should i start weaning?

[sarahrhianna]

I know the advice is to wait until 6 months and am not in any rush to start weaning for ds but don't want to hold him back just for the sake of guidelines when i think he may be ready.
He is 17 weeks and is doing the following

• feeding more frequently (every 2-3 hours)
• chewing hands constantly
• showing interest in food (tried to grab a bit of cheese from me yesterday and was watching big sis eat her tea making chewing movements with his mouth!)
• stopped putting on weight for last 2 weeks despite increased feeds (he is a fairly big boy at over 16lb)
• waking at night after sleeping through

-can sit easily with support

• double his birth weight

What would you do? advice please as don't know what to do for the best.
Thanks!
p.s he is bf and will not take a bottle so can't give hungry baby formula

[tiktok]

sarahrhianna, none of those signs are signs your baby needs more than breastfeeding, though, apart from sitting easily without support (at 17 weeks? pretty advanced ) .

All of the other signs are signs of being 4 months old.

In addition, the feeding more frequently is what babies do when it is warm.

The slowing down/stopping of weight gain about now is perfectly physiological, especially in a big baby.

Why give yourself the hassle of giving him solids sooner than he actually needs them? He is happy and healthy doing what he's doing; when he's around 6 mths you can try him with some finger foods and see what happens

[Alestorm]

What tiktok said, and also that my dd (who is 18 weeks) has been waking more in the night recently, I think it's because she's thirsty.

[McDreamy]

My dd has been waking in the night and I think it's because she is cold. Our bedroom is really warm when she goes to bed but it cools down quite alot during the night. She's been going to bed in a vest as it's been so hot, I put her in a babygro last night and she slept through. She's 22 weeks!

[CatIsSleepy]

there's a lot of it about.. my 16 week dd has recently gone from waking once in the night back to waking 2 or 3 times. Am knackered!

[Alestorm]

McD - I've been putting dd in a short sleeved vest and a 0.5 tog grobag which seems to do the trick. If it seems a bit chilly later I pop a blanket over her when I go to bed.

Are you moved to South Bucks now, btw? (I used to be theUrbanDryad)

[McDreamy]

Yes I am now in Bucks. Have been here since Nov and liking it v much!

[nappyaddict]

The signs for being ready to wean are:

holding their head up

sitting up with minimal support (ie a bit of slouching ok and you can use the shoulder straps to support them a bit if they aren't sitting completely alone or put a rolled up blanket or towel behind them. a baby grippa thing is good as well for babies who aren't 100% sitting yet www.babygrippa.co.uk/)

losing the tongue thrust reflex (if they still have it their tongues will push food out of the mouth and they won't be able to swallow it all only little bits)

able to pick small chunks of food up, put them in the mouth, chew and swallow it properly.

Being ready for weaning has nothing to do with:

doubling their birth weight

slow weight gain

copying your jaw movements when you eat

chewing their hands/toys

looking at food

putting food in their mouth and gumming it (the chewing and swallowing shows you they are ready and know what to do)

feeding more frequently or waking up in the night more. this is most commonly associated with a growth spurt which can last up to 8 weeks - a fact unknown by many. growth spurts usually only last a few weeks but they can last much longer than this.

[mears]

Sarah - waking at night leads to more feeds which leads to more milk which leads to sleeping back through again.

I introduced solids when my first 3 started night waking (20-24weeks) however with my 4th I decided to wait till 26 weeks. She night woke at 20 weeks and I just fed her. After a couple of weeks she slept through the night again. Shew wasn't night waking when we started solids.

I would wait personally. So much less hassle

[sarahrhianna]

thanks for the advice, will hold off for a while, so much conflicting advice in the baby books.
Fingers crossed he has put some weight on this week.