to consider weaning my DS at 17/18 weeks?

[auburnlizzy78]

I will discuss this with my GP and HV of course, but have a feeling they are going to give me the party line of "the DOH/WHO guidelines say exclusive BF for the first six months" and there will be very little discussion of our actual situation. So I wanted to ask what you would all do/did do if you had a similarly big and hungry baby. Trying not to be accused of drip feeding so these are hopefully all the relevant facts:

• DS (first child) will be 14 weeks old this weekend
• He was 8lb 13oz at birth, at 42 weeks gestation.
• At 13 weeks he was 16lb 3oz and has stayed faithfully to his 91st centile line for weight since birth. Think he will double his birthweight (i.e. reach 17lb 10) by 17/18 weeks. I understand that this is one of the indicators for readiness to wean.
• He is 98th centile for length. Overall, size pretty appropriate considering DH is 6ft 3.)
• He slept 12 hours per night without waking since he was nine weeks old. But in the last week he has started waking up again and properly yelling in the early hours, necking 150ml/5oz and going straight back to sleep. So I don't think it's teething pain, nappy, or any other reason.
• I think he is starting to teethe but not causing any major discomfort yet.
• He is fed about 1 litre/30-32oz expressed breast milk every day, plus a 200ml carton of formula. In the last week he has needed two cartons a day. He sloshes when you hold him.

• Plenty of wees and an epic poo a day.
• No health issues. He's a bright, alert, feisty, very wriggly baby!
• Can sit up supported and hold his head up. Pretty much was doing that from 8 weeks old (GP was quite shocked at the 6-8week review)
• He has become fascinated by us eating.
• He is quite capable of taking 120/150ml- 4-5oz every hour in the evenings, growth spurt or not.
• No allergies in the family on either side.

Thanks for reading. Instinct tells me and DH that milk alone is no longer enough. We would only give a bit of baby rice for now with a couple of feeds each day, to see how it goes, rather than weaning fully, for now.

What would you do if you were in our shoes?

Bloody hell! That's not a baby, that's a toddler!!! :P

Gosh, he really is big and strong, isn't he? If your instinct is that milk is not enough, then go for it. Be careful not to overload esp in regards to chocolate or meat or other slightly harder to digest things like that.

But starting slowly with baby rice sounds utterly reasonable. I would see if I could tempt him with a bit of blenderised fruit every day too TBH, just to make sure he's all loaded up on his vitamins.

And can I suggest you reserve a place for him on the local rugby team?

Yes, you are being unreasonable. Don't do it.
Breastmilk has more calories than babyrice.
Just give him more milk for at least another month or so.

Is he showing chewing motions?

Can he put things in his mouth?(other than hands)

Is he actively following you when you eat?

How long can he sit up supported for? If it's less than 20 minutes, I would hold off for a few weeks.

Sounds pretty similar to my DS, who was also 8lb 13oz (born at 39 weeks) and has been pretty much on the 91st for both weight and length since then. He's now 25.5 weeks (now 19lb 9oz) and we started weaning a couple of weeks ago. I had been resisting family pressure etc for a while before then and found this page was useful in explaining reasons why I should wait: www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-when.html.

If you can possibly hold out I would... do note that introducing solids doesn't tend to help much with sleep to begin with, in fact we are finding the opposite applies!

YANBU.... Always do what you think is best for your child but don't share your decision with your HV or MN if you're at all sensitive about being criticised :) Just 10 years ago the advice was to start weaning at 16 weeks. Some babies were ready then, some weren't. Trust your judgement.

Your ds sounds exactly like my ds1 when he was that age.

He was born at 7lb 10oz 2 weeks early and doubled his birth weight by 12 weeks EBF. He still remains on the 98th centile both height and weight wise. I still waited until 6 months where he took to solids straight away without any fuss. (BLW)

Don't forget he has the big old 4month growth spurt/sleep regression is coming up which cause him to wake up even I previously slept through.

I would wait.

