they advised against it but i did anyway and it worked - your stories please

[hostelgirl74]

I have 6 week old baby. There are so many things that the professionals tell you not to do but that sometimes experience/intuition tells you otherwise. For example not putting baby in bed with you, letting them comfort feed on demand etc. I would be interested to know what advice people had ignored and it had worked out/not been as bad as "experts" would have you believe.

Giving a bottle at 6 weeks and combination feeding - would lead to nipple confusion. They were wrong as nothing comes between my boy and his milk whether it was breast or formula!

My first HV was excellent, she spoke to me about safely co-sleeping and told me that it's fine for me to feed my baby hourly in the day if that's what he wanted.

I didn't sterilise past 3 months, he was putting everything in his mouth at that stage and chewing on the carpet or sofa.

I think sterilising is about killing bugs in the formula and any that might feed off bits of milk in the crevices? Boobs aren't sterile yet happily shove them in

I co-sleep, DD sleeps on her side on the rare occasion I can put her down

I feed on demand every hour despite the HV telling ne to stretch feeds out to three hourly when DD was 2 weeks old.

I still top and tail DD (she's my second) because I don't want to spend money on wipes unless out. We use flannels though.

I won't put DD on her front though despite her lifting her head from birth. I'll wean at 6 months ish unless she shows signs because weaning is a faff. I never understand the rush to mush come 17 weeks

Do you use the cooled boiled water Iggly?

Def do not rush to mush and do not have Annabel Karmel's bloody weaning planner stuck on the wall with what age they can have what and tick it off.

I couldn't give you a list because the few times I asked for advice I was given opinions so contradictory that I couldn't have followed all of them, even if I'd wanted to. I therefore looked only for advice that supported my opinion and things went far more swimmingly after that. :)

I'd like to claim I was rebelling by cosleeping but my midwife told me to and explained how to make sure we did it safely.

I never sterilised when we moved to bottles of ebm - just hot dishwasher

We don't have stairgates because I can't rely on my 4yo to shut them, so better not to have a false sense of security.

DD slept on her tummy from 3m.

bribe ds2 with sweets to potty train...

When DS1 was born 12 years ago the midwife tucked us both up in bed for the night in my hospital bed. I was

DS2 didn't use a potty, he just went straight to the loo with one of those seats.

Keeping ds2 in the sling for 6 months, my parents now say they never saw him as he was always snuggled up asleep, and they were worried about his development!?

Now he's a confident, chatty , cheerful 3 yo I think they're quite relieved. No-one's said a peep to me about dc3 being constantly in the sling....

Oh yes, I bribed both boys with chocolate buttons to poo on the potty, but don't 'they' advise that? Or did I get that off someone on here?

foofooforgetmenot that was the most delightful story i have heard and has made my day!

DS slept in his own room from 6 weeks, he slept through 12 hours that night and we have never looked back

Formula fed from 3 weeks, came off the boob within a week, YY i know that can cause mastitis but i stuck frozen cabbage leaves down my bra, tried to entice DH with it but he just looked at me all

Weaned at 15 weeks (in 2009 horror!). That sorted out his feeding routine as he was all over the place before hand.

Stopped sterilising the moment i found him with my slippers in his mouth

Disclaimer: i think we are all intelligent enough to know that this is not a definitive 'to do' list, i am not saying any of the above will work in every case.

If we were on Netmums on the other hand.........

sparklingbrook we are toilet training DS now, he hates the potty but loves the baby loo seat

Martha. Do NOT let him put it over his head. It doesn't come back off as easily due to ears.
Good luck, he will be using it soon. Give him a book to read while he's sat there.

Tried desperately to bf dd1 as everybody said it was the best and healthiest way to feed my baby. Nearly went mad with the pressure of it all and she just didn't want to know. When my lovely dh and hv said 'for christs sake just ff, you won't kill her' I switched to ff and the relief was aweseome. Took all the pressure off and I was able to properly bond with her.

She never had a cold, not even a runny nose, till she was past one. She's now five, she's slim, healthy, eats really well and is doing well at school. She hasn't got a single problem, ie. weight, health, etc, that the bf info told me she might have.

