Baby-led Weaning Support Thread Part 3

[Cathy_D]

Pauline - I sympathise!! We have waking at all hours of the night, too. On a good night it is only twice ... and this from a girl who slept through the night from 6 weeks :-(

No idea why, but sep anxiety is a possibility I hadn't thought of ... she has got whiny about me leaving her to play on her own lately and seems to need me in the same room always.  Seems to have sore teeth, too, though and isn't eating so much in the day, or taking much milk when it is time to nurse.  But at least one of the night wakings seems to be because she is really hungry - she drains both breasts given the chance.

So now I'm concerned that we're getting into a situation where the nighttime calories are making her less hungry in the day.  Not sure whether to stick to mealtimes as they are, in the hope that we preserve a daytime routine now that the nighttime is all messed up. Or to try and keep topping her up with snacks in between meals. Which runs the risk of her taking even less milk in the daytime and therefore wanting it at night instead.  Feel more at a loss because I can't measure how much solid food she's taking as neatly as all the puree-ing mums of her conteporaries.

Now (at 9 months) should I still be mostly working on getting more milk into her in the daytime. Or is she trying to tell me she needs more solids to keep her filled up (which she then won't eat because her teeth hurt).  She's a chubby little thing, so in no danger of fading away any time soon but I hate the thought of her being miserable and hungry in the night almost as much as I hate being woken up!

Any thoughts, anyone?!

[Cathy_D]

Oh, and I've just read lovedtodeath's links on 'how much and how often' ... really, really useful and interesting. thanks!  Suprised to see that even at 9 months there's no expectation of 3 'meals' a day. 

We were pottering along perfectly happily with two until I caved in to the assumption of absolutely everyone else around me that she 'had' to have 3 opportunities to eat solids a day, otherwise she wouldn't get enough solid food. But I rather suspect that the amount I'm thinking she should be eating is rather more than is realistic/necessary/sensible.  Much food for thought 

[VickyB20]

Cathy - I know where you're coming from.  I had my first full night's sleep last Saturday when both babies miraculously decided to sleep through!!  (They had never done it before and haven't done it since, but most nights now at least one of them is sleeping through.  Phew!)

So although my methods were not exactly very successful (!) I found that by far the best nights happened when they breastfed as often as possible during the day.  When (on the advice of well-meaning people) I cut down their milk feeds to encourage them to eat more solids, they just woke up to make up for it at night-time.  And I found that I was never actually sure if they were definitely hungry (although they were always happy to latch on and eat) or if I just wasn't confident that I'd given them enough milk during the day IYKWIM.  I'm rambling now...

Finally, at 10 months old, they are not feeding at night.  Yippeeeee!!!  (Although sometimes I'll feed them at 5am and they'll sleep again for another couple of hours afterwards, if I'm lucky.)

The advice I got, which I trusted most, was to keep milk the primary nutrition until at least age 1.  Now that my boys are on mostly bottles, I have found that the quantity of milk they take remains pretty constant and they vary their solid intake a lot from day to day.  It feels right that way and I don't worry nearly as much as I did in the early weaning days.  I suspect it was the same when they were just breasfeeding, I just didn't know it!

Hope that helps a bit.

Vicky
xx

[Lippy Chick]

Just a quickie, as is bed time.

Alice had crumpets this morning for breakfast and loved them and had chicken for dinner and seemed to love that too.  Does not like carrots, she spat it straight out and cried for ages clutching her tongue.  It was quite funny and would've been funnier had she not been crying.  She ate the chicken after that.  Good for her.  So we're hoping for her to have turkey and brussel sprouts on Christmas day now.  Grapes are not a hit, as she can't hold them very well, even when they're cut up.  Oh well.

Pauline

[Cathy_D]

Vicky - that does help, thanks!  And I am humbled that I am whingeing so much after only a couple of weeks of disturbed nights, and you've had 10 months of it!! Sorry!

I think I already knew the answer to my own question, really. The answer is always milk, milk, milk, milk, milk!!

Anna loves crumpets, too - hadn't occurred to me to have them as a breakfast food, though - we only ever have them for Sunday tea. But a girl needs some variety in the mornings, so something other than bite-size shredded wheat or cornflakes to start the day sounds great. We will try it.

[VickyB20]

Another brekkie idea... I discovered Oatibix Bitesize and Wheatabix Bitesize.  The boys love them!!  Some sugar in them unfortunately, which is probably why they find them so yummy!!
xx

[Lippy Chick]

How much water does everyone give with meals?  Alice had a few chunks of cheese today and a couple of bits of tuna with melted cheese (it was on my toast) and a bit of lamb (from my Irish stew, I'm originally from Northern Ireland).  So now I'm thinking that I would melt some cheese with tuna so that's it's warmed through and give her chunks of that.  She seemed much more interested in that than in her toast.  Feel like I'm becoming a bit more adventurous and may even start to cook her something.  Steady!!!     Hubby decided to only have one slice of crumpet this evening so that Alice could have some breakfast, how loving.  I didn't. I had both of mine. 

Pauline

[VickyB20]

Pauline - I offer water at every meal in a sippy cup.  Sometimes they drink lots (I mean 2-3ozs) and other times they hardly touch it.  I try to remember to offer them water in a doidy cup (google it if you haven't seen them) once a day and when I do, they drink much more... and love using the 'real' cup.
xx

[Bryony]

I am the same - I offer water in a sippy cup each meal - usually she has some, occasionally she drinks lots. I let her have as much as she wants.

Bryony

[Freya'sMum]

Likewise with water - we fill a sippy cup up at the beginning of the day and she makes her way thru that throughout the day, a bit each mealtime

Bryony, who are the skaters?

Ax

[Lippy Chick]

Thanks, I use a doidy cup too.  She did really well with it initially, then started choking on it and then stopped swallowing the water.  We persisted for a few weeks with it, but she just wouldn't drink out of it.  She would get so excited when she saw it, that she would lunge for it and then suck the water in and choke on it.  I stopped it for a couple of weeks and tried her again yesterday.  She wouldn't drink from it at all, she brought it towards her (with me holding it) but kept her mouth open and just let the water fall out again.  So not sure how to encourage her back to using it again.

Pauline

[Bryony]

Bryony, who are the skaters?
Ax[/font][/size][/color]

Do you mean in my avatar?  That's me and DH dancing...  not sure I could get into that dress now though

Bryony

[VickyB20]

Wow Bryony!!!  That's amazing!  Clever you and hubby!
xx

[grahamsmama]

Bryony, that is so cool!!  I've been begging dh for 10 years to take ballroom dance classes with me.  One year he bought me a 'learn how to swing dance' DVD, but that's as close as I've gotten.   

[Freya'sMum]

Ah! I went on a ballroom and latin dance weekend with Anton du Beke and Erin Boag in July this year, and got to dance with Anton - it was only a beginners event tho, nothing as impressive as that lift you're doing! I'm pretty good at ballroom, but cannot quickstep at all, and as for the samba !

Anyway, back to BLW before I have to moderate myself for going off topic...

Ax