Help I don't want to wean yet... 16 wk hungry boy

[beccas]

Hi
DC1 girl, DC2 boy, now 16 weeks. He weighs well over 16lb (which she didn't reach till 6 months when I weaned her).
He was sleeping through night at 10 weeks, 7 till 7, and woke up happy and chatty, not screaming for food.
He was Exc breastfed till 8 weeks, then I introduced 1 bottle formula per day at around 4pm.
He feeds really well, always content.
He is now waking in the night, he's restless from 4am and I feed him around 6. In theory this isn't a problem, but I am grumpy from the waking up!

Advice required for hungry boys....
Do I
Put an extra feed in - dream feed to help him get through the night again or is this a bad idea to interrupt his good sleep patterns?

Feed from breast more frequently during day? He never gets to crying stage, so he isn't ever hungry.

Start to wean? Really not sure about this, he has good head control but only just!

Any other ideas welcomed! Thank you.

There is a four month sleep regression which coincides very unhelpfully with a growth spurt. It tends to last a few weeks. Stick with it, there is The Other Side

And actually his sleep sounds great for a 4mo!

Stay well away from the food, whatever you do...

Boy/girl/weight is irrelevant.

Just feed to demand. If he's hungry then he needs calories. If he needs calories, then he needs milk.

He's probably going through a growth spurt. Their sleep patterns vary all the time.

If he wakes at 4am and asks for food, feed him.

Far too early to wean.

Yes he needs more milk, not food, I'm afraid.

You could try co-sleeping to let you get more sleep?

The downside to having a baby that sleeps really well is that sometimes they just stop sleeping well. Could be sleep regression, growth spurt, whatever. But it probably won't last and on its own I wouldn't use it as a reason to wean. Maybe he will just need a 4am feed for a while - that really isn't bad for a 16week-old from what I've heard! Good luck :)

I would feed him when he wakes at 4am. We had this with DS - he slept from 10-7 from 10 weeks old and then basically stopped sleeping when he was 17 weeks old.
Definitely offer more boob more often, it will increase your supply.

Thank you all! Very reassuring to hear very similar and positive responses!
I shall feed him at 4am and we'll all hopefully go straight back to sleep till 7!

I weaned DS1 at 17 weeks old because he just wasn't satisfied with breastmilk alone. You need to just go by your instinct IMO. Be aware of guidelines, but remember that's really all that they are - guidelines.

He took to weaning like a duck to water, and was keen on the babyrice mixed with my breast milk and just took it from there.

Yes many say wait until they are 6 months old but tbh, not all babies are the same. They all develop at different rates and are ready to be weaned at different times. It's not a 'one size fits all' scenario.

beccas good luck :)

Bear in mind that it might take a few days for your supply to adjust to the extra feed. When DS started waking again in the night I found that I didn't then have as much milk when he woke at 7am, or it didn't come out as quickly or something. Anyway, it took a few days for things to adjust - so don't panic if that happens to you!
I pumped a bit after some feeds for a few days just to encourage my supply a bit.

As most have said, more milk is best. I'm not sure any food you could give at this age would actually equate to that many more calories anyway.

If he's on the boob all day and night then there's a possibility he is ready for weaning. But if he's just hungry for small bouts then try with more milk.

i have a 20 week DD and have bored myself by reading all of the research that the WHO have based their 6 month recommendation on.

From what I read as long as you wait till after 17 weeks, sterilise everything well and the babies are showing signs of being ready to wean there should be no issues.

The main problems are a significant increase in the possiblilty of gastro-intestinal infections as a result of poor sterilisation, mainly in developing countries.

There may be a link between obesity and weaning, and care should be taken of what to give them.

baby rice is often touted as a good thickener but has been linked to reduced iron levels.

And take it slow.

Also ensure you are offering enough milk, I've always dream fed mine and they usually have slept brilliantly.

starlight - where is the research that backs that up?

More info on the 4 month sleep regression / developmental spurt / growth spurt here, here, here and here.

Someone on a thread on here did a calculation of the number of calories you'd get from solid foods that you can give before 6 months compared with the calories & fat in milk. The foods had seriously less calories. If you think about it, most first foods are the sort of things you'd eat if you were going on a diet.

Looking again, he sleeps a lot better than my 9 m.o., so I'm very . And my DS eats a huge amount of solids and is 99th centile. :)

Thanks Angeldog - will get reading!

er no I haven't. I just don't have total faith in government/NHS guidelines. I personally need to see decent relevant research.

And I babies need extra iron after 6 months so they do need some form of food before a year.

flying why no faith in the guidelines?

What are your thoughts on guidelines for smoking, excessive alcohol and drug taking? Do you have faith in the government guidelines?

Also the iron thing - babies' stores start to deplete from 6 months ish, doesn't mean they suddenly need extra iron from 6 months.

Flying, you are talking out of your arse.

HTH :)

can't find the review but this is alright for starters [http://adc.bmj.com/content/92/10/850.abstract]

Stop hi-jacking my post please, I am not interested in this and it is not helpful.