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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

blw - what am i doing???

13 replies

wartywarthog · 25/09/2006 13:14

having a bit of a confidence crisis. i've been doing blw for a month now and i think it's going ok. except that dd hardly seems to actually EAT anything. this coupled with the fact that after a week of sleeping 7 to 7 she's started waking up twice a night for milk. having read the sleep threads i'm petrified that she'll get used to the idea of milk through the night and am wondering how i can get her off it, and onto eating more during the day.

some of my friends are dropping their 6 month old dc's milk feeds as they're eating large meals.

i am just finding it very hard to continue with this and am trying to resist shovelling large amounts of purée in her general direction. it doesn't help that i'm sleep deprived and i'm the only one in rl that's doing this, surrounded by people that think i'm a moron / insane / lentil-weaver.

help!!!

OP posts:

auntymandy · 25/09/2006 14:09

err whats blw?

Original poster

wartywarthog · 25/09/2006 14:15

baby led weaning.

OP posts:

auntymandy · 25/09/2006 19:05

oh sorry I am new to all this difficult parenting!!!

oops · 25/09/2006 19:13

Message withdrawn

Original poster

wartywarthog · 25/09/2006 20:22

no worries am.

thanks oops. just feeling so depressed with it all. watching friends lo's gulping down lots of food and thinking that my dd has only had homeopathic amounts. i can't see how i can possibly drop one of her milk feeds at this rate. i might print out your post and refer to it in the darkest moments...

OP posts:

PigeonPie · 25/09/2006 20:27

Warty, I was in exactly the same position as you - no one in my rl has done blw either and I felt rather isolated at the beginning.

My ds was like this for the first couple of months and I wasn't sure about continuing. However, he wouldn't take food from a spoon so I was stuck with blw!

However, he's now 10 months and eating everything in sight, although he does still wake at night for a bf (apart from last night when he slept through hoorah!).

So there is hope and don't worry about what you're friends are doing

PigeonPie · 25/09/2006 20:28

Warty, I was in exactly the same position as you - no one in my rl has done blw either and I felt rather isolated at the beginning.

My ds was like this for the first couple of months and I wasn't sure about continuing. However, he wouldn't take food from a spoon so I was stuck with blw!

However, he's now 10 months and eating everything in sight, although he does still wake at night for a bf (apart from last night when he slept through hoorah!).

So there is hope and don't worry about what you're friends are doing

Original poster

wartywarthog · 26/09/2006 13:38

thanks pp. glad i'm not alone!

OP posts:

aitch71 · 26/09/2006 14:17

at 7 months my dd's sleep went completely haywire here
and so many people replied that i concluded it couldn't have been the BLW that had done it.

it did settle right down once i gave her solids earlier in the day so her tummy was full of milk at bedtime but at 9 months she's back up inthe night wanting more milk again. actually, it's okay because i have discovered that i can do dream feeds now so i give her milk at about 10.30 or 11pm (when she was younger she used to take it as a signal to get up and play with three hours, so i couldn't risk it).

this time i'm absolutely certain it's a growth spurt because i do notice that during a growth spurt her solids intake really drops while she concentrates on milk for a couple of weeks. you just can't rule out that your friends are fibbing. i have a friend who would definitely say that her son has slept through since 3 weeks old, but if i am saying that we've had a bad night she is suspiciously sympathetic and admits that he is waking up too...

as for the amounts... that's more tricky. if you look at the FAQ written by the yahoo women they do say that a lot of their babies weren't up and running with the eating until 12 months. as i said, i think dd's intake is dropping at the moment and we are three months in, but i see her ravenous for milk so i just have to trust her.
it is a pain, though, when you see everyone else doing their shovelling...

Original poster

wartywarthog · 26/09/2006 14:34

i remember that your dd had sleep probs and wondered if my dd had the same problem. so i cut out her afternoon snack altogether and that worked for 1 night. but reading your thread we're having the same problem: she gets upset but the minute i pick her up she's all smiles. so last night i just picked her up, calmed her, put her back down again and kept doing it until she let me leave the room. took about an hour.

i don't want to have to re-introduce the 10 pm feed as i've just felt like i've got my life back! but if she needs it i guess i have to.

thanks for the support. i know what you mean re. friends being able to suspiciously sympathise when supposedly their dc's are perfect. i wish we didn't all have to be so competitive! and wish i didn't feel so judged for doing it the blw way.

thanks for the support.

OP posts:

Flamesparrow · 26/09/2006 15:02

Its times like this that I am thankful for DS never having slept through - I don't have to doubt the weaning

I am varying between BLW and lumpy mush - pretty much dependent on how the day has been/what's for dinner.

With not wanting to reintroduce the 10pm feed... think of it this way - no feed, broken sleep, tired - feed, full nights sleep, enjoy life more

(Says me at the luxury of having a choice there!!!)

Errr forgotten my original reply now!!! Pretty much just stick at it, she'll get there. She could be on mush and not eating too!!

SoupDragon · 26/09/2006 16:07

This isn't going to help you I guess but you're not alone

BabyDragon has got adept at apparently putting food in her mouth and then palming it using sleight of hand to shove it onto the floor or highchair. In fact, I think she makes food manifest out of thin air because I swear there's more on the floor than I actually gave her. She is not a BLWeanable child IMO. I'm pretty much ready to give up on the whole weaning lark altogether and just breastfeed her, especially as she's gone back to waking every 3 hours at night for feeding. Sigh.

Original poster

wartywarthog · 27/09/2006 12:21

Thanks guys, Feel a lot better now. DD only woke up for one meal last night, so a bit more sleep has given me perspective.

And I also realised that I was being way too conservative in what I was giving her to eat, so I think being more adventurous and letting her eat more of what I eat will help.

OP posts:

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