Why do health visitors always confuse more than they help!? Are the following statements true...

[ElmMum]

HV has just left and came out with the following statements. Is so frustrating because from what I know about my DD and what I've read about weaning, she's wrong! But they say things so definitively you're left feeling more uncertain than before.

"DD (who is 26 weeks) should be able to get through the night without a dream feed by now."

-- I know she can't because we tried dropping it last time HV said this and she woke up at 1am hungry when she hasn't needed a night feed for ages.

"Babies need more than just milk after 6 months. It's important to get them up to 3 square meals a day + 3 snacks + 3 bottles by 8 months."

-- I've just read the BLW book by Gill Rapley and it stresses that babies get everything they need (bar maybe some iron) from milk til they're 1 and solids are just for learning, fun and eventually nutrition.

"If she starts waking more in the night, you know she's not getting enough solids and you need to make sure she's getting more."

-- From other posts on here, the link between solids and sleep is pretty weak I'd say. Surely other things disrupt sleep too, like teething!

Gargh! She's a nice enough woman but why can't HVs actually tell you "facts" rather than what seems to just be there opinion. She doesn't seem to know any more than I do and yet she has the "authority" to advise me.

Are any of the statements above true?

I think that they need solids from around 6 months, I'm not sure why though could jjust be because thats all I know but I dont think just milk would sustain a child properly do correct me if Im wrong though as I say just my guess.

The first and the third are probably true for some babies but i am seriously about the second but i have bf both times so that may be true if bottle feeding

1. If you got a sleeping baby with a dream feed dont mess with iT!

3)Babies and children wake for a variety of reasons, hungry is one but only you can tell on the day which one is the one for that day,

Milk is the main source of nutrition anything else is just a bonus untill one.

Waking in the night could be anything from baby being cold to growth spurts. My dd2 has just started waking in the night again. She is 19 months old and if she ate any more solids she would be huge. All she does is eat.

I dont think there is a link between food and sleeping through the night.

our ds was a really good sleeper till we introduced solids but we found the solids gave him more energy and because he wasnt mobile he wasnt burning it off so he was up later, awake earlier etc..

You are right about the only nutrition little ones dont get from milk is iron but if their iron levels are good to start with then its not a huge issue for an extra few months anyway

I think hv's should be preaching "do what makes you and baby happy" why tell someone to drop a dreamfeed which is just going to result in broken sleep for mum and daughter

honestly do these people have kids??

Well, DD (6mths, 3wks) is now on 3 meals a day, 2 bfs and 2 ffs, one of which is a dreamfeed. There is no way I am getting rid of the dreamfeed for a while and when I do, I will phase it out very gradually. All babies are different and some will not need a dreamfeed now but some will.

3 solid meals + 3 snacks + 3 bottles sounds like quite alot doesn't it?
You know your baby best.
Follow your instincts regarless of what hv says.

I've no idea why some HVs just make stuff up and pretend it's the law. But they do. Give people a tiny bit of power and there's a number who can't resist mis-using it.

My ds refused to eat any solids at all until he was 8 months old, which meant he was exclusively bf till then. My HV said that she wouldn't worry about him not eating solids until he was 12 months.

As for the sleeping, my feeling is that babies are all different and while what your HV says may be true for some babies, it is unlikely to be true for all.

Nutritionally speaking most babies don't need a night feed after 6 months.

This is true enough.

But lets analyse.

First of all its a generalisation. Most babies does not mean all babies.

Secondly, the nutritional info behind it doesn't so much relate to babies over 6m not needing a night feed as it does to most babies under 6 months needing night feeds.

Lastly, as we all know, babies don't always feed for nutrition, they sometimes feed for comfort, as a sleep aid or just because they miss you.

So you could quite happily reword as "After 6 months you don't have to worry about your babies milk intake if they stop feeding at night. However if they continue feeding at night thats quite normal too, and stopping it is at your discretion"

IMO, you should go with whatever gets you most sleep!

3 meals, 3 snacks and three feeds? Wow. How we supposed to fit all that in?

xx