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

Pazzaplustwo - wow I am doubly impressed with your EBF til now, and I love it that I have just succeeded in LLW ! Keep upi the good work with your two girls.

I made it here too, 26 weeks this week. Yippee..Glad to have reached it. Little monkey very unimpressed with any attempt to spoon feed so it's finger foods for us.

I have done a bad, bad thing. DD is 6 months old today ... but I got soooo excited at the thought of starting her on solids that I gave her baby rice yesterday (mixed with yummy breast milk though).

I can't believe I didn't hold out for 6 months. What a fool.

hello all - I just want to say I think you are all amazing and thank you so much for telling your stories. My DD is 3 weeks old! I'm finding BF REALLY TOUGH. I've had BF support workers come over, a lactation consultant sit with me through more than one feed and it always goes so well when they are here. But when we are on our own in the dead of night, she howls and won't latch. My back hurts and my nipples are sore. I believe in it and have been tempted to reach for a bottle but I will persevere. My sis BF her 5 kids each for a year and EBF for 6 months. I hope it gets easier.

I'm so glad this thread has been resurrected, I was looking for it the other day and couldn't find it. 20 weeks and counting...

VHK - I'm sure 1 day won't make any difference, congratulations

akimbu - it does get so much easier, at 3 weeks I was still looking enviously at ffers, they seemed to have it sooo easy. I was always too tired to get the latch quite right for night feeds and was really sore every morning. Now DS just gets on with it, it's no longer painful and I don't have to spend hours washing, sterilizing and making up bottles. Good luck and hope things improve quickly for you.

I am EBF DD nearing 20 weeks. She slept through night at 13 weeks for 1 week, since been up 2,3 even 4 times per night, as she is a very big girl (8,5 kg) Started her on baby rice 1 week ago and she really loves it, but still being made up of BM - does that count? I agree BFing is the best thing you can EVER do! No faffing about with bottles when going out. She recovered within 2 days from a cold on breastmilk, and the closest you can get to DC. I will miss that intimacy once I stop.

However, am getting a bit fed up of being tired ALL the time - haven't slept for more than 4 hours in nearly 2 months. Need to clean house at some point, so do it during daytime naps aargh! Some encouragement needed urgently! I hate to have a moan, she is such a good girl and a great sleeper during the day.

My DS3 (dc5) is currently approaching 28wks and I'm getting him started on solids. Despite him trying to grab fistfuls of my food previously (cue "oh he's hungry you should wean him" comments), now he's "allowed" food he's just not interested. He loves spoons as long as there's no mush in sight of them. HV has advised going the BLW route and trying him with steamed broccoli, she's very enlightened, never had a bad word about my bf-ing except ones of encouragement and completely changed my view on HVs.

I did have a few wobbles over the months. I have fed him for longer than any of my others. He is still waking for night feeds, something my others stopped once moved onto formula, made esp tough since I'm on my own through the week looking after all 5 and not getting enough rest. But I love feeding him and in a way feel sad that the time has come to introduce food and his need for me will diminish.

Well done to all you others out there, and keep going to the ones who have yet to make it.

hello all I am still here DD3 13 weeks now so half way there already, not a morsel of food will pass her lips before next year. I bought Annabel Karmel with DD1 did the purees and the ice cube trays and what a faff, DD2 BLWed had amazing manual dexeritry and is a lot less fussy than her sister.

Hello! Thought I'd join this thread for some moral support, as am getting a little pressure about DS still being on BF only!
DS is 22 weeks and very active. He's grabbing stuff and putting it in his mouth, tried to drink a glass of water SIL had yesterday and it won't be too long I think before he's sitting up. I'm hoping he sits up unsupported at 25+6 as it's my fall-back - 'well, when he can sit up', but we'll be able to put him in the high-chair to join in at mealtimes.
Explaining BLW will be harder then the BF, though, but I've got a few weeks to work on what to say.

Good luck and well done to all!

xx

you know, when i was pregnant i used to see this thread in Active Convos and think 'why do they need support, bf is natural, it must be easy'.

allow me to apologise now. it's hard work isn't it? i've been lucky with DS (a natural) and with milk supply (gushingly abundant) and i still was not prepared for the tiredness, the constant milk stink about my person, the occasinal feeling that i am just an object...and he's only 6 weeks so i haven't even got to the weaning issues yet!

anyway, despite a few late-night wobbles towards formula i do fully intend to ebf till 6 months and here's why:

he loves it
lots of cuddles
so convenient
it's amazing watching him grow and thinking 'i did that'
cake without consequences
i believe it's the best way for both of us

well done everyone!

occasional, not occasinal - one handed typing still not 100%!

I've still not managed to find a user name I like enough to keep but we made it to 6 months! DS had some butternut squash to munch on today and he loved it.

I thought I was going to be a lot sadder that he was getting food from somewhere other than me but it was so much fun watching him munch on it that I think I'm going to like this weaning thing

Good luck to everyone who's not quite there yet...

DD is 20 weeks and i was starting to feel alone in not giving baby rice already - it's really good to find this thread - we hope to hold out against MIL etc for another 6 weeks.

DS is 17wks and ebf for exactly the same reasons as cyteen (hi cyteen!)

i had DP's GPs trying to convince me to stop after 3 days (because that's all she managed with FIL and it didn't do him any harm ). I plan to bf as long as poss but hopefully ebf until 6mths so its great to have some support from fellow MNers

In RL I only know one other person who waited til 6 months (and we go to a lot of baby activities so this is probably out of about 20 or 30 babies). Without mumsnet I would've felt like a total freak.

IME most MILs seem to think babies should start solids from about 6 weeks - 'bit of rusk in the bottle dear, never did my DCs any harm and they slept better'. Smile sweetly and ignore!