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Conference moira::parenting_v3

Title:	Parenting
Notice:	READ 1.27 BEFORE WRITING
Moderator:	CSC32::DUBOIS

Created:	Wed May 30 1990
Last Modified:	Tue May 27 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1364
Total number of notes:	23848

784.0. "HOW TO START WEANING??" by DUCK::SMITHM1 () Wed Mar 20 1991 15:30

    
    Can anyone point me to a note on how to start weaning a new baby for a
    confused new Mum?
    
    Rosie's 4.5 months old now (my first as if you couldn't tell!) and I'm 
    just starting to introduce her to baby rice - a few teaspoons at 
    breakfast, a few more at lunch, but it's so difficult to tell whether 
    she's actually taking any of it and I don't think she likes the spoon 
    much.  She normally starts crying and will only be pacified by being 
    given her bottle.  The rice just goes everywhere because she insists on
    putting both hands in her mouth at the same time.  Will it start getting 
    easier?  And when?
    
    She was sleeping right through the night, but has started waking for
    12.00 and 3.00 am feeds again, so I suppose she must be getting hungrier.
    
    I know it's a bit soon to start fussing but I'd love some tips!
                                          
    Ali

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
784.1	Easier times ahead	FROSTY::JANEB	See it happen => Make it happen	`Wed Mar 20 1991 16:07`	19
	Ali, It will start getting easier soon! I started feeding both my kids about 2 weeks too early. 2 weeks later they had the development to eat from a spoon. The difference was amazing. Tips: My kids did best when they were not starving. You might want to try to time the feeding so that she's hungry but not frantic. One possibility is part of the bottle to take the edge off, first. You can give her a spoon of her own, which might get her hands out of her mouth long enough at a time. It'll be a mess, but that's a given anyway! Have fun! Jane
784.2	No diapers here - it's MUCH easier!	BCSE::WEIER	Patty, DTN 381-0877	`Wed Mar 20 1991 22:06`	21
	**YES** ... it gets MUCH easier - and it's so subtle that you'll just be sitting around one day and suddenly realize that she hasn't done xxx (insert current annoying behavior) for a week now! I had much better luck with the coated baby spoons (First Years, I believe). They have a plastic/rubbery coating on them so they're real gentle on baby's gums - the boys fought me less with them. It's going to be a mess, so try to just accept that. If she's growing, she's getting enough food. Eventually she'll be more interested in EATING it than playing with it, so she'll come around. TRY to keep in mind that children are the perfect scientists - first they look, then they touch, then they taste - EVERYTHING. When they get through that stage, they like to see how it looks on the wall, the rug, the cat .... it gets easier - but it's never EASY. It's just DIFFERENT! (-: (-: ....and yes, it is all worth it (speaking up to almost 6 anyway...) patty
784.3	Bottle first, then cereal, then...	ICS::NELSONK		`Fri Mar 22 1991 15:11`	20
	Make sure that the cereal is thin enough. Remember, she's still only old enough to suck it off the spoon. Be sure to warm it up a little, too. James was pretty indifferent to cereal till I started warming it up some in the microwave and then he took off. Don't try to feed them cereal first at breakfast, for example. I started with dinner. I let James have a good long pull on his bottle first, then when he paused, I offered a little cereal on the tip of his spoon. Then it went, a few sucks on the bottle, some cereal, etc., etc. They don't get the hang of it for a few weeks yet. And if Rosie is trying to eat her fists, she's too hungry to try to mess with cereal. Give her the breast or bottle first, whatever she's getting milk from. I know how trying this is. (I remember crying in bed one night, pleading with God to help James to learn how to eat from a spoon!) Since he is now almost 3 and is a bright, healthy kid who feeds himself very nicely, you can see that they do learn. Good luck!