13-05-2004, 11:44 AM
Quote:Originally posted by Jemlet
Cubbie that was the advice of the health visitor, feed your child on demand and sleep when your child sleeps. This is all fine and well if your child doesn't decide to use you as a dummy, or decide that he was really hungry every 1 1/2 during the day and every 45 minutes during the night. I found that I was able to get less and less sleep which of course makes the quality of your milk deteriate which means your baby gets hungry sooner and you have a vicious cirlce. Gina Ford had some very practical advice like making sure your baby was getting the hind milk and then actually giving it time to digest. Topping up too soon can cause colic. She also told you common sense things like your baby needs to sleep to grow and that they can probably only manage two hours between naps when they are very little. I just felt she empowered you as the mother as she helped give your day some structure. I never followed her timetables religiously and you didn't do everything she said. As you say babies are not all textbook characters so common sense and instinct is still required but it definately helped the baby be more relaxed when he knew what to expect, I managed to get more sleep and that made me nicer to live with.
Well, i tried at least i know my son got some of the best milk, but 25ml per day was hardly enough to give him sustenance... as it was my son ended up in traction for a broken femur when he was nine days old, for 6 weeks, try and breast feed doing that!! He was in a tiny cot, up in gallows traction for his legs, i had to basically crawl in between the top of the cot and him to try and breast feed then change sides, it was bloody awful. Plus i was still recovering from giving birth, so they had to supplement his feed in the evenings with the bottle. He still had abit of breast milk everyday from me, as i hired an electric breast pump, and that was agony!! try a vacuum cleaner on your boobies.... anyway, suffice to say he had supplements inbetween the breasst feeding, but when he landed up in ICU when he was three months old, he came out and rejected me completely...so i guess i tried my best...
but when he eventually came out i fed him when he wanted it as i knew he also wanted comfort, i missed bonding with him from the beginning, but in general he slep for four hours a day plus slept right thru from 4 months old...so i was very lucky in being able to sleep properly.....
