I am actually going to try to cut dairy as well. Or at least severely limit dairy as it is everywhere! Too many times she has had a horrible day/night that I can link back to a heavy dairy intake just before. I know there can be a lot of factors to cause tummy troubles, but at least I can control the dairy and see if I see a difference. Gonna be a little tough, but I hate when she is gassy and in pain and there isn't much I can do. Plus not having the hours of crying and fussing with no naps or sleep would be well worth the effort to cut it. Plus my husband is a little lactose intolerant but is in denial so I will hopefully be helping them both!
I am going to miss dairy queen blizzards... but its winter anyway!
@jellybiehn I developed a nightly ice cream habit too. I'm a vegetarian so cheese and dairy is a big part of my diet. I won't cut it out completely, but will try to cut back. @rock1cherry we have probiotics, but I haven't been good about giving them to him every day. I should start being better about that.
I am debating cutting dairy, egg and soy or switching to formula. (The doctor suggested that usually dairy is the most common, but egg and soy frequently go with it). Unfortunately I already have my own allergy and am already limited in what I can eat, which is super frustrating and difficult for me. Cutting even just dairy or egg will severely limit my normal go-to foods. I am 99.9% sure that baby has some type of food allergy. Breastfeeding was supposed to be a no pressure, if it worked out that's great, if it didn't work ok, that's ok too, situation. I am really wrestling with this decision as to what is best for baby but also what will not make my life more stressful and challenging, though I feel guilty for making it about me.
For those that cut dairy out, did you eliminate products that say 'contains milk' or did you just eliminate the big obvious items like not drinking a glass of milk or eating ice cream? One doctor suggested just cutting out those big obvious items and another suggested eliminating all products that contain even traces of milk.
I cut out dairy when my son was about a 4-5 weeks old at my doctors recommendation. He was suffering from silent reflux and removing it did help.
@CDE20 Our pediatrician suggested just cutting out the big stuff initially. If that wasn't helping enough, then I would switch to complete dairy elimination. Lucky for us, he was able to get by on just removing the main things like milk and cheese.
As for feeling guilty about anything related to feeding your baby, I wouldn't. It's obvious you're putting a lot of thought into this. You're not being selfish whatever you decide to do. Ultimately it's up to you, but I don't think anyone would fault you for not wanting to suffer on a severely limited diet if formula is an option. I know I would be an awful/angry/mean person if I didn't really have food options and that's not good for the baby either.
I am trying to avoid all dairy but mainly focusing on the big dairy intakes. I don't believe she has a true allergy, just maybe her immature system has a hard time with it. I just noticed that she had a very bad day after I had large intakes of dairy ( bowls of ice cream, cereal and milk, homemade mac and cheese...) It happened too often to ignore so I thought I would make the effort and see if she has less gassy days. There are occasional green poops as well so I know something is irritating her system and dairy is the obvious cut right now .
I don't know if I can cut it all out....we have pizza Tuesdays! I like not having to cook and its damn good pizza... If she is not settling down ill be more strict with it I guess.
When does everyone plan on starting their LOs on rice cereal? My mom said we were all eating it at like 2 weeks old which seems a bit early lol. Dylan watches me so intently when I eat and gets super excited.
@drabong88 with my first two kids, we waited until 6mo to introduce any solids. We skipped the rice cereal and did a mix of purees and baby led weaning. My sons first food was avocado, daughters was sweet potato. We'll probably do the same with this little one.
I have heard anytime after 4 months depending on your kids development so I guess we will just talk to the doctor at his 4 month check up. He is pretty laid back so I'm thinking he will just tell us to start him when we think he's ready .
Any breastfeeding moms cut out dairy? My little guy wakes up frequently at night because he has gas. We try gas drops now and then, but they dont really seem to work. Not sure if the amount of gas he gets is normal or if it's something in my diet.
I can't drink dairy anymore myself. But when my older kids were little, cutting it out helped
When does everyone plan on starting their LOs on rice cereal? My mom said we were all eating it at like 2 weeks old which seems a bit early lol. Dylan watches me so intently when I eat and gets super excited.
Victoria is 16w old and we just started it at the NP advice. We add one tablespoon to an evening bottle of 4oz. So it's really not much. But she wakes up once per night instead of twice per night now. I use the Avent variable flow nipple with it. But honestly I think there is no need for anything different because it's a small amount.
All my older kids started at 3 to 4 months with rice cereal and puréed solids around 5 to 6 months. We'll likely stick to the same program with the pediatricians apprival
i think my cousins and I were all on cereal by one month LOL
Regarding solids and rice cereal, as a FTM I'm going to see what the pediatrician says at the 4 month appointment and go from there as I have no experience. I've heard about arsenic in rice cereal so I'll want to do research before I start that.
@Sbrown721 I was wondering the same thing regarding nippleflow. At 13 weeks we are still on flow 1. It seems that baby still ends up with a mouth full and some rolling down chin, so I'm hesitant to try a faster nipple.
