? weaning too early???

[millsy]

Can anyone help? My ds is 15 wks old and has not been gaining sufficient weight since birth due to lack of interest in feeds. Lately he has been taking sufficient amounts of milk (29-31floz per day), but has not gained sufficiently (has dropped from the 91st centile at birth to 25th centile at present). My HV recommended starting him on a teaspoon of baby rice once a day which I have done for the last three days. Now, Jake is constipated and hasn't pood in over 48 hours (he usually goes at least once a day). I have now just read that babies should'nt be weaned before 17 wks due to gut immaturity. Has my HV given bad advice? Has anyone weaned their babies early? I am beginning to regret starting him on solids.

Years ago ie I think about 9 the advice seemed to be to wean at three months then at this time it changed to four months now they say 6 months. Can't give any advice expect to go with what you think is best. As long as baby is happy and doesn't appear hungry I'd put it off for a bit longer. Good Luck.

Milk has more calories than rice and so babyrice will not do a lot for his weight gain. If he is happy and doing all the normal developmental things he does not need solids.

A baby born big does not need to stay big, there is no reason for it. Presumably the HV wouldn't tell a mother whose baby was born and stayed on the 25th centile to introduce solids early. The charts are rubbish, if you do a search I am sure you will find a weight chart for another country on which your ds is at the top and another where he is at the bottom.

Bin the rice, wean nearer to six months and give your child a chance at a healthy gut for life. I don't think 3 teaspoons will have done any lasting damage, but the fact that he is bunged up suggests he is not ready.

I know that there is advice that says not to wean too early ...
But ... I started DS on baby rice at 13 weeks (eeeek ... I hear you all shout) ... I took it slowly and introduced new things once a week (not every 3 days as they suggest) ...
DS is a fine and healthy 4 year old ... with absolutely NO digestive problems and no allergies ...
My reasons for introducing solids early ... he was huge and permanently hungry ... he drank 48 fl oz per day ... and I just didn't feel that amount of milk was necessary for him and wanted to bring his milk levels to a more normal level ... my HV backed my decision ...
I don't think, however, millsy, that introducing solids for your baby will necessarily make him put on weight ... milk has MORE calories than solids and if you fill him up on the bulk of solids and not enough milk he won't necessarily put on weight any quicker ....

My HV gave me similar advice and I just dug my heels in because I couldn't see that giving dd2 food would do anything except drop her calorie intake. I'd go with the binning myself.

I started to wean DD at 9 weeks as she was taking 9oz of extra-strength formula hourly, for 12 hours a day.(I think I may get expelled from mumsnet for that) but it caused no problems. I didn't use baby rice though, went straight for carrot puree and she was fine.

But as others have said if you are happy that your baby isn't hungry go back to the milk and avoid the clinic for a few weeks.

When DD was being weaned (last summer) the advice was around 4 months, although we did wean DD a little earlier on HV advice. For us this was the right thing to do. however I you feel that solids is having a negative effect on your ds I would hold off for a little while and try again in a couple of weeks or so.

BTW I think the new 6 month advise is primarily for exclusively breast fed babies.

I'm no expert, but I don't think that dropping down the centile charts in the first few months is necessarily a problem. Birth weight is partly determined by genetics (i.e. some people just have big babies and others have small ones). I know of one child who was 11 lb at birth. He is now on about the 50th centile and is perfectly healthy. His parents are both quite small. OTOH, my ds was on the 25th centile at birth and is now on the 50th and I know others who were smaller than my ds at birth and are now heavier. The HVs don't seem to comment when babies move up on the charts, only when they move down. But if some do move up, others must move down!

I agree with the advice to stop the rice because it's lower in calories than the milk. Are you using ordinary first stage formula?

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not read all other replies but just to add to ginernut's comments - my ds was 9oz 13lb when born and on something like 98th percentile. he dropped right down to 40th but was kind of to be expected because he was so large in comparison to the average IFYKWIM. I don't think weaning him early will help. If he seems alert, happy, healthy complexion I would try not to worry too much.

I agree with the advice not to pay too much attention to charts - my five month old is dropping too, but happy, healthy and feeding well. Dpt of Health advises wean at 6 months but my local NHS trust have been ignoring that and I felt quite a lot of pressure to get started once 16 weeks had passed - so I split the difference and waited until around 22 weeks. DD also had a week or so of constipation and sometimes waiting 3 days for a poo - lots of friends say same thing. This sorted itself out within the first week, so as long as the lack of poo isn't causing him to be miserable I'd say don't just stop because of that, but equally remember that HVs seem to like to suggest early weaning to solve any problem...!

Definitely go back to milk only. My dd was in almost exactly the same situation as your ds - born on 91st centile and then dropped through the centiles to 25th. But - and this is a BIG but - consistently contented, healthy, peeing and pooing, and hitting all developmental milestones. Those are the important criteria, not weight-gain. I'm very lucky because I have a very wise and supportive HV, and she encouraged me not to start solids, and not to let anyone persuade me to start solids either, until at least 4.5m. I did try feeding dd more, but that made absolutely no difference to the rate of her weight-gain. A well baby will put on weight at the correct rate for him or her. Far better, if your ds is well, to delay weaning, rather than to hit some generic weight target. If he's on formula, have you considered changing the brand? Perhaps he'll be more interested in a different one.

Sorry, forgot to say that the reason my HV didn't want me to start dd on solids was because, as others have said, milk has more calories and more nutrients than anything a weaning baby eats.

Thanks to all for yor sound advice. I have decided to leave the weaning for a couple of weeks until I am confident he is completely ready. In relation to the lower calorie intake, he was having baby rice in addition to his usual milk and I always offered the baby rice following his usual feed. I am confident he has come to no harm from having the rice and his bowels sem to be back to normal!
Thanks again for all you replies.

Millsy x

I'm sure your ds will have come to no harm as a result of his brief flirtation with baby rice. After all, we were probably 'eating' at a much earlier age than our babies, and most of us have turned out fine (I'm off to soft-boil a couple of eggs for my two!).

BTW, baby rice constipated my two dreadfully as well. I weaned them on sweet potato followed by carrots - psychedlic poo, but no constipation until I added baby rice.

Why HV's think something like babyrice will magically add loads of weight to babies when milk is higher in fat, sugar and calories is beyond me
We had same kerfuffle. Left it til 6 months before starting... Daughter is small for age,eats small amounts, but eats happily and is content.
Thats worth more than any HV advice
Can you tell I hate hate hate my HV's?