Growth Spurt or What?
Moms View Message Board: Parenting Discussion: Growth Spurt or What?
Cameron will be 7 months on April 1. He woke up from a nap at 1:30 and wanted to nurse, then again at 2:30 now again at 3:30, however this time he did go down for another nap so that last feed may have been for comfort and to help him get to sleep.
This child wants to nurse every chance he gets. If he smells me thats it! If I sit him on the sofa (we have creamy white pillows) he goes nuts and tries to nurse off the pillows. Believe me when I say this kid is not starving, he's over 20lbs.
I'm still nursing (on demand, which is always) however, I am supplementing with one bottle of formula for his last evening feed. It's helped he has dropped from 3 night time feeds to 2. He is also getting 3 tbsp. of cereal in the morning, about 3 tbsp. of veggies or fruit at lunch and 6 tbsp. of cereal at night.
Should I feed him more food or is this just a spurt and nurse, nurse, nurse?
I need to wean him onto to formula before the end of June, I was thinking I should start dropping the breast for formula mid-May, does this sound right?
First of all, why do you *need* to wean onto formula? Going back to work, tired of nursing?? Just curious.  I think he's nursing just for comfort, not nutrition. I would work on diverting his attention, but I say this having kids who nursed when they were hungry and didn't use me as a human pacifier, so I have no actual experience--LOL. He doesn't NEED to eat though, so I'd just put him on the floor with toys, give him a pacifier, start working to get him attached to a pillow, stuffed animal, or blanket that he can use to self-soothe instead of relying on you 24/7.
I'm going away for 4 days at the end of June and I can't take him with me. I'm not a great pumper, meaning when I do pump I don't get a lot of milk. I guess I could start pumping now and have enough by June, but man that's a lot of milk. Also, I'm wipped out tired of nursing, not the best reason, but the kid needs a happy well adjusted not sleep deprived Mommy.
I'm hoping once he's weaned he'll sleep better.
He has a blanket and a pacifier, but nothing works better than Mom. I have a hard time distinguishing between actual hunger and comfort so I also opt to feed cause you never know.
Thanks for the words of wisdom.
I completely agree with Pamt.
Cori, a couple more questions:
1) Are you ready to wean or would you like to keep nursing for awhile longer except to this conference issue?
2)What type of pump have you tried?
I have the Medela (sp) mini-electric, this is the last baby so I don't want to buy another.
Just read yesterday that nursing past 6 months is a good thing for respiratory health so I'm on the fence still.
Yes the conference is an issue, not sure what to do.
I have a consult with a plastic surgen (sorry my spelling sucks today) in yearly July for a breast reduction and I want him to see what I will be left with once I've stopped nursing although this is the least of my concerns as it's just a consult.
Those are my issues. I'm a bit back and forth on the whole thing, it's a day by day see how I feel. When I've had a rough night I want to stop but usually in the light of day things are good. Know what I mean?
Love to hear your thoughts
Just a couple of thoughts.
Being ready to stop nursing is your decision to make. If you are ready, it is okay to stop.
However, if you are on the fence, here are other thoughts. First, just because he has to have formula while you are gone, does not mean that you can't resume nursing when you return. It does not have to be an all or nothing choice.
As far as a better pump. The mini electric is a great pump for a supplement bottle. You can rent a higher grade pump (not buy) from the hospital. compared to the cost of formula this is really pretty cheap.
You comment that you never know if he is hungry or not, so you opt to feed him. You need to think a little more like a bottle mama here. If he nursed, he ate, he ate a full meal. I think if you surveyed all the bottle moms here, none would consider giving an 8 ounce bottle, then an hour later another one, without trying other things first. You seem to have doubts about how much he is eating. If he is 7 months old and doing well, then he is eating each time he nurses. With a growth spurt they do eat more, but I would encourage you to try to soothe him in other ways prior to feeding him. If isn't your job to be the human paci!
As far as weaning. It doesn't take long. He will either like formula or not! I would start giving him a bottle a day, sometime mid may for the conference, just in case..lol. You are the one who will hurt some at the conference, but there are a lot of homeopathic ways to dry up pretty quick.
Cori, I've got class from 9-5 today, so I won't have time to post until later this evening. However, what I was going to suggest some very similar things as kaye. More later...
I am a bottle mom and I was a bottle baby as were my siblings. And even though they say breast fed babies have less illness and better systems and breathing is better and such I have to say my kids are good in those departments as was I and my siblings. Yes it is cheaper but if you are ready start now. Pump and feed through a bottle then slowly cut out the breast totally and then go to the formula. And as someone above said if mine at 1hr previous and took 8oz no way would they get more 1 hr later. But also by 7 months mine we eating baby food at every meal so they were fuller longer by doing that. Have you tried juices and other things? Like snackers or biter biscuits and such. This is the age they can have those things.
