Baby mythology busted

Arching the back, screaming and pulling on and off nipple are signs of trapped wind and needing to burp or pass gas and not supply issues.

Engorgement is a result of unregulated use of feeding which causes the body to create more milk than could ever be required for just one baby. If you stick to a schedule the body produces exactly the amount of milk needed at the time that it is needed.

Babies do not know how to regulate intake. They can suck for hours together especially if you feed them lying down. They enjoy sucking. The milk is just a small part of the motivation to suck.

Babies do not need to feed more than once every three hours. Demand feeding more often is just a way of forcing them to feed when they are crying from gas troubles and need to suck to release wind or burp.

45 min naps during the day for a baby are totally normal. Sometimes babies wake up needing to burp or because they are unable to pass gas due to a blockage. People are trying to solve problems that don't exist.

Babies with no gas will not "demand" more and more milk after being full and having been fed in the last two to three hours. Cluster feeding and growth spurts are mythological terms. Would you constantly keep eating the entire day? It is sad that you can force a baby to keep eating every few hours the entire day and night simply because they are unable to communicate their real needs. Sucking helps them feel comforted and helps them release gas. It does not indicate that they are hungry.

Tired babies just go to sleep. They don't cry (unless they now they are 6 months old and just want to be with you and play). And they know what is night and can sleep 8 hours nonstop at 4 months without a feed provided they don't have gas and have been burped well after each feed during the day.

And they know how to put themselves back to sleep. 45 min is the part in their digestive cycle when they have gas from the digestion. It is not a "sleep cycle".

Babies have a natural schedule and you can follow it or impose an unregulated schedule on them, thinking that every cry means hunger, when really, every cry is, nearly 99% of the times, because of gas or a burp waiting in the stomach. At other times it is because of a dirty diaper, feeling too hot or cold, from the cloth tugging at their toes when they are worn in a carrier, or when they sick or need to sleep but somehow cannot.

Babies HATE tummy time only when they haven't burped or passed enough gas. Compressing the tummy hurts them because it is bloated.

Fennel tea and other digestive aids are important for newborn babies. They need help with tummy troubles sometimes, whether that is constipation - which causes gas to become difficult to pass - or gas or indigestion (one type of colic) or acidity. 10, 20 and 30 ml of digestive tea per day if not per feed is important for babies in their first two, next two, and then the next two months. This will prevent gas build up which causes purple crying at night.

Colic calm and tummy calm work because they provide the baby with relief for indigestion.

The tea that worked for my baby is:
Fennel (30%), caraway (30%), cinnamon stick, ginger powder, peppermint, chamomile, vidanga, and a little haritaki.

I feed my baby cow's milk (low fat turned out to be better than whole milk). I sweeten the milk with honey or jaggery. These are all safe and fine for a baby to have, regardless of its age.

Unnecessary anxiety

My child won't learn to sleep by herself. She will never sleep in her own bed. She will need to cry it out or else she will get bad habits. We should never rock the baby to sleep
 My list of unwanted and unnecessary anxieties is long. I was so worried my baby would be born underweight. Now she has doubled her weight in 3 months instead of 6. I had no clue she was crying in pain from trapped wind. I now realize the importance of burping her before she goes to sleep. I let her cry in pain thinking that she was just fussy for no reason. I really regret that. She has started sleeping so much better. If I had only known not to feed her so much and all the time. The demand feeding thing is Mayas way to ensure that babies and moms suffer. My daughter demands comfort, milk, and relief from exhaustion in the same way by crying for the nipple. That is not hunger. And feeding her at all those times was terrible for her digestion. Now that her feeding interval is 2 to 3 hours, she is doing much better than before. And since she learnt to suck her own thumb she goes to sleep quite quickly. Perhaps she might have found her thumb sooner if she had slept more? I don't know. But I didn't have to teach her. If I had followed a schedule from day1 I eould have saved her and me many nights of anguish. But somehow I got confused by the demand feeding concept. So much nonsense and mythology.

