Sunday bottle feeding update

This morning I decided to try Kirsty with a bottle of all formula to see if she would accept it and she did! So she is officially now 100% bottle fed! I'm so proud of her! She really enjoyed her milk today, bless her!

For her 3pm feed we tried to have DH hold her and feed her the bottle but she is used to getting fed her bottle in the highchair (I did this to save her being confused by my holding her - she would think she was getting booby). She didn't accept her bottle being held, so we ended up using the highchair again. This concerned me a little as it makes the bedtime feed awkward. Her routine has always beem to be bathed, fed & put down in her cot. How could we do this if she wont allow us to hold her whilst feeding?

Tonight, I decided to try bathing her, then feeding her the bottle in the nursery as we would have done by BFing. After getting her jammies on, I held her and sat in the chair where I have nursed her for the past almost 7months, and offered her the bottle - she took it like a pro!!

Isn't she just the most clever little girl ever!!! After 4+ months of refusing bottles, she has become 100% weaned in the space of 3 days!!

Of course, the downside is, my boobs are soooo engorged, so sore I know this will pass, I just don't know how long it will take. I could barely cuddle my girl tonight as I can't suffer anything pressing against me. Hopefully I will feel this easing up tmor! (am I being too optimistic?!)

Saturday bottle feeding update!

So, this morning, Kirsty woke up again at 5am, this is still classed as "middle of the night" for us, I try and make the earliest time for getting up 6am - of course with a baby this isn't always the way! I tried to offer her a bottle of milk but she was most upset and so I gave her a 5 minute BF and put her back to bed. She slept until around 6:45am!

She successfully accepted her 4 feeds via bottle and mostly drank around 4oz ish each time. Her bedtime bottle she took 8oz!! She slept well, I heard her at 5am this morning, but simply gave her the dummy and went back to bed> I'm unsure if she went back to sleep or not - I fell asleep - but had she not have gone off again, I would have heard her babbling/crying so I assume she did. We got up at 6:30am!

I used only 1oz of BM per bottle and the rest was formula. I'm so pleased with her progress!

First day transitioning to bottle

Kirsty slept really well last night, she went down at 7:45pm, we heard her cry sometime after 1am but I'm unsure what time, hubby got up and replugged her and that was her until 5am, I got up and gave her a BF and she went back to sleep until just after 7am. All in all, a good night.

I could tell by my 5am feed that my milk had slowed down again so when I got up this morning I decided I would pump at each feed time, but offer Kirsty a bottle - 2oz BM/3oz formula - and if she finished the bottle or drank some, but looked for booby afterwards, I would allow her to BF. She did very well indeed, she drank most of her bottles at each feed and seemed satisfied. She took a 5 minute BF just after noon but other than that she didn't seem to "miss" her booby.

I pumped 2oz of BM for each bottle and topped it up with 3oz formula. She mostly drank 3-4oz each bottle. It doesn't sound much but formula is more filling and drinking from a bottle is new so the volume doesn't concern me right now. As long as she tries and drinks some, I'm a happy mummy!

In a TMI news update - Kirsty has 2 poos today!!! This is FAB as she has been having a lot of poo trouble lately. I'm so pleased for her, she must have had sore tumtums with being bunged up and I know it has been uncomfortable at times for her to pass her poos.

Kirsty slept all night last night!!!

Hurrahhhhhhhh!!!!!

Kirsty had a 4oz bottle (half my milk/half formula) at 6pm, then her bath at 7pm followed by a BF and off to bed by 7:45pm. I heard 2 little cries at 4:30am, daddy got up and gave her back her dummy.... that was her until 6:30am this morning!!!!

With her feeding better milk-wise, it really seems to be paying off in her night time sleeping!! I'm so pleased she has been getting more milk!!

Health Visitor appointment today

Well, the visit today confirmed my fears that Kirsty hasn't been getting enough milk... she has lost 3oz over the past month. I'm 100% sure she lost more but has gained over the past few days with her nursing so much better.

