about to start blw next week, couple of quick questions

[feekerry]

okay, i have the book and skimmed thru it but just a couple of quick questions.

• do i offer ebm or water at a meal? baby is 100% ebf, never had a bottle so going straight to sippy cup. i go back to work in 4 months time so would be great if baby happy to drink ebm from a cup by then. or do i offer water? if i wasn't going back to work i wouldn't bother but since i am......baby will need to drink from something when boobs are not to hand!!

• if i'm doing breakfast, i usually have wheetabix or porridge. shall i offer baby that with ebm or cows milk??

• do i need to offer baby water throughout day? if so just normal tap/bottled water or cooled boiled water. i plan to ebf till dd self weans but as i'll be going back to work full time she'll need to drink something when i'm not there.

umm, think thats about it for now

tia
x

You don't say what age baby is. If there are no allergies in the family and baby is over 6 months then you can make the weetabix/porridge with ordinary full-fat cows's milk.

We always offered water with a meal - food isn't really about nutrition for the first year so you may want to offer breast a few minutes before dinner if you're around.

You are okay with tap water - baby will be putting all sorts of things into their mouth at this stage, so there's no point giving sterilised water.

Also, it's worth noting that babies often spend the first 2-3 months of BLW spilling more than they swallow. BLW is supposed to be fun and relaxed. We just shoved a plate of food in front of DD and let her get on with it.

oh sorry, dd will be just over 6 months when we start. no allergies etc.

i usually have bottled water as i think our tap water tastes funny but i suppose i dont want dd to get into the habit of drinking bottled water only!!!

yep we are totally down with the mess, fun etc. the more mess the better i say!!!!!

Most BLW I know including my Dc don't eat anything of real consequence (enough to replace a milk feed) until somewhere between 9months and 1 yr or so. At the 6 month stage it's more like a play activity so don't adjust your milk feeds at all and I wouldn't use water at that stage personally.

Once baby is actually eating and needing less milk then I would offer water in a sippy cup to keep him hydrated.

If you want to use a sippy cup for expressed milk you could start now but 4 months is a long time and expressing is a hassle...I'd wait until maybe a month before hand (9months I'm guessing) to start with the sippy cup. Baby should pick it up quickly at that age. I found tommy tippee first cups great...they should be free flow not suctiony cups ideally.

I made porridge with water I think for DS. Cows milk isn't recommended as a full on replacement for other milk until 1 year but I think as an ingredient it is fine. Maybe check that out with an HV to be sure. MY DC definitely had a range of dairy foods pre 1 year old.

O also do not use bottled water. health advice I have read suggests it has too many minerals in it which aren't great for babies tums. I just use normal tap water but didn't start with water that early, if you are starting water with a youngish baby I would guess cooled boiled water is safest.

Hope that helps!

Get a few cheap shower curtains, cut them in half and use them under the table.

On the milk with cereal question, I used expressed bm until 12 months. I read somewhere not to use cows' milk til this age. Worked fine.

Gave tap water to drink. We left it so DD could get it herself when she wanted it. Try different sippy cups, DD only got on with ones we bought from Morrisons!

AyeOop, I think the advice to avoid cow's milk until 12 months is only if you are giving it as a drink as it doesn't have the same nutrients as BM or FM. It's fine in cereal/cooking after 6 months though but so is EBM if you have it (mine was always too precious to use in cooking!)