Help for my Sis-5mo still nursing every 2-3hours

Karen wrote:

I told her that he is normal and I really do not think that she has a problem
with it except for the fact she had been trying to go back to work part time
and her office is pressuring her and he WILL NOT take a bottle. Definelty
outside influences driving her batty. She is comparing DS to my DD who goes for
3-4 hours at a stretch between nursings and has done so since about 6 months.
I told her all babies are different but she is a first time Mom and this is all
old hat to be it being my 3rd. Thanks for all your advice and info I am
forwading to her.

As he ramps up his solids, she'll be able to let the childminder give
him solids while she works, and then nurse him when they are
together (especially if she's only working part time). Granted,
this may mean he starts waking at night because his nursing
needs aren't being met during the day. She certainly could
try a sippy cup instead of a bottle. And a caregiver might
have more luck, if she is not around.

Mary

Karen wrote:
I told her that he is normal and I really do not think that she has a
problem with it except for the fact she had been trying to go back to
work part time and her office is pressuring her and he WILL NOT take
a bottle.

My first never took a bottle either and I worked. The baby will manage with
small drinks from a regular cup (he can learn that at 6 months) and solids
if he is willing to eat some. Mine wouldn't even eat solids. If the baby
doesn't get milk during the day, he might wake up at night to nurse and make
up for it. That is what Hunter did. Hunter grew like a weed so althoug
he'd get miserable at the sitter before he was eating solids/drinking
significant amounts from a cup, he wasn't unhealthy or anything. As a
matter of fact he was over the 100% for height and around 90-95% for weight
until he was a year old.

The less stressful would be to just stay home until he was a year old and
find a new job :-) I realize that isn't always a good plan though!

--
Nikki
Mama to Hunter (4) and Luke (2)

Karen wrote:

Help my sisters DS is still nursing every 2-3 hours he will be 6 months old
next week. He sleeps thru the night. He refuses a bottle and loves the solids
that she has started. I cannot help her as my daughter has been going for
hours with out BF since she was that age. Any advice would be great.


Thanks
Karen Ann
Mommy to:
Ashley 11-13-90
Meghan 3-10-97
Hayley "Chunky Monkey" 3-27-03

If my son nursed every 2-3 hours at 6 months AND slept through the night
I would be thrilled. Alas, he nurses every 2-3 hours, but doesn't sleep
through the night

I'm not sure what the problem is. Every 3 hours seems about right to me
and if he's teething, it's more often.

Jeanne

Karen wrote:
I told her that he is normal and I really do not think that she has a
problem with it except for the fact she had been trying to go back to
work part time and her office is pressuring her and he WILL NOT take
a bottle.

It is *very* difficult to get an exclusively breastfed baby to accept a
bottle nipple after about 8 weeks of age. They're just too darned smart! If
you don't introduce a bottle between 4 and 8 weeks and give them regularly
(once or twice a week minimum), the baby gets out of practice and refuses
them.

Since her baby is eating solids and seems to love them, perhaps her sitter
should just give him solids when he's hungry during the few hours she's
working (you said she's going back part time), with expressed breast milk
given in a cup (babies this age can usually handle small sips from a cup).

It's a lot more worrisome to have a baby who won't accept a bottle, isn't
able to handle milk from a cup, and doesn't eat solids. Relatively speaking,
her situation sounds pretty easily manageable.
--
Be well, Barbara
(Julian [6], Aurora [4], and Vernon's [22 mos.] mom)

This week's special at the English Language Butcher Shop:
"Call anywhere, any time...virtually from any phone" -- prepaid phone card
dispenser

Daddy: You're up with the chickens this morning.
Aurora: No, I'm up with my dolls!

