Breast or bottle refusal can be a distressing occurrence for both mother and baby. Often the baby has previously fed happily, then for some reason, begins to refuse a feed. Causes may be apparent such as: an alert baby being easily distracted, over-feeding or force-feeding, gastric reflux, illness in the infant or if breastfeeding, oral or nipple thrush, mastitis, medications and hormonal changes (e.g. ovulation, menstruation), or mother becoming ill. There may also be issues

Continuing on from my last article on Combined Feeding – Breast and Bottle, I’d like to take a look at some practical tips and some of the problems that can occur and steps to help avoid them. There are several practical things that you can do to help increase your supply which I would like to cover. The most important of these is expressing. Practical tips to increasing your supply Expressing Wherever possible the complementary or top up feed should be EBM (Expressed Breast

In this article I’d like to look at both the benefits and some of the challenges that many face when combined feeding. Combined feeding may not always be a choice. The most common reason is that baby is not receiving enough from the breast and therefore needs a complementary feed. There may be a combination of factors involved such as mothers supply hasn’t yet fully come in, she has a low supply, she has trouble attaching the baby or the baby has trouble attaching which coul

Part 2 of Fussy Feeders In the previous article I discussed some of the behavioural reasons behind fussy feeding. This month I would like to take a closer look at those children who are plainly not comfortable while eating or are literally starving themselves. These babies are often labelled ‘Failure to Thrive’ babies. They are babies and toddlers that are not gaining weight they should or are under weight. Having worked amongst many babies and toddlers who either fuss

Basic equipment needed for bottle feeding We advocate breastfeeding and suggest that if you are having problems or doubts about breastfeeding it would be best to talk to your parenting coach about your concerns. If on the other hand you choose to bottle feed possibly because of a bad experience or there is some other reason you can’t, or you have just chosen not to breastfeed this chapter will help you with the next best thing. Bottle feeding. If you are expressing and gi

Usually by three or four months your baby will have given up one night feed naturally and be sleeping eight hours. Those who have not been waking their baby for the last feed before midnight (usually between 9 and 11 pm) your baby may be having their long sleep earlier in the evening, which means she will be waking you for a feed during the night. Those who have been waking their baby before they go to bed will find her long sleep will naturally fall after this last feed whic

Breast refusal can be a distressing occurrence for both mother and baby. Often the baby has previously fed happily, then for some unknown reason, begins to refuse to feed. Causes may be apparent, but often there does not seem to be a cause. Known factors are: an alert baby being easily distracted, over-feeding or force-feeding, gastric reflux, illness in the infant or mother, oral or nipple thrush, mastitis, medications and hormonal changes (e.g. ovulation, menstruation),

Over the years of helping parents with their children I have often been called out to homes where babies have refused to take the bottle when Mum decides for some reason or another that it’s time to wean. Many mothers wean when returning to work. Others just want to be able to offer a bottle when they are going out and leaving their child with a guardian or babysitter. When visiting a mother who is breastfeeding a newborn, I suggest they introduce a bottle early so that the

If you have chosen to demand-feed are you feeding to your baby’s hunger or to their crying? Many mothers fall into a trap when demand-feeding and are actually snack feeding their baby and teaching them to cat-nap. A well-fed baby will, of his or her own accord, begin to ‘demand-feed’ every three and a half to four hours if encouraged to do so from the beginning. Feeding baby to sleep, except for the two night feeds, is not a good idea, as he/she begins to associate feeding as