Dd2 on the other hand was bf, no problem. She is chunky, solid as hell, is a bit of a fussy eater and has colds pretty much since birth.

So glad I had the sense to see past the bf debate or I'd probably still be forcing it on dd1 now. Am wondering if the bf did dd2 more harm than good.

I managed 4 weeks BF with DS.1 and 1 week with DS2. It is painful, Would have liked some gas and air every feed.

sparkling can just imagine the call to A&E 'can i bring DS in - he has a loo seat on his head' thanks for the support, will try the books - we sing songs and make weeeee sounds!!

It was round his neck Martha. We had to soap his ears. I am still traumatised and he is 10.

punchthosecalories, I'm glad your DC didn't need further treatment for janudice, but I hope no-one reads that and refuses treatment. Untreated jaundice can cause serious brain damage. At near transfusion level, a baby should be in a specialist NICU with urgent consultant-led treatment, not being guided by a single nurse. We were seen by a team of Drs in the middle of the night, having had an ambulance transfer from another hospital. I was encouraged to keep bfing DS and then to express for tube feeding when the treatment made him too sleepy. I'm still feeding at 7 months, so a brief period of tube feeding didn't do any harm. At lower bilirubin levels a baby can be in a bili blanket like a sleeping bag, so you can actually feed while treatment continues. DS was also a big baby and his eye band was soft and stretchy. Anyone whose baby needs jaundice treatment shouldn't be scared to have it!

My now nearly-15 year old slept on her front.

I'm still not sure we were right - obviously in the sense that she's turned out fine, but I would agonise every bit as much if I had another baby who hated lying on her back, I think.

I didn't tell the HV

-Co-sleeping. Wow the judgement you receive for this.. but really, when you have a tiny baby screaming for comfort in the night and putting them next to you in bed solves it.. how is that 'wrong'???
-Feeding on demand. We eat when we're hungry, don't we? Why shouldn't a baby.
-Baby led weaning. From 6 months babies don't need food that has been pureed within an inch of its life. Cooking is enough work as it is, don't want to prepare separate meals on top of that! My 8 month old doesn't touch Ella's pouches (although I quite like them.. but they do all taste the same) but happily eats sushi, chili and curry. As long as you watch the salt content it's all good.
-Waiting until 6 months with weaning (this is actually supported and advised by the NHS, it's other people/peer pressure that makes you think you should wean before then)
-Not use a breastpump until at least 6 weeks to avoid trouble with milk levels and getting breastfeeding established and not using nipple shields at all. DS had tongue tie and a poor latch (didn't get better until about 6 months!). If I hadn't used breast pump and nipple shields I think I would've gone insane.

MainlyMaynie I agree, if a child needs it parents really have nothing to fear with getting the treatment for their child when it is genuinely required. The doctor was puzzled as to why I had been told I had to stay in and the midwife who cleared the bed away looked at the chart and said that the value hadn't been plotted at the right point :( I don't know what was happening in that nurse's life at the time to have a lapse in judgement but I'm very glad that I asked questions and kept going with breastfeeding because my instincts were right.

rreow
'-Waiting until 6 months with weaning (this is actually supported and advised by the NHS, it's other people/peer pressure that makes you think you should wean before then)'

I weaned DS at 15 weeks, not due to peer pressure or other people, it was all down to mine and DH's instinct, he was a hungry baby and thrived once i started weaning him. By the time he was 6 months old he was on all the things you mention (not sushi though), i loved preparing all his meals.

Do you not eat home made soup? that is food that is pureed to an inch of its life, and we all eat it now. We never gave him processed food (Ellas pouches) because i tasted one once and it tasted vile [vomit] i always said i would only feed DS what i would eat myself.

MarthasHarbour nothing against pureed food in principle (I love soup, especially when we get intimidating vegetables in the vegbox..) I meant regular meals that are then pureed with a food processor. From 6 months onwards babies don't need their food pureed (their stomachs can handle it) so as long as stuff is either big enough so there is no choking hazard (finger food) or small enough (cut up small or stuff like rice) it's fine.

Just had horrible flashback involving a kitchen full of mushed up veg and ice cube trays.