Good luck. And please don't think I am bashing breast feeding because I am for sure not it just wasn't for me. I wish I could have but I just wasn't comfortable doing so.
Good luck.
Cameron most definately eats during the day. He has cereal and fruit in the morning, fruits and veggies at lunch time and cereal in the evenings. He also has anywhere from 4-6 oz of formula before bedtime.
The problem I have is that there is no way to know how much breast milk he is actually getting so for example, if he eats at 12:30 and only nurses for let's say less than 5 mins. how do I know if he got a full feed. Then in an hour he is showing signs of hunger I do try other things but he's pretty insistant about nursing so I put him on and he might nurse 20 minutes. He's a bit of a distracted nurser so I never know when he's actually nursed enough. Matthew was completely different he was a 40 minute nurser, 20 minutes on each side almost everytime and rarely nursed for comfort.
Sometimes after I have fed him an hour later he will be cranky, I pick him up and put him on my lap facing me he will grab me with both hands pull himself towards me and suck on my shirt and move his head side to side. If I move him to my shoulder he will suck on my neck. I do try the pacifier but when he's like this it doesn't work.
So I know he has no problems with formula and no problems with a bottle. It didn't even occur to me that he could just have formula while I was away, I guess I just assumed I would lose my milk, Kaye thanks for mentioning that I might not even have thought to bring my pump with me. I really wanted to nurse him until August as that would bring him to 11 months and at point I could just switch him over to whole milk rather than messing with formula.
We have had a hard time, although he is a great nurser it's been difficult on me being either pregnant or nursing for the past 3 years. Part of me is ready to stop but I want to do what's best for him as I know the baby time doesn't last long and it really is a short time for me to make a sacrifice and do what I think is best for my children. It's such an emotional decision for me, I actually get teary when I think of not nursing my baby anymore, so I guess I'm really not ready.
Anyway, for awhile I tried writing down how often he nursed and tried to hold him off for at least 3 hours, but at 5 months he was still nursing 7 times a day. When I'm not home he can go forever with out nursing, but as soon as this child hears my voice or sees me that's it.
Thanks Kaye and Tonya for your input it helps and it is appreciated, Pam I'm still interested in anything you have to add.
I totally understand the "wanting my own body back" type of notion. My kids were almost 3 years apart, but with each I had 9 months of pregnancy plus 12 months of breastfeeding which equals 21 months of thinking about every single thing (food, medicine, etc.) I put in my body affecting someone else. So, obviously you need to decide whether or not you want to wean. I'm not saying anything one way or the other because lactivists drive me crazy.
However, it you want to continue to nurse AND go on your conference you can:
1) "pump and dump" while you're at your conference and let Cameron have formula while your gone, then resume bfing when you return
OR
2)Pump and build up a supply before you leave for him to have while you are gone, and pump and dump while you are gone.
You will need to keep pumping while you're away so that you want start to dry up and/or become painfully engorged and/or get a clogged milk duct or mastitis. I would suggest renting a high quality Medela electric DOUBLE pump for about 2-3 weeks to build up a supply and take with you on your trip if you decide to go that route. A double pump stimulates a stronger letdown and it more comfortable and does a better job of "sucking" than the mini-electric. I've used both. When my oldest DS was about Cameron's age, I could pump 16-20 oz in 10 minutes with the double electric pump.
Now, as for the nursing in the meantime. No, you don't know exactly how much your son is getting when he nurses. That initially kind of worried me too, but that's where the mothering and the true gut instinct comes in. You have it, but I think you feel a little guilty about trusting it just yet. The way I could tell that my boys were full was that my breasts would be full and heavy and then afterwards they felt empty. They weren't, but just comparatively felt that way. Don't go by length of time either. Both of my boys were fast, efficient nursers and wanted to be playing and exploring, so unless they were sleepy or sick they nursed on both sides in 10-15 minutes TOTAL and they were done. They were fat 90th percentile babies too.
Here are a couple of articles about how much your baby needs to be eating:
article 1
article 2
Since my boys are now 9 and 12 I don't remember exactly, but I think we were on a loose schedule similar to this:
6 or 6:30 Nurse
8ish--Cereal and fruit
11:30ish--Lunch (started at 6 months with about 3 lg 1/2 jars of food and quickly moved up to 3 full jars--Main dish/meat, fruit or yellow veggie, green veggie)
12:30-1ish-nurse before nap
4ish--Nurse
6:00--Supper (same as lunch, started soft table foods, Cherrios, etc. also as appropriate)
7:30--Nurse and ready for bed
Based on my recall and what those articles suggest, then that would be plenty of milk and nutrition even if your son is getting just 8 oz at each nursing. I've seen pics though and just with nursing so often, I can guarantee that he is getting more than 8 oz. If he's having bouts of nursing for just 5 minutes then he is nursing just for boredom or comfort. I think if you cut back on the nursing that he'll get the message and get down to business. You can also start him on a sippy cup with water and diluted juice at this age a couple of times a day (maybe juice once and water the other time).
