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September 2012 Moms
2poodles2Love
member
Advice needed-Bf moms
2poodles2Love
member
Ok, this may be long.
DS had his 4 month appt on Monday and I can't stop thinking about everything the pedi said. I don't really agree with any of it. The first thing we discussed is his sleeping routine. I told her he usually goes to bed at 8pm and sleeps until about 2am, sometimes longer until 3-4am, and then I BF him before I leave for work at 530am. He usually wakes once in the night to eat overall.
We give him a paci before bed and he's out within 2 minutes. He's still sleeping in the PNP next to our bed. I'm not ready to put him in the nursery upstairs. SO, the pedi says he's 4m and needs to be STTN! She said I need to put him down, without paci and in his own crib. Let him CIO a few nights until he STTN.
I totally don't agree with this. Our routine we have is working fine for us. I didn't even tell her I had concerns about this. So, what are your thoughts on this?
Next, she wants me to start oatmeal once a day with breastmilk to get him used to eating when we start solids. Are you planning on doing oatmeal? My understanding is BF babies don't have to have it. It's just something extra. Then, she said she wants to me start baby foods now once a day. At 6m she's going to tell me to give him foods 3 a day and at 9m table foods. SHe also said not to make my own food because Gerber food has things in it that babies can't get from BF. I didn't even ask what she meant bc I was shocked!
I just left the appt feeling defeated like I was doing everything wrong, when I don't think there is a problem! So, my questions are: how do you feel about these things? When are you starting oatmeal, if at all? And, when will you start baby foods, and are you making your own food?
Thanks in advance!
ETA: Also, I was under the impression that many BF babies don't STTN for a while. He also latches for about 10 mins and is eating each time. The pedi said he's not really hungry, so not to feed him in the MOTN!
Carter Douglas 09.25.12
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Advice needed-Bf moms
Also, we talked about sleep and he made it seem normal that we're still getting up a couple times a night to feed. Our pedi isn't a CIO person.
I really love our pedi since he leaves a lot of the "parenting" issues up to us but helps to give us some info or suggestions.
You're in Cbus, right? You can PM me and I'll give you our pedi's info if you're interested in switching.
DS: 9/18/12 - 40w5d // DD: 05/17/16 - 40w
Ok, Gunner is my 3rd kid. He doesn't sleep through the night and wakes up at least twice to eat (EBF). My other two didn't sleep all the way through the night until they were closer to one. I would do whatever works for your family, no reason to mess up what you have going.
As far as the food, I will introduce oatmeal at about 5.5 months and veggies at about 6 months. This is what I did with the other two and it worked well for me. I see no reason to introduce solids at 4 months old. I think you need to do what you feel is best for your family and not worry about what the doctor thinks you need to do in your parenting. These are parenting decisions, not medical decisions IMO.
The things your pedi mentioned are more styles than healthrelated issues IMO. Exception is solids and I'd question the ped why she is recommending solids before WHO and AAP's recommended 6 months.
Personally I'm too granola to do any of the things your ped suggested. I refuse to let my kids CIO. I did BLW with DD and will do the same with DS. She never got any form of baby cereal nor will he. I BF my kids till they selfwean and cosleep so MOTN waking a never bothered me.
I say if its not broken don't fix it...
ETA: when my daughter was 15m i considred nightweaning her but then when i tried to deny boob access she told me she was hungry. Not thirsty but hungry. At 15m... No way would I expect an under 1 to be able to go 12 hrs without eating. Some might be able to, sure, but I wouldn't necessarily expect it.
Uhh, your pedi sounds like a moron. You are right to feel like that advice is off. You most certainly do not HAVE to do CIO and you do not HAVE to start oatmeal or solids this minute. Food before one is just for fun, EBF your LO is perfectly fine at this age.
I personally would be looking for a new pedi if my pedi and I viewed things so differently...
She also said that we can start feeding him cereals, but it's up to us. She actually encouraged us to wait a little while, she said because of allergies, but I don't see that as an issue with rice cereal.
Anyway, your pedi just sounds super aggressive. If you're not feeling comfortable you have every right to switch. I know I would be if I were in your shoes!
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Thanks so much for all the info. I never imagined our thoughts would be so different! I want a good relationship with the pedi and want to have the same thoughts and reasonings when it comes to LO. She is very nice and was not mean or rude about any of this, it's just different beliefs I guess
As far as food goes we just started at 5 mos. with fruits and veggies.
Honestly, i would do what you feel is right. As long as your baby is healthy and growing, you will be good.
I can tell you what my pedi said at our 4 mo appt... I said that LO wasn't STTN, but only woke up once or twice to eat, then went right back to sleep. She wasn't concerned, but said if I wanted to start cereal or solids, that it may or may not help her stay asleep as she's likely waking because she's hungry.
That said, she was fine with me starting solids any time between 4-6 months, as long as I started something by 6 months since she said studies show babies who are exclusively fed BM between 6 months and a year aren't nourished as well as babies who get other foods. But, it was totally up to me when I wanted to start the food, and which foods I started. She did want me to keep giving DD Tri-vi-sol until I started her on foods that contain iron and vitamin D, as I think these are the nutrients they worry about LOs not getting in BM.
So, she left it that if I wanted to start solids at 4 months, it was just something else I could work into DD's routine if she tolerates them well. If she didn't tolerate them well, or I wanted to hold off, the pedi was perfectly fine with that.
