Want to start weaning and switch from breast to bottle: advice needed

[Pammylou72]

I want to start weaning my 5 month old breast fed ds and would also like to start gradually switching from breast to bottle. Any advice about whether I should do one first - i..e get him used to solids before starting with formula or vice versa or should I just gradually introduce both formula and solids. Any advice?

[hunkermunker]

Why do you want to start weaning him now? He's still a bit young for food.

[Wills]

I weaned ds at 4.5 months BUT and this is a big BUT if you're not getting a blooming clear message that he's ready for food then I would leave food until he's 6 months and if you want to then wean him to bottle. Are you finding breast hard then? If you do feel he's clearly ready for food then I would go slow and stick to bland bland bland i.e. bland veg and fruit until 6.5 or 7 months. As to whether your child will cope with both formula and solids I do think that's up to him. Some will take the changes completely within their stride whilst others will completely flip out. I know he's only 5 months but what's your gut reaction as to how well he handles changes? This should give you an indiciation as to how slowly you need to go.

HTH

[hunkermunker]

Sorry, that wasn't a very helpful post - but without a bit more info, I'm not sure I can give you information you'll find helpful.

Why do you want to move him to formula? Are you happy about the decision or is it being forced upon you by an impending return to work?

[Pammylou72]

I think he's definitely ready for food. He's really big - over 20lb and in the 98th percentile etc and is showing all the signs including waking every 3 to 4 hours to feed when before he was going for ten hours.

I want to stop breast feeding gradually so am really just thinking about introducing one bottle a day at the moment. I'm aiming to stop completely in about 6- 8 weeks' time. What i'm concerned about is whether introducing formula and starting to wean is just too much change but can't decide which is more important.

[MrsBadger]

Being big and hungry aren't actually signs of being ready for weaning.. they're just signs of being big and hungry!

I appreciate this doesn't help with the breast-to-bottle switch though - hopefully someone more experienced in that area will be along in a minute...

[hunkermunker]

Milk's more calorific than food at this age - he's probably having a growth spurt, which is why he's waking - adding food to the mix won't help him sleep (despite anecdotal evidence).

Being big isn't a sign he'll need weaning early - it's about gut maturity.

[Pammylou72]

Thanks for this. Maybe I'll just start the gradual switch to formula and hold off the solids for now. The sleep is killing me though - I'd thought the worst was over!

[deaconblue]

Sorry to cast a downer but I started ds on solids at 5 months and swtiched from breast to bottle for exactly the same reasons. He had been going 12 hours and started waking up hungry. BUT he is now nearly 9 months and has only just started sleeping through again. So switching may make no difference at all. I really wish I'd carried on breast feeding for longer since it made no difference anyway.