starting solids / my parents driving me nuts!

[Jo+3]

Maybe you should get one of them to come with you to your next gp/health nurse appointment. Then they can hear "straight from the horses mouth". Babies should not be given juice and don't need water. She will take what she needs from you. I hope for the sake of your sanity your parents learn to back off a bit. Take care hun.

[fionas]

Jo beat me to it! I was also going to suggest that you take your mum to your next visit to your MCHN and perhaps arrange an appointment sooner rather than later. It sounds like you're trying to educate them but maybe it will sink in better if they hear it from an "expert".

Personally, I wouldn't have a problem with water but juice is not good and MARZIPAN - ffs, no way!

[MantaRay]

Oh BS, you poor thing. It is so hard not to be listened to. Your DD would have "skulled" the juice because being fed from a bottle is like that - it is more effort to stop the fluid coming out than to swallow. But juice is so bad for your DD now and could seriously impact on her bfing (once they get a taste for sweet thing, they can become fussy about milk and water, and not to mention that her demand for your bm will be lowered today as she has filled up on that awful juice).

I really hope you can find a way to get your parents to listen to you. You have done such a great job to get past your bfing problems, you don't want to have another set of problems come up now. And not to mention the fact that giving these foods at this age could cause allergies down the track, and more immediate tummy problems. GL with it, I think you are going to have to be really firm. And the the appointment with the MCHN is a good idea, but make sure it's not one that advocates early solids!!

[Neenee Jellybeanie]

Thanks, everyone.

So I figure the first thing I'll do is tell them that they can give her water but not juice. Should I let them keep giving her banana? I was going to just give her rice cereal for a few weeks but I guess that's kinda gone out the window.

I don't have a GP right now cos he told me to put her on formula (without weighing her or even seeing her), and I haven't seen the child health nurse for ages. Hopefully I can sort out a way for them to see the child health nurse with me so she can tell them, though I'm kind of worried because I've heard lots of stories about the nurses being, well, a bit daft, and I doubt my parents will listen anyway! I guess it's the only thing I can do, though.

I am so tired of everyone railroading my parenting hey, like DDs dad telling me she's lost weight and now my parents telling me to start giving her lots of extra liquids and solids, arrrgh! I'm the one who has ALL the responsibility for her and takes care of her pretty much by myself, what I say should be the law!!

[LimeSlice]

Everyone seems to be being really tactfula dn nice and all that rubbish, but quite franklly it doesnt seem to be working...

You live with them dont you? I understand that that will make things difficult but you really need to put your foot down - this is not about their feelings, or even them understanding whats going on - its YOUR DAUGHTERS HEALTH AND WELL BEING at stake here.

You are the parent, step up and lay down the law - tell them to STOP FEEDING HER AND STOP GIVING HER DRINKS. FULL STOP. nothing more, nothing less. If they have a problem with that then its just their tough luck. You need to do whats best for your daughter, and its not them.

Sorry ...ymo, but if you let them keep doing it, they are going to walk all over you and your parenting forever.

Good luck!

[sushee]

It's hard standing up to your parents, and if you do, they'll likely sulk for ages and things will be uncomfortable, but if you do not set boundaries with them now, this is only the start of them undermining your parenting, and you will have a fight with them about every aspect of child-rearing from here on in.

My mother is a very opinionated woman, who railroaded my sister into raising her children the way my mother believes they should be raised, and I very much went against the grain of my mother's ideas of parenting by BFing, only introducing solids at 6 months, refusing to put cereal in my baby's bottle (considering he wasn't bottlefed either!), refusing to control cry, refusing to allow anyone to smoke near him, not allowing him soft drinks or lollies, parenting gently and a whole host of ideas she believed I held to the detriment of my baby.

We fought often about these issues, but now Charlie is almost two, she concedes that a lot of the things I did were the right things to do after all. And even if she didn't, I can live with knowing I made my own decisions about my baby, even if it meant drawing a line in the sand with my mother. My sister to this day defers to my mother's opinion on everything to do with her kids. That would be my worst nightmare!

[sangie]

I'm sorry you are being put in this position BS, its so hard when family think that 'they' know best.

I agree with some of the other comments and I really think you need to stand up to them and tell them exactly what you want or don't want them to do. They will be upset and maybe offended but in the long run you have to protect your baby and her welfare is way too important.

My MIL was very opinionated concerning my DD and would tell me that I 'must give her solids at 4 months or else she will 'starve' and that by not giving her solids I was 'impairing her brain development'. Then she almost fed my DD chocolate mousse! Luckily I saw her before DD had any. I ended up sitting her down and having a really good chat about it and she was a little upset but now its all water under the bridge and we get along better than ever. She realises that I have different parenting ideas to her and respects my decisions.

Anyway sorry for the rant but this is a common issue for many mums and dads and I think like Sushee said if you don't voice your opinions now this will continue throughout your DDs childhood. Hugs hun :hugs: