FEBRUARY HEARTS Due in February 2015 , open group all welcome!

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Feronia said:
Oh my gosh I was a walking zombie...!

I have friends telling me that if you have a difficult first child than the second will be way easier, and I really hope they're right, lol.

Oh sure, those type of routines are fine. :haha: Sometimes when I hear "baby" and "routine" in the same sentence I picture a tiny baby being forced to wait for a specific time to eat when he's really hungry!
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Oh my goodness! For your sake i hope the little one in your tummy is a saint with sleep :)

And yes! Totally agree with you! I have some friends who swear by this program called baby wise. I read a little of the book and was disgusted! It was suggesting regimented feeding and even changing schedules from day one! And then a lot of the people i knew doing it were unable to bf past 4-5 months due to supply issues! Made me really sad as both mom and baby seemed stressed! :(
 
So what are the early hunger cues, for the newbies amongst us?!
 
MiniBump said:
I'm not good on no sleep or broken sleep either, that's one reason I'm still breastfeeding! Sometimes I'm so grateful for it, lol!!

Thought I'd better add, she doesn't ask for it when she wakes but it's always nice to know I can offer if all else fails or if she's waking with illness/teething pain x
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This is one reason I'd continue longer this time if possible, his first illnesses, teething, hurt etc after weaning was awful, I had no idea what to do because I'd been so used to nursing it better.
Xx
 
MellyH said:
So what are the early hunger cues, for the newbies amongst us?!
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Getting restless, "rooting" (which is kind of like trying to get anything in their little mouth), starting to get fussy, and one no-fail trick i used was to tap the side of my little guy's mouth gently and if he turned to it with his mouth open i knew he was getting hungry :)
 
Lol i was just thinking his hunger cue now is looking at me very serious and saying "puff!!!! PUFF!!!" Because he calls food puffs since he that's what we call the little cereal snacks we give him :)
 
Excellent link, RaspberryK! :thumbup:
Ugh, yeah Babywise is horrible! Changing schedules too? Seriously? I can't imagine anyone letting their baby sit in an overblown diaper until a pre-established changing time!
 
Kellymom is a great website for all things breastfeeding. :thumbup: Anyone planning on breastfeeding should definitely bookmark it and start reading now about what to expect in the early days, good attachment and positioning and how to establish a good supply (essentially immediate skin to skin contact, breast massage if baby doesn't feed in the first hour or so after birth then unrestricted day and night feeding on demand (no setting limits on length of feeds, time at each breast or space between feeds other than the 4 hour max), no formula supplements and no pacifiers or bottles for the first few weeks). Forewarned is forearmed!! x
 
https://kellymom.com/bf/normal/newborn-nursing/

Also as in this link above mentions the amount of feeds in a 24 hour period, (ours were concentrated in the day mostly rather than evenly spread), signs they are getting enough and not waking baby after a good weight gain pattern is achieved which is basically what the nhs and unicef info says and the principles I followed with ds. He had great gain from the start and was always able to wake when hungry so therefore he was left until he woke me to be fed.
Xx
 
ttc126 said:
Feronia you are a champion in my book. No way i could have nursed 10+ times a night! Wow!

Maybe i just got lucky with an easy sleeper? Now I'm worried for #2!

I never really did a feeding routine just woke him if he went past a certain time frame as he was a little lazy about waking for feeds. But the type of routine I was meaning was more like wake up around a certain time, take a morning walk, play time, bath story etc before bed :) With feeds whenever he was hungry :)
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As this is our first baby, I doubt we will have a routine early on! (And will be much more just finding our feet) :) I think by say 6 months I would like to have set meal times (ie. for solids) and a bedtime routine. I would guess (hope) the rest will sort of come together... I am lucky to not have to work right away, so we will just see how our little family works re: baby's wants and needs, Hubby's work schedule and whatever else we have going on by then!

I have found pregnancy a tough (more emotionally than physically) experience- but am so, so excited to have the baby! We really all are very lucky and blessed to be expecting :)
 
Thanks all! I liked the clarification on that page that the hand-sucking is only a hunger cue when they're newborns as well. Good tip. :lol:
 
SurpriseBub said:
As this is our first baby, I doubt we will have a routine early on! (And will be much more just finding our feet) :) I think by say 6 months I would like to have set meal times (ie. for solids) and a bedtime routine. I would guess (hope) the rest will sort of come together...
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Baby won't be eating meals at 6 months as you should only just be starting to introduce solids at that age (for instance a stick of broccoli and a bit of banana at 'lunch' if you're doing baby-led weaning). Breastmilk or formula should still be baby's main source of nutrition with the odd bits of solids in between feeds. Don't worry if your baby isn't a great lover of solids at first either, they do say that food before 1 year is just for fun. A good sign that your baby is ready for solids is that they can take food, grasp it and put it to their own mouth (they gag a lot at first though!)

