Formula, early weaning, and general confusion.

[Runningupthathill82]

So. My DD is 17 weeks and ff, after early tongue tie nightmares.
She's a big girl, tracking 91st centile, and weighs over 16lb.

Anyway. She's hungry. Currently drinking more than 40oz of formula in 24 hours and waking for two night feeds. The guidelines say she should be drinking max 32oz a day, but I'm reluctant to wean early as she doesn't seem ready - so I'm giving her as much formula as she will drink, which is more than the recommended amount.

As it is, I'm rather confused as to how best to satisfy her. Any ideas? Would you try solids or just keep giving formula? DC1 was much smaller, breastfed and BLW, so this is new to me!

Who says there is a maximum of 32oz as I've never come across it before? I would continue with formula tbh until closer to 6 months. With ds I waited until 23 weeks approx and at that stage he was over 20lbs.

I'm 80% sure I gave DD baby rice and baby porridge at 4 months.

If she was breastfed you would have no idea how many ounces of milk she was drinking, would you? So pretend you don't know! Milk is milk, I would go with your instinct and feed her what she wants, 17 weeks is very early to wean. (also....2 feeds a night....sounds good to me ;-) )

Just because you gave food at 4 months doesn't mean it's right for every baby to have food too. OP says her lo doesn't seem ready so no need to rush into it

Sorry dementedpixie. Of course it's not right for every baby and I'm not telling OP she must give her baby food. And you'll never know what's not right for your baby until you try. Yes OP did say her LO doesn't seem ready. She also asked "would you try solids" which is what I am referring to. I am simply letting OP know that there are other options.

Is she drinking at regular intervals in the day? Can you give her a feed every 3 hours between 7am and 7pm. Then wake her or lift to feed at about 10.30pm and then see if she just wakes once more between then and morning?

Could you try Hungry Baby milk for her last feed of the day? It tends to be harder to digest and may keep her fuller for longer?

At a similar age my dd was having 40oz of milk in a 24 hour period. She was a hungry baby. I didn't want to wean until she was six months, so just gave her the milk she needed. There are more calories in milk than a few spoons of carrot puree anyway.

My ds is a proper whopper, and drinks gallons of milk. Just give her what she needs, it may be a growth spurt and she'll calm down a bit. Incidentally, despite being hungry and drinking so much milk, once we began weaning at 6months it has taken him til now (8 months nearly) to really be taking much food and dropping any milk (we do mixed spoon feeding and finger foods)- and he still wakes once and sometimes twice in the night, so weaning may not solve your dilemma anyway. I'd just stick with the milk and lots of it!

Can I ask why you don't think shes ready?

Ds was weaned early he was ready, he was drinking so much milk that he was being sick from the amount once he started eating he settled down so it was the right call for us. When I started I started slowly with a few spoonfuls of baby rice and baby porridge built up to more and more added fruit and veg then by 6 months started in meat and giving him things yo chew on. He was getting all this nutrition from his formula always gave him a bottle before food but the food seemed to satisfy him after the bottle.

I don't think she's ready for weaning because she can't sit up by herself yet and also still seems to have the tongue thrust reflex.
With my DS we started weaning at around 26 weeks when he nicked my banana, but DD isn't there yet, developmentally.

Dementedpixie - the 32oz thing is quoted in a few places online, think I first saw it on BabyCentre. But on the Aptamil box it says I should be giving five 7oz bottles a day - ie 35oz. It's nonsensical.

Window - certainly not complaining about two feeds a night! My DS was still cluster feeding and permanently latched at the same age. I just want to satisfy her and make sure she's getting what she needs, not necessarily improve my own sleep (though that would be lovely too!)

NapQueen - had considered hungry baby milk, but previous threads on here put me off as some people seem to think it's the work of the devil?!

Thanks for all your responses. It's really helpful to hear from others who've also had to satisfy milk monsters!

My DS is a big lad. Started weaning just before 6 months - maybe a week or so before?

He was drinking a lot of formula - and still had night feeds at that age. Just. Maybe cut down to just one? Think we probably did that around that age.

At one point my son was having 40/45oz of milk a day. I was of the opinion that if he was hungry I would just give him milk. I kept a close eye on his weight but he has always steadily followed the same line since birth which in my head is a sign he's doing just fine. Now he's nearly two and still loves his milk.

I honestly wouldn't worry about the guidelines too much. They are just that. Guides :-) I would agree with you about not weaning early and sticking to more milk

I don't think ds was sitting unaided when he started weaning but he could sit in a high chair and grab for the spoon and hold his back straight, he also opened his mouth for the food to come and never pushed it back out.

If you don't think she is ready keep going with the milk you can always reassess in a few weeks. Personally I think anytime between 4-8 months is pretty normal timing 6 months is average from the people I know in rl.

I think hungry baby milk was invented for exactly this scenario!
Worth a try and better than adding low calorie foods :)

The health visitor agrees with you, Nano - saw her this morning and she recommended trying hungry baby milk. Bought a couple of those small pre-mixed bottles to give it a go, rather than spending a tenner on a huge box to only find DD doesn't take to it.

The HV also didn't advise me to wean early, but didn't advise against it either IYSWIM - she was all smiles and "just do what you think is best." Well I don't know what's best, that's why I was asking her!

I don't think they are allowed to recommend it even if they personally would do it now my hv said she absolutely could not get into any positives of weaning early and done the mum knows best.

Ds couldn't have hungry baby milk to I never considered it, maybe you could look into why hungry baby milk is different and how it effects the digestive system vs food?

My eldest son was very hungry with milk and I remember worrying how I would manage to wait until 6 months to give him food. But actually from about 4 months onwards his milk intake didn't really increase and we weaned at 6 months as planned. So it might not be a problem. I agree with a poster above - milk is much more nutritious than any food you could give at 17 weeks anyway. Good luck.