The HV thot she made a mistake but I told her I expected there would be little or no gain, I hadn't expected a loss but it's not much and the HV isn't concerned.

She said pick one feed to drop this week, and offer a bottle instead. She said even if Kirsty refuses the bottle do NOT give her booby for that feed as it will reinforce "if I refuse, I'll get booby in a while". She said Kirsty wont starve and will either take the bottle eventually or will wait until her next BF, but she wont get hungry. The HV said if she refuses, offer the bottle every half hour until next feed.

She said she wants me to go back next Thurs if nothing else but for support. She is hopeful that by next Thurs Kirsty will be on 2 bottle feeds & 2 BFs per day. All in all a good visit apart from Kirsty's weight. I know she isn't starved though so i'm not overly concerned and we are getting back on track now!

Quick update

Kirsty & I went to my parents at the weekend and we had a slight setback with the bottle drinking - she started refusing it again She also has been waking a lot more through the night - like 3-4 times. Taking 2 feeds per night and other times going back off with me re-plugging (giving her back her dummy).

Needless to say, I've been quite tired!! She has also decreased her daytime nuring dramatically over the past 2 weeks. I have been using the Annabel Karmel sample food routine for a while now - it states solids to be given at mealtimes with water/juice and milk/BF to be given at naptimes. I've found that Kirsty has been too tired to nurse before a nap and therefore hasn't been getting much milk at all. She has become a very distracted nurser - she will latch on, suck a few times, unlatch to look about and so on. And has started nipping my breast skin whilst nursing - very painful indeed!!!

Yesterday she fed a lot more & better, I also gave her an extra feed at 6:15pm. Last night she went to bed at around 7:30/7:45pm... she gave one small cry at 10:30pm but didn't wake up... I heard her babble twice at around 4:30am (or 5:30am?! very early!) but she obviously found her dummy and went back to sleep... until 6:30am!!! So she slept all night!!! WOW!!!

Soooo, today I decided to change her routine a bit. We did BFs at 7am, 11am, 3pm, 6:15pm. And solids at 8am, 12:30pm and 5pm. I'm hoping to continue this and fingers crossed it will help with the nighttime sleeping. Today with the 11am feed, I offered Kirsty 3oz of my milk in a bottle and she drank it! I'm hopeful she will continue this if offered at the same time each day!

Bottles, cups & cots

Kirsty has just drank 4oz (2oz BM & 2oz aptimal formula) from the Breastflow bottle  She just got up from her nap at 4pm and was hinting towards booby, so I knew I had 2oz of BM in the fridge, and mixed it up to4oz with the aptimal - she seems to be better with the aptimal than SMA as I've been using Aptimal in her food the last week. She guzzled it all! Clever girl! This is fab as I'm feeling ready to wean her from the breast but she just wasn't for taking any bottles at all!

Also yesterday & today she has drank a good amount from her sippy cup!! Yesterday teatime she had a good amount of apple & orange juice (I hadn't wanted to introduce juice so early but if it gets fluids into her, then so be it!), and again today after breakfast and with lunch she had more juice!!

And for the past week or so, she has been willing to go into her cot for an afternoon sleep!! Typically she will sleep 2 hours in her cot!! Such a change from screaming anytime we attempted to place her for a sleep in her cot!!

Such milestones!!

Boring Sunday

Kirsty drank from a sippy!

To the average Joe Bloggs, this is no big deal, but for us, this is HUGE!! Kirsty drank about 1oz f water from the Avent Magic Sippy Cup.

You might be thinking umm, ok, whatever, but if I explain I have been trying to introduce a bottle or cup since she was 2 months old and she has refused every type of botte & cup... now you understand! One day she might take one type of bottle/cup and then never ever again will she accept it.

