Our Expert Health Visitors have answered the following questions
on Breastfeeding to aid parents of infants & children 0-5
years. Look through the questions listed below, or use our confidential
online Health Visitor support service if you would like to ask
your own question.
Q
I started introducing solids to my little girl two weeks ago, ,just a bit of porridge in morning and some Veg in the afternoon, she loved it and eats it all up without leaving any, however since she has started on this food I cant get her to drink milk throughout the day, she will only have 8oz for breakfast and 8 before bed. I'm really concerned that this is not enough milk could u tell me how much milk she should be taking for her age and suggest a routine of when and how much I should offer her milk as she will not take any at lunch or tea times.
Q
When do I stop using the cold water method for my baby's bottles, is it 6 months? health
visitors response
Q
My daughter is on solids and milk but she does not have the amounts she should have. She only has 100ml of milk in a feed and very little solids. I try to give her savory solids but she only eats sweet things like yogurt, rice pudding and custard. She occasionally has sweet potato and other Vegetables but generally wants sweet foods. I am worried that she is not getting the right nutrients that she needs. Another issue is that because she eats very little in the day she still wakes twice at night for milk. This is now becoming very tiring as I have started back at work.
Please could you suggest how I could encourage my baby to eat more varied foods and tips on how to stop the night feeds.
Q
My daughter is 13 months and drinks juice from a beaker but she is still having 3 bottles a day. She eats her solids well but likes her bottle as a comfort to help her go to sleep. She sleeps for 12hrs a night and has half hour in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. How can I break this habit of using the bottle as a comfort without disrupting her sleep and making sure she does not go hungry?
Q
How long do you try to ignore a food fad. I have tried everything that my local Health Visitors have suggested and my son is going from bad to worse with eating. I make sure he doesn't know how worried I am about it and try to make meal times fun but he runs off of hides under the table and I can't seem to win this battle.
Q
My son has just turned 4 months old and has not as yet slept through the night. I stopped breast feeding 2 weeks ago as it seemed as though he fed more during the night and then hardly fed for more than 10 min's at a time during the day and I just couldn't break the cycle. Fortunately he has taken well to bottles but this hasn't made any difference.
For the past week or so his night time waking (at approx 3am) has consisted of a feed and then a battle of approx 2 hours to get him back to sleep. We are at our wits end. In the morning he wasn't very interested in his bottle so we are assuming that it is a habit and not hunger.
Last night we tried settling him with water and again it took him 2 hours to settle Should we persist with this method, is he too young to expect him to settle himself and go without milk?
Interestingly, I expected him to be starving hungry after only having had water but he still wasn't desperate for his feed at 7.30am and didn't even finish his bottle.
Please help, the tiredness is just getting too much.
Q
My daughter developed milk intolerance 8mths ago. It was after a heavy cold. She was sick every time she had milk. I was told by the H.V before to slowly introduce milk back into her diet. Although she isn't sick if she has a yogurt etc, she has a very upset tum every time. Am I right in thinking this is still milk intolerance? She doesn't have an upset tum at anytime other than when she has milk based products. Please could you advice me as to whether I should keep trying to introduce milk? I'm not sure if her diet is lacking without milk, even through her weight is average.
Q
Have you got any tips to get my son to take expressed milk from a bottle. He initially took it fine at about six weeks old but has got worse and worse, and now screams whenever a teat goes into his mouth. Short of starving him into taking it, what can I do? He is sixteen weeks old, and I return to work in 8 weeks. health
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Q
My daughter sometimes chokes on lumpier foods but then not on others. Is this normal? She is an active baby and is crawling, how many bottles does she need a day? health
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Q
I am wondering when do I start my one year old son on a beaker? I have tried but he is not a bit interested and I know bottles can do stuff to his teeth. Can you advise?
Q
My son has three meals a day with healthy snacks in between and he drinks water from a tommee tippee sippy cup. He also is offered about 18 oz of milk a day, 9oz from a bottle at bedtime and 9oz from his sippy cup at waking time. This is an attempt to wean him off the bottle. He is not taking kindly to the sippy cup and won't take much milk- he is then too distracted to eat a good breakfast- because he would rather have the milk and is then ravenous mid morning. Do I persevere with the sippy cup in a morning, and perhaps give him a whole milk yogurt/ fromage frais mid-morning to push him on till dinnertime?
Q
I am trying to get my baby to drink from a bottle/cup rather than from my breast in the day but its not working. I haven't had a break since her birth nearly 6 months ago and I am shattered and losing my sense of 'me'. She won't take a bottle and just chews the spout of the baby cup. Any suggestions most welcome. health
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