Childbirth fanaticism and baby mythology

When I was pregnant there was a whole collection of useless tests. It didn't matter what the result was. You just keep doing what you wrre doing. The iron myth and hemoglobin myth make it so that a woman with "lower" levels has to consume copious amounts of supplements and floradix and tablets. I did none of these and have a baby that is thriving. I did consume one little tablet of folic acid in month two of pregnancy once a week. But other than that I did not take the "compulsory" folic acid throughout pregancy. My baby has no neural tube issues. In the second month of pregnancy the neural tube of the baby closes. After that, any supplements are just going to waste. I did not take any prenatals. I did just fine. My baby is also fine.

I was made to fear a low birth weight baby because I am petite. My baby was born 3 kg! She is 6 kg at the three month old mark!

Once the baby is born, you have more confusion and mythology. Baby should sleep 15 hours a day. If not, you invest your money in sleep consultants and trillions of sleep advice books. Reading online makes it super confusing because there are so many differing opinions. Feed on demand. Feed lying down. Nurse to sleep. Don't ever nurse or rock to sleep. Put the baby down awake, or else it will "crap nap". I mean, a 45 min nap is valid, normal, and not crap for a grateful person. Baby will never sleep in their own bed. Baby will never learn to sleep on their own unless they cry it out. For cry it out to work, you leave the room. Gentle method is to give baby set emounts of time to cry and set them up by messing with their anticipation, teaching them to simply cry longer and longer each time to get you back. More gentle is verbal reassurance while letting baby cry and not picking them up... letting them know that you are completely incompetent.

I was so scared to nurse to sleep. Now my baby naps well and doesn't have any issues when nursed to sleep. Albeit upright to prevent unburped gas from creating trapped wind pain later.

I was feeding her every time she cried. That is not feeding on demand. That is feeding to silence all complaints without figuring out why she is upset. It was giving her digestive overload and seriously offensive and huge quantities of gas.

We let her do controlled crying for an hour for two days to get her to sleep better. I feel horrible about it and wish I had never let her cry. It makes the heart so hard. And it doesn't work. I spent too much time frustrated that I couldn't have a "routine" or "schedule" with my baby. I was so tired of stretching out the time between her feeds because the feeding interval should ideally* be 4 hours. I went insane, lost weight and lots of hair. I feel terrible.

Too much mythology surrounds childbirth and babies. One must navigate the content provided by official institutions as well as so-called experts on their websites. Who authorizes these people anyway. They are self proclaimed gurus. Even the official organisations like ibclc and la leche league propound such nonsensical breastfeeding myths. Hind milk? It's not okay for baby to snack?

So many parents might be lured by the solutions to problems that don't exist. Babies sleep erratically and you cannot control their sleeping patterns. Period. You must adapt to the feeding and sleeping pattern you baby needs.

Today I fed her when she was hungry and waited an hour and fed her to sleep. It works for her, so why should I worry that I gave both breasts in one session.

Is it wind or a sleep cycle ending? Is it separation anxiety or just not wanting to play alone? Is it hunger or gas? Is it time for bed for baby or is it your time for bed that you selected and are trying to force upon your baby? Is white noise every single nap and through the night fine for baby's hearing? Why stop swaddling at 2 or 3 months!? My baby never rolled over while swaddled. Don't they need momentum from one bent leg to turn over any way? Why no belly sleeping? Why no side sleeping? It turns of the Moro reflex and helps babies nap better... I dislike the discouragement of side sleeping. SIDS actually refers to the abysmal ignorance that doctors have and proves that they know nothing. It's all bluffing and speculation.

Maya has set it up so that you will cringe nursing to sleep, and rocking to sleep, worrying that you baby will never learn to sleep by herself and has "sleep prop" problems. WHAT OTHER WAY IS THERE TO GET THEM TO SLEEP? Awake in bed? If it works for you then good for you! My baby won't take being put awake very well. She doesn't prefer being rocked to bed. She prefers to nurse to sleep. It also makes sense that she needs to suck more before sleeping to feel drowsy, calm down, and swallow the saliva needed for digestion. She does not need a pacifier! Another myth from a bluffing expert who assumes that experience equals authority. It does not. It just means you may have done the wrong thing for a longer time.