September 14 babies - bring on the weaning!

[KitKat1985]

New thread for the Sept 14 babies. :)

Oh, and NOW Jessica has decided to go to sleep. On me as well of course so I can't move or go have a shower.

I always dream feed. He will have his last feed while awake at7ish and I will give him a bottle when I go to bed at around 10 and he will drink 7oz in one go lol and stay asleep

Thanks kitkat and everyone else. I have been wanting to get back here for a while now but life has just been soo hectic. 1dc fed, washed and dressed, 1 dc fed and still in pjs and 1 dc on his feed so he will be last to get dressed.

The thing about jars/pouches is that when you first start weaning a LOT goes to waste. We started a bit early with dd, now 24 weeks, due to reflux, and I feel ok about wasting half an ice cube of puree but I'd be shuddering right now at wasting most of a jar/pouch I'd paid loads for. Have nothing against them though, so I'm sure I'll use them for out and about once she's got the hang of food.

Is it me or is it the ebf babies on this thread who are sleeping worst atm?

Controversial question I know (!) I'm just desperate for some sleep and things seem to be a TINY bit better now dd has 2 bottles per day...

apples, my ebf baby is certainly a crap sleeper, but dd was a great sleeper. anecdotally ff babies seem to sleep better, but I think research shows no difference.

Apples I agree. I did an NCT antenatal course and they told us it was a myth that FF fed babies slept better, but honestly I think they do. Of the 8 babies born to our group, the 2 babies who were FF were sleeping through pretty early on, whereas those of us who were BF were struggling, and a couple of ladies who were BF at the beginning later moved on to formula and said they're babies slept better afterwards. I've noticed similar in discussions at baby groups / post-natal group. I'm not saying obviously that it's true for all babies but I do think there is a difference. The thing is though so few healthcare professionals seem prepared to say anything negative about breast-feeding, and seem to paint it all as this great bonding experience with loads of benefits for Mum as well as baby; whereas I'd personally have preferred a more 'realistic' view of breastfeeding from the beginning (can you tell I'm itching to quit now)! Lol! Yes there are advantages but it's also an enormous commitment that completely limits your freedom (and sleep!) for months on end. And not to mention the first few weeks of feeding pain hell.

Also just heard back from Waterbabies. Their lessons are nearly £16 for a half hour session! This seems rather steep to me! Can anyone else who does swimming lessons with their LOs tell me if this is about average cost? x

Holls have you tried purèeing butternut squash? Jessica liked that.

I do use quite a few Ella's pouches or Hipp pouches. I've made some purèes too. I put homemade apple purèe in Jessica's porridge. Jessica is now getting onto thicker purèes now. Next step is to mash them rather than purèe so they're lumpier. I'm also going to introduce protein v.soon. I'm too scared to do any blw finger foods but I want to at the same time!

Jessica slept a bit better last night. Cot from 8.30 pm for 3.5 hours. Fed then had to cosleep till 3 am. Managed to get her back in cot then. She woke twice but I ignored her as I didn't think her cries were hungry cries and she went back to sleep till 7 am. Woo! The only thing I did differently was give her tea later and I also gave her mushed up rusk in cows milk for pudding. Maybe that helped.

Kitkat I'm inclined to agree with you about ebf vs ff and sleep. Of course not everyone will follow but 99% of babies and mums I've spoken to say that their ff baby sleeps well! Also I may be generalising but Jessica is very clingy and I wonder if it's because of the bf making her reliant on me for comfort? I don't know. Might just be her personality though I guess.

Welcome back ilove/lost!

Kitkat I do water babies and it's about 13 pounds per lesson.

I think it's good for Jessica but I have recently started hating it myself as they are getting me going underwater too and I have a bit of a fear of it

KitKat I had the same experience, of NCT painting bf as this fantastic experience for both, but honestly I don't think I've bonded with dd any more than if I'd ff. She's got eczema and is really pukey, another two things that we supposedly almost guaranteed with ff and not bf according to NCT Was your leader also big on the 'faff' of bottles? Now we're in the process of switching I'm finding making up a few bottles SO much easier than the faff of leaking, engorgement and never being able to leave for more than 2 hours at a time! I also wonder whether there's something in the 'myth' of bf not filling them up as they get bigger. Sleep seemed more random in the earlier months of talking to my postnatal group but since the 4-month sleep regression the ff babies seem a LOT happier than the ebf ones. Again, I'm sure it doesn't follow for all but I do feel like bf was mis-sold...