It has been an (expensive) adventure trying to find a cup she will take to. She has been more accepting of this cup than any other but hasn't really drank much from it, maybe a mouthful or two. So this is huge! I offered her a drink when she woke up from her (2hr 10mins - YEY!!!) nap after lunch, so perhaps this is a thirsty time for her.

I need to try to get her drinking more water as she has been having *output* issues, bess her.

Kirsty had almost 12hrs of solid sleep last night!!

Kirsty went to bed (exhausted) at 7:30pm last night, she was so tired that she didn't even need her dummy. (if she doesn't take her dumdum when I lay her down, I normally sit it on the matress close by her head). I heard her at around 1am, so I did my usual... get up, go to the bathroom, then go in to feed her.

I opened the door & walked right up to her cot and stopped in my tracks, scared to even breathe... she'd found her dumdum, popped it in her mouth, and went back to sleep all by herself!!!! So my dilemma was... how do I get back out of her room with its creaky floorboards, without waking her up I crept out as quietly as I could, and climbed back into bed, fully expecting to have to get up again in 10 minutes to feed Kirsty. I listened for 10 mins and heard nothing, so rolled over & went to sleep.

I woke up at 6am... panicking... was she ok?! She'd never slept that long before!! She has gone 8pm-5am twice but never 11.5hrs!! I got up and crept into her room thinking I would probably wake her up, but nope! She was sound asleep still!! I touched her to make sure she was ok (paranoid mummy!), she was fine. This was at 6:05am. I got dressed, came downstairs & waited...

She finally woke up at 6:45am!! Almost 12 hours of sleep!!!! She didn't wake up at 1am-ish, just stirred. I'm glad for her because she has been quite grumpy the past few days, clingy to me & grumpy! I wondered if she has been teething or just feeling a bit off colour. Hopefully she'll be in a fab mood all day with such great sleep!!!

New use for breast pads?

Silly me, I always thought breastpads were for leaky boobies....



It appears, I've had my information incorrect for the past 6 months!!!

Bah bah bah bah

This is all I have heard yesterday & today! Kirsty is a right little chatterbox, bless her soul!! Yesterday morning she realised she can now say "bah bah bah" over & over again, it's such a sweet sound!

She also started waving her hand when I say "hiiiiii",  in her own little fashion, it's a very royal type, delicate wave!

However we are struggling with a little "mummy clingyness", and it's getting worse. She used to be a bit funny with new people or people she hadn't seen in a while. Now she seems to get distressed when I leave the room (leaving her behind), even if daddy is beside her or holding her. Yesterday, she cried so much when daddy took her from me for cuddles. I feel sorry for hubby He is beginning to think Kirsty doesn't love him anymore. I'm not too sure how I can ease this and help her through it. I do wonder if she is teething and this might be contributing to the separation anxiety issue. She has been cheweing anything & everything the past few days - not unusual for her, really - but even her fingers which isn't typical for her.

Poor baby. It's so difficult when they can't talk.

A big breakthrough though: Kirsty had a lunchtime sleep in her cot both yesterday & today!! 

She usually fights going down in her cot through the day, but she has had decent sleeps! Today's was TWO hours!!! Both sleeps were at 1pm so I hope to try and put her to her cot at 1pm each day (providing we are at home), and see if I can encourage this to be her "big sleep" time.

Likes & Dislikes

Isn't it funny how one person's likes are another person's dislikes??

For example, I'm really not that keen on broccoli... Kirsty LOVES it!! She also LOVES peas. But how odd... she dislikes banana?! I thought all babies would love banana! She also had (extremley sour) apricot puree through her porridge this morning and enjoyed it!

But yeah, broccoli? It's got quite a strong "green veg" flavour to it... but she likes it! I'm glad though, I want her to have as broad a range of likes as possible!

I have an avacado in the fruit bowl, it's probably over-ripe now but with us having tried a new food in the last few days I was holding off with it. I'm intrigued to see what she makes of it though, again it's got an "acquired" taste. She's doing fab with eating solids, she just really enjoys eating from a spoon and enjoys her food!