made it! DD was 6 months last week.
Just got back from a testing week with MIL.
Here are some quotes (re bf)

On leaving to go to a cafe you lunch "You'll have to feed her in the car"
Me "Oh, don't worry it'll be fine, I've fed all over the place."
Her "No, I absolutely draw the line at that." As if the rest of the time she was tolerating someting wrong! Grrrr I was shaking with rage. And to top it all SIL took her blessed DOG into the cafe!

On returning from a half hour trip to pub with dh (mil persuaded us to go) I was met by a screaming baby and 2She was so hungry, I've given her some water2, actually she was tired and MIL couldn't settle her!

I'm now determined to bf as we eat christmas lunch!

Fine, she doesn't have to come with you if she won't "tolerate" it! Not surprised you were fuming, noolia!

Erm think I may have to leave this group now - we didn't quite make it to 26 wks (although almost - he'll be 26 wks next week).

Ds has been sitting at the table with us when we eat for a few weeks now and whenever there's been suitable food, I've put a bit his way for him to explore (stick of broccoli etc) which he has loved. Just playing and bringing up to the mouth, but not eating anything.

Until recently that is. Saw he'd managed to gum off a bit of carrot this last week (nappy evidence the following morning confirmed this). So I suppose he's officially decided to start BLW then, and have since seen him demolish a bit of potato and some parsnip too. It's only been once a day and if there's been a suitable part of our supper to give him (still bf on demand, so am not worried about nutrition!) I'll really start properly next week. Need to get my imagination going to think of different, exciting foods to try (we, ahem, tend to eat a fair amount of pasta in this house - am pretty sure dh and dd will also be happy with a bit more variety).

Good luck with everyone else though - hang on in there!

Hooray, we are 6 months old today! BF stiff going strong and going to try some carrot I think tomorrow!!!

well done peachsmuggler! You can have an official BF gold star!

good luck with the weaning. My ds hated carrot at first, but he loves it now.

I had the best night's sleep I've had in ages last night - dd slept through for 6 whole hours!! Unfortunately, I expect it was just a blip and not likely to happen again tonight (but fingers crossed just in case! )

Mind you, I don't know if it is connected, but today she has been latching on and feeding like there's no tomorrow in great gulps!

Cheers APM! Our sleep's been going pretty well too. Not a heady 6 hours, but 3, which is good going for us. Am just hoping introducing solids isn't going to mess it up!!!

I'm at 21 weeks.
Could quite easily snap and give formula right now, I'm soooo tired, he's been up all night for weeks!