Truly Happy Baby ... It Worked for Me: A practical parenting guide from a mum you can trust. Holly Willoughby
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Название: Truly Happy Baby ... It Worked for Me: A practical parenting guide from a mum you can trust
Автор: Holly Willoughby
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Здоровье
isbn: 9780008172534
isbn:
Always be guided by your baby. If you have a baby who wakes at 6am every morning, start your 24-hour clock from then. I just found that the 7am routine really worked for me. Your body gets used to a routine very quickly and you’ll be shocked how you check to see what time it is and discover it’s 11am or 3pm on the dot and feed time. Your body instinctively gave you a little prod. You probably won’t even need to look at the clock!
By having a set timetable you know when the next feed is – you remember the four golden numbers 7, 11, 3 and 7!
One of the best things about getting my babies in a four-hourly feeding routine – in my case 7am/11am/3pm and 7pm – was it finally meant I stopped having to ask myself or Dan when I last fed the baby! Baby brain is definitely not a myth – whether it’s down to all the hormones or just lack of sleep, you can have finished a feed an hour ago, and then forget immediately what time you began the last feed and completely lose track of time.
Be adaptable The four-hour feeding routine is all about trying to find that key balance between being too flexible and not flexible enough! Being too flexible with your baby might mean you struggle to set a feeding and sleeping routine further down the line, but not being flexible enough is likely to stress you out. It’s about bearing the guidelines in mind, but adapting them to suit you and your baby.
Helpful hints This routine will seem like a dream before you get there. An unbroken night’s sleep! Perfect! Exactly your goal. Having said that, if your baby is a bit more stubborn, don’t give up. She’ll get there eventually and so will you. If your baby is still waking at night, don’t be discouraged. Just ask yourself those troubleshooting questions I gave you in the Pre-routine Hints to check you’re doing all the right things during the day to prepare your baby for a good night’s sleep. Weaning (see here) can help with that as solids don’t get digested as quickly as liquids, keeping your baby’s tummy from rumbling for longer. Whatever your situation, perhaps this little piece of information might make you feel better – or more determined to get your baby into a routine. My mum will tell anyone who will listen how I didn’t sleep through the night until I was four and a half years old. Imagine that! Rather not? No, me neither! On the plus side, I can sleep for England now … or at least I could until I had babies!
Getting babies off bottles …
By the time your baby gets to about six months old she will naturally want to start copying you, even down to the way you drink. If she reaches for your water cup, let her try to take a sip. Your baby will want to move on as much as you want her to, so be guided by her newfound interest. Give her a beaker or sippy cup with a hard spout and lid at mealtimes so she can help herself and get used to drinking out of something other than a bottle.
When your baby is getting old enough for solid food it’s time to start dropping bottles. So to give you some idea, here’s what I did with Chester, from about six months:
Then I gradually dropped the 11am feed, so he was just having three bottles in 24 hours. At eleven months I dropped the 3pm feed, so he was on two bottles at 7am and 7pm. At twelve months I dropped the 7am bottle and he just had a sippy cup with milk at breakfast, but be guided by what you think your baby needs all the way along. I left in that 7pm bedtime bottle for a while, as that’s such a snuggly and cosy time and I really think it helped to settle him.
Feeding solutions Hopefully your experience of feeding your new baby will go without a hitch, but there are a few things that can get in the way, particularly if you are breastfeeding. You might also learn that your baby has a medical reason for finding feeding tricky, such as tongue-tie or reflux, which I know all about having gone through them with Chester! These arise mostly in younger babies, and you’re likely to need medical help to overcome them. In this section you’ll find some of the most common issues you might face and some possible solutions to help you get on track. Never hesitate to seek the help of your GP or health visitor should you need to.
BREASTFEEDING ISSUES
Sore nipples: miracle-cure ingredient – lanolin! If your nipples are sore and raw, slather on a good lanolin cream. Tons of it! I put it on after every feed and it’s honestly the only thing that helped. There is so much conflicting advice on how to treat sore nipples: everything from let them air dry, hang ’em in the wind, to putting cabbage leaves in your bra. Try these if you want to, but I always thought of chafed nipples like chapped lips and you wouldn’t leave those to heal themselves in the air. Your nipples need moisturising – they need loads of lanolin cream, followed by a breast pad and bra. Another great thing is that you don’t need to wash it off as it’s safe for your baby. So get slathering! Sore nipples can sometimes lead to or be a symptom of other infections that may need medical treatment, though.
Infected nipples: see your GP For any infection, contact your GP. If your nipples are cracked, pink, shiny and itchy, and/or you find white spots/coating on your baby’s tongue or she has an ongoing nappy rash, you might have thrush. White nipple is caused by bad blood circulation around the nipple, making it appear white, and it can be agony when your baby feeds.
Pain: try nipple shields These thin, flexible covers made of silicone act like a second skin to help reduce discomfort, and they do work. I was desperate to feed Chester but it was agony because my nipples were in such a state. Wearing a shield reduced the pain enough to get me through.
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