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How many times a day does a six month old child eat? I know a newborn has to eat every two hours or so, right? Also, are there any people out here who have used cloth diapers?
These are weird, but, I'm doing research.
Posts: 9942 | Registered: Mar 2003
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At six months, they are eating every 3-4 hours. I think. I am single and childless, this is just based on watching my sister feed my nephew and niece. If I am wrong, I have no doubt someone with more knowledge will correct me.
As to diapers . . . I am the oldest of 6, and my mother used cloth diapers on all of us. It was never a big deal. We would just rinse the diapers out in the toilet (do NOT flush them down!) and then put them in the diaper pail. When the diaper pail was full, the diapers would go in the wash (hot water). We would always carry plastic bags in the diaper bag for the dirties if we were not at home. Um, other than rubber pants and giant safety pins, I don't know what else to tell you about cloth diapers. However, keep in mind that my baby sister is almost 16, and that my only sibling to have thus far produced offspring has chosen to go with disposables. So there are probably lots of recent developments in the high tech world of cloth diapers.
Posts: 364 | Registered: Dec 2005
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*Doubts I'd get a baby for cute diapers, diapers can be so icky, especially when babies need ear infection medicine* But it would be nice to outfit them in very, very small band t shirts.
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My little one is only 3 months. She eats every 4-5 hours, but I get a lot of questions about weight gain (well, usually, it is more like, "that's all she eats! But she looks healthy.") But she is weird and has been that way since birth. My friend's eight month old eats more than mine does- about every 3-4 hours. The 5 month old I know eats on a schedule every 3 hours. And then, of course, you have one 6-8 hour break if you are lucky. Cloth diapers can save money and supposedly work really, really well- better than disposable. I use disposable though. I know it isn't that big a deal flushing in the toilet, but it grosses me out. When the baby overflows her diaper, I immediately put the soiled outfit in to the washing machine to soak and then wash it alone, then do a load of clothes (so the dryer is full when I dry the outfit). I know that is very neurotic, but oh well.
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I stopped being neurotic about baby waste the first time I found myself up to the elbows in someone else's poop.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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If we had a washing machine I'd cloth diaper, but having to pay outrageous rates to do laundry discourages me from wanting to do more. On top of which, even my mom the cloth diaper expert couldn't get them to fit my funny-shaped skinny girls right. Which is too bad because I think my daughters' super-sensitive skin would do better with, say, FuzziBuns than with disposables.
Six month olds tend to all be different in how much they eat. Some are just starting on solid foods, some are still rejecting solid foods, some have been eating solid foods for a couple of months and are inhaling two bananas, two jars of baby food, and three bowls of rice cereal a day. Babies who are breastfed are likely to still be nursing on demand at that point, and "on demand" can vary from day to day even in ONE baby, from 5 feedings to 14. So yeah, a lot of variation...
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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All babies, at all ages, eat at widely different times. Sometimes the same baby will even change it's habits on you overnight, just to make sure you're paying attention I cloth diapered with my three kids exclusively ( excepting out of state trips) and it was great. I don't really have true disposable experience to compare it to but I never considered it too much work. AND, two years out of diapering, I still have the best flor rags, car cleaners, etc that you could wish for . Many of the diapers I clean with graced at least two little tushies; you can't beat that bargain.
Posts: 2711 | Registered: Mar 2004
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John is six months old, and he nurses every 3-4 hours. While I was on maternity leave he nursed more frequently during the day and not as often at night. Once I went back to work full time he settled into every 3-4 hours 'round the clock, which works well for us because it means I only have to come home at lunch time to nurse, not take morning and afternoon breaks or pump every day.
And we use cloth diapers. Did you have a specific question about them?
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Yeah, Lego's a year old, still rejecting most solids, and nursing every two hours or so during the day. Sometimes more than that. He nurses every four to six hours at night.
