Early Weaning? Advice please!

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Hi ladies,
My DS, who is my first baby, is going to be 21 weeks on Thursday and is currently bottle fed. He is a big baby - in the 91st percentile and was feeding every 4 hours and the amount he was taking was around 7oz and this has recently increased to 8oz. However, the last couple of days he has gone back to needing to be fed every 3 hours still taking the same amount and then today it's every 3 hours but he is taking 10oz.

I am wondering if it's time to wean him, however I am nervous because of the official guidelines saying this is not advised before 6 months. However there's so many mixed messages out there! I have read other things where suposedly its ok, if they are ready, between 17 and 24 weeks and that 6 months is a worldwide guideline that takes into account underdeveloped countries where it is imperative they breast feed for at least 6 months as breast milk is sterile and their water is not. I do wonder as he is big that he might need to be weaned earlier. He has good head control and can sit well when supported and often chews his tongue. It has not affected night time as yet, he sleeps for 12 hours.

Any advice would be gratefully received as I am loathe to ask health visitor as they seem to just regurgitate the official guidelines.... Many thanks in advance!

You can do "the banana test" which is where you put a chunk of banana in front of them (sitting up) and if they can reach for it, pick it up, get it to their mouth and chew/taste and swallow, then they're ready.

This is basically the same concept as baby led weaning which you could start now as if he's not ready then he just won't swallow stuff anyway.

But generally wanting more milk isn't a sign that he needs weaning, it's just a growth spurt needing more milk :)

I Just realised he's 20 weeks not 21 - I'm still blaming baby brain! :-)

I like the sound of the banana test!

20w is within the guidelines. I though you were going to say 12 weeks or something!

A big baby isn't a reason to wean though, DS was 11lb 7oz at birth and still wasn't weaned until just short of 6mo

It does seem a lot of milk at 10oz every 3 hrs. Have you tried hungry baby milk? He might be ready or just going through a growth spurt. It wouldn't hurt to try something small though. The banana idea is a good one.

I did try hungry baby milk - it made him constipated! He went through a growth spurt in md Jan - how often do they happen on average?

I think I'd probably do baby rice for the first week then move on to a purée...
I am going to get my hubby to get a banana on his way home and try the test then go from there I think!

every few weeks when they're tiny :)

Porridge not great - oats contain gluten.

If you're going with banana, don't be freaked out by the nappy "worms"

Can he sit up?

I don't like the banana test as if they get a chunk off it can be a choking hazard as hard to chew. I did it with mashed potato - dd grabbed handfuls and shovelled it in.

Bertiebotts... Ewwwwww! Don't like the sound of that!!

Hi Iggly, he can sit up when supported. He has a highchair that slightly tilts back and he happily sits in that. Good point re banana... And I have potatoes!

Well I'd be tempted to let him try. I had dd on my lap (she's my second dc) and she grabbed from my plate. She couldn't sit up unaided but could in a Highchair iyswim.

The point of the banana test is to see if he's ready. I have no idea how scientific it is, but the idea is that he's ready if he can pick up the banana and feed it to himself.

You spooning baby-rice into his mouth will not tell you if he's ready - and it's possible his gut might not be, How would you know?

FWIW the 6 months guidance was very much aimed at UK babies. It's got nothing to do with developing countries, it's to do with the maturity of the gut.
Guts do not mature any faster here than they do in underdeveloped countries!

IIRC the risk is that if you feed a baby too early, they may develop allergies. (At least this is what was said 4 years ago when DS was tiny, forgive me if the advice has changed!)

May I ask why you are keen to wean early? I was always too wary of the allergies risk. My SIL for example has terrible allergies, it's horrible for her, and she was weaned very early. Whether one led to the other I can't say, but it seems silly to risk it, doesn't it?

What am I missing here? I am always genuinely puzzled by people who want to wean early.

bertie botts i was convinced dd2 had got hold of some tobacco from somewhere when i first saw her post-banana nappy. What a shock. It doesn't make you a good mother if your child has managed to ingest rolling tobacco, now does it?!

Weaning early and allergies isn't proved.

I'm sure I've read about gluten allergies whereby babies who have gluten between 4-6 months are less likely to be allergic than those who had it after 6 months (in another country though).

I'd suggest letting baby grab food with his hand - my dd has struggled with banana even after she'd been on solids for a while. I preferred to give her pieces sliced length ways - she has a small mouth and a banana fills it hence the struggle.

If he's over 17 weeks then you are very unlikely to cause him any harm.

Surely why the OP wants to wean early is obvious - he is drinking 10oz bottles every 3 hours. I would have thought that volume of milk can't be good for a little stomach.

"6 months is a worldwide guideline that takes into account underdeveloped countries where it is imperative they breast feed for at least 6 months as breast milk is sterile and their water is not."

This has irked me actually. Not that you've said it yourself, OP, but that it's out there as a rumour.

This is a rumour that started about the 2 year guidance for breastfeeding. The World Health Organisation have stated that they recommend all DCs breastfeed till 2 years if possible. It's guidance which applies to all children across the world, however there is a persistant rumour (often believed even by health professionals) that this is meant to apply to developing countries only. That's not true, it applies to us too.

Our own culture in the UK is so anti-breastfeeding, compared to most others, it's not surprising that people find it difficult to believe that the advice to feed to 2 years applies to us. So difficult that people often (and you might say understandably!) are happy to accept an explanation that says it's not about us, rather than believing that the science seems to show that it's in the best interests of children and mothers in developed countries like ours to feed till 2.

It's the first time I've heard the rumour spreading to include 6 month weaning guidance however. It's simply not true!

And anyway, the 6 month thing though - those guidelines were put out by the NHS / our own government weren't they?

A carrot baton??

Not trying to open a FF / BF / weaning bunfight btw!

But interesting to see how rumours spread.

Actually I will clarify - not proven if you wean after 17 weeks

And to cause trouble - I suspect that BF rates might have something to do with allergies but this is not proven just my guess!