After a visit to the health nurse last week left me feeling like crap I thought I'd post up our routine and see what you thought ie changes I need to make. She told me he should be having only 3 BF's a day and I wasn't giving him enough iron (I have since re-introduced iron enriched cereal)..
Most days we dont manage to fit in all meals because he takes forever to go to sleep (any tips? lol) most naps and I run out of time. So a good day goes like this...
Between 5 and 6 am - wake up, BF, short play, then try and get him back to sleep (so I can get a bit more too lol)
8:30ish wake up, get up have breaky - cereal- at the moment we have Rafferty's organic banana porridge(he loves it) and diluted prune juice, then a play until 8 :30 ish and back to bed.
9:30ish - wake up, have half a banana or some vegemite/ promite/ avocardo on bread, play back to bed about 11:30 for a 30 min nap
12 -12:30 ish lunch - about 4 or 5 small peices of veg (ie mixture of pumpkin/ zuchini/ potato/ broccoli etc) or maybe a sandwich if he didn't have one earlier, diluted prune juice + maybe a mum-mum if he wants it. Then a play until bed @ 2 - 2:30
3:30ish - wake up have arvo tea mum-mum's or fruit or sandwich, play.
5ish - have dinner - 5-6 pieces veg (ie mixture of pumpkin/ zuchini/ potato/ broccoli etc, maybe some pasta) + some fruit if he wants it.
Then bedtime routine - bath, brush teeth, book, bf for a couple of hours then into bed already asleep at about 8:30/ 9:00.
Then I get to eat my dinner. lol
Most days though we either miss arvo tea or morning tea or both because he's being impossible to get to sleep and either wants to play or screams and wont let me rock him and wont self settle.
I pretty much have to BF him to sleep every nap. He's probably meant to have less naps too but he cant take it. He gets WAY too tired and grumpy if I keep him up longer than 2 hours. I've noticed since introducing the morning and arvo tea's that he's much less interested in BFing (which makes perfect sense, of course) and is making it near impossible to get him to sleep because he wont feed.
We're pretty limited on what to feed him cause were poor lol and I only have very basic cooking skills
Plus in all of that ^ when am I meant to cook?! It feels like I only sit down for 10 mins a day.
ETA: I'm pretty flexible with the routine and just follow his cues re sleep etc, but this is the way it seems to go most days, as I'm trying to fit in everything he's "meant" to be doing.
DF is vegetarian and I hate handling raw meat, so only eat it when it's cooked for me.
Last edited by Calluna; April 22nd, 2010 at 10:26 AM.
How is his weight gains? wet and dirty nappies? from what you are describing I am assuming it would all be normal to good?
I followed a very similar routine to you, I don't think I was able to fit in morning or afternoon tea either and really at thier age I don't think it is necessary. My DS was also BF and he was fed to sleep and he fed like this too.
To me it sounds like you are a wonderful mum, you are following your DS cues, feeding him nutricious (sp?) food. I don't think I would go back to feeding him the fortified iron cereal cause it isn't in a form that is easily digested and often just binds them up. Are you feeding him meat/steak just cooked through? you could give him thin strips to chew suck on and that is a much better source of iron then the cereal (I know you said that $$ are tight but one peice of meat would feed him for 3 or 4 days + depending on the size once a day) Brocoli is also a great source of iron and he would be getting iron via your breastmilk.
Can't really help with the sleep thing while we don't feed to sleep anymore (and haven't since about 11 mnths) he still wakes overnight at least once or twice to feed.
DD still gets at least 4 bottles a day plus morning tea (yoghurt & fruit or cereal), lunch (sandwich or leftovers from night before) and dinner (vegies/sometimes meat and fruit), sometimes a rusk stick for a snack.
TBH if you are happy with your routine and Isaac is happy and growing then I wouldn't mess too much with your routine...
Sounds like a pretty good routine to me and a good range of food. My DS really only gets breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then a few snacks when we're out in the pram (crackers, fruit etc) which I guess kinda make up morning or afternoon tea. He's currently having 5 BF's a day. At this age milk is still their most important source of nutrition, so I think if your DS is happy just keep going with the flow.
We also have heaps of trouble with naps. Most of the time DS will only sleep for 30 mins. I usually try and rock him back to sleep if he wakes up after 30 mins and maybe half the time succeed in getting him to another 30 mins (sometimes more if I'm lucky).
I'm finding that he's becoming quite a fussy eater now and from a bit of the reading I've done it has suggested that it could be because he is overtired so I am trying harder to get him to have more sleep during the day.
On a side note, I've found that sausages are a great way of getting my DS to eat meat. He loves them, they're cheap and easy to prepare. I know what you mean with finding the time to cook. I keep searching for ideas on other things to give him, but everything is these time consuming recipes. He's so fussy at the moment that I find it really frustrating when I spend all this time and $$ only to make something that won't get eaten.
forgot to mention before that we're vego's so meat isn't an option.
RE: milk being most important, that's what I thought too but the MCHN made it sound like food was way more important. I had thought it was more of an activity until they are about a year old?
I'm not a 100% sure on his weight gains as he seems to have been around 9kgs or just under for the last month or so, but then again I haven't always weighed him at the same place so IDK?
His nappies seem to be fine. Since giving him the cereal and prune juice his poo's have been alot darker almost black. Which I assume is the extra iron, but wouldn't that mean he's not absorbing it and therefore doesn't need it?
Last edited by Calluna; April 22nd, 2010 at 10:36 AM.
He is probably crawling and a lot more active now and so it is fairly normal for the wieght to plateau at this stage but you probably notice he is still getting longer etc... which is all indication of good growth. I know my DS was a chubbabubba and he did plateau around the same age but kept getting taller. Wet nappies are also a good indication.
Being vego you probably know the foods that have are a good source of iron so I would maybe make sure he is getting lot's of that but as you said his poos are now darker and yes that would say to me he isn't absorbing it from his food.
I think there is too much of a focus on variety and while I know we want to encourage our children to be open to eating lot's of food I think that if they are eating good food then it doesn't really matter if they eat it all the time cause to them it is all new and they don't get bored if that makes sense?
Miss E my DS went through a fussy stage around the same age - he decided he didn't like the texture of potatoe, pumpkin and sweet potatoe (still isn't a huge fan) so it could be a texture thing too. Keep persisting but only tastes I remember reading somewhere that it can take 100 + taste before they decide they actually like it and acquire the taste.
Goodluck ladies
Grr to that health nurse too it is because of people like that that I stopped going cause it made me feel like crap everytime and the truth was DS was and is thriving.
Check out the ABA website and yes food definitely is FUN UNTIL 1. Obviously there is a gradual process that goes from the emphasis on milk to food but that is different for each child.
Thanks Kelebek, not sure what it is, mind you he is teething at the moment so maybe that's it...
Heva I think a lot of the MCHN's have slightly outdated ideas... The ABA definately promotes BF as the most important thing till they're one and lets face it the WHO doesn't recommend BF'ding till 2 for no reason. By the sounds of things you're doing a great job!
PS. We miss hearing about you and Isaac in the Baby Buddies thread, would love an update if you get a chance x
Need help with our daily routine
I thought I'd post up our routine and see what you thought ie changes I need to make. She told me he should be having only 3 BF's a day and I wasn't giving him enough iron (I have since re-introduced iron enriched cereal)..
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plus morning tea (yoghurt & fruit or cereal), lunch (sandwich or leftovers from night before) and dinner (vegies/sometimes meat and fruit), sometimes a rusk stick for a snack.
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