Breastfeeding/parenting questions

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

I don't know if my intro went through or not, but I'm a

happy mommy to six-month-old, exclusively nursed Bobby.

Actually, his six-month birthday is this Thursday the 14th,

and with it also comes the six-month pediatrician visit. I

like our pediatricians (group practice), but I don't think

they're open to such ideas as extended breastfeeding,

co-sleeping, etc. (surprise), and I don't think they're that

knowledgeable about breastfeeding in general (surprise

again). For example, at Bobby's four-month visit, they told

me that since he was in the 75th percentile for weight, he

didn't " need " to eat at night and I could " let him fuss. " I

politely ignored this advice.

Now I'm quite certain that one of the first things that will

come up this week will be that I should introduce solids

now, just because he's six months old. While I don't

necessarily have a problem with introducing solids soon, I

don't think we should do it just because he reached some

magical date. He's just started to sit up about a week ago,

but he has no teeth, and shows no interest when he watches

me eat. He does sometimes reach for things on my plate, but

he reaches for everything, so I don't think that's an

accurate gauge. Also, when we do introduce solids, I want

to start with something like bananas (as suggested in LLL

material), but I'm sure the pediatrician will give me the

standard baby-rice-cereal first, etc.

Also, if they thought he could get through the night at four

months without eating, they'll surely be appalled that at

six months he still nurses 3-6 times per night, and not only

that, but he sleeps with us! Should I just not mention

these things?

I would be interested in gradually weaning him of some of

those nighttime feedings in a while, not only because I need

sleep but also because we'd like to conceive sometime in the

next six months or so, and because I already feel that he's

rather dependent on nursing to get back to sleep. I don't

mind that part so much myself, but it's no picnic for my

husband or anyone else when I'm not around. So we want to

start the night-weaning approach at some point soon as

described in Dr. Sears' Nighttime Parenting (one feeding at

a time, having Daddy comfort the baby back to sleep, etc.).

Has anyone done this? Can you offer any advice?

Finally, Bobby seems to always have a need to cry before

going to sleep. He knows he's tired, and wants to go to

sleep, but he struggles and arches his back and cries first,

sometimes for a long time. We walk around with him

(unfortunately for me he seems to hate rocking, though I do

keep trying!) and sing to him until he does go to sleep, but

is this crying something anyone else's baby does or did? He

does this for naps too, but it's worse at bedtime, and in

the middle of the night if he wakes up and nursing doesn't

put him back to sleep. We do have a bedtime ritual that

includes a bath, which he loves, and a long nursing session,

but after that if he's not asleep he just cries. Also, in

the early morning hours (from about 5:30 until 7 or 8 when

he gets up) he wakes up very frequently, every 20-40 minutes

and needs to be put back to sleep, and nursing doesn't

usually work. He doesn't even open his eyes--he just

cries. Any suggestions?

BTW, I read these lists in digest form due to time

constraints (I'm sure you all understand that!), and haven't

posted much for the same reason.

Thanks,