question help

Was going to do seperate posts but figured 1 would be more time efficiant as Jack will want attention again soon (he seems to be listening to barney, why I have it on I have no idea!)

1) thumb sucking. Jack seems to be starting to do this, and I really don't want him to. Do you think I can stop him? I tried yesterday putting his dummy in instead (he usually has it for sleeping only), he just pulled it out with the left hand and shoved the right thumb in. I am thinking I might be fighting a loosing battle but figured I would ask for advice.

2) weening. We are about to start weaning Jack. We have tried him on the odd bottle of formula so he got a taste for it, but he has only drunk one, and lately he just screams when he has the bottle and given he is going to day care in 2 months I think I need to start. So does anyone have any tips?

thats it for now TIA

Haleigh did the same thing with ehr dummy at 3wks and she sucks her thumb when she goes to sleep or is real tired. It has never bothered me I preferthe thumb to the dummy personally (even though James has a dummy lol).
Im pretty sure they grow out of it, its more of a security thing for them.

In regards to weaning Im not sure sorry, Haleigh went to the bottle when i couldnt b/feed anymore and was having EBM but i slowly made the switch to formula from EBM, have you tried a bottle like avent naturally or tommee tippee (nuborn or closer to nature) that have the teats flow clsoe to the breast flow?? Maybe bubs might take that

Isla wouldnt take the bottle from anyone if I was even in the house until she got used to it. If she knew I was around she would rather have the boob! After a few goes I started coming itno the room while DH was feeding her, then it didnt take long til I got give her the bottle. Im still bf and forula feeding now with no probs.

Sarah beth, try just a normal one.. reason being, some babies do well with the wide-neck fancy bottles, others just prefer the plain old cheap ones.. grab a normal tommee tippee plain old bottle, which should come with a standard round teat, you could also try an orthodontic teat which are usually about $5 for a two pack from memory, which are the flat ones.. we used these as paris would only take those ones.. reason being that they were shaped exactly the same as her dummy teat, so we were a bit sneaky!!! try letting someone else give him the bottle, if you give it may be he fusses because he can still smell you and this isn't the usual way you feed him. overall with stuff like that it really just depends on the child. Paris took the bottle wonderfully, ayja was pig-headed and refused nearly all her bottles, even if they had ebm in them instead of formula (hence why i gave up expressing cos it was getting chucked most days anyway). That's another thing you could try ... does it make difference if it is expressed milk not formula?
In the end i was lucky enough that I was able to go to the daycare to feed between classes and at lunch times so really ayja still got the milk even if she refused the bottle. Is there a possibility that you will be able to even go at luchtimes? if you are going back at in 2 months, by then his feedings will have changed etc with introduction of solids too. (sorry such a long post)

ha ha, with the dummy/thumb thing. if he wants his thumb he's gonna get it. Babies do put their hands in their mouth it may be chance that it's his thumb that ends up there, they like to suck their hands etc, if he spits his dummy out he's prob not interested in sucking per say just in exploring and sticking stuff in their mouths at this age is their way of doing that.. i spose the good thing about thumbs is they don't get lost at night and you don't have to get up and find em 20 times a night cos they've fallen out. from having paris with a dummy, and having ayja who sucked at her hands.. (and has now stopped apart from the odd really tired occasion) i must say the thumb was much easier as she just grew out of it, none of the ditching the dummy dilemmas.

well tried the first bottle, he ended up being breast fed as he screamed and screamed, what was awful as he kept going for his thumb for comfort. Will get hubby to try again when he is at home and hopefullt he has better luck

I don't want to hear my bubba scream for food. Think I will need to do this when hubby is home.

I agree I am fighting a losing battle on the thumb. He has it wrapped with that hand down now, but the otherone I have let him have as he seems to feel better with one out at the moment.

What I can't believe is he was taking a bottle fine of EBM and even drunk formula, we had 1 week where we didn't and now he wont take forumla or EBM.

You will just as the others have said perservere with the bottle
as for the thumb kelly took caitlyns dummy off her at a year or so and she has sucked her thumb ever since and I am sure will outgrow it

On the bottle thing, I don't have much advice but Hannah was about 6mos when she started to refuse EBM in the bottle and would wait 2 hours for me to get home The fortunate thing for you is that he will be partly on solids in the next two months so if he refuses the bottle for his carer they can at least give him food. I tried to get Briona to drink formula by dribbling it into the corner of her mouth when she was bf off me lol it was the best way to get her used to the taste initially but I ended up giving up for some other reason which I can't remember!

Kryssi will take ebm or formula, she doesn't care, but she will NOT feed her "time for sleep" feed on the bottle (even though on me she doesn't properly fall asleep). Just her way.


About thumb sucking, well I also sucked my thumb until I was 12 but by that time it was well and truly an "on my own" thing, mostly to go to sleep. Children give up thumb sucking when they are ready. Hannah sucks her two fingers but it is getting less and less, and while it used to be for tiredness or when she was unsure in a new situation, now it's really only for sleeping - she's just done that on her own. Briona had a dummy, she was never a thumb/finger sucker, but after she started eating it at 8mos we had to wean her off it cold turkey! After which time she started doubling over her tongue and sucking on that. Children will find a way to suckle something for comfort; I wouldn't really worry about it. Oh yea Krystiana already suckles her finger/fist.

If he loves the sippy cup could you put the formula in that?

I wont worry about the thumb sucking right now. McKayla's godmother just use to put a plaster on it and they hate sucking on it then. Maybe that is a way to go a bit later on. Just use one that isnt smooth on the outside so it isnt that nice to suck on

Sorry no advice on the weaning. Hope it goes easy for the both of you.