Newbie Play Date

[spiraltheory]

We haven't had one of these for a while. Ask your newbie questions here!

[spiraltheory]

My H asked me when we'd start giving Myles solids. I told him we wouldn't start until at least 4 months, probably closer to 6. He asked why, and frankly I didn't know. Digestive maturity? When/why did the recommendations change? I know people used to give solids earlier. What are the benefits?

I know some of you who have older babies have started. How is it going?

[spiraltheory]

I just thought of another one! I told H I didn't want the baby to watch TV yet. He agreed, but neither of us really knew exactly what the risks were. Thoughts?

[Libby]

Great idea!

spiraltheory I was just reading on the tv watching. I'm finding two things. 1) overstimulating and 2) they can't differentiate sounds from TV to parents so it becomes a wash. When the TV is off the pick up important language skills. Some studies show infant exposed to television more than 60 min a day had delayed language skills.

[pixie523]

spiraltheory part of the tv thing too is that if the tv is on the adults are less likely talking to/interacting with the baby. That's the reason language is delayed.

Mine: for bottle fed babies - how do you know when to give more ounces? Sometimes she seems still hungry but when we give more she spits like mad. Like fulllll ounces seem to come up all over me. We've been giving 3-4 ounces at a time whenever she seems hungry; maxing out on very hungry days at 28 ounces.

[jjh1119]

spiraltheory, I'm pretty sure the solids have to do with digestive maturity and allergies?

Interesting information about the TV thing. I keep it on while he naps. I try to turn it off when he is awake, though. The tv definitely catches his eye, and he is mesmerized by it, so I'm trying to keep to to a minimum.

pixie523 I'm confused about when to feed more, too. I think because we feed both BM and formula it might be different? (I'm not sure, just speculating). My mentality is that the BM continues to get more caloric right? So they are still getting more calories without needing to feed much more. Liam only has about 3-4 ounces at a time as well. We use the avent bottles and I just always made a 4 ounce bottle. Sometimes he seemed hungry still, and whenever I made more it ended up being wasted. I thought it might have had to do with the delay in waiting for the bottle to be made and he registers that he is full. But, I just bought a pack of 3 9 ounce avent bottles. I make 5 ounces at a time now since he had been finishing the 4 ounce bottles a lot now. He still only eats 4 ounces for the most part. Occasionally would have the whole bottle.

So I guess that is the long way of saying, I also have no idea. Maybe when they are EFF we will notice them eating more ounces?

okay, so mine: Liam seems to be getting really good at grabbing things with his left hand. He sucks his thumb on his left hand and basically favors it a lot. Is it normal? I mean, he uses his right hand. He can grasp things with it too, but not as well.

[runnershan]

jjh1119 maybe he will be left handed!!

I'm also curious about when to feed more. My LO is BF and also gets some formula so it's hard to know exactly what she's getting. When she gets a full bottle she will eat 4 oz but sometimes will take an extra ounce.

I'm wondering when to switch to a size 2 nipple. She stills seems to do fine on the size 1 so how do you know when to go up yo the next size?

About the TV I wonder if the language stuff is related to babies that are just plopped down in front of it and left for hours there. I wonder how the sounds from the TV are any different than background music that is on? We play music but the TV will be on sometimes. I try to never face her in front of it and she doesn't seem that interested in it yet. I think at this age it's more of a glowing light since she still can't see that far. But I try to talk to her all the time and she has gotten super chatty lately. It's hilarious to hear her chatter on and on about whatever she thinks she's talking about.

[wicked22]

Bottle feeding: My que for upping onces was whenever I noticed Joseph finishing all of his bottle and not to much spit-up. I only up it a half ounce at a time though so I don't feel like i'm wasting to much when he start's adjusting to the new amount.

TV: I'm a horrible mommy when it comes to t.v but I also never have any idea whats going on because I'm always playing with the baby. I use it more for back ground noise then anything.

Solids: It is a tummy maturity thing. There is a lot of controversy of wither to start at 4 or 6 months but everything agrees nothing before 4 months unless there are refulx issues and doc gives ok. Joesph is 5 months and change now and we have been playing with Gerber purees mixed with rice cereal. I don't have any expectations with it so if he eats any of it I give it an A for effort.

[sadie74]

jjh1119 my daughter does the same thing with her left hand. She has always used it more and my husband and I were wondering if maybe she'll be left handed. I'm glad I'm not only who noticed this!

[spiraltheory]

Thanks for all the TV and solid food feedback! I love to read everyone's perspectives.

Re: increasing formula. Add me to the not sure group. I just increased Myles's from 3.5 to 4 because he was wanting to eat more often. He usually eats every 3 hours, give or take 30 minutes. He was starting to get hungry after 2 hours, so I just increased .5 oz. I wanted to start slow. That was last week (12 weeks). So far, so good. He usually takes 28-32 oz total a day.

Re: left or right hand - I think M uses both, but I'll have to pay attention to see if he uses one more than the other.

[jjh1119]

runnershan and sadie74, I'm thinking he'll be left handed, too. Glad he;s not the only one who uses one noticeably more than the other.


The moms with babies who eat 3-4 ounces at a time, do any of your babies STTN? or have fewer than 3 MOTN feeds? Just wondering if he starts trasnsitioning to eat more during the day, he would sleep more overnight. 

[Libby]

runnershan there was something in the article I read that addressed this. They did say it was the same as music if they weren't facing it and parents would have to speak so many decibels louder in order for babies to be able to hear them articulate well and learn from them. I play pandora for her when we rock though and while I shower. I'm sure it goes back to just making sure you are interacting with them and maybe have no sound on when reading books etc.

jjh1119 I agree you may have a lefty! Future baseball star?

