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Infant feeding

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

Original poster

growth spurts

104 replies

edgarcat · 14/04/2003 13:18

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Hughsie · 25/04/2003 11:38

Edgarcat - do you think you are the most frequent user of mumsnet - are you permanently logged on? I must admit that I am interested in your chats so end up finding you all over the place - always nice to see your name!

Original poster
edgarcat · 25/04/2003 11:47

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Gilli · 25/04/2003 20:54

Hughsie - re reference to the Gina Ford mums at your drop in group: I have just successfully breastfed my 4th having always failed/given up early with the other three. I swear it's because I followed Gina Ford - not religiously, but it helped me to understand how much my baby needed to drink, how long it should take, and how to make sure she wasn't hungry etc. I really recommend having a look at the book and seeing what she recommends for a baby the age of yours, and comparing what she suggests to what you're doing. It may give you a helpful insight: I know it did for me. I can't really understand why there's such a black/white divide over GF: it seems to me that whether you're demand feeding or routine feeding, if it's not working then it's worth reading up on all the advice you can get! Personally, I am very grateful that by reading it I managed to achieve something for my 4th child that I failed to do for the others.

Hughsie · 25/04/2003 21:26

Cheers Gilli

I have started to question why I dont have a look at it out of interest - i suppose I feel I couldn't follow it with a 2 year old as well but like you say it may help bring some order. If he wasn't colicky I think I'd be fine though.

mears · 26/04/2003 09:31

Edgarcat - if you feel the need to try a bottle, why don't you express milk when you have 'expoding knockers' and the baby is sleeping. That way when he is wanting to be fed a lot you can give him milk you expressed earlier and still be happy knowing you are respobsible for his weight gain. Much better than giving formula that can cause digestive upsets/colic etc.

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edgarcat · 26/04/2003 13:56

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Hughsie · 27/04/2003 14:18

How's the colic edgarcat?

ds2 seemed a little better yesterday again and slept 5 hours last night. I'm still going to the osteopath though and would be interested to hear about your experience. Have you been before? What should I expect?

Hope you did well for sleep too!

Original poster
edgarcat · 30/04/2003 19:39

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edgarcat · 30/04/2003 19:42

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Melly · 01/05/2003 09:34

Sorry to butt in on this thread, Edgarcat how are you getting on? I'm having similar problems with ds (3 weeks tomorrow). Not sure if he really has colic.....have tried Infacol which doesn't seem to make much difference. He sleeps and feeds well as per GF routine, but after having gone nearly a week sleeping from 11 pm until about 4 ish, last two nights he has had terrible wind. He seems to be crying in pain which comes in spasms. He tends to have one episode of this a day, sometimes in the afternoon, sometimes he won't settle at 7 pm and lately it has been in the night......sigh! I am mixed feeding probably 80% breast feeding, I give him a top up at 7 pm before putting him down and again after the 10 pm feed. Not sure whether his wind or colic is caused by the mixed feeding, the type of teats (on medium flow, 2 drops) or whether it is my diet. He does tend to take a bottle very quickly so I'm wondering if he needs a slower flow teat? God, I'm so confused and beginning to get really fed up of breast feeding as I am paranoid it is something I have eaten that is causing him distress.
Any advice really welcome.

mears · 01/05/2003 11:26

Melly - I know there are lots of views about mixed breast feeding being possible but it the first few weeks it isn't advisable whilst you establish your milk supply. The wind/colic is most likely due to the mix of milk because formula causes a different reaction in the bowel than breast milk. The bowel is alkaline with breast milk and acid with formula. I would advise giving breast milk exclusively for a while. If you want to give him a bottle as per Gina Ford then you would be better to give expressed milk. If you are unable to express then I would jack in the bottle for now. I don't think you should be worrying about your diet at this stage because that is very rarely the problem. There is no doubt that breast milk is the best for your baby and you may have got so caught up trying to fit a routine that you are not enjying it. Try to relax and enjoy your feeds together without worrying about how long he will sleep. If he is still windy try colicynth granules ( homeopathic remedy)- much better than infacol. You can get them at most chemists. HTH.

Hughsie · 01/05/2003 11:57

Hello - had my osteopath appt this morning and I too was quite impressed. She said his head is slightly larger on teh left and so manipulated it saying that even an 1/8th of millimetre movement may help any problems. He is also tight on one part of his back upper thorasic (sp?) and she feels that this is linked to digestion. SHe too has suggested one more appt next Tuesday but thinks that will be all he needs - I was quite pleased but time will tell I suppose.

He had a bad night anyway after his jabs but is very farty all the time - apparently due to the infacol and this kept me awake most of last night + he wanted feeding every three hours again.

Melly - colic comes on like that at around 2/3 weeks just when you feel you are getting the hang of dealing with a newborn - it has been the same with both of mine. Cant recommend the osteopath really as I've no proof but at least I feel I'm doing something. I mix feed (1 bottle a day) but didn't with ds1 until he was older so domnt think it is the cause of colic in our case.

Best of luck - to be honest I think you have to live with it and wait until they grow out of it (14wks in ds1 case!)

Original poster
edgarcat · 01/05/2003 13:30

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Original poster
edgarcat · 01/05/2003 13:31

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Hughsie · 01/05/2003 13:39

Blimey - what a whopper! ine is 11lbs 11oz at 8 weeks!

Hughsie · 01/05/2003 13:48

Edgarcat - we put ds1 in his own room at 2 weeks as he was noisy - running out of rooms now so if ds2 goes in his own there will be nowhere for dh to escape to when he wakes up! Two bedroom extension begins on 12th MAy - are we mad????...YES!

Melly · 01/05/2003 13:55

Thanks for the advice. Mears, I'm a bit confused about expressing, when should I express if I want to give a top up after the 10 pm feed? If I expressed say mid evening around 8.30 would I still produce enough milk to give ds a full feed at 10 pm as well?

Original poster
edgarcat · 01/05/2003 14:40

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mears · 01/05/2003 15:40

Melly - yes you would have enough milk for a feed after expressing at those times. Remember the breast is never empty. Do you leak at all? I used to collect the drip milk (in a breastshell) from one side when I was feeding from the other. I also expressed milk off between feeds (1-2oz at a time) and kept adding to a bottle I kept in the fridge. Once I got 3-4 oz. I froze it. You do not have to express a feed in one go. I expressed a lot because I went back to work but I also donated milk to a special care baby unit. You would be amazed at how quickly it mounts up. I found hand expressing faster than the pump but everyone is different.
You can get an expressing guide and other info on
www.babyfriendly.org.uk

Original poster
edgarcat · 01/05/2003 20:15

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edgarcat · 02/05/2003 09:41

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Hughsie · 02/05/2003 09:46

Hi edgarcat - I'm hear!!! Didn't really understand what you meant on the last post.

Cranial osteopathy didn't give me the 10 hours sleep I was after !! he was pretty normal last night but was less colicky in the evening - very smiley and had two longish sleeps in the day. I'm tempted to try the cot soon but our routine is such that dh gives him a bottle at 11 and brings him upstairs in the moses basket (bit of a weight!) ehn he is properly asleep - cot would be more difficult - I think his size will make it impossible to avoid soon though

Hughsie · 02/05/2003 09:46

E - that should be here!!!

Original poster
edgarcat · 02/05/2003 09:50

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Hughsie · 02/05/2003 09:52

That's what I found with ds1 - he was much smaller at this stage but would sleep 8 hours - I kept a brief diary so it has een a bit of a let down as I expected ds2 to be the same