If he is having 1.4 l of milk per day then ask your MW Gp, he is probably ready. mine were and were wean early on medical recommendations. Don't be to hopeful on the sleep front it didn't make any differences for DD2.
They told me to wean DD2 at 16 weeks wait till 17 just a try to prove the docs. wrong she went bonkers for the 2 days I stopped had to start on 'real' food again. She was grabbing food from my plate since 12 weeks old though.
Strated with carrots though baby rice is vile and not so good for big babies

Think I've read somewhere quite autoritative that the WHO guidelines were (unsurprisingly given the name!) designed to apply to babies worldwide and had therefore to take into account small undernourished babies in countries where proper sanitation is difficult/impossible - such babies have better chances of survival if EBF until 6 months (so as not to expose them to high levels of bacteria before their immune systems are ready to cope). Also there is criticism of the DOH for adopting the guidelines without proper analysis of this.

It seems to me a pity to get into a rut of night-waking when you had this cracked if a meal of baby rice would keep him full enough to sleep through again.

I had my eldest on baby rice and milk at 10 weeks (he nearly ate the spoon) My next child...not til about 4 months and I genuinely can't remember with the youngest.

I'm always of the opinion that they'll let you know when milk just isn't enough (mine certainly did)

As long as they don't get constipated and everything is ticking along I don't see a problem.

I remember reading something very sensible on here - you've got a big baby and its milk that's got him this big, so it must be working.

YABU.

From the NHS website:

You should start giving your baby solid foods when they are around six months old, as well as breast or formula milk.

Before six months, your baby's gut is still developing and they need only breast or formula milk. Weaning too soon may increase the risk of infections and allergies.

Try giving solid foods when your baby:

?can sit up,
?wants to chew and is putting toys and other objects in their mouth, and
?reaches and grabs accurately.
It is normal for babies aged three to five months to begin waking in the night when they have previously slept through. It is not necessarily a sign of hunger and starting solids will not make your baby more likely to sleep through the night again.

If your baby seems hungrier at any time before six months, they may be having a growth spurt, and extra breast or formula milk will be enough to meet their needs.

What chili said. I weaned my boy at 16 weeks as the guidelines were that at the time.

musieb a meal of baby rice is less likely to get him sleeping through the night than more milk due to the fact milk has far more calories.

When I had babies the advice from my midwife and health visitor was to wean at 3 months.The advice may have changed but babies are still the same.You know your baby best. I have four healthy girls who were all weaned at 3 months and breastfeed for 1 year. Mine slept better once weaned but were good sleepers anyway.

What exactly do you want to gain by weaning? Is it for him to sleep more or to eat less frequently?

Why do you feel milk isn't 'enough'? He sounds lovely and healthy. Do you feel there is some problem?

Watching you eat, waking in the night, weight etc nothing to do with weaning readiness.

Instinct can only tell you your baby is hungry, can't tell you that your baby's gut is mature enough for solids.

DD was on the 50th centile when born, off the charts (and over double her birth weight) at 12 weeks, by 25 weeks weighed 25lbs. On milk.

If your baby needs calories, they are in milk. Milk will also remain their main diet until 12 months.

Probably a growth spurt.

I can't see any reason to wean at all.

Look at the actual guidelines and read about the actual signs and red herrings.

Your dc has put on weight at the same speed as mine. I would think that this shows that your milk is enough as otherwise they would be a lot lighter. I started weaning at one week before he was 6 months. He is still getting the hang of it now 6 weeks as they need to develop the muscles in their mouths to eat properly. I would leave it for now.

As far as I'm aware, there's no reason not to wean at 17/18 weeks. I weaned both of my DC at around that mark (both were born at +9lbs) and we haven't had any problems.

If you feel the milk is no longer satisfying him, I would go for it. My HV was actually very supportive of early weaning in my case, so you never know!

YANBU

Do your research, discuss with HV, take it all into consideration and then trust your own judgement.

I strongly believe that when you wean is totally your decision, if you want to wean before 6 months then go ahead and don't let others make you feel guilty (maybe let your DH have a say though ).

All I would say is DD was 8lbs 15oz at birth, also 42 weeks gestation. By 8 weeks she was above the 99.6th percentile at 16lbs 5ozs, had doubled her birth weight by 10 weeks and this week is still about the 99.6th percentile at 22lbs 10oz at 22 weeks.

She has always slept really well at night but did go through a phase at 16/17weeks of waking more for milk, she is now back to waking once a night if that.

She's still exclusively breastfed but it is different for us as there are allergy issues so hospital has said to hold off until 6 months.

As I say it is your choice but I'm not sure if I personally agree with the view that milk is not enough for a big baby.

above the 99.6th percentile