40 oz plus a day...time to wean?

[Theantsgomarching]

HI

My ds is five months and a big boy (about 20lb now, 10.6 when born). He's on formula since 10 weeks and is now taking 40 plus 0z of the hungry baby milk in 24 hrs. He has lots of interest in watching us eat etc. Should I think about weaning? Is there such a thing as too much formula?

I never formula fed, no idea how much dd was taking from the breast but she fed at least every 2hrs, usually more. She could have been taking 40oz or more or less, I fed to requirement.

And size is no indicator of need for weaning either.

Also watching you eat is no sign. They watch you drive/cook/drink wine etc. Doesn't mean they're ready themselves.

Is he sitting unaided? Lost the tongue thrust reflex? Able to pick things up in a pincer grasp?

Have you considered blw? The theory being that if they can sit up, pick up food, chew and swallow, they're ready.

I would. I weaned both my other 2 at 17 weeks. It's such as small amount to begin with so i wouldn't worry too much. A spoon of babyrice should be ok.

(I'm sure other people will be on saying wait until 6 months. Friends of mine whos kids are slighlty older than mine were told then to do it at months,then 'inbetween kids' the advice changed to 6 months.)

Sorry - told to do it at '4 months'

The advice is around 6 months, but also to look at your baby and the true signs of readiness. Milk will also remain the bulk of the diet until 12 months, with solids as a complementary experience.

I too had a hungry baby. She was born on the 50th centile, was off the charts by the time she started solids, weighing around 25lbs. My instincts and logic told me that she needed the calories, that a spoonful of baby rice that had fewer calories was not what she needed and with a tongue thrust reflex, she wasn't ready.

Maybe the best way to look at it is, there's no benefit at all to early weaning in an average, healthy baby.

But really I think you look at your own baby and his individual readiness and needs. It's a decision you and him can make together.

Knowledge improves all the time. Not particularly relevant what people used to do. We used to do a lot of things before we understood things better. 6 months has been the advice for 7 years now.

Before the advice changed to 6 months 7 years ago, the advice was 'between 4 and 6 months' and it was this for something like 20 years iirc.

Thanks all.

SOH - he is really hungry. Had to stop bfing at ten weeks because he was feeding between ten and 12 hours a day believe it or not! I fed dd1 myself for 5 months and was loath to stop so soon this time but it just wasnt possible while running around afer 22 month old as well. What do you mean by the thrust reflex?

I hear you on the hungry baby. Like I said dd was born on the 50th, shot off the charts by 12 weeks. She fed constantly at times, I can quite believe and sympathise with 12hrs a day, more even and she was like this until 7 months. But she was my first so no other worries and I just put her in a sling and left her to it. It was exhausting.

The tongue thrust reflex. If you put anything in their mouth, or on their lips, their tongue moves forwards to push it out and away. It protects them from choking when they're still not ready for anything other than milk. You find that when they're ready for solids, they start being able to draw the food from the front to the back of the mouth ready to swallow.

That was the prob, on dd1 I could just feed as much as needed but I just couldn't this time. He will take milk, water and calpol off the spoon, actually drink it if i put to his lips, I'm not forcing it down his throat. I'm not in a rush to wean as such I'm just really wondering if he could be having too much formula?

I wouldn't rush to wean on the basis of intake - 40oz over 24 hours only works out as 5 8oz bottles, which really isn't that insane - I think the recommended (according the packet) is something like 5 7oz bottles, so it's not like he's a lot over.

As others have said, look for actual weaning signals, not just calorie intake (milk is the highest calorie thing he can eat anyway, it's not like you'd wean him on sugary fatty foods, so food won't increase calorie intake)

How about starting slowly doing baby-led weaning (finger foods, self feeding only) so he's completely controlling his intake himself and you know he's developmentally ready.

The NHS now advise "the banana test" which is basically BLW in action!

Just looked up the banana test, will give that a go. Thanks ladies.

So, I tried the banana test. He grabbed it out of my hands! he put it in his mouth fine and took bits off but I think it nearly all came out, rather than being swallowed. What do you think?

The think is - you could carry on - but if he is not actually putting things in and swallowing, then it won't be worth it he doesn't have the capacity to actually eat it. Maybe worth waiting? Or BLW - that way, you know he is ready.

Or should I say, he will only take what he is capable of, which won't be much by the sounds of it. Can he sit up on his own?

No. But my high chair is suitable from birth. Think I'll hold off another while and offer him some fruit/veg BLW style and see how it goes..

If they can sit up with support then it's ok to start BLW. It's very important that they don't slump because if they aren't upright that increases the risk of choking by quite a long way.

If we were waiting until sitting unsupported, my DS wouldn't have had any food until 9.5 months! He was busy working out how to crawl first... (Which was a bugger when he would crawl to a toy to play with it, and then get frustrated at being such a low level compared to the toy, because he couldn't sit up and would just lie on his tummy on the carpet!)

Just to put some spin from the opposite end in. My baby was born at 35 weeks with IUGR weighing 4lb 8oz. Fed constantly. 6 months came and went, no food. 7 months would try a little bit of custard or icecream from a spoon (I do BLW, others offered a spoon but it wasn't put in the mouth). Around 11 months actually started to get interested in food. Now at 17 months still nursing constantly, eats but not huge amounts. Last weigh in was 15lb 10oz.

Nothing but milk will give a baby what they need. What good does rice do? They're after extra calories and they've got something they can't digest in their stomach filling up room extra calories could be taking.