Am I feeding right?

(HollyLewis) wrote in
:

If I use the alternate nursing sessions, it sounds that I have to feed
her quite often...maybe every two hrs?

That depends on how often she's hungry. :-) Yes, most older babies
and toddlers do eat *something* about every 2-3 hours.

Since the issue here is that your DD may not be nursing *enough* (as
opposed to the many babies her age who demand to be breastfed rather
more often than their mothers would prefer!), I'd say aim to
breastfeed about 4 times a day, and give her 2-3 solid meals.

She seems she
is interested in whatever in our bowl; however, I don't want to give
whatever in my bowl to her, I don't want to give any salt or oil to
her yet.

Well, it's a good idea to avoid giving her too much salt, but not all
oil is bad. It wouldn't hurt *you* to cut back on salt and added
fats, and it would make it easier if you could just feed your baby the
same things you fix for yourself. :-)

Then i try to make some finger food for her, like green bean,
broccoli, avocado. In addition, I give her 60ml formula. But still,
she doesn't really able to use her fingers to feed herself with those
finger food and she may just eat a bit with my assistance. And she
only finished 20ml formula.
The only thing she is very interested in is yogurt. But I don't think
I should just give her yogurt. 'cause it might not have enough
nutrition. She is interested in noodle and rice, but still I think it
is not good enough. Any suggestion that I can make and she will be
interested in?

Thanks again. =)

Why are you giving her formula? Assuming you're willing to continue
breastfeeding, that's the first thing to eliminate from her diet in
favor of breastmilk.

Finger foods are fine, and don't worry if it seems as if she's not
eating very much. Remember that it *is* best for her to eat small
amounts frequently, and that a full portion size for a tiny baby is a
lot smaller than an adult's portion size -- and most adults eat more
at one sitting than they really should too! So three green beans and
a baby fistful of rice is probably a perfectly adequate lunch for her,
at least some days. :-) And there's nothing wrong with noodles and
rice, as long as she eats other things too!

Since she likes yogurt, try adding berries or other fruit to it for a
little extra nutritional punch. And since she does like yogurt and
cheese, don't worry too much about meats. Iron-fortified cereals
would probably be a good idea, but she'll get plenty of protein and
fats from breastmilk, yogurt and cheese.

When my DS was that age, we had a lot of success with very chunky
soups. He could eat most of the meat and veggies in it with his
fingers, but we could also spoon-feed some of it.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #2 6/8/04


The reason why I start to give dd formula is my milk supply seems to
cutting down (perhaps I only nurse her 2 times a day -- early morning and
before bed). And I will go back to work in Jun, so should I switch her
from bm to formula?

The reason why I start to give dd formula is my milk supply seems to
cutting down (perhaps I only nurse her 2 times a day -- early morning and
before bed). And I will go back to work in Jun, so should I switch her
from bm to formula?

If you think your milk supply is low, first, you're quite likely wrong and it's
actually fine, and second, if you nurse your daughter more often it will come
back up quickly. Giving formula, on the other hand, will only cause it to
dwindle further, because if your daughter doesn't nurse, your body is fooled
into thinking that less milk is needed.

I think you said your baby is 9 months old now, so she'll be about a year old
when you return to work, right? No, you shouldn't switch her from breastmilk
to formula; breastmilk is much better for her. You most likely won't need to
use formula at all, although you could consider it if she isn't eating a good
variety of solid foods yet at that time. What you should do is nurse her in
the morning before you leave for work, in the evening when you return home
(before dinner), and at bedtime. In other words, you'd only be eliminating one
of the 4 sessions I'm suggesting you try to do now. Your body will adjust
quickly to that (and you'll almost certainly be able to nurse her an 'extra'
time or two on the weekend days if you and she wish), and your daughter will be
fine.

FWIW, my DS nursed 4-5x a day at 9 months, 3-4x at 12 months, 2-3x at 18
months, and 1-2x at 2 years. He's now 3, I'm pregnant and thus definitely have
low or no milk supply, and he nurses once or twice a week (very briefly each
time). Among babies whose mothers feed on demand and allow self-weaning, he
nursed *less* frequently than most. If you are used to mothers who
deliberately wean their babies at 12 months, this might seem odd to you, but
really it's healthier to encourage your daughter to continue nursing more often
for at least the next year or so.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #2 6/8/04

(HollyLewis) wrote in
:

The reason why I start to give dd formula is my milk supply seems to
cutting down (perhaps I only nurse her 2 times a day -- early morning
and before bed). And I will go back to work in Jun, so should I switch
her from bm to formula?

