Early weaning, thoughts?

[Thelongnights]

Just wondering what your thoughts are on early weaning. My dd is 22 weeks so only 4 weeks to go until she hits the recommended 26 weeks. She is not my first baby, I have two older children. I have always been in the boat of "why rush?" Both my older kids started solids at 26 weeks, using baby led, with no issues.

The problem I'm having with my youngest has crept up this past week. Bed time feed just does seem to be adequate anymore. Nothing about our routine has changed yet she has become very irritable at the end of her bedtime feed (at least 15 mins each side, often much longer), then she starts latching and unlatching with a pleading cry and continues until she works herself up into a full meltdown. So I asked my dp to go get some wee ready made formula bottles a few nights ago and for the last 3 nights I've had to offer a bottle of formula once the pleading cry starts becoming unbearable at the end of her bedtime feed. I offer the full 200ml and she takes aprox. 50-70 ml (so like an oz) then happily goes off to sleep.
I've also notice the past few weeks she's been waking more at night, from one night feed to now 3 night feeds. I honestly don't mind the night feeds, she's a wee sleepy thing and there more like dream feeds so there no hassle. It's the bedtime feed that's causing the problems. It's become so stressful and I dread it.

I'm only just questioning if maybe she should start solids, a wee bedtime rice bowl or something? For context, she hits all the developmental milestones necessary, she's sitting up, has great head and neck control, she is more than double her birth weight & is extremely interested in food, she tries grabbing from plates, she was given a taste of mashed banana on a finger and literally tried chewing the finger and screamed when she realised she wasn't getting anymore, I just wanted to check her tongue thrust reflex - she didn't push it out and seemed to have no trouble moving it to back of mouth and swallowing. She also has great hand to mouth coordination. She has been ebf from birth with no issues at all until now.

I plan to give my hv a call to ask some advice. I honestly feel guilty even considering it, my older kids were absolutely fine waiting till 26 weeks and never had to resort to formula top ups - I like to think that they have a whole lifetime of solids to enjoy, 26 weeks is no time at all in comparison plus I'm well aware that her wee tummy may not have the enzymes necessary to handle solids right now either. Mom guilt is awful, should I ride it out for the next 4 weeks with formula top ups at bed time or should I not offer the top ups and hope my own milk production will catch (I've considered this but even in the early days of cluster feeds she was never this upset). Would you, or have you, started weaning early?

The recommendation is to start when your baby is showing signs of readiness which for most babies is around 6 months old but can be any time after 4 months. When studies talk about early weaning and problems associated they define early as before 17 weeks. Mine was ready at 5 months and that’s when we started but did purées for the first month and moved onto BLW at 6 months. He loves his food and has enjoyed the process! No adverse effects except the odd tummy ache with something new - yesterday it was bread and he’s now 6.5 months so it’s not age related.

You can start and see how it goes. I mean at first it's hardly anything anyway.

With my own kids I started a month early with first born. She was 2 wks late and more than ready and was so greedy with the milk it just wasn't enough anymore.

With my second she was 3 wks early but showed all the signs at 6months she just wasn't interested m. I actually stopped again and tried at 7months. There wasn't a great deal of improvement and although now at 3 she can eat anything she still hardly eats a thing 😂

I would give her some food without hesitation, My four were all weaned at slightly different times (but within the general guidelines) so l think your baby will be fine.

Get advice from a medical professional tomorrow but personally yes to purée foods and then add other foods and non purée foods at 6 months

Hey so just an update, when I called the hv she said it should be fine to start with a tablespoon of puree and said that because I'm a seasoned mum with two older kids she was sure that my judgement would be best but she still offered to call in that afternoon to do a wee assessment if I wanted so I agreed. She did all the normal checks and was amused at how active dd is, we put her down on the large playmat and she was the other end of it in mere minutes 😅 the wee thing doesnt know how to lie still she's always on the move... she can sit up and can keep herself sitting unsupported for over a minute... she stayed for the first feed and dd loved it and ate it greedily even pulling the spoon to her mouth to get it faster and we had some tears when she realised it was all gone.

Hv told me the guidelines are based on research showing majority of babies being ready by 6 months and also that all babies must start no later than 6 months (unless premmie) as their requirements increase dramatically from 6 months onwards, she said the guidelines are not set in stone and like all milestones, each baby should be assessed as individuals. We talked about enzymes and such but she assured me again that research only shows that majority of babies have the necessary enzymes by 6 months but like anything else they can be present much earlier for a lot of babies, hence the 4-6 month rule. She reckons dd was more than ready. She advised holding off on gluten and dairy till 6 months as both can cause constipation, but besides that just told me and dd to have fun exploring lots of new flavours.

That was Wednesday, she's getting on really well with the purees and has gone back to falling asleep soundly after bedtime feed. We've not had any tummy issue so far, I'll keep it up for the next few weeks and swap to babyled at 6 months.