Weaning

[WillTurner]

This was posted on another website I use (by a mum of a 25 weeker who investigated it a lot)and might be of use to those of you about to consider weaning or who have yet to get there:

There are NO guidelines for weaning a premature baby.Even Bliss acknowledge in their literature that the guidelines for weaning are based on healthy FULL TERM babies and not prems. Also there is currently more and more research to show that weaning a prem baby at uncorrected age can lead to a higher risk of allergies and food intollerances than if you leave it till corrected age especially in extremely prem infants.In the states they have recently done research which suggests that the GUT of a prem infant does not 'speed up' developmentally in order to make it ready for solids at 4-6 months uncorrected and in fact matures at a slightly slower rate than if it had been developing in the womb still.
Weaning ages are based on the World health organisation guidelines which also are JUST for full term infants and not prems.

Hope this info helps a little.

[TinkerbellesMum]

Thanks for that, I said that I didn't think there was any research into this on a thread in the Weaning section.

I followed BLW with Tink and I think that it works wonderfully for premature babies because it means you are allowing them to follow their own growth and not pushing them to do something that they're too young for.

Even if you are not planning to BLW your baby, it is still a good idea to use the signs of being ready and wait for the baby to be showing them before you start out.

[George1]

I have read that prem babies tend to need to wean earlier. All babies store iron and zinc in their bodies to last up to about 6 months. This is enough with mil, but then as the stores run out, they need to be weaned. Prem babies do not get the full amount of Iron as they leave the womb early, hence that the stores run low earlier.
My baby was born 4 weeks early. She is now just coming up to 18 weeks, and is hungier than ever and waking earlier in the night. I tried her on baby rice in the mornings and she loves it. She is sleeping better now.

[TinkerbellesMum]

It's bit of a misconception, they do start to run out, but they are still there. There is plenty to last them for a long time and they will still get what they need from milk.

Latest evidence is that prem babies need longer on milk, at least till their CGA of 6 months, some are slower than that, as WillTurner said. Unfortunately not all professionals are singing from the same sheet, some believe what they were taught was right and some just don't bother/have time to keep updated.

At 18 weeks she has probably just gone through a growth spurt and would have been sleeping though anyway because the growth spurt is over.

[kateri]

I get confused by this too. If your baby is on iron and vitamin supplements in addition to the milk, is it then OK to leave weaning till their corrected age?

[TinkerbellesMum]

Ignore their age, actual or CGA, completely. Go by what they are doing - are they sitting up unaided, reaching for food, putting food in their mouth etc? When they're doing that they're ready. If you start before that then you risk increasing their chances of allergies etc as they're digestive system won't have sealed and they will be open to infection from food getting in and the food won't do much for them as they will be unable to digest it.

Hope that makes sense, it's a little late lol.

[George1]

It can get so confusing when you read and are told different things. I have let my baby take the lead,and I did check that this was not just a growth spurt, as it continued for a week, so thats when I offered the baby rice. She too is sitting up well and grabing at my food.
I have been reading alot about weaning prem babies from Annabel Karmel.