You know he won't starve, you know he can go for long stretches without nursing, if you can just hold off between feedings and maybe give him more solids he'll be fine. HTH! Good luck!
Here is another thought. You say when he hears your voice or sees you he wants to eat. That is pretty normal, some of that is associated by smell too. Are you using nursing pads? If so, change brands Go to cloth ones, or vice versa, that may just help slow down his sense of smell Also at this age my little one would take cheerios. I only nursed the last of my three. So I don't have a lot of experience, but I did do TONS of reading!
Thanks to you both! I don't use nursing pads, I don't leak so I didn't think I needed them. Perhaps I should though, then maybe I could hold him without him attacking me. He's like a little leach.
Thanks again.
Cori, I had a nursing scale when I was doing my best to nurse DS. I would weigh him before and after each feeding. It was a mental releif knowing how much he was or wasn't getting.
I have a friend was was nursing only. We were comparing our nursing stories and my sadness over lack of production. She was nursing and pulled her son off just to show me what was happening.....milk was FLOWING right out of her in a stream! I hardly even dripped when I was full of milk after sleeping at night. I had no idea women made so much milk.
Well, here's the point of my story. She wanted to know how much milk her son was drinking, so 3 times we used my scales. And the kicker was each time he had finished eating he had only eaten 3 oz. This is a woman who flows milk. Her son was a snacker. We never were able to do a first feeding in the AM weighing, but all the other times her son ate just a little. He is a very healthy big baby. I think we would all be surprised to see how little fully BF babies eat at a single feeding.
So, you could have a snacker. He might be getting just enough to satisfy and then move on until hungry again, which is not long after only 3 oz. It also sounds like he may be growing with all that other eating he is doing.
Truly, I would try not to stress over this. I had to learn not to stress in the opposite direction since I was not able to satisfy my child by nursing alone. Just go with your gut feeling. He is eating, he is growing.
Perhaps with the nightly wakings required on your part, I would try to encourage him to stop needing you. He is old enough to sleep the night. He has enough weight on his body (my 13mth old is 21 lbs) to go without the night feedings.
I went thru a stage where I just started sleeping on the couch (need to share our bedroom w/ crib...no extra bedroom) so that when the baby stirred at night I didn't hear him. He didn't hear me wake and move so he would fall back asleep after a few minutes.
Also, if you are leaving, I would start having the person who will feed him while you are gone start bottle feeding him. You can pump and store that or go ahead w/ the formula. Either way, you need to get your baby accustomed to the new routine. Not only will it make it easier for the baby, but it will make a huge difference on the caretaker of the baby. There is nothing harder than to take care of a baby who just wants his mommy.
Good luck to you.
With my third, I had this same problem. I couldn't tell if she was eating to fill herself or just eating out of boredom or for comfort. She was the only child I started feeding on a schedule. I knew she ate very well for her first feeding and started only feeding her at three hour intervals. Is there any feeding that he usually eats really well at? Right before bed or his first middle of the night feeding? At first it was AWFUL! She wanted to eat everytime she saw or heard me and I just had to find other things to keep her occupied. I think she was about the same age as Cameron, maybe a little younger. I'd give her Cheerios to snack on, move into another room of the house and a new batch of toys, give her a bath, go for a walk. Anything to put off feeding her a little longer. As she got used to not eating all the time during the day, she started going longer at night.
I thought I should have had it all figured out by my third but each one has been so different from the others that I had to relearn things with each baby. And oh, I so understand your feeling of wanting your body back. I really felt that way with my last dk. I wanted one single night of eight hours of sleep and wanted to get out of the house by myself for just a couple of hours without having to worry about how badly she wanted to nurse the whole time. My brother tried to watch her for me one day and she tried to suck on the end of his nose because she wanted to nurse so badly!
If you can break this bad habit, it makes all the difference in the world for how you feel about nursing. I really didn't want to quit but I was so so so tired of being at her beck and call, everytime we were in the same room. Once this hurdle was crossed, I really enjoyed it again and ended up nursing until she was 14 months old. I never expected to breastfeed that long but it just became so easy that I didn't resent it at all. I hope this all works out for both of you.
|
Members
