Ask the Expert

Last week, we invited you to send us your questions about caring for a newborn baby.

Below is a selection of those questions, which have been answered personally by children's specialist Harvey Marcovitch.* Harvey was a consultant paediatrician for 25 years and, in 2007, was made an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health.

We regret that we were unable to respond to all your questions, but want to thank you for taking the time to contact us.

*Only general answers can be offered on this site. Before making changes to any medical or dietary treatment you should check with your family doctor or health visitor.

Question 1, Carmen (Chester)
My baby girl is now 6 months old and her sleeping seems to be getting worse and worse. She wakes up on average every two hours and by 3am it becomes hourly. Because I breast feed on demand I think she likes the comfort and wants to be nursed back to sleep. However I'm careful when I put her to bed, always at 7pm, that I put her down awake. I cannot bear to leave her to cry and don't know what to do. She won't drink from a bottle so I cannot hand over to anyone else at night and am burning myself out. For my sanity and survival I need to do something quick...help!
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Question 2, Richard (South Ayrshire)
My wife and I are into our second week with our first child. We are, like most new parents, concerned about cot death syndrome. Advice from the NHS suggests the baby should be on the back with feet at the bottom of the cot. This does however cause flat head syndrome which can apparently take some considerable time to heal. We place our baby on alternate sides after each wake. Are we wrong? What evidence is there that cot death is prevented from sleeping your baby on its back? Experts are continually saying there is no known reason for cot death so how can we be sure of which way to lay the baby?
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Question 3, Hayley (County Durham)
My 6-month-old baby is coming out of his sleep routine. He is really unsettled at night time and the doctors have found nothing wrong with him apart from trapped wind. Would you recommend swaddling?
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Question 4, Debbie (Greenock)
I am a breastfeeding mother of a five-and-a-half-month boy. When he was five weeks old he choked on sick and he was taken to a&e where, after hearing that he had been projectile vomiting for two weeks, they decided he had reflux. At 11 weeks I stopped all dairy products due to a process of elimination to help his 'colic'. He stopped being 'colicy', stopped being sick, his 'baby eczema/spotty rash' disappeared as well. Going on this info would you think my son is allergic to milk? And what would you as a paediatrician recommend next?
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Question 5, Rachel (Northampton)
This question refers to the Truby King method. The mentor was adamant that babies be put to bed from 7pm to 7am but when they are objecting and crying how can a parent be sure they don't have wind, colic or another issue which is keeping them from sleeping? The mentor just seemed to insist on leaving them to cry. Where the Continuum Concept is concerned is it good idea for a baby to be curled up all day in a sling when car seat advice stipulates that baby shouldn't be in the seat for more than two hours at a time as this may restrict spinal growth?
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Question 6, Michelle (Aberdeen)
My baby is 10 weeks and is bringing up a lot of her feed. Every time I ask my health visitor she says its reflux but I simply think she needs thicker milk. The health visitor advised baby Gaviscon but she got very constipated. It is not uncomfortable and it still happens when she is upright. But I can't leave the house until about an hour after feeds. Do you have any suggestions?
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Question 7, Carly (Surrey)
Please could you give me advice. I started to wean my baby at 6 months but she has not taken to it at all. I tried for a month and gave her a break for 10 days and went back to it but she's still not taking it from a spoon or my finger and I have also tried finger foods. She sits with us in her high chair when we eat. She has been 100% breast fed for 6 months and now will have two formula feeds. She did have chicken pox at 5 months. I have spoken to my health visitor. My baby is not losing weight and is 15lb 07 oz. Many thanks for any help.
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Question 8, Kate (Oxfordshire)
I am 8 months pregnant and until recently had never heard the NHS advice that a baby should sleep in the parents' room for the first 6 months. How firm is the evidence behind this and how much of a difference does it make compared to other advice such as the feet to foot position, monitoring room temperature, not smoking, putting the baby to sleep on its back etc? I would rather keep our room as 'our' space but I obviously don't want to endanger the baby! Thank you.
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Question 9, Simon (Mountsorrel)
I have been told that if I don't leave my 11 month old to cry it out he will never learn how to sleep and will be sleeping in my bed at 18 years. Is this true? I very much believe in respecting a child's needs and that one cannot be spoiled by love, only materialism.
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Question 10, Lisa (Leicester)
As a doctor what do you think to Claire Verity's methods? Do you think it is healthy to ignore a newborns needs?
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Question 11, Antony (Manchester)
My partner is expecting our first baby in December. With it being cold at this time we were wondering how many covers the baby will need at night as we have read about overheating so we don't want to put too many on but also realise it will be cold at this time.
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Question 12, Claire (Essex)
My 4 week old baby will only drink 2-2.5oz every two hours – how can I make him drink more?
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Question 13, S (East Sussex)
Our daughter is now 18 months old. Having read quite a lot on the subject of helping your baby to sleep I now know all the things I did wrong. She still wakes frequently and cannot settle herself and I STILL have to bob her off to sleep. All the help books tell me where I went wrong and what I should have done from the beginning but they don't tell me how to correct it starting from the age she is at now. She gets inconsolable when I try to follow the controlled crying technique. Can you give any guidance please?
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Question 14, Clare (Northampton)
My daughter is 11 months old and I am still breastfeeding, as well as three main meals a day plus snacks. She isn't gaining enough weight according to a consultant we have seen and he has suggested formula milk. We have tried now every possible way to get her to take formula with absolutely no success. Can you suggest anything at all as we are getting quite desperate now?
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Harvey Marcovitch has also addressed ten of the key issues for parents which emerged from the Bringing Up Baby series. Check out his parenting advice here.

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