HV suggesting baby rice for my 16 wk ds2. I am confused.

[princessmel]

I thought guidelines were 6 months these days. I mentioned this and possible damage to his gut and she said 'we'll talk about that in 2 weeks' (she was busy and that's when I'm seeing her next)

She said he could start at 17 weeks...with baby rice. Which I thought had less calories in than breast milk anyway. I said I wasn't keen.
She said if he drops down on the chart any more then we'll review it again. He was born between the 91st and 75th centile and is around the 25th now. I thought this was normal with bf babies too. He is 14 lb 21/2oz. He put on 7 oz in the last 2 weeks. Btw he had a chest infection a few weeks ago with Ab's.

I told her he feeds 2 hourly normally.

She said 'has he ever slept through the night?' . I told her he has (in the past) gone from 8/9pm ish to 4/5am ish a few times but is waking at 2/3 ish more recently. But I also said I expect to be woken for feeds, he is a baby after all!!

She also asked 'is he looking at you when you eat?' and I said he is, but tbh he looks at me whatever I do.

So what do you think? I wasn't planning on doing food till 6 months and then giving blw a go..with a bit of mush thown in.

tia

that's 14lb 2 1/2oz

you sound like you know what you're talking about.

she, on the other hand, is talking crap.

if it were me, i wouldn't bother going back but then i didn't see my hv for either of my babies.

Thanks. I actually feel a bit deflated. As though I am not managing to keep him fulfilled(sp).

I didn't say I wasn't happy with the frequency of the feeds. She said 2-4 hourly is considered normal but 4 hourly is more normal and less tiring for me.

Does he look at you when you drive? Maybe it's time to let him drive ... just sitting on your lap, obviously.

You're doing great. If you're unhappy on the two-hourly feeds, there may be some ways to sneak some more breastmilk into him ...

lol NQC

I do like her but she has said this in the past about dd. And she made comments about my so called huge bump...hmm

I don't mind feeding ds2 atall. Actually after he's played on his mat,on my lap, under mobile walked round with me, sat in his chair, what else is there for him to do anyway!!

Other issue is his naps . He sleeps on me whilst feeding off and on.
I might add that she suggested leaving him crying for periods of 5 mins , going in and out etc, or just leaving him in his crib crying when I said he has his daytime naps on my breast, and I was trying to do pat shush. (I got this to work today for the first time btw )

What sneaky ways are there NQC??

You say he has dropped from the 91st centile to the 25th. Is that normal, even for a breast fed baby?. Mine stayed on roughly the same line and I bf all three of mine. Maybe she thinks that because you are feeding two hourly you are getting run down which is affecting your milk and thus he is losing weight? No critisicm, and I dont reckon she meant to make you feel that you are not fulfilling him. She probably just thinks he ought to be going longer than 2 hourly at his age and that he may need something else to help him on his way. Remember, it was only a few years ago babies were weaned at 4 months and to be honest it was often a struggle to get them to that. One of my dds started to slow off on her weight gain prior to weaning, we weaned and she soon took off again. As Notquitecockney says, you could always sneak extra milk into him to put some weight on him.

My ds2 is bottle fed and has gone from above the 75th to just above the 25th centile...he's also 16 weeks....and also has had a chest infection with ab's....

I don't think he is in any way ready for solids yet, and he feeds like a demon, no idea where he puts it all. I would just ignore the hv for now and keep an eye on him.

He had bronchiolitis at 6 weeks and that's when he first dropped down. He was hospitalised and wasn't feeding as well as usual and then not atall while he was in hospital.

My friends have been saying I need to eat more food too. And more fattening stuff aswell. What are your thoughts on this NQC??
And it's true on the odd day I have missed lunch (or had it very late) due to ds2 sleeping on me. But I always eat breakfast and dinner and have lunch virtually every day. I drink as much as I rememeber.

Yes, it is normal. Are you using the new charts or the old charts? HV said this to me and I didn't go back. DS is now on 75th centile at 16 months - he was always between 25th and 50th before. He doesn't eat loads but he does eat, and I am still breastfeeding. He is fine and he always was fine!

Being run down will not affect your milk. It's a common misconception that it does. Feeding 2-hourly is fine, and if you are happy with that then why try to change it?

Sorry frogety, I don't mean to sound rude, I know you were trying to help

Diet doesn't affect breastmilk production either princessmel - it's likely you have nothing to worry about. Breast and Bottle Feeding is a good place to post for more info on this - tiktok in particular is very well informed.

I don't know about the chart. It is in the red book. How would I know which one it is??
I'd be interested to see the difference if it's the old chart.
I am not run down as far as I know. I feel quite good considering I have 3 dc's and a busy life. School runs, football, ballet, swimming etc etc and ds2 (and dd and ds1) waking me in night
Maybe people think I am as I am back in my pre baby clothes.