@sbrown721 I tried asking this same question a while back but didn't get any hits. I figured since she was eating well and it's still only breast milk that I would stick with the same nipples instead of buying all new ones. Would love to hear some STM experiences though.
For those wondering about switching nipple sizes...I can't remember with my first but I believe you move up when your baby shows signs that flow 1 is too slow. they will get frustrated during the feeding and try to get it out faster. you'll know.
We thought X needed to go up a nipple at 2 months because he would get so upset when eating so we bought a variable flow and the next stage nipple. Tried it and he kept gagging. Come to find out, he was collapsing the nipples. The slow flow works great for him still, we just have to break his seal from time to time because his suck is so strong. He takes his bottles in 15-30 mins depending on how warm the bottle is and how hungry he is.
We've only tried a #2 nipple once (last night) and it went fine. Molly makes a huge mess with a #1 so I thought I'd try it. My husband said she made less mess with it so we are trying it again tonight!
Hmm LO breastfeeds for about 5 minutes then will let off and turn his head away, Then, he will turn his mouth back toward breast. Not sure what that's about. He does it about 3 times each feeding now at 10 weeks old. My best guess would be that he's not getting breast milk fast enough and he's slightly annoyed which makes me want to stay with nipple #1. Does that seem reasonable?
@Sbrown721 My LO does that occasionally (pulls off the breast then goes right back), usually she is gassy and needs a good burp. As far as the nipple size, I would agree with your train of thought.
@jellybiehn, baby is 12 wks and we're still at stage 1 nipples. Honestly with my other two kids we never even went up to the next level. Since I breastfed all of them, I didn't want them to get lazy with the latching/sucking. They never seemed to care!
@hejo2016 thanks that is good to hear. I figured that mine don't change so she might have gotten annoyed if they seemed slower than a faster nipple. Plus she still manages to choke on just the boob sometimes. Nice to know I can save some money and it is just fine to stick with what I already have.
Just curious, we talk a lot about how much our little ones are eating, but I was wondering about frequency this time. My LO is just over 3 months and wants to eat every 2 hours. I'm exhausted! It doesn't seem to matter if it was boob or full bottle, she still gets fussy at the 2 hour mark and only a feed will settle her. I used to get a break with her naps but those have been a struggle too. She is still sleeping through the night just fine on her last feed.
Her spitting up has been increasing as well, but it doesn't bother her at all. Just increasing my laundry. I would be worried about overfeeding her but I know my milk production is not high enough to be doing that on a 2 hour turnaround.
Almost 4 months and Victoria is still nursing every 2-3 hours during day. She goes 3-4 hours on a bottle when I'm at work. She'll take up to 6 oz at a time with the bottle, and I don't make that much unless I'm really full.
Dylan breastfeeds around every 2 hours during the day as well the only time it's really longer than that is if he naps in between feeds. If he takes a bottle he still seems hungry after 2 hours and will eat 4 oz. I just figure since he is sleeping through the night (from around 11pm to 8 in the morning) he just needs to eat more frequently during the day to get all he needs. He usually eats between 7 and 8 times a day so if he ate from,bottle all those times it would be between 28 to 32 oz, which I think is in the normal range.
Also he has been spitting up more too but I think it may be because of his saliva.....he is a drooling machine and is starting to want to put everything in his mouth...it's messy but completely adorable.
Ditto on the drool @drabong88. Xavier drools so much and chews constantly on his tongue, fingers, and whatever you he has in his hands. Heck even his sleepers get chewed on lol. So much drool.
Thanks ladies. Good to hear we are all similar, I think I will stop worrying about my supply when she is ready to wean! Ditto on the drool as well! Sometimes when she is being held superman style she will have a drool that reaches all the way to the floor....my husband really enjoyed that. Lol
Breastfeeding mom's who give their baby a bottle at night...How much are they eating? Dylan was eating like 4 and a half oz but this last week has been waking up every one or two hours overnight. Increased him to over 5 oz and he was still waking up . last night gave him 6oz and he thankfully slept a 5 hour stretch. 6oz just seems like so much! Especially since when I pump while DH feeds him I only get about 4oz.
@drabong88 my LO takes between 4oz and 5oz a bottle (depending how much i pump). I was wondering the same thing. When he had a sleep regression last week and would cry hard when i put him down, I would make 2 ounces of formula in case he was crying because he was hungry. I also thought 6-7 ounces seemed like a lot. It did not make a difference in the amount he slept, and I don't think he was crying because he was hungry either. He's doing much better with sleep this week and back to the 4-5 ounce bottles. He's going 5 hour stretches between feedings at night.
The most I've ever given LO is 4 oz. I am struggling with this because I typically only make about 3.5 oz each time I pump and daycare gives him 4 oz. each bottle. I know babies can overfeed themselves on bottles so I don't know how much is too much and how little is too little!
Xavier takes anywhere from 3-4 oz from the bottle. A couple times he has had 5 oz but think he was going through a growth spurt. He usually goes 5-6 hours from his bedtime bottle and then 3-5 hours after that.