If you think your milk supply is low, first, you're quite likely wrong
and it's actually fine, and second, if you nurse your daughter more
often it will come back up quickly. Giving formula, on the other
hand, will only cause it to dwindle further, because if your daughter
doesn't nurse, your body is fooled into thinking that less milk is
needed.

Glad to hear that. Thanks. However, dd is eating Heinz All-in-one cereal
which has 35% formula, does it affect my milk supple? Or will it affect
dd's digestive system?

As the matter of fact, I used Heinz infant cereal (without any formula)
initially with a scoop of Nestle's good start formula. The reason why I
put an additional scoop of formula is I am afraid she didn't intake
enough milk since I stop nursing her after a month she has solid. At
first I's worried that Nestle's good start is different from the formula
in Heinz All-in-one, but it seems ok. DD doesn't have bad reaction. I am
frustrated now... 1. should I add formula if I keep bf dd 2. Heinz's
formula and Nestle's good start can they use it together?

Recently, I have heard about the trans fat in Heinz All-in-one. Have you
heard about that? which kind of cereal that you are using for your ds?


I think you said your baby is 9 months old now, so she'll be about a
year old when you return to work, right? No, you shouldn't switch her
from breastmilk to formula; breastmilk is much better for her. You
most likely won't need to use formula at all, although you could
consider it if she isn't eating a good variety of solid foods yet at
that time. What you should do is nurse her in the morning before you
leave for work, in the evening when you return home (before dinner),
and at bedtime. In other words, you'd only be eliminating one of the
4 sessions I'm suggesting you try to do now. Your body will adjust
quickly to that (and you'll almost certainly be able to nurse her an
'extra' time or two on the weekend days if you and she wish), and your
daughter will be fine.

Good suggestion. These two days, I am trying to nurse her almost before
each meals besides the early morning and before bed time. So totally I
nursed her 6 times a day. Although she seems to be hungry after nursing
(before mid-morning meal, lunch, snack, dinner, I guess she needs solid
after nursing), I am feeling much better. At least she sucked for 5-10
minutes each time.


FWIW, my DS nursed 4-5x a day at 9 months, 3-4x at 12 months, 2-3x at
18 months, and 1-2x at 2 years. He's now 3, I'm pregnant and thus
definitely have low or no milk supply, and he nurses once or twice a
week (very briefly each time). Among babies whose mothers feed on
demand and allow self-weaning, he nursed *less* frequently than most.
If you are used to mothers who deliberately wean their babies at 12
months, this might seem odd to you, but really it's healthier to
encourage your daughter to continue nursing more often for at least
the next year or so.

Wow.. you are so amazing!! What a good thing to hear. I love to nurse my
dd as long as I can.

Thanks again for your advice and information, and thank you for being so
supportive!! =)

Jen
mom of Ashley Jun4/03

Jen wrote in message 1...
My dd is turning to 9 months next week. I started solid on her when she
turned 6 months, and start with rice cereal. She loves it very much even
now. However, I start feeding her with meat when she turned to 8 months,
started with Turkey. She seemed to be ok; however, this week, I start
feeding her chicken. I steam the chicken thigh and use the foodmill to
grind it and mix with some veggie as well as baby cereal. After couple
spoonful, she keeps her mouth shout, refuse to take anymore. However, she
is still hungry 'cause when I try to feed her yogurt, she eats like
crazy.Does anyone have this kind of experience about introducing meat? What
is the better way to do that?

Furthermore, dd is on solid 3 regular meals (10am, 1pm, 6:30pm) and a snack
(cheese, bread, or yogurt) around 4pm. I only nurse her in the early
morning around 7am and before bed around 8pm. Am I feeding her too less? I
have heard that breastmilk is the main nutrition for baby before 1.
However, I try to nurse her after solid, she refused to take any milk. Am I
feeding her too much on solid? Should I rein on the solid of each milk in
order to increase her milk intake? I am worried about she may not have
enough nutrition intake.

Please advice.

Try shredding the chicken. I know my dd#2 stopped eating pureed food
around that time. She would only eat meat if it was cubed real tiny,
or shredded.

Brandy

However, dd is eating Heinz All-in-one cereal
which has 35% formula, does it affect my milk supple? Or will it affect
dd's digestive system?