I feel like if you had seen our pedi, you wouldn't have left feeling defeated. It's ridiculous to recommend gerber oatmeal specifically, as most baby foods are fortified with the same vitamins, and your pedi should have listed the vitamins she wanted to make sure your baby was getting, and let you decide how. It's probably best to get those vitamins through natural food sources than through a fortified cereal anyway, but as long as your LO gets them, it doesn't matter if it's by dropper, cereal, or veggie.
Maybe think about looking for a pedi who isn't so black and white about how things have to be done? I think sleep habits and eating habits have a lot of leeway and can be left up to the discretion of the parents as long as they meet the basic guidlines laid out by pedis/medical studies. Your pedi sounds pretty rigid in how you should do things, which seems like it would discourage good communication with your child's dr. HTH.
What the eff?
Okay. First of all, I've said this before and I'll likely say it a billion more times. Pedis aren't experts in food and sleep. They can give general recommendations. They can give you advice based on their personal experiences AND/OR based on what info they've gotten second hand from other patients. They had to learn a lot of very useful info and they are very important and I'm not knocking them, but they aren't the bible of food and sleep. (and my pedis have mostly agree with my methodology on food and sleep, so this isn't a personal beef)
Second: Some babies STTN. Some don't. Your's only wakes up once? A lot of people would say you are very lucky. I'm sure you know that.
Your doctor doesn't have to get up in the middle of the night with the baby, so why the eff does she care?
Third: No you don't have to start food now or feed 3 times at 6 months. Do whatever the hell you want to do with your baby when it comes to food. Do some research. Talk to your doctor. If you want to do what she says to do, great. If not, either find another pedi who thinks along the same lines as you or accept that you aren't going to agree with her advice there and don't let it bother you (I'm assuming no weight issues? If so, that's different. but yeah)
Fourth: Is she paid by Gerber?? I just did a random search of different Gerber brand baby foods. Do BF babies need ascorbic acid? Cornstarch? What does she think is in jarred food that is so magical? My primary reason for making my own baby food is because it is cheaper, but it is also the same or better for babies than jarred food. FFS.
Your pedi pisses me off. I know this is important to you and the world.
FWIW, My pedi said that once maybe twice a night at four months is totally normal. He suggested rice cereal if we feel like it but it's totally up to us. Sounds like it might be time for you to go pedi shopping.
I plan on making the majority of my baby food to save money. I did read that some foods should not be homemade like spinach but I don't remember the exact reason. Ill try and find the article. I haven done much research into that yet because I was originally planning on waiting until 6m for foods.
I'd go off your intuition. Your pedi is not a pediatric dietician.
I broke up with our pedi this week and will be seeing a new one tomorrow. If you really don't believe in what they are saying, maybe you should find a better fit.
Anyway, E does not sleep the whole night, but when he wakes up he is absolutely hungry. I BF him and put him back down. We are not doing CIO, and I'm not going to not feed him, especially when he is really eating.
My old pedi was fine with waiting until six months to start any solids. That's what we will be doing. We will start BLW with "real food" and he will get oatmeal when I'm eating it for breakfast.
I would make my own purees if we were doing them. I wouldn't buy Gerber. BM plus vegetables or fruits should have everything baby needs, I think.
EBF here, too. Wow...my 4 month appointment went completely differently regarding sleep. Our nights are more wakeup filled than yours, for sure (5 hours max to start, every 2 hours after). I told pedi how things were and asked if that seemed normal. He said "yeah, there really is no normal. They're babies." He said that only 50% of babies consistently STTN (5 hour medical definition) by this age, so it's nothing to worry about.
I'm not doing solids yet. No official start date. We're skipping cereal because it feels like a waste of time to me and there's no real nutritional reason to do it (at least for her--no weight gain issues, etc.) When she's ready, she'll get soft-cooked/mashed foods. I expect that she'll mostly just smear them on things for the first couple months lol.
The thing about Gerber food having stuff that BM doesn't is, IMO, BS. (Or, erm, the stuff it has isn't stuff I necessarily want my kid having...) Also BS according to what my doc has shared with me. His outlook is that their primary nutritious is still BM or formula until 1 year old, so the food is more practice/supplement than anything, and encouraged making your own because a) it's cheaper and b) you control what goes in it. I would have either smiled and nodded and ignored everything she said--or done that and found another pedi. It sounds like she's clueless about BF. Honest question--is BF not a common practice in your area?
And refusing to feed your kid MOTN because "he's not hungry"--that would have been the last time I'd see that doc. Seriously. I can't go 12 hours without food, what makes her think a 4 month old can? You know if your kid is eating or comfort nursing--this sounds like he's eating.
I would look for a different pedi who shares your child rearing views. This is probably not going to get better over time.
Personally, I say if what you're doing works for you guys and you have a happy, healthy little one, don't change things. Pedis are medical experts, not parenting experts.
And lawd, she'd tear into me! lol We bed-share, I feed on demand, DD wakes up 3-4 times a night, I'm not keen on CIO, I'm not doing any cereal, and we're doing BLW.
A little late in the game to the post but I had to!
First, my DS is EBF and eats every two-three hours around the clock. He also sleeps in the PnP next to our bed. We are not starting any solids until 6 months.
My pedi said, "Great! That all sounds normal, healthy, and keep doing what you are doing."
When we do start solids in two months I am planning on starting him on vegetables: avocados, sweet potatoes...then adding in oatmeal. Pedi said this was also okay and that she gave her kids avocado as a first food.
You are doing great! Your child is doing great. Your pedi sounds a bit off to me IMO.