All opinions expressed in this post are well-reasoned and insightful.
Needless to say, they are not those of my Internet Service Provider, its
other subscribers or lackeys. Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a
fight. -- with apologies to Michael Feldman

Circe wrote:It is *very* difficult to get an exclusively breastfed baby to
accept a
bottle nipple after about 8 weeks of age. They're just too darned smart! If
you don't introduce a bottle between 4 and 8 weeks and give them regularly
(once or twice a week minimum), the baby gets out of practice and refuses
them.

She had complications after an emergency c section so she pumped and he took a
bottle from hubby, he took a bottle for the fist 6-10 weeks of his life. He
got a little cold and from that point on will not take a bottle. Starting to
use sippy cup.


Karen Ann
Mommy to:
Ashley 11-13-90
Meghan 3-10-97
Hayley "Chunky Monkey" 3-27-03

Circe wrote:

Karen wrote:

I told her that he is normal and I really do not think that she has a
problem with it except for the fact she had been trying to go back to
work part time and her office is pressuring her and he WILL NOT take
a bottle.


It is *very* difficult to get an exclusively breastfed baby to accept a
bottle nipple after about 8 weeks of age. They're just too darned smart! If
you don't introduce a bottle between 4 and 8 weeks and give them regularly
(once or twice a week minimum), the baby gets out of practice and refuses
them.

Hah. My DS never got anything but boob and refused anything else until
he was 4 months old. And then suddenly one day took both soother and
bottle. (I offered them now and then just to see if he was still
refusing them, but certainly not once or twice a week and certainly not
because he was taking them prior to 8wks old)

Dawn

In ,
Karen wrote:

*Help my sisters DS is still nursing every 2-3 hours he will be 6 months old
*next week. He sleeps thru the night. He refuses a bottle and loves the solids
*that she has started. I cannot help her as my daughter has been going for
*hours with out BF since she was that age. Any advice would be great.

Sounds like my 15 month old... Seriously, if I let her, she would nurse
every couple of hours, and sometimes she would even stay latched on for
hours at a time. I am so not kidding, it isn't even funny. I am on day
four I think of project "no nursing during the day," it is going better
than I had expected actually. My kid, for whatever reason, seems to
respond a lot better to my saying "no, we don't nurse except at wake-up
and bedtime" than to my saying "no, we aren't nursing now, you just nursed
an hour ago and it's time to go run this errand" or even "no, we aren't
nursing now, you can nurse again at lunchtime, we only nurse at wake-up
time, lunchtime, and bedtime." I don't know why, but that's her
personality. SHe's an all or nothing type I guess.

With a six month old, I'd be inclined to just suck it up and deal. I mean,
that's what I did with both of my kids (one of whom self weaned at 13 mos,
and the other of whom I just described). It's a pain sometimes, but so it
goes. If he's eating solids then one thing to try is to offer solids
shortly before he is going to want to nurse, to try to stretch the
interval out a bit - but he's just six months, I wouldn't go nuts with
that just yet. Give him time, he'll probably slow down (or end up like my
daughter, but there are apparently ways of dealing with that I am
learning!).

--
hillary israeli vmd http://www.hillary.net
"uber vaccae in quattuor partes divisum est."
not-so-newly minted veterinarian-at-large

"Hillary Israeli" wrote in message
...
In ,
Karen wrote:

*Help my sisters DS is still nursing every 2-3 hours he will be 6 months
old
*next week. He sleeps thru the night. He refuses a bottle and loves the
solids
*that she has started. I cannot help her as my daughter has been going
for
*hours with out BF since she was that age. Any advice would be great.

Sounds like my 15 month old... Seriously, if I let her, she would nurse
every couple of hours, and sometimes she would even stay latched on for
hours at a time. I am so not kidding, it isn't even funny.

And my 28 month old. When asked when she was going to stop nursing the
other day she said "When the milky is all gone." To which I gleefully
replied to DH that it was time to have a pregnancy dry up :-)

--
Rhiannon (I love my nurser girl, I just wish she didnt ask to nurse 80 times
a day)
Mom to M. Girl (28 1/2 months) and O. Boy (7 months)