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You are soooo wrong, and if you knew it all, you wouldn't be online asking for advice from others. My kids were on solid foods by 7 months (stopped nursing at 6 months) for my daughter and 8.5 months (stopped nursing at 8 months) for my son as I got tired of them throwing their spoons as I fed them baby food. They wanted real food. They had formula a couple of times a day as their "milk" with their meals, but they were eating regular meals with us at the dinner table and enjoying every single bite (no meats until 12 months, so I fed them vegetarian burgers and chicken patties along with other foods).
Eating baby food between 4-5 months is experimentation as they're learning how to swallow and push the food to the back of their month. After that, they understand and they WANT real food. You're basically starving your kid, and you're looking for others to agree with you, and you're not even looking at the other side and thinking anyone else with a differing opinion could have a point. Next time, don't post for opinions if you don't want to entertain them.
Utter nonsense. Babies develop interest in table food or solids at their own pace. What are you going to do, shove solids down their throat when they're not interested? Bahahaha. I introduced solids to my four kids between 5-6 months, and yet they didn't develop a true interest until 9-10+ months beyond tastes and taking bites here and there. I decided what to eat and when, and they decided how much. I can present them with food, but there was no forcing them, babies, to eat. And yet, they didn't "starve." My first three were in the 80th and 90th% for weight for their first year, and never dropped below 75%. My now 13 month old was in the 82% until she hit 11 months and started walking around. She's now in the 65% for weight, which is perfectly normal, and yet she's not THAT crazy about eating full meals. She eats what she likes, however much she wants and that's it. I have done it this way with all four kids. They nurse/d, drank cow's or goat's milk and ate table food based on their individual needs.
OP, three my kids were down to nursing four to five times a day by 14-15 months, and two of them self-weaned at 16 months. My son was nursing maybe five times a day until 18 months (weaned at 21). My 13 month old still nurses 8+ times a day, but as a toddler, an efficient nurser, these sessions are pretty short. I don't have any experience with waking every two hours after 12 months, though. I would approach a LC about it since your LO is 24 months old. By that point he/she should be eating more table food or not relying on either breast or cow's milk for the bulk of their nutrition.
I decided what to eat and when, and they decided how much. I can present them with food, but there was no forcing them, babies, to eat. And yet, they didn't "starve."
Speaking from experience, you can actually "force" babies to eat. It takes a huge amount of time and effort (2+ hours at every meal, 5+ meals a day).
I don't recommend doing it unless your babies are extremely underweight and are in danger of "failure to thrive." Consult with multiple pediatricians, nutritionists, and feeding specialists first, before doing anything radical.
Actually, the 2-hour-sleep OP didn't mention if they'd consulted with pediatricians and therapists. OP, I would start there, rather than here on the internet, unless you already have. A few hundred bucks on some therapist sessions might be worth it if you finally get some sleep.
Ok, some of you will lambaste me for suggesting this, but I breast fed both of mine and this is what I found out with my first.
No matter what the nurses/doctors/books say, GET YOUR BABY TO ACCEPT A BOTTLE RIGHT AWAY, the first week. Use breast milk, formula or a bit of both mixed. By the second week, introduce formula if you haven't done so already. Just a couple of ounces every couple of days is enough.
I had a HELL of a time getting my firstborn to take a bottle because I waited too long to introduce one. When he was a month old, I wanted to go out for a couple of hours with a friend. I pumped the day before and just thought ok, hubby can do one feeding. I tried all day, and he would NOT take a bottle. Obviously, I couldn't go out the next night. It took a full day with crying jags off and on, for him to realize he'd better suck on that bottle to eat. Then it took another full day further on in the week to accept the taste of breast milk mixed with a bit of formula.
You just NEVER know what circumstances can happen that will prevent you from breast feeding, (an accident, mastitis, illness, etc) so my advice is to get them to at LEAST know what a bottle is and what formula tastes like.
