Get others feeding your baby the way you want
I’ve never fed other people’s babies and it’s not really something I’d want to do. I’m not really a baby person apart from my own…although I can now appreciate other babies and am not scared of them anymore. I’m usually happy for other people to feed N if they’re a family member or a good friend. But it is annoying when they don’t listen to you about feeding your baby the way you want them to.
N has a touch of silent reflux, meaning he needs to be fed quite upright and needs to be burped halfway through. He doesn’t always burp, but as he has a tendency to be a bit of a guzzler, he at least needs a breather in the middle to ease him into drinking more slowly. But the 2 times I’ve had friends feed him I’ve sat there thinking either “please don’t feed him lying in your lap” or telling the person, “he needs to be burped” twice and having them either not hear or ignore it.
Yesterday was the latter. Burp reminders were ignored, he quite happily drank a whole bottle. Then was handed back to me to burp him afterwards which he did and 5 minutes later threw up over me and himself. Lovely, thanks for that.
If you struggle with people not listening to how your baby likes things done, or you want them to help the way you do, here’s some tips on persuading them to get it right.
Help others feeding your baby the way you want
1, If someone asks if they can feed your baby, it’s your decision. Be assertive if you don’t want them to. You don’t have to give a reason, but have a few excuses ready in case they keep pushing.
2, Start the feeding off yourself to show how you do it, then switch over.
3, Make sure they’re in the right position and your baby is happy
4, If it’s not to your liking, stop them and do it yourself.
So in future, I shall be stating quite clearly beforehand how my son has to be fed. I don’t want to sound pernickity but a mother feeds her children the whole time and knows exactly what is best for them.
Do you find other people listen to your requests? How do you deal with other people not doing things for your baby the same way that works for you?