I am starting to settle into a nice routine with Emma and the rest of my family. She cluster feeds in the evenings, then sleeps very well, with two-three feeds at night evenly spaced. I wake up quite rested at 10 am or so, and feed her first thing in the morning, then bathe her (in the sink, we still don't have a tub), then feed her again, then I wash and have breakfast while mom holds her. I don't know what I will do when mom is gone, as Emma is little miss social in the mornings and will not simply sleep by herself. I have decided to take her out for a quick walk around the block every morning after my breakfast, as I need to get used to maneuvering her and the stroller. She starts out in the stroller, sleeps a little, then gets hungry (she cluster feeds in the mornings too) and wants some boob. So I end up holding the baby on the breast with one hand, and pushing the empty stroller with the other hand :)
Everybody is telling me that I am spoiling her because I keep her on the breast when she starts crying or is upset. But I think that there is nothing more natural. Why is it that most of baby rearing advice goes against the grain of what babies want to do? Babies know what is right for them, and Emma likes to snuggle up to my warm body and sleep with my boob in her mouth, then so be it, that is why I am taking time off work so that I can supply these basic needs for her full time. Hopefully by January, when she is 6 months old, she will naturally want some independence...otherwise I am in trouble, as I have to go back to work then, at least half-days.
The other issue is the introduction of bottles or soothers: I don't want any artificial nipples near her, as I struggled hard to forge a good breastfeeding relationship. She had trouble latching and I don't want to backtrack any of my efforts. The soother (pacifier) she spits out in any case, so I don't think we'll be using it anytime soon. The bottles are not necessary until I go back to work, and even then she will be eating some solids so it won't be all that needed for the brief time in the afternoons that I will be gone.
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the birth of Emma! What a cute wee girl :-)
Just had a tip with the pacifier thing: when my wee girl was born we had troubles with breastfeeding so I didn't want her to use a pacifier and luckily she didn't like them anyway! We found, when she needed just to suck (and I got sick of it, which you may one day) I let her suck on my little finger. She loved it- maybe it reminded her more of nursing as it's warm and skin covered- whatever the reason she loved it MUCH more than a plastic pacifier and didn't cause any problems with latching
All the best, sounds like you are doing a great job :-)
Rose
There can be no such thing as spoiling a newborn! You know what your baby needs, so don't worry about what others have to say. Congratulations on making it through your breastfeeding issues and on to the other side!
ReplyDeleteI agree on there's no such thing as spoiling a newborn.
ReplyDeleteI would start trying to introduce a bottle around 3 weeks or you may end up with her never taking a bottle which would make it really hard for you to go back to work. Lucas has been taking a bottle since he was about 4 days old (we had to supplement with pumped breastmilk after every feeding for the first week because he lost too much weight at first) and it's never been an issue. I really like the Breastflow bottles- his latch actually got better when we started using them. We started using a paci after about a week too, no issue with that, since it reduces the risk of SIDS for whatever reason and I didn't want Lucas to be a thumb sucker (he definitely would be a thumb sucker if we didn't give him a paci, even now if he doesn't get the paci in his mouth fast enough he'll go for his hand.
Anyway, glad things are going well!
She is precious and perfect! And there is no such thing as spoiling a baby (meat spoils, not children) They are LOVED and cared for;) And your breast is the best and most natural thing to give a baby.
ReplyDeletehey,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you read old comments but my son was on the boob constantly. He was a very unhappy baby with colic and acid reflux. I feel that giving him whatever he needed to feel secure as an infant has led directly to his self confident and extremely friendly nature. That kid works a room like a game show host. Everyone is right, you cannot spoil a baby.