Here is mine: we EBF and she gets bottles while I'm at work. I'm pumping 20-22oz and she is gone for 15 hours. I send 15 oz per the 1 oz/hr rule and she does great. She gets 5 3oz bottles. In order to get in her daily oz though that would keep her waking up at night. Do I give her an extra bottle (nervous because of her GERD) so she can do one less night feed or do I wait until she is sleeping through the night which seems impossible if she is only getting 15 oz in 15 hours. We nurse before and after work as well. She still does a 3 hr stretch then up every 1-2 so we aren't close yet. I only work 3 days/week and she doesn't do thing differently when she feeds on demand with her sleep. I guess in simple, do you increase feeds in hopes of better sleep or wait for better sleep to increase feeds.
Hope this makes sense!

[pixie523]

jjh1119 LO typically has one MOTN feed, but recently has started needing two again. That's part of the reason I think she might be ready for a bigger bottle too?

[littleapplemom]

We're steadily feeding LO solids now, twice a day. Only oatmeal cereal and rice cereal so far and he doesn't seem to be keen on the rice. Our doctor cleared us at his last visit but we were giving him a tbs or two in his nightly bottle feeding since he was 3 mos. It actually helped him sleep longer during the night. He's taking 5-6 oz of BM or formula every 4 or 5 hours. He was getting really mad that spoon feeding takes longer than the bottle or boob so we changed our plan. When we do cereal now we make a regular sized bottle, reserve 2oz for the mix and feed him the bottle first. Then we put him in the high chair for cereal so he makes the association of chair to solids. Seems to be working well so far.

[jjh1119]

Libby if he is lefty, baseball is a definite lol

pixie523 maybe try to offer more in the initial bottle? Even When I make a 5oz bottle he will still stop at 4 or 3 oz anyway. I think he just likes small frequent meals.

[spiraltheory]

jjh1119 - re: 4 oz and STTN. Good question! Myles sleeps from 10-11PM - 3 AM most nights - give or take 30 min. Usually about twice a week he'll sleep till 5 AM. I haven't found a correlation between his total intake that day and how long he sleeps. It's random as far as I can tell. But now I'm wondering if I should give him a bit bigger bottles and see if he'll stretch it a little more. Hmmm. Thanks!

[jjh1119]

spiraltheory good luck!

[zengal]

This is good stuff to consider! I never know how much milk to take to the sitter's. If I just do an ounce an hour, I'll have to make up a lot of ounces in the evening and she might not sleep well at night. If I take more than I'm able to pump, well that messes things up too!

jjh1119 My baby takes 3.5oz bottles well, and sleeps from 5-7 hours in her long stretch. Of course there are still nights when it's only four hours....

[gldnbearz]

LO takes mostly 4 oz with the exception of 2x 5 oz bottles. Her 7am bottle is 5 oz and so is one of her evening ones. She does have two long sleeps: 11pm or 12 midnight to 6:30-7 am and 8:30 am to noon.

[lissydee]

r.e. when to feed solids. The old school thought was 4 months, and to start with the cereals. Now the recommendation per AAP is nothing but breast milk or forumla for 6 months. And yes, it does have to do with gut maturity. HOWEVER, solid foods are not meant to replace calorie needs. They're more for play, getting used to different tastes and textures. At one year of age is when solid good can start to replace breast milk or formula in terms of calorie needs.

As far as what foods to start with, there is no real consensus. Some recommend the cereals. Others say start with a fruit (apples, peaches). We personally started with avocado with our first two and will do the same. We personally never fed our LO's rice cereal. Its an "empty" food. Its bland, it has no nutritional value, and more often than not its extremely binding. Plus we try to do as much BLW as we can (so LO can feed themselves) and the cereals need to be spoon fed.

But in terms of overall readiness for when to start solids, I absolutely would not start until your LO has lost the tongue thrust reflex. Its not until then that they are able to properly manipulate foods in their mouth and swallow it.

[sadie74]

I wanted to add that kellymom has a calculator that you can use to find an average for how much milk you need per feeding. They use an average of 25 ounces a day I believe. Hopefully I'm not repeating something someone already said. Maybe the same thought could be applied to FF? If you knew what the total for the day is supposed to be.

kellymom.com/bf/pumpingmoms/pumping/milkcalc/

[sadie74]

lissydee thanks for the info on giving solids! I had no idea about thrust reflex. Interesting. We're planning on no solids for at least six months but we definitely need to do some more research.

[ninergirl52]

Feb 26, 2015 11:12:51 GMT -5 sadie74 said:

lissydee thanks for the info on giving solids! I had no idea about thrust reflex. Interesting. We're planning on no solids for at least six months but we definitely need to do some more research.

This! Plus I keep hearing, "food before one is just for fun"

[millm0m]

sadie74 Thanks so much for that link! Going back to work week after next and I've been trying to figure out how much I needed to pump and leave each day!

[sadie74]

millm0m there's some really great information on that website. It can be a little difficult to use but well worth it.

[wildflower810]

Does the post pregnancy flatulence ever get better? I'm tired of being a walking stink bomb.

[catlady22]

lissydee, how can you tell about the tongue reflex? LO always sticks his tongue out for fun but I can't tell what is a reflex?

[catlady22]

wildflower810, at 4 months out, I see no end. I feel like that's all I've been doing at my desk today. Sorry coworkers

[pixie523]

wildflower810 maybe I was always pregnant levels of gassy because I haven't noticed a change since pre-bfp. Basically, I've always farted a lot. I'm a lady!

[lissydee]

Feb 26, 2015 15:57:20 GMT -5 catlady22 said:

lissydee, how can you tell about the tongue reflex? LO always sticks his tongue out for fun but I can't tell what is a reflex?

www.babycenter.com/0_gagging-in-babies_9197.bc