Have I started weaning my breastfed baby too soon?

[MsPea]

Hi there,

Yesterday, on the advice of my HV, I gave my 19 week old dd baby rice and again today. This was because she has dropped from the 9th centile where she was born and stayed until recently onto the 2nd centile. Also she looks interested in our food but has not noticeably begun feeding or waking more often.

Since the first baby rice she has had watery diahorrea so that virtually every nappy change involves changing her clothes. Also she had a bad night (though of course she dose have them; it could have been concincidence).

Shall I stop? Have we started too early? Sad to see her with the squits.

[emkana]

The advice is not to start weaning until they are 26 weeks old. There is absolutely no need to give her anything other than breastmilk yet.
If I was you, I would stop for now and try again in seven weeks' time. Much easier as well than all that faffing around with baby rice etc.!
Re the weight gain - it's not unusual for a breastfed baby's weight gain to slow down at this age.
And re the HV - she's giving you bad advice, but she's not unusual in that, unfortunately!

[Pruni]

Message withdrawn

[kiskidee]

i would stop too.

babyrice has far less calories, oz per oz than breastmilk or formula. and have you ever tasted babyrice?

babies wake more, feed more at this age because they are going through loads of developmental changes IN ADDITION to a growth spurt.


of course they are also interested in food. they are also interested in your driving, your cleaning the windows and clipping your toenails.

there are several other indicators of time to wean like:
sitting up independently for a good while
and
losing the tongue thrust reflex
which are indicators to also take into consideration with being 'interested in food'.

[hunkermunker]

Stop and leave it a bit.

She's bound to be interested in your food. She's interested in you!

DS1 was born on 75th centile and dropped to between 9th and 25th. Some babies do this - they're finding their natural weight.

Make sure you bfeed her as much as you ever did, more if she requests it, and leave the food till she's older.

The HV is bonkers, btw.

[MsPea]

Thank you all; everything you say makes sense and I have already had some doubtful HV experiences!

So it's ok to stop even though she is falling down the centiles and is already so small? (Feels like she doesn't have much roon for manouevre iyswim).

I should add she seemed to enjoy the rice v much and to be sad when it was gone.

[Piffle]

I am constantly amazed that hv''s think one spoon of baby rice will somehow make a baby gain weight
Lie to your hv, I did

[Piffle]

And my dd was a failure to thrive btw so I speak from experience

[Elasticwoman]

Disregarding the centiles for a mo, has your baby actually lost weight (after regaining birthweight I mean)?

If she has always gained, even if only a little, then I would look at other indicators - general well-being, nappies (sounds like they were better on milk only), alertness when awake etc.

All my babies were huge but hv still managed to worry me about the biggest one: when I said "he went for 6 hours between feeds last night!" expecting her to be pleased for me, she told me off and said a big baby needs more frequent feeding. You can't win with some hvs !

[laundrylover]

If you are worried about her weight gain then try feeding her more often - my DD1 was very small and fed little and often. Both my DDs skied down the charts until they found their 'line' altho I must admit that Dd2 at 9 months has only been weighed about 6 times. Do you think that your baby looks 'weedy' or is she just small?

Why not try this for a few weeks and see if her nappies get better and then you could always try rice again if you're not convinced. Better still, wait 'til 6 months, do Baby Led Weaning and stop going to the clinic!

[StinkyPete]

i'd stop

[Piffle]

if and I mean If she is diving down the centiles and not feeding well, you need to be referred to a paediatrician and dietitian, who can offer you supplementation for expressed breastmilk that can increase calorific content for small eaters.
But liek others say if your dd is happy, sleeping, alert and developing normally in all other ways, you have little to worry about.

[melsy]

kisikidee id like to know more about the tongue thrust reflex? . Im also being told the same as Ms pea by HV , peers , relatives, dh, everyone in factand so far Ive held off [proud emoticon] !!!, as they all think this will stop dd2 waking during the night and Im doing wrong blah blah blah. Dd2 is 21 weeks this week.

