Getting myself in a pickle.

[2wwmadness]

Ds is 18 weeks. Everyone in my family has been doing the baby rice thing from now. In taking this advice and have been given him 2 spoons of rice before bed on a spoon, then he has the rest of his bottle.
He has 6oz every 4 hours and never really cries for it. But he has never slept through, still wakes every 3-4 hours some nights. I really wanted to do blw. Have a messed it up? Should I quit the rice idea? I dunno what to do. He seems to like the rice?!

Bump

There's nothing wrong with stopping the rice and beginning again later, offering your baby food for him to feed himself with...you haven't messed up, or started something that you cannot change. What's the worry about changing? Are you concerned your family will wonder why you are different?

Yea. I breast fed him for 5 weeks and that was different and I was under pressure not to make life harder for myself, I'm a single my (stbxh left when I was heavily pg) and everyone is helping me and being amazing. But in finding the advice from friends and family very different from the advice in here. I don't know any other child who was blw? I'm not sure why it is so much better than the other way but what I have read seems it is? My son doesn't sleep through. Everyone's telling me their baby is and in trying to figure out what it is that would satisfy my son most. In starting to thInk he's not having enough milk

So you value the support and help from your friends and family, from what you are saying....but their advice is a little bit dogmatic and makes it hard for you to make your own decisions, yes?

It is normal for babies to wake in the night for a long time - more 18 week olds wake up ( usually 2-3 times) than sleep through. It really doesn't matter what your friends and family say happen with their babies. The facts remain the same!

Sleeping through has nothing to do with solids, really it hasn't. It's a behavioural and a maturity thing. Yes, it can sometimes be related to what parents do - ie you can ignore a baby's crying in the night and he will learn to not do it. But that is absolutely not a kind or nurturing way to care for a small baby.

Maybe ask your HV about BLW, or read a book about it? It's not a weird thing to do, and you don't have to do 'all or nothing' anyway. You can still spoonfeed your baby things which are not easy for him to hold, if you want to. There is no BLW police :)

One option would be to continue with the tiny amounts of rice he has, then in a few weeks start him with finger foods and see what happens :)