Robin's Practical Page

 

This week's practical page has advice on wrapping, bottle feeding of breast fed babies, crying and stranger awareness,

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Wrapping
Wrapping is optional but there's no doubt for many babies, it's the best way to help them sleep. Use a big wrap on the diagonal and follow Kim's instructions.

Bottle feeding of breastfed babies
Baby won't take a bottle A very common dilemma for breastfed babies. The only way you can be sure a breastfed baby will take a bottle is to try to give him/her one nearly every day from birth. This means expressing regularly, something many women find a trial and too much to handle, or using formula (unacceptable for many breastfeeding women). Otherwise it's a matter of working around the problem, keeping on trying. Generally speaking constantly changing bottles and teats is a waste of money. For more info see Baby Love page 172.

Crying (first six months)
A huge topic. But basically leaving babies to cry for a while is fine if they are well, not hungry, not missing their mother and need to sleep. If they don't go off to sleep after about twenty minutes give up. Stop before then if you find yourself becoming upset or your baby is becoming hysterical. Leaving babies screaming for hours in order to fit in with an adult schedule is distressing for the baby, stressful for the parents and unlikely to achieve anything positive.

Stranger awareness
Stranger awareness refers to the time in a baby's life when she realises the difference between her mother and a few other close acquaintances and the rest of the world. Unfamiliar surrounding will also cause distress. This can happen anytime from three months to eighteen months but is most common and intense around nine months. Some babies never experience stranger awareness, others experience it very intensely. For more on separation anxiety and stranger awareness see Baby Love page 587.

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