Ok will C and P this there

Thanks all . Any more advice greatly received.

Thats ok Bertie. Being run down did affect my milk though. I had a dreadful time bfeeding my three - every problem there was. I got dreadfully run down as they fed so much and so often and my milk got very poor and they got hungry (there was no doubt about it) - it became a visious circle for us. Terrible time. I do still believe that milk production is very individual and that for some of us it is hard to produce it. I never leaked, never seemed to have enough, and the day I stopped from feeding three times a day I just stopped and didnt even have to express once!!! The guilt still stays that I beleive my poor girls were hungry and I should have bottle fed. If I ever had another I would. I fed each for a year or more though! But did wean early - as was the guidance then.

And diet definately affected me. It was hilarious as if I didnt eat enough fat (loads) then my milk stopped. The HV got stroppy with my dh and said it was rubbish so he said we would prove it. I fed, and then ate normally (including fat but not whole cakes etc) for a day and the next day the poor child was screaming as so hungry however much I fed her. The HV couldnt believe it. I then ate loads of chocolate, cake, cheese etc and 24 hours late the HV witnessed good feeding with sufficient (but not excess) milk. She couldnt believe it and apparently now tells people that in most people diet doesnt affect milk, but there are exceptions!!!

frog. You did great with your dc's I'm sure

I don't ever seem to run out of milk. But ds2 is seeming to 'have had enough' of one side sooner than he did before. I was single side feeding (as I did with ds and dd) but am starting to do both sides more these days. Not every feed though, just if he seems fussy on the side he's on.

I'd be devastated if I ran out.

dd1 was on 75th, went down to 9th. hv made concerned noises. dd1 was eating well, sleeping well, happy and healthy. i stopped going to hv.

dd2 had bronchiolitis at 4.5 weeks. a small baby, doesn't eat a lot but sleeps well and is happy. i have not gone to hv at all.

they are fine. i think all this scare-mongering is totally unnecessary.

the time, imo, to worry is when they stop eating and are not themselves. otherwise, let them get on with it, and i don't see reason to take them to gp / hv.

Princess - thanks. It did take me ages to get over it. I just have to accept that my body was crap at producing milk - but on a postive side I made it produce enough to get by!!!! I envy you your lots of milk though. Enjoy.

Frogertyfrog - it's simply not true that eating fatty foods makes more milk. You and your hv clearly dont understand teh biology of it. Nor does being run down.

Princessmel - you wont run out of milk. Breasts are never empty - just less full at times. I suggested you look at kellymom's website on your other thread. It gives fantastic information and breaks a lot of myths.

princessmel- you sound very much like me ... my Ds2 also had bronchiolitis when he was a few weeks old and was in hospital, his weight also went from 95th down to 25th- and the HV did try to worry me a bit! But it is ridiculous to think about starting babyrice (as you say it has no nutrional value as compared to BF). WHO guidelines is for babies to be BF completely for 6mths- they do not need other food until after this age.

I was also in pre-pregnancy clothes soon after birth and I remember HV saying to me- 'don't you like chocolate?' ???? . Not sure where she was going with that one!

Anyway, DS2 is now 2yrs old and I havent been to the HV since the chocolate comment- they dont seem bothered either as have had no requests to see him . BTW he is also very bonny now!

Do what seems right to you- you sound like you know what is going on!

Rainbowinthesky - my GP thinks that was the case, and the HV after spending time with us. How do you explain it then. It was purely accidental that we stumbled across it for me. Not saying it is the case for many people, but did find some literature on it afterwards. There are always things that cant be explained in the human body. Actually, having good fat stores and extra calories is important when feeding and can affect supply - and all I can think in my case was I needed more than average.

Rainbow - quote from 'breast is best': Experts have worked out that breastfeeding women need, on average, an extra 500 calories a day when they are exclusively breastfeeding for several months. The exact amount will vary as time goes by. Women with good fat stores who are less active may need less than this.

GPs generally know very little about breastfeeding too. Really, eating a few cakes one day will not increase your milk, really it's not true.

The weaning thing at six months is really about being very careful about what you give before that time - it is mostly about being careful with gluten, that's why everyone says about baby rice because it is highly unlikely that anyone reacts to rice - it is more about bulking out than calories. I am not sure if i would bother myself but gluten is one of the reasons that the six month rule came in. Also veggie mush is fine too pretty early on such as carrots and stuff because highly unlikely to cause a reaction. I would not lose sleep over giving a bit of something at this age.

Personally, i think we have all got a little over the top about the six month rule, it does vary from child to child and done carefully i don't think causes any harm.

Frog is right, you do need a few extra calories when feeding, very easy not to of course but it can make a difference to quality of milk. If you are busy and rushing around and let's face it at four months you are still recovering from pregnancy and birth it can sometimes be a bit of an issue to get your own nutrician sorted out.