[CorrieDale]

that old chestnut! I got major pressure from my family for the same reason. Did solids get him to sleep through? Did it buggery!

(Tongue thrust reflex is what baby does when a foreign object is put in her mouth - she will automatically try and push it out. MY loony HV's advice was to give baby a spoon to play with at 3 months or so, so that he wouldn't push it out at 4 months [hmmm])

[melsy]

ahhh thanks for the explanation corrie, and u are yet to succumb too ??? Im sure I weaned dd1 at say 4.5mths , but she didnt sleep through till 9mths , so why oh why everyone thinks it will make a difference with that past knowledge I dont know.

!!!

[kiskidee]

is your baby active, content and hitting her developmental milestones? then don't worry. my mate's weaned to formula on pressure from hv at 4 months. she still only fed like a bird and remained skinny. even at 2 now she is skinny and feeds like a bird!

if you want her to experiment with food because you think she is enjoying it then try banana. much nicer than baby rice and full of goodness too and probably more calories!

[kiskidee]

if nothing else she will love the way it slips and slides and squashes. see, food as learning material - before i get told off for encouraging someone to wean early!

[MsPea]

Yes, I am going to stop for the moment. Have found your thoughts v interesting. Am quite relieved to make this decision- was perhaps instinctively what I wanted (and means I can abandon the daily faff as you say). I think melsy I had a similar experience to you- lots of pressure from various people over xmas, only I succumbed. The tongue thrust is when they automatically push anything that goes into their mouth (eg a spoon) out again with their tongue. Except a nipple or teat.

No Elasticwoman, she's never lost- in fact she is still gaining 4-5oz a week. Alert, happy, sleeping as usual (she's always been a difficult sleeper). Nappies fine til the rice. I think she looks lovely, on a small scale but plenty of baby podge!

[MsPea]

Sorry to repeat you Corrie had not seen yours when I typed mine...

[twickersmum]

personally i would stop getting her weighed.
only do it if you are worried!

[Elasticwoman]

Sounds like you have a beautiful baby MsPea. I always wanted a diddy little one, you're lucky!

[MsPea]

Thankyou!

[yellowrose]

MsPea - my baby DS was excl bf until 6 months.

At around 5.5 months he got his first ever sickness, a minor cold, and stopped putting on weight for a couple of weeks. By 6 months I had weaned and he never put on weight as rapidly as before.

If you read kellymom.com or any of the other experts you will see that it is absolutely NORMAL for an excl. bf baby to slow down in weight gain after first 3 - 4 months.

Falling down the centiles, and only dropping down one line are not things to be concerned about. My DS dropped from 25th centile at birth, and has been hovering between 9th and 25th ever since. He is now a very healthy, bubbly, gorgeous 2.5 year old. He looks short for his age and a bit skinny (with no clothes on !), but as I always say the raeson he is short is because his mum is a short arse and his dad is only 5.7 !

Please don't forget a baby's built and height are also to do with genes.

Your baby sounds healthy and active. If you can, stop the baby rice, it has very few calorific value. Give her mummy milk only until she is 6 months and then go straight to fruit and veg and later to pureed meat. LLL recommend introducing meat early on (if you are not a vegetarian of course !)after 6 months to boost baby's iron levels.

Fruit and veg have vital vits. for your baby and meat has protein. Baby rice has nothing but very filling carbs. that may reduce the amount of breast milk baby takes in.

Good luck with your decision

[MsPea]

Thanks yellowose, that's really interesting. Funnily enough dd had her first illness (also a cold) over christmas, which is also when she stopped gaining so much weight.

The rice is back in the cupboard and we are all more relaxed. Long live my norks!

[yellowrose]

MsPea - good for you ! Do refer to the websites I have referred to though, they have expert info. on solids/weaning which will help you with your decisions later on