As the matter of fact, I used Heinz infant cereal (without any formula)
initially with a scoop of Nestle's good start formula. The reason why I
put an additional scoop of formula is I am afraid she didn't intake
enough milk since I stop nursing her after a month she has solid. At
first I's worried that Nestle's good start is different from the formula
in Heinz All-in-one, but it seems ok. DD doesn't have bad reaction. I am
frustrated now... 1. should I add formula if I keep bf dd 2. Heinz's
formula and Nestle's good start can they use it together?

Recently, I have heard about the trans fat in Heinz All-in-one. Have you
heard about that? which kind of cereal that you are using for your ds?


I know almost nothing about formula, so I can't really help you with any of
that, except to say that (1) You can mix plain baby cereal with pumped
breastmilk, water, pureed fruit, or (for a 9-month-old) yogurt. You don't need
to put formula in it at all, and the kind that comes with formula premixed in
it is really meant for babies who are already used to formula. And (2) If you
didn't notice your daughter having any negative reaction to either type of
formula, separately or together, then no harm done. Quit worrying about it.
:-)

My DS liked baby cereal so we used it for a long time...until somewhere between
15 and 18 months I think. I think it was the Gerber brand. Just cereal, no
formula in it. At first we mixed it with pumped breastmilk. Later we used
mostly water, fruit, and/or vegetables. (He loved finely chopped spinach mixed
into rice cereal -- sounds horrible to me, but he liked it, and he had *really*
good iron levels. :-) )


Good suggestion. These two days, I am trying to nurse her almost before
each meals besides the early morning and before bed time. So totally I
nursed her 6 times a day. Although she seems to be hungry after nursing
(before mid-morning meal, lunch, snack, dinner, I guess she needs solid
after nursing), I am feeling much better. At least she sucked for 5-10
minutes each time.


That's great! Many babies that age can get a lot of milk in 5-10 minutes -- I
only wish I'd been that fortunate! My son was a more leisurely nurser for a
very long time. Anyway, I'm glad to hear you didn't have any trouble
encouraging her to nurse more often.

Now just don't overdo it in the opposite direction! You don't necessarily have
to nurse her 6 times a day if you'd rather cut back a little. Get rid of the
formula, establish a pretty regular routine of nursing before or between
mealtimes, and then just feed her when she's hungry, and don't push food on her
when she's not, and she'll be fine.


Wow.. you are so amazing!! What a good thing to hear. I love to nurse my
dd as long as I can.

Thanks again for your advice and information, and thank you for being so
supportive!! =)

Jen
mom of Ashley Jun4/03

It's so nice to encounter a mother who not only *wants*, but actually *takes*
my advice. g

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #2 6/8/04

(Brandy Kurtz) wrote in
om:

Jen wrote in message
1...
My dd is turning to 9 months next week. I started solid on her when
she turned 6 months, and start with rice cereal. She loves it very
much even now. However, I start feeding her with meat when she turned
to 8 months, started with Turkey. She seemed to be ok; however, this
week, I start feeding her chicken. I steam the chicken thigh and use
the foodmill to grind it and mix with some veggie as well as baby
cereal. After couple spoonful, she keeps her mouth shout, refuse to
take anymore. However, she is still hungry 'cause when I try to feed
her yogurt, she eats like crazy.Does anyone have this kind of
experience about introducing meat? What is the better way to do that?

Furthermore, dd is on solid 3 regular meals (10am, 1pm, 6:30pm) and a
snack (cheese, bread, or yogurt) around 4pm. I only nurse her in the
early morning around 7am and before bed around 8pm. Am I feeding her
too less? I have heard that breastmilk is the main nutrition for baby
before 1. However, I try to nurse her after solid, she refused to
take any milk. Am I feeding her too much on solid? Should I rein on
the solid of each milk in order to increase her milk intake? I am
worried about she may not have enough nutrition intake.

Please advice.

Try shredding the chicken. I know my dd#2 stopped eating pureed food
around that time. She would only eat meat if it was cubed real tiny,
or shredded.

Brandy


I have tried to finely chop the chicken yesterday and add some apple
sauce on it; however, after 2 spoonful, she shout her mouth again. Sigh.
Perhaps she is not ready for any meat.

My DS liked baby cereal so we used it for a long time...until
somewhere between 15 and 18 months I think. I think it was the Gerber
brand. Just cereal, no formula in it. At first we mixed it with
pumped breastmilk. Later we used mostly water, fruit, and/or
vegetables. (He loved finely chopped spinach mixed into rice cereal
-- sounds horrible to me, but he liked it, and he had *really* good
iron levels. :-) )

In fact, do babies need cereal in order to get enough iron? I just wonder
can dd get iron from other place, such as liver? But I am hesitated to
give her liver cuz my Dr. asked me not to eat any liver during my
pregnancy. Something about affect the infant's eyes development.



