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.

again, let's just agree to disagree. as I can see from this particular thread, my views are in the minority. doesn't mean I've disregarded the national guidelines. I'm very aware of them, but I do also know my own baby and knew when the time was right to wean him.

OP do what you feel is best.:)

by 9 weeks my son was guzzling 56oz a day! he was still ravenous and was chewing. I held it out until 12 weeks and hv said he should have some baby rice and there has been no stopping him since.

That may make me wrong in peoples eyes but not every baby is the same, mine certainly is not the norm!

I don't know what 56oz means. I bfed. My dd could have had more or less volume of milk than that. I will never know. I did know that she was a human baby. Her gut was NOT mature at 12 weeks. The research is very clear, you do NOT wean before 17 weeks for good reasons. Your hv should not have advised you to introduce solids. If she was concerned, she should have referred you to somebody with more knowledge.

If a baby is hungry, milk has far more calories in it than a spoon of baby rice. It makes no sense to introduce a lower calorie substance at 12 weeks that their gut is not ready for.

good for you theincrediblesulk1 - glad to hear someone is following their instincts and common sense that if your baby is still screaming for more after bottles of milk then they obviously need moved onto solids.

Thank goodness there's another mum on this thread who has weaned earlier than the norm of 6 months - just proves there are babies out there who just aren't satisfied with milk alone!

I have breastfed DS1 and DS2 but I don't think it makes any odds which (BF or FF) as to how hungry they get as the weeks roll on. It really does just depend on the baby IMO.

Thanks all. Last night he slept solidly to 5 so I think my milk has increased again and he seems most content.
I was so glad to be pointed to the growth spurt stats and sleep regression. That makes much more sense to me than weaning.
I plan to get to 20 weeks and then reassess.

DS2 slept from 10pm-7am every night from 8 weeks to 16 weeks when he started waking up twice or more in the night. Every one on this board said 4 month sleep regression and sure enough it did get better although he was still waking up once in the night. I think he was just digesting the breastmilk too quickly to keep him full all night.

By around 5.5 months it was back to twice in the night so I introduced a bottle of formula at 10pm (he woke demanding it) which resulted in one night waking at 4am rather than two wakings at 1am and 4am (ie BM only kept him going for 3 hours, formula lasted him 6 hours). My milk suppy was certainly slower in the evening and my DS2 is a bit impatient so not prepared to feed for ages to get slow milk. Also started to introduce small amounts of fruit and vegetable purees from 5.5 months.

Also if you are doing one FF anyway why not move it to 11pm to see if that helps with the sleep?

As long as you keep the food that is given gluten free, egg free there are actually no proven detriment!

I followed what i was medically advised to do!

Not every baby is the same! mine was ready! and i was not playing Russian roulette! i think i will stick with what a trained professional said over a gaggle of know it alls xxx

'russian roulette with his health'

how specifically?

'russian roulette'!!! as I said before, what scaremongering goes on in some threads.

theincrediblesulk1 you did what you thought was best for your baby like all the rest of us. don't be guilt-tripped into thinking you've somehow damaged your child, and you did what any responsible parent does you went to a HP to seek advice first.

Thanks lovechoc,

It makes you laugh, i would never pass judgment on anyone else's decisions, none of these people have ever set eyes on my child, but somehow think they know better than myself and a health professional, who assessed the situation before saying i should give him baby rice.

56oz is more than a 7 month old (21oz) and a 4 month old should be on 49oz. He is bigger than my friends niece and she is 7 months old.

I just love the blind judgment you get from people, ask some questions first people!

OP I am in the same boat as you, DS is 17 weeks and ebf. He is feeding every hour as a minimum. He too slept from 11pm-6am from about 12 weeks til about two weeks ago, we are back to co-sleeping as has several feeds in night. I am also giving him 5oz extra of ebm in evening, as i know my supply is lower, but he will still feed for about an hour. I considered early weaning, but am too chicken as there is history of ezcema and asthma on both sides of family, and have told myself will wait til 20 weeks at least.Keep telling myself this is a growth spurt, as he is having more naps in the day (still only 20-30 mins each, but a couple of weeks he was having only one nap a day). Also have to admit am a bit nervous about early weaning, and the fact that when i mentioned to HV about early weaning she re-iterated the 6 month guidelines....if she had suggested starting earlier I would have felt more comfortable, (and i trust her advice as she herself bf two kids past the age of one, so understands more about bf than some HVs).

Also DS has no head control - another reason not to wean yet, BUT he does cry more now as he gets hungry quicker....

He is now on 75th centile for weight, was on 50th from birth til 14 weeks.