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| Breastfeeding
Links |
Solids (when to start, allergies,etc.) |
Pratt Family Resources |
Parenting
Resources |
Breast Feeding & Other Webrings I Belong To |
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Healing Broken
Skin on the Nipple
If a baby bites you or if your nipple cracks, it is
very painful. Go to: kellymom.com:
Healing broken skin in the nipple area to find out
how to help heal the skin. (Basically, mix 1/2 teaspoon of
salt with 1 cup of warm water. Place the
sore nipple into the salt solution for about a minute or
so (but not more than five minutes). Pat it dry
(softly) with a paper towel. Apply expressed
breastmilk to the nipple. There are more resources
at the previous link.)
.)
Question: Can
I still breastfeed if I have flat or inverted nipples?
Answer: Yes
you can. I have read at Breastfeeding:
Can you nurse with flat nipples (or inverted)? that
you can still breastfeed using a breast shield. Read
how you can at the previous link.
Whatever type of milk you decide to give your
baby (or babies) is up to you. Your baby will still
love you know matter what.
I am no expert on breastfeeding. I have done it for all three of my children. My youngest is now 6 years old and hasn't nursed for quite awhile. I know by my experiences what is best for me. Do what is best for you! Just have fun with your babies and watch them grow!
One thing I have learned
even more with my third child that children can react to
food you eat while they are breast feeding. You have
to be careful and see if your baby reacts to your
milk. It is a good thing to nurse as long as possible
to find all the food allergies or intolerance you child may
have. One thing that will help is to keep a food
diary. Write down the reaction if your baby/child
reacts. (I know my son and older daughter reacted to
either milk and/or gluten because they had really bad diaper
rashes. The doctors told me to put Desitin on the rash
but that never helped the red and sometimes bleeding
rash. It was the food I ate (probably milk and/or
gluten and maybe something else) because my baby doesn't
have a diaper rash like my other two children did.
Now, she only got it if she was teething. I'm so glad
I'm aware of my food allergies and what food can cause a
baby when a baby drinks my milk.
We do not give our children peanuts or peanut butter until the
age of three since it is recommended not to give children peanuts
until after the age of three or more because the chance of peanut
allergies. When I am breastfeeding, I do not eat peanuts or peanut
butter since they get into the milk. My oldest daughter does
not like the smell and taste of peanut butter (or even sunflower
seed butter). I eat sunflower seed butter since I'm still
nursing my 20 1/2 month old daughter and I did react to a skin
allergy test I took in 2001.
Nursing
I am a Stay At Home Mom and I love it. We have not
used formula or any type of bottles for our three children.
I planned to tandem nurse by oldest daughter but she self
weaned herself at 25 months when her brother was born.
I tried to nurse her the next day and other days and she does
not want to breast fed. She said, "No, baby." I
breastfed my son until he was about 32 months old but I was
tired of nursing so I stopped. (Most of it was just
comfort nursing and I didn't have much milk anyways.)
Experience With Solids With Our First Daughter
We tried to start her on solids off and on since seven months but
she was not interested. I never tried that hard but we did try to
give her some cereal but she was not interested in it. The doctor
suggested we have my daughter blood tested for anemia at her 6
month check-up and her blood was fine. At my daughter's 9 month
check up, her regular doctor was on vacation so another doctor
from the same office saw her instead. He said we needed to start
her on solids. He verbally gave a list of foods she should start
eating because she was below the average for the weight growth
chart. She was 18 pounds and 14 ounces and she was 29 inches long.
I think she was fine in growth. He said if we wanted to wait until
she was a year that was our decision but he kept on stating why we
should give her solids; for example vitamins. Breast milk has all
the vitamins, minerals, and antibodies that a baby needs to have.
Breast milk is the best you can get because it is designed for
your baby. I will paraphrase what The American Pediatrics
Association has stated, a baby's main nutrition should come from
breast milk or Formula for the first year of life. My daughter's
regular doctor always says that her weight and height are
perfect. He even asked us if we were throwing steak
(meat) at her. (We laughed at him.) Our regular
doctor is for breastfeeding. He never has told us to start her on
solid even when she was younger. He always said, "Continue
breastfeeding her.") We kept on trying to give her solids but she
didn't want it. Some babies just don't want to eat solids until
they are ready. You can not force any baby or child to eat
something they do not want. She finally started to eat solids just
before she turned 15 months. I think she didn't want to eat solids
before because she got her four first molars between 13 and 15
months.
Experiences with Solids with our
Third Child
Our daughter started to graze the house to find whatever she can
to eat (hard ground beef, hard bread, cereal, scraps of paper,
etc.) at about 9 months old. We realized she was ready when
she gets mad if we take anything away from her. She is
totally different from our other two children. They weren’t
interested at all until almost 15 months old but not this child.
Experience In The Hospital
When my first daughter was born, the nurse in the hospital gave us some formula but we told the nurse we didn't need it. The nurse told us to take it in case we wanted to supplement with formula. (We didn't take it.) We have never given my daughter anything except for breast milk. I have only feed her by breast; no bottles.
Pacifiers
The nurse even gave us a pacifiers for my daughter to us. We never did use the pacifier in the hospital. We tried to give her a pacifier once when she was fussy. We put it in her mouth and it flew right out. We started to laugh. We just wanted to see what she would do and we never tried again.
When I am in the hospital with the next baby, we will
tell the nurse to keep the formula and pacifiers because we
won't use them. We believe you can calm a baby by a finger, a
toy or just holding them if they are not hungry.
Added 7/31/06
Our third child decided to be a finger sucker. Our other
two children did not do this. Hopefully, she will break
this habit.
Revised 4/13/05
Our Beliefs and Doctors Beliefs
About Feeding Solids to Babies
There are many beliefs about solids. Most doctors will say to
start solids between 4 and 6 months; our doctor didn't. He
said to continue to breast feed. I agree with my doctor and La
Leche League beliefs about solids. You can read more about
starting solids at: La
Leche League: FAQ on Starting Solids. In the
second to the last paragraph, it states different things about
iron. One thing it states is breast milk has small
quantities of iron in it but the baby can absorb it very
easily. You can also search for a lot more things on their
home page: La Leche
League. It is up to you baby when s/he is ready to
start to eat solids. My older two children were not
interested in solids until they were 15 months old. It
was just Mommy's milk and that was fine with me. (La
Leche League says between 6 and 12 months.)
You can help prevent food allergies by watching what you eat
while breastfeeding and delaying feeding solids to your baby if
you have a history of food allergies. Some people don't know
they are allergic to any foods but they are really allergic to
some foods. I have read lots about food allergies on the web
and have realized my hay fever really wasn't hay fever and really
was food allergies. I'm so glad I feel better now.
Thanks to eliminating all the foods that cause me problems.
Go to The
Pratt Family Allergy Free Cookbook and Resources to read
more about food allergies.
Note: It is up to you when you start your baby on solids. However, it is mostly up to your baby, when he or she wants to start solids.
Baby Food vs. Homemade Food
We have never bought bottled baby food. We just give
her our food; like canned fruit and vegetables. We give her
homemade food because bottled food is so expensive in the
store and the nutritional value isn't that great. We never
have bought regular baby cereal because it has added iron in
all the cereals. The iron in breast milk is absorbed so well
that we believe there is no reason to give her cereal with
iron added. (It would just decrease the iron absorption
in the breast milk.)