Top I was wondering about comfort as well. Our NCT classes also said ebf made babies feel more secure and confident, while mine just seems clingy and increasingly ratty and unsatisfied on the boob!

It makes me feel very sad sometimes when I compare J to my two mummy friend's babies (who happen to be ff) as they are fine being left on the play mat/in the pram and they will happily nap in the pram when we all meet up. Whereas I know that if we meet up for lunch Jessica will be unhappy at some point and will most definitely not nap. Maybe J is just highly strung or maybe it is because she's bf. I just worry that it's my fault that she's not more laid back and happy more of the time. She can be fine at home though on the play mat so maybe she's just unsettled by the big wide world. She is quite windy too as well which can't be comfy. So knows really!

I forgot to add that she'll stop crying/whinging as soon as I pick her up so that's why I'm pretty sure it's a comfort thing for her. It's nice to be wanted and all but it's hard work sometimes!

Welcome back ilove/lost!
Kitkat we found a small local swim school @ £7 per half hour lesson. We've only been once so far but have a block of ten lessons booked. Will see how that goes and if I feel it's repetitive and not structured enough will switch to something else ( if we switch to WaterBabies will have to potentially drop baby sensory). Not looking forward to going underwater myself as I'm crap at swimming

Re: purées, I've made a load of purées and frozen in trays. A 2-3 hour session of this gave me enough for a two week supply. But I'm also using pouches for when we are out and about (not used yet as DD is only on second week of foods and it's still v messy!)
Tasted some of the Heinz fruity pouches and they're not bad. I can def see the appeal but as someone else has said the cost and wastage does put me off using pouches/jars alone. Have got some Ella's, Hipp and Aldi ones to try too.

Z has so far tried baby rice,carrot, parsnip, broccoli, mango and banana last night. All have gone done quite well apart from broccoli but I think that was because it was still quite grainy. or maybe she will hate brocolli?

Today she fell asleep whilst standing up IN her Jumperoo!!

Bottle feeding DS definitely helped DH bond with him. DS does look to Daddy for comfort too so whether that's connected I don't know. DS is a very laid back baby as a rule. He doesn't tend to nap whilst we are out as he is far too interested in everything going on around him; he wouldn't tend to be unhappy though. I do find him hard to feed out and this is more our problem. He just gets distracted. Naps can also be much harder when out for this reason, but if you rock him/push him enough he does eventually go.

Since DS started breastfeeding his sleep went to shit. He went from sleep through to waking once, then twice and the last fortnight has been anything up to 4 or 5 times a night. But he started breastfeeding as he clearly wanted comfort and this happened at around 4months. The fact he tend to take bottles at certain times of day and won't take breast and vice versa is interesting. I still think he'd have woken during the night as he wouldn't have eaten enough if he hadn't had a breastfeed before bed. And breastfeeding at this stage has been a hundred times better than feeding him by bottle. We all have been able to sleep better than if we had, had to go switch the light on and get a bottle.

Then his tooth came through this week. The improvement has been immediate and incredible. He's slept through once.

I really think DS has been bothered by teething since Christmas as it got progressively worse and combined with a developmental and growth spurt that unsettled him and he would have been the same regardless of whether he was formula or breastfed. Breastmilk is supposed to be more filling than formula and one of the criticisms of formula feeding is formula fed babies tend to be coaxed into eating more with a bottle. So with DS getting breastmilk in the way he was with a free choice does seem to suggest there's more too it than just not getting enough. He was definitely being offered enough and wasn't struggling to get food as he wasn't eating everything he was offered. I think being able to see that was a good thing as we've had enough issues with food, and think I would have struggled if I couldn't see this.

Waterbabies is £15 here. But its in a private swimming pool in a house, 2 minutes walk away and its on a Saturday so is very easy which does make me less concerned about the price for the sheer convenience.

Holls I forgot your DS was only 5 month, I thought he was 6 months. Is there a reason you are rushing ahead with weaning? the novelty soon wears off

Yes, I have tasted baby jars/pouches. I've also tasted both formula milk and breast milk and all taste foul to my adult palate.

Fact is, the easiest thing for me to do is give baby what we are having because with a family I have to cook a from scratch healthy meal every day anyway. But when I had my first (and second) child hadn't yet got into the habit of family cooking - so jars and things like that are fine.

