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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

when is it time to start weaning????

7 replies

candy11 · 06/11/2011 22:26

my LO is 17 weeks tomorrow and since bout 10 weeks i have had problems with his feeding.... he is ff he will take is morning and evening feeds really well but the feeds inbetween are the problem he is just not intrested.
i have had the health visitor out and she said to try to get him to go 4 hrs between feeds so he is a little more hungry which i have but seems to make no difference.
so just wondered what peoples thoughts were to feeding aptimail porridge for 4m for the feeds where he is not really intrested in.
i should also add he is still put on weight ok.
any info would be great.

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BertieBotts · 06/11/2011 22:30

I would just keep going as you are. Perhaps he just likes a big feed morning and night (sounds sensible especially if he sleeps through?) and then the ones in the day he is just more interested in other things going on. I don't think it matters if the daytime feeds are smaller than the evening/morning ones.

I wouldn't start weaning yet, I'd wait until he is sitting up, grabbing things, putting them in his mouth and generally demanding your food extremely loudly!

candy11 · 06/11/2011 22:36

he is grabbing things and putting them in his mouth he can also almost sit up. he seems to be advanced for 17 weeks compared to my friends babies. he also will sit and watch me and daddy eat .
he will eat 7oz in the morning and 8oz at night but only take 3-4 during the day. then he will sleep from anot 9pm till 6 am.

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pootlebug · 07/11/2011 00:31

The guidelines are currently to start around 6 months. Obviously it varies from baby to baby, and they are guidelines rather than a set in stone date....but 17 weeks is quite a lot earlier than 6 months. If he's putting on weight it sounds like he's doing fine.

buttonmoon78 · 07/11/2011 07:35

It sounds like your baby might be ready before the 6 month mark due to his development but I'd say not yet. He might just have an appetite which is greater evening & morning. My dh is the same!

Go with the flow for now. Honestly - weaning is so overrated. It's such a faff. We're currently weaning our 16wk old ds (medical necessity) and its not something I'd be doing if I didn't have to.

lilham · 07/11/2011 08:23

Weaning is a faff. I'd hold on as long as possible, unless you fancy feeding the same number of ff feeds and adding three solid meals on top. You aren't supposed to be replacing milk with solid feeds. Instead you start off with having milk an hour before solids. And then you let your LO drop the milk feeds himself. This is important because milk is supposed to be their main nutrition until one. If he doens't have at least 500ml a day, NHS advises you to give supplements.

BertieBotts · 07/11/2011 14:12

I don't think he sounds like he is ready yet. As others have said, you are aiming for 6 months if at all possible. It's impossible for us to know whether their guts are ready for solid food, because we can't see inside, but research shows that all babies are definitely ready by 6 months, so it's safest to wait until then.

The fact he is advanced in other ways is great, but it's not really relevant, because their development often advances at different speeds. For example some babies walk before they talk, and others talk before they walk.

The signs that are said to show babies are "ready" for weaning are really just guesswork. In my opinion the ones which are related to the BLW approach make the most logical sense, but we can't know this for certain. If you decide to wean before 6 months I'd always go with a BLW approach, so that the baby can control what they are taking in and (in theory) this exterior development relates to how developed their guts are internally. You can also do "the banana test" where you put a chunk of banana on their highchair tray, and then watch - don't help at all, just see if they pick it up for themselves and manage to eat a bit of it. If you are going to do this they need to be very strong at sitting and not slumping over or reclined at all (this is a choking risk.) It's very unlikely a 4 month old would be able to pass the banana test, but some 5 month olds do.

Watching you eat is normal at this age - they are fascinated by adults and want to see what we are doing! It was when it became a mammoth task to stop DS from crawling up to the table and just taking the food off my plate that I thought, hmm, perhaps he is ready now!

candy11 · 07/11/2011 21:35

thanx for all advice i have spoken to a member of the health team again today and she said to try not to wean untill six months as it could put him off his milk altogether. he was also weighed today and it was 16lb 11oz only put on 1lb in 4 weeks so she is gonna come out and see me next monday as he needs his 4month check anyway. again thanx for all advice.

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