Our LO takes about 4.5 ounces for her bottles. She would probably take more but she sleeps from 930 - 6 on that so I think it is enough for her. She was waking up early when I was just breastfeeding her at night so I make sure her last meal is always the bottle...plus I have made DH give it every night so I get a feeding break!
Okay I have a question for the nursing moms. When you feed your little one at night do you feed them when they start to stir or do you feed them when they start to cry? Last few nights he started to stir about an hour before he actually wakes up and I don't fall back asleep after he starts to stir so I just end up laying there for however long waiting for him to wake up. Should I just get him up when he starts to stir and just nurse him then so that I'm not losing that hour of sleep or should I just let him be and nurse him when he does wake up?
@jenkar01 That's tough. I've done both. I'd say it depends on your baby. If he will nurse then sleep until his next wake up time or longer than go that route but with Ellie, she tends to wake up more when I do that. I've been having a difficult time falling back asleep after her 5 am feed which is rough since I went back to work. Give it a try and see how he does.
@jenkar01 I struggle with that as well. We've been trying to do only when he cries. I always give it at least 10minutes to see if he falls asleep on his own. If he's been stirring for awhile and it is within an hour of his normal waking/feeding, I do get up to feed him since he'll be up soon anyway.
Right now our wake up time for the day is 7am. He will wake up around 5:30-6am for a feeding. It's really annoying because I can never fall back asleep. We've tried adding a dream feed to shift his schedule a bit, and it didn't help.
Re: Feeding thread
I am actually going to try to cut dairy as well. Or at least severely limit dairy as it is everywhere! Too many times she has had a horrible day/night that I can link back to a heavy dairy intake just before. I know there can be a lot of factors to cause tummy troubles, but at least I can control the dairy and see if I see a difference. Gonna be a little tough, but I hate when she is gassy and in pain and there isn't much I can do. Plus not having the hours of crying and fussing with no naps or sleep would be well worth the effort to cut it. Plus my husband is a little lactose intolerant but is in denial so I will hopefully be helping them both!
I am going to miss dairy queen blizzards... but its winter anyway!
For those that cut dairy out, did you eliminate products that say 'contains milk' or did you just eliminate the big obvious items like not drinking a glass of milk or eating ice cream? One doctor suggested just cutting out those big obvious items and another suggested eliminating all products that contain even traces of milk.
@CDE20 Our pediatrician suggested just cutting out the big stuff initially. If that wasn't helping enough, then I would switch to complete dairy elimination. Lucky for us, he was able to get by on just removing the main things like milk and cheese.
As for feeling guilty about anything related to feeding your baby, I wouldn't. It's obvious you're putting a lot of thought into this. You're not being selfish whatever you decide to do. Ultimately it's up to you, but I don't think anyone would fault you for not wanting to suffer on a severely limited diet if formula is an option. I know I would be an awful/angry/mean person if I didn't really have food options and that's not good for the baby either.
I am trying to avoid all dairy but mainly focusing on the big dairy intakes. I don't believe she has a true allergy, just maybe her immature system has a hard time with it. I just noticed that she had a very bad day after I had large intakes of dairy ( bowls of ice cream, cereal and milk, homemade mac and cheese...) It happened too often to ignore so I thought I would make the effort and see if she has less gassy days. There are occasional green poops as well so I know something is irritating her system and dairy is the obvious cut right now .
I don't know if I can cut it all out....we have pizza Tuesdays! I like not having to cook and its damn good pizza...
If she is not settling down ill be more strict with it I guess.
All my older kids started at 3 to 4 months with rice cereal and puréed solids around 5 to 6 months. We'll likely stick to the same program with the pediatricians apprival
i think my cousins and I were all on cereal by one month LOL
@Sbrown721 I was wondering the same thing regarding nippleflow. At 13 weeks we are still on flow 1. It seems that baby still ends up with a mouth full and some rolling down chin, so I'm hesitant to try a faster nipple.
Just curious, we talk a lot about how much our little ones are eating, but I was wondering about frequency this time. My LO is just over 3 months and wants to eat every 2 hours. I'm exhausted! It doesn't seem to matter if it was boob or full bottle, she still gets fussy at the 2 hour mark and only a feed will settle her. I used to get a break with her naps but those have been a struggle too. She is still sleeping through the night just fine on her last feed.
Her spitting up has been increasing as well, but it doesn't bother her at all. Just increasing my laundry. I would be worried about overfeeding her but I know my milk production is not high enough to be doing that on a 2 hour turnaround.
Also he has been spitting up more too but I think it may be because of his saliva.....he is a drooling machine and is starting to want to put everything in his mouth...it's messy but completely adorable.
Ditto on the drool as well! Sometimes when she is being held superman style she will have a drool that reaches all the way to the floor....my husband really enjoyed that. Lol
Right now our wake up time for the day is 7am. He will wake up around 5:30-6am for a feeding. It's really annoying because I can never fall back asleep. We've tried adding a dream feed to shift his schedule a bit, and it didn't help.