Advice on when to wean

[Warwickmum]

I hope someone can help as I am getting conflicting advice from hv/friends/relatives!
My DS is just over 21 weeks old and is currently 16lb15. Over the last four weeks he has put on 4oz, 3oz (over a fortnight), 3oz and this week only 1oz. Would really like to reach 6 months exclusively breast feeding due to research that suggests digestive problems may occur later on in life if weaning before 6months (due to a change (that cannot be detected) in the gut that can happen anythime between 4 and 6 months. I realise that when you start weaning, that the majority of calories still come from milk, so guessing this in unlikely to lead to better increase in weight, so my question may not actually be about weaning afterall??? I am feeding on demand and DS was feeding every 3 hours until about a month ago when he had another dip in weight. I upped feeding to every 2.5 hours on suggestion of hv and increase in weight improved again (he went up by 15oz one week!). He has been feeding every 2.5 hours and sometimes 1.5-2 hours for the last 2-3 weeks. He is also doing briliantly at night and has been sleeping 8.30pm ish to 6am ish. I am totally happy to feed more often but it is not obvious that is what DS wants. I'm just concerned that he is not getting enough nutrition from me and wonder if there is anything else I can do to try and improve the situation without the need to wean yet. The HV has just said try to persevere with bfeeding. I'm happy to do that, I just don't want to 'stunt' his growth! He is quite long and skinny and it is really hard when relatives keep telling you that 'that boy needs some food inside him'!! Sorry for the essay!

Does he seem otherwise health & happy to you? I mean, if you weren't having him weighed so often would it cross your mind to be concerned.

If he is healthy and happy then I'd be tempted just to go with the flow tbh.

He is generally well and happy. Do have doubts about his tummy at times though - he often seems to get v uncomfortable when feeding - very squirmy, pops on and off a lot, sit him up to wind and seems uncomfortable at times, strains lot yet only poos every 4-7 days (know this is quite common for bf babies so try not to worry about it too much!). Have spoken to hv and taken to gp and they all seem to think this ok so have tried not to get stressed about it, but it is quite hard when he seems so uncomfortable. Does somtimes seem to want more at 'end' of a feed (he seems to want more but when tried winding etc and still seems unsettled, try putting him back on but he just pops on and off) but he seems to then be ok with a bit of distraction and will then go to next feed 2-2.5 hours along with no problem!

I had been going less often to get him weighed but then when not gaining v much the hv suggested I keep an eye on more closely the last few weeks. Has also suggested I go back again next week as only 1 oz this week.

Hello, I live in Warwick

Have you seen the weaning topic on here? They have a great saying, "food is for fun until they're one" - basically meaning that babies will get most of their nutrients etc from milk until they're one, and not to worry if they eat little or nothing.

Oh yes, sorry, and meant to link you to this chart which compares different foods to breastmilk in terms of calorie content. The types of food he will have at the moment are not likely to help him put weight on, in fact, they are more likely to fill him up whereas he could have more milk which would have more calories (if that makes sense.)

This is the chart (be aware it compares by weight, not e.g. teaspoonfuls, so is not that helpful but if you imagine some foods are heavier than others it makes sense)

Yes, I'm not worried about him not having 'food', more that he may not be getting enough calories from me and is there any way I could improve that. So my initial thought about this thread being about weaning isn't really the case - it's more that other people are suggesting I wean because of low recent weight gain etc.

Oh, I see - you need the breastfeeding topic then, there are some real experts on there but I am not one of them so will step away

Thanks for the advice CherryChoc - the chart may yet be of use for the relatives who keep asking 'when is he going to get some proper food'!