With a bedtime routine, you can start that as early as you like, it just may not be at the same time every day. Just doing the same things in the same order (e.g. bath, story, milk, bed) helps baby know night from day. You can play around with the timings as you go along!

Apologies if that sounds like a lecture, it's not intended that way!! :blush:
 
MiniBump, you are beating me to the information today, which is great -- saves me some typing. :haha:

I'll just add that when solids are introduced, they should be preceded with milk, especially if you're doing baby-led weaning (which is awesome). Then the baby isn't really hungry and can experiment with the food without the real need for nutrition. Totally, food before 1 is just for fun!

Yes, kellymom is a fabulous resource! I always check there first if I have any questions. My midwives recommend that and Dr. Jack Newman, who I'm following on facebook. He gives some excellent breastfeeding advice!
 
Great advice guys I loved reading the last couple of pages, so many questions and unknowns as a first timer!
 
MiniBump said:
SurpriseBub said:
As this is our first baby, I doubt we will have a routine early on! (And will be much more just finding our feet) :) I think by say 6 months I would like to have set meal times (ie. for solids) and a bedtime routine. I would guess (hope) the rest will sort of come together...
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Baby won't be eating meals at 6 months as you should only just be starting to introduce solids at that age (for instance a stick of broccoli and a bit of banana at 'lunch' if you're doing baby-led weaning). Breastmilk or formula should still be baby's main source of nutrition with the odd bits of solids in between feeds. Don't worry if your baby isn't a great lover of solids at first either, they do say that food before 1 year is just for fun. A good sign that your baby is ready for solids is that they can take food, grasp it and put it to their own mouth (they gag a lot at first though!)

With a bedtime routine, you can start that as early as you like, it just may not be at the same time every day. Just doing the same things in the same order (e.g. bath, story, milk, bed) helps baby know night from day. You can play around with the timings as you go along!

Apologies if that sounds like a lecture, it's not intended that way!! :blush:
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I have been through weaning twins when I nannied- so I wasn't meaning I expect baby to be having full meals by 6 months. :) I will need to brush up when the time comes, but do remember how they (very successfully) introduced solid foods.

Around 6 months (supposing she can sit and is interested etc), we would start small with a bit of vegetable puree and go from there. I would like for us to establish a meal time routine, though- perhaps more of a social/family thing. We definitely want to do dinner together at the table each evening etc, so I want that to be a part of baby's routine from early on. Even if she just sits on my or DH's lap, that would work. I had many meals with a nanny charge on my knee! I also think having baby at the table both helps to get them interested in food, and gently start introducing some of the cornerstones of how we want family life to be. I think the "food before one is just for fun" slightly under plays the fact that even if they aren't eating tonnes of food for nutrition, getting baby interested and comfortable with food is an important step in development, and should happen ideally starting around 6 months.

I appreciate the advice, and agree that milk is nutritionally the most important thing up to 1. I didn't take it as a lecture- i know mama's are keen to share what they know! And apologies if I sounded like I would be sitting my 6 month old down with a burger and fries ;)
 
Oh yeah, "food before one is just for fun" just means that experimentation and socialization with food is what's important, but that milk is still the primary source of nutrition so you shouldn't stress out if your baby doesn't eat very much. :thumbup:

Family dinners together are great! I grew up with them and want my kids to get used to them, too. No TV dinners and eating separately like my DH's family did...
 
I was curious about what the NHS in the UK advises on weaning, and found this page: https://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx

That pretty much mirrors my Swiss nanny family's approach. Also interested to see the NHS specifically say to wait on wheat/gluten... my SIL (in the US) was advised by her pediatrician to start with grains (rather than veg) at 4 months :s ....so that is both too early and the wrong thing to start with according to the NHS... I wonder if that is just her pediatrician's advice or whether they really advise that in general over here??
 
hi all. Had my 20 week u/s on monday. It went well (i assume LOL) we are having a boy :)

all kids are so different. There is no point in trying to plan how and when you will do what LOL. my 3year DD is such a flexible kid - you don't have to work around any time for her. But she refused solid food till she almost a year. My son on the other hand prefers things to happen at roughly the same time everyday and was eating off our plates at 6months LOL. Your baby will let you know, and baby and mom will be happier if you follow their cues. Their instincts are strong, trust them LOL
 
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