Good luck! Wait until you're up half the night worried sick when your teenager hasn't come home by curfew! We didn't have cell phones to call them back then, but even now, if they don't answer...
Gouligann, I agree that introducing a bottle early is a huge sanity saver, a baby who won't take a bottle is way more hassle. But putting formula in that bottle unless it is necessary is the most ridiculous self-sabotage! There is a qualitative difference in the gut of exclusively breastfed babies compared to supplemented babies. Don't take that away from your baby without reason (low supply, pain, history of abuse, medications, etc, all the reasons one might not be able to BF exclusively)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Metaphysique
Utter nonsense. Babies develop interest in table food or solids at their own pace. What are you going to do, shove solids down their throat when they're not interested? Bahahaha. I introduced solids to my four kids between 5-6 months, and yet they didn't develop a true interest until 9-10+ months beyond tastes and taking bites here and there. I decided what to eat and when, and they decided how much. I can present them with food, but there was no forcing them, babies, to eat. And yet, they didn't "starve." My first three were in the 80th and 90th% for weight for their first year, and never dropped below 75%. My now 13 month old was in the 82% until she hit 11 months and started walking around. She's now in the 65% for weight, which is perfectly normal, and yet she's not THAT crazy about eating full meals. She eats what she likes, however much she wants and that's it. I have done it this way with all four kids. They nurse/d, drank cow's or goat's milk and ate table food based on their individual needs.
OP, three my kids were down to nursing four to five times a day by 14-15 months, and two of them self-weaned at 16 months. My son was nursing maybe five times a day until 18 months (weaned at 21). My 13 month old still nurses 8+ times a day, but as a toddler, an efficient nurser, these sessions are pretty short. I don't have any experience with waking every two hours after 12 months, though. I would approach a LC about it since your LO is 24 months old. By that point he/she should be eating more table food or not relying on either breast or cow's milk for the bulk of their nutrition.
Your kids are hungry, it's pretty obvious. An 8 month old should not need to eat every 2 hours. The AAP recommends solids at 6 months https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-a...d-Feeding.aspx along with breastfeeding. Try starting on some cereal and I bet you get better sleeps.
Then why do some adults need to eat every two hours?
Sorry, that's actually physically impossible. Perhaps you don't remember the change because it was gradual, but it is impossible for an exclusively formula fed baby's gut have the same microbes as an exclusively breastfed baby's. The organism in a BF baby's gut, Bifidum infantis, lives on oligosaccharides which are not yet able to be put in formula. Their poos are bascally B. infantis. That's why they smell like yoghurt, not poo.
And formula fed babies, babies on solids and adults all have gut flora dominated by E. coli, which is why they all have poo which smells like poo.
WOW! Your are WAY too literal. Go outside and do something.
By the way, any kid who is not getting iron supplementation and is exclusively breastfed is going to be iron deficient by six months old, and lose IQ points. The baby gets some iron through the placenta, but breast milk has virtually no iron (although what little it has is well absorbed). Once the baby's growth outstrips that iron that they took from mom, they become anemic. Not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to tissues. Adversely affects growth and development.
So, do start feeding them iron rich foods before they're six months old, and do give them the poly vi sol with iron multivitamin from a couple of weeks old. Supplies the vitamin D they need, also.
By the way, any kid who is not getting iron supplementation and is exclusively breastfed is going to be iron deficient by six months old, and lose IQ points. The baby gets some iron through the placenta, but breast milk has virtually no iron (although what little it has is well absorbed). Once the baby's growth outstrips that iron that they took from mom, they become anemic. Not enough red blood cells to carry oxygen to tissues. Adversely affects growth and development.
So, do start feeding them iron rich foods before they're six months old, and do give them the poly vi sol with iron multivitamin from a couple of weeks old. Supplies the vitamin D they need, also.
Source? I'm finding a couple of studies that suggest that there is an increased risk of anaemia in EBF infants (between 5% and 20% in infants that increase weight quickly) but most studies I found say that there isn't an increased risk.
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