Good suggestion. These two days, I am trying to nurse her almost
before each meals besides the early morning and before bed time. So
totally I nursed her 6 times a day. Although she seems to be hungry
after nursing (before mid-morning meal, lunch, snack, dinner, I guess
she needs solid after nursing), I am feeling much better. At least she
sucked for 5-10 minutes each time.


That's great! Many babies that age can get a lot of milk in 5-10
minutes -- I only wish I'd been that fortunate! My son was a more
leisurely nurser for a very long time. Anyway, I'm glad to hear you
didn't have any trouble encouraging her to nurse more often.

Now just don't overdo it in the opposite direction! You don't
necessarily have to nurse her 6 times a day if you'd rather cut back a
little. Get rid of the formula, establish a pretty regular routine of
nursing before or between mealtimes, and then just feed her when she's
hungry, and don't push food on her when she's not, and she'll be fine.

I am trying to feed her 4 times today:early morning, before breakfast
around 10am, snack time around 4pm, and before bed. It seems ok. Thanks
for your advice. May I ask you one more question? If I want to add some
bm into her food (if she eats cereal) or i will try to make some muffin
with bm. When should I pump my milk? Cuz my breasts are no longer as full
as dd 3 mos old, and I haven't had engorged for a long time.(Even back
then, I only able to pump in the early morning, or while feeding her, 4oz
was the maximum). However, now I can't pump while feeing her, cuz she
will grab the pump.

Jen

Jen wrote:
I have tried to finely chop the chicken yesterday and add some apple
sauce on it; however, after 2 spoonful, she shout her mouth again.

Caterpillar, who is also 9 months old, disdains the spoon. Spoons are for
blowing food-bubbles with, and yanking out of Mom's hand, and banging on cats.
Food on a spoon isn't food; it's a toy.

She'll eat anything she can feed herself, but since she has no pincer grip, it
has to be long enough to stick out of both sides of her fist. She'll also eat
stuff we put in her mouth with our fingers. So she gets sweet potato fries and
celery for self-feeding, and Rice Chex and other smaller stuff put in by us.
Today she ate bits of duck - gum, gum, swallow, swallow, open for more.

But she doesn't eat any appreciable quantity of solids, so that might not help
you much.

Phoebe

"Phoebe & Allyson" wrote in message
...
She'll eat anything she can feed herself, but since she has no pincer
grip, it
has to be long enough to stick out of both sides of her fist.

You know Phoebe this is the second time I've heard you say this, and I
had to look twice both times to make sure I was seeing it twice. Just a
"goes to show all kids are different" moment, but both of my would rake
stuff into their hands, get hands close to mouth and open hands to shove
food into.

Hope the Caterpillar is doing well!

--
Rhiannon
Mom to M. Girl (2 1/2 years) and O. Boy (8 1/2 months)

In fact, do babies need cereal in order to get enough iron? I just wonder
can dd get iron from other place, such as liver? But I am hesitated to
give her liver cuz my Dr. asked me not to eat any liver during my
pregnancy. Something about affect the infant's eyes development.


Of course they don't need cereal. They can get iron the same way you do, from
meats, dark green veggies, etc. (Or from a liquid vitamin supplement, which
her doctor may prescribe if her blood iron levels prove low at her 12-month
checkup.) But cereal can be more convenient (it's certainly easier to prepare,
since you don't need to do any cooking) and works well if the baby dislikes
most foods that naturally contain iron.

If I want to add some
bm into her food (if she eats cereal) or i will try to make some muffin
with bm. When should I pump my milk? Cuz my breasts are no longer as full
as dd 3 mos old, and I haven't had engorged for a long time.(Even back
then, I only able to pump in the early morning, or while feeding her, 4oz
was the maximum). However, now I can't pump while feeing her, cuz she
will grab the pump.

Jen

You can pump whenever it's least inconvenient, but you'll get the most milk for
your efforts if you pump first thing in the morning (before she wakes up). It
will probably also work best if you develop a routine of pumping at about the
same time of day, every day -- your body will get used to the extra demand at
that time. Don't worry about it if pumping turns out to be really difficult,
though, because even those of us who do a lot of pumping often start to have a
hard time with it when the baby is around 9 months old. Your daughter is old
enough that it's no problem to just use water or yogurt with cereal, and she
can have muffins made with cows' milk. Just don't give her straight cows' milk
to drink until after she's a year old.

Holly
Mom to Camden, 3yo
EDD #2 6/8/04