Makes not a blind bit of difference to how picky my children are or are not with food and makes no difference to how developed there palates are as they got older.

God, a whole page of more posts from today I didn't realise was here

Is it me or is it the ebf babies on this thread who are sleeping worst atm? - This always is and always has been the case Apples. Nothing different about those on this thread, just a reflection of the fact that more formula fed babies are easier to settle and sleep better than breastfed babies.

No reason in that not to breastfeed, just as long as you set your expectations realistically.

I think it really unhelpful to the pro-EBF camp that realistic expectations are not set. It means that breastfeeding Mums have the added pressure of thinking their baby is not as "good" (for want of a better word) as s/he should be.

DC1 & DC2 were both EBF. DC3 was formula fed and boy did I grieve and beat myself up massively with the guilt of not breastfeeding him. But you know what? I bonded with DC3 much more easily. I actually enjoyed his baby months in a way that sleep deprivation and BF pressure didn't allow with DC1&2.

But it would be a brave person that said to a struggling new Mum with a newborn that you would bond better, sleep better and enjoy your baby more if you formula fed. I'd have been massively slated if I'd have suggested this on here 3 or 4 months ago. Like many things, it is something that can only be learnt by experience.

Fate - not rushing ahead. milk alone was not enough seemingly and so hv suggested doing purees alongside feeds. he LOVES the purees.

It is bad that a more realistic account of bf is not given. Mums to be shouldn't be 'tricked' in to it. It's what the vast majority of women want to do anyway without needing a very skewed account of it.

There are pros and cons either way. Molly only got a small amount of breastmilk in the first couple of weeks and apart from that has been completely formula fed. Of course I was racked with guilt about this to begin with but actually she sleeps well at night and has only had one cold. She has suffered from constipation a few times, perhaps this would have been better, but it's all swings and roundabouts really.

Now I only feel guilty when a smug bf mum brings it up at a group! It is still something I wish I had been able to do a bit more of though. It is something that only you can give, which I do think is something special.

Welcome back ilove!

oh the bf guilt.....I hope I never experience anything like it again. I felt like a truly dreadful mum.

fate, I would have to say that I disagree that it is a fact that more ff babies sleep better and are easier to settle than bf ones. I think it just depends on the baby and also how they digest bm or f.

Oh such interesting subject; I think ebf babies could possibly sleep worse; not because of the type of milk, but where they get it from. It is much easier and quicker for baby to get milk out of a bottle and if he is not having enough mum and dad will immediately realise,& perhaps will try harder to get the milk in, offering bottle more, dream feed, etc. Whereas breastfeeding position is normally so warm and comfy for baby he would prob fall sleep before nearly getting enough milk to get them through morning. My ds can not go longer than 6 hours , nothing will calm him apart from a feed and he has one of his best feeds in the middle of the night. He only wakes once and has been doing that for a long time apart from 2-3 interruption by sickness or leap?!?

I can't compare bounding like Fate can, but I would not change what I have with ds for the world; I very much enjoy breastfeeding him to the point when introducing one bottle was making me sad. I will continue until I can and he wants; I don't know if all babies are like this but he gets really excited when I put him in bf position, makes happy noises, fast breathing and big smile... Maybe that makes me really happy too. Even If I believed (i don't) ff was a lot easier and would get me loads of rest, etc. I would never change my choice. Even though now I am having troubles getting him to take a bottle...

Oops lilone, holls, I did not read your posts before sending mine, sorry, it was a long cross posting as I got distracted in the middle; let me tell you both something: for me, it was very hard in the first few weeks to get the breast feeding going, really difficult. But I was not fanatic about it; I knew it may never work and my ds wellbeing is my top priority. I think you both should be proud that you realised this soon enough. I don't understand the guilt. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does not work, you can't even think you are bad mums, you are fab because you made the call at the right point and have healthy happy babies now. Formula is there for a reason... I was weighting ds very regularly because of him losing weight in early days for medical reasons. If he did not go up he would immediately get the formula; I had 4-5 bottles of ready made formula in my kitchen ready to go...
Don't ever feel guilty and don't allow anybody to make you feel bad. Thats just not on.

I am sorry for bombarding, really sorry; Forgot this: I also use Ella or other baby food for when out and about; but won't want to do that every meal. Fate I also do the same, whatever we are having goes to blender for him; hopefully soon even blender is not necessary. The only thing is I don't cook all the meals so have to have back up for him in freezer