<--- milk machine
<--- getting tired of it
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Every now and then I have a day (yesterday was one) where I just get so sick of being tethered to the baby constantly. And I'm not really -- but the fact that I haven't gone longer than 4 hours without the little parasite attaching himself to me in over half a year is overwhelming. And sometimes I just want to leave him with Bob (or his grandma, or anyone, really) and go away for 8 hours to myself. I can only imagine what you must be feeling after a year and still nursing every two hours.
It's a good thing the little leeches are so cute, no?
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I found that my success in nursing Ems until she decided it was time to stop was largely dependent on getting a break now and again. So I do get away from the nursing baby for a few hours once in a while from about 6 months on. Even before that, my philosophy was "an occasional bottle (or cup, technically) won't kill her." It does get easier when they start taking some other food and you don't feel so guilty leaving them because there's something else they will eat or drink. But even if they won't, like my mom says, "If a baby is really thirsty or hungry, she will drink or eat." I've left kids with my mom who still would hardly eat when I was around-- and for her, they took food and water (or sometimes a cup of juice, expressed milk, or formula.) Once they figured out that I wasn't going to come back and feed them because they screamed when I needed a break, life got a lot easier.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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(Of course, that method is dependent on having a babysitter who is willing to wait out the screaming. My aunt can't take it, so we know we can't leave the baby with her yet because she can't outlast the half hour of screaming. But my mom can and will.)
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It is also dependent on being willing (or desperate enough) to leave the baby knowing there will be half an hour of screaming involved.
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Although my mom is some kind of baby miracle worker-- after the first time, the screaming never lasts more than two minutes with her. And the first time it's usually only about ten or fifteen.
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Yeah, mine too. But in my case this came up more often when I needed to go to work/school and the baby had started rejecting bottles of my milk. And it came up with each kid, at one time or another.
So mostly at times when my mother was not the designated baby-squisher.
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I'd have needed a break LONG before that. In fact I always started to go a little crazy around 3-4 months, when I was the only one feeding the baby and had to take him/her everywhere I went, no dates, no vacations.
By six months they'd be eating food and drinking juice enough that I could get a date now and then for a couple hours. Still never went "away" until they were all over a year, but just being able to go out without worrying about them starving and screaming was such a relief.
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We get a date every two weeks. It's never very long because he tends to refuse to eat anything at the babysitter's, but it is a break, and it helps a lot.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels trapped being tethered to my baby. I do love the actual experience of nursing, and part of me will be sad to let it go, but at the same time, I need him not to need me so much.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I totally understand the trapped feeling. Mine takes the bottle really well though, so I can get away a little easier. There is a conference I probably should go to, but with the baby, it just seems too difficult.
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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I had a dream last night that I was married, pregnant, and planning matternity leave. I blame this thread.
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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I'm still trying to figure that out, too, Synesthesia. DO NOT be a parent until you've got someone else in your life full-time. It's much harder than you think, and much, MUCH harder when you're on your own.
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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It wouldn't be if I were anywhere near there, but I'm not. I'm years from that still. But lissa dear, you're there!
Posts: 5362 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: I'm still trying to figure that out, too, Synesthesia. DO NOT be a parent until you've got someone else in your life full-time. It's much harder than you think, and much, MUCH harder when you're on your own.
*agrees 100%*
Single parenthood is most emphatically NOT a situation I recommend for anyone who has a choice.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I agree with Tom on this one. Of course that is no one's decision but the parents'-- but like I said, my life got a lot easier when my kids learned that a) they can eat for other people and b) we always come back. They still don't LIKE it when we leave, but it is not the end of the world now, and we don't worry about them as much.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Hm. Maybe I'll see if our every-other-week babysitters (Jon Boy's brother and his wife) would be okay watching a screaming baby for a bit longer than usual.
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Sometimes I think there are benefits to not having a choice. I hate leaving my baby for school/work, but we need the stipend and with 5 years towards the degree, I can't quit. I have to pump and leave the baby. Initially, she didn't like the bottle at all (like complete refusal), but she likes it now- actually probably prefers it to me now. She takes different nipple types differently, so test a few different ones. (Lucky for us, her favorite is one of the cheaper ones, the expensive ones she hated).
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