10mo, can't stop DF

[deepsea]

hi ladies..

l have identical twin girl babies. they are 10m6d old. although l know it is not right to keep DF after 8th month l cannot stop DF.

l attempted to stop DF as explained in Tracy's book but since they don't increase the milk amount they take during day time, l couldn't decrease the milk amount at DF. then l tried to act as cold turkey and stop DF immediately but they cry at 23:30 for their meal..

l had started to work again when girls finish 8 months and my girls are not in interest the BM during day time after solids introduced. even if l don't give any other food, they don't drink BM more than 50-75 ml. Since l pumped my milk during they time, l have to BF during DF. since their sleep is interrupted, they are having NWs. (if I give a bottled BM, their night sleep is better..)

on the other hand, their teeth are coming and they are having many NWs for 20 days and they don't go back to sleep if they don't BF.

so although my girls are bigger, my sleeps are much shorter.. l need help to stop DF and NFs immediately.

thanks in advance

[Erin M]

Those two keep you busy!  It's not the end of the world of they're still doing the df (or a nf either) at this age.  My ds was still dream feeding at 10 months, I think we finally managed to drop it nOT too long after.  But it sounds like you've got more going on than that.  How many wakings are you getting?  At what times?

[deepsea]

thanks for reply..

actually l lost my track many nights ago:)

as far as I remember this is how yesterday night was:
after horrible BT they slept silently until DF. DF with bottled BM at 23:00.

Derin wu at 3am, DH was successful to put her sleep again. then she slept until 6:15am. after BF she usually re-sleep but not this morning so we had EW

Deniz wu around 4:15am, l settled her but she WU again at 4:30am. so I BFed her. she slept, then we put her back to crib, she screamed around 5am, resettled again. she screamed 5:40 again. so l take her to bed with us. she slept until 6:50am.

yesterday evening they both were fussy at BT (home was crowded, l think they were disturbed) and teething signals were too strong (4 times dirty nappy, loss of appetite) so l gave them very small amount of paracetamol after DF.

considering this week, this was a fair night.

NWs are usually random I believe.. but there is no STTN at all, l have never seen such a thing yet:)

they refuse BF when they WU in the morning, so if they WU around 5-6am l am happy to BF them because if I don't I have to pump up on the morning as well..

their day are good. they have 1h AM nap and 2h PM nap. l try to keep solid 3h A time before BT but l try to keep their day max 13h.

thanks again.. you know l am fun of you:)

[Erin M]

teething signals were too strong (4 times dirty nappy, loss of appetite)

Hmm, this might have something to do with it.  If you gave them meds before bed, they might have woken when it wore off (it's effective for about 4 hours).  What teeth would they be getting?  Some of them are tougher to get for the LOs than others.  It would explain the difficulty settling.

With them getting older, you might need to start capping that second nap too in order to get them a long enough A time to bed. 

I was working when my dd2 was about that age, I generally just nursed them before I left for work and didn't bother with pumping as she wouldn't take anything from the bottle anyway.  I think in your position I'd keep the df too for now and worry about dropping it when you think they're getting enough during the day. 

[deepsea]

 I read in this forum, DF after 8.month might be cause of NWs. That's why I tried to stop in deed.

If this is not the case I can keep DF forewer because it is the easiest meal for us;)

3rd and 4th are coming for both of them. It is not easy for them, poor babies

What about brushing teeths? When to start? As far as l read, BM is not harmfhul as much as formula, right?

Thank you

[Fiver]

It's not that the milk isn't as harmful as formula, but is delivered to a different part of the mouth so doesn't make contact so much with the teeth and also doesn't pool in the mouth, reducing the amount of time it is in contact with teeth too.

[shivi]

I DFed both my bf kids beyond 10 mths. I also went back to a bit of DFing DD when she was close to 18mths just to make it to 18 as she had other ideas and wanted no more bfing.....

Agree with Fiver re the teeth brushing....

S x

[*Ali*]

Actually I was just reading about the affect BM has on teeth and it is thought to be considerably less harmful than fomula and other foods. Breastmilk contains lactoferrin which actually kills the bacteria that causes tooth decay. The antibodies in BM are also thought to counter the bacteria that cause decay making it more difficult for them to utilize the lactose sugar in the BM. And lastly BM doesn't not lower the PH of the mouth by as much as other food and drink meaning it is not made into an acidic environment in which the bacteria thrive. There is more info here if you are interested. http://kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/tooth-decay
Having said all that, it is important that you brush teeth twice a day as soon as they appear to remove other foods and bacteria that will be present in babies' mouths.

[Erin M]

Having said all that, it is important that you brush teeth twice a day as soon as they appear to remove other foods and bacteria that will be present in babies' mouths.

Wow, twice a day.  We're only doing once here, I'll have to fix that!

[*Ali*]

We just do it when they get dressed in the morning and again at bathtime. Same for the whole family, that's what our dentist says anyway.