when to start weaning

[TROUBLE1]

Not sure what to do - I have a rather large babe and think he is ready for weaning, but not sure as this is all new to me!

At 14 weeks he weighs over 16 pounds (he was 7 pounds when born). I'm breast feeding except for the occasional top up of formula, and after a full feed he chews his hand furiously. He has also has started dribbling alot and his noon nap is now not going well and seems to be waking earlier in the morning chewing his hand and talking to himself.

This has now been going on for 3 weeks. I know the advice is to start weaning at 17 weeks or 4 months but I feel I might be depriving him of food as he always wants more! Would love to hear some advice from other mums - cheers!

You will probably get a lot of conflicting advice on this one and really, at the end of the day, you are the only one who knows your baby and you need to go with your instinct.

I felt very similarly to you about my DS (now 15 mths) and agonised for ages about whether to start early or not. I kept asking people what they thought and I think I was secretly hoping for a chorus of "go for it" so I could do so guilt free,(although I was never quite sure what there was to be guitly about ...)
of course everyone has their own opinion so that didn't happen.

In the end after a lot of prevaricating I started at about 14/15 weeks and he took to it really well and seemed a lot happier as a result. 12 months on he loves his food and doesn't have any allergies and eats anything that is put in front of him so he doesn't seem to be any the worse for wear.

One piece of advice would be to take it really slowly and just offer baby rice for the first couple of weeks though as I think it does take a while for their tummies to be able to cope with more variety.

HTH

The latest advice is to wean at 6 months I think, although as far as I know most people start sometime after four months (and some before - as oiseau says, you know your baby best). Are you sure he is chewing his hand because of hunger? If so, it sounds like he might be ready. As long as you are careful about what you give him at this age I don't see why it shouldn't be ok. I'm not an expert though.

I think they make excepttions for very large babies, you should ask your HV as they can see for themselves...
I didn;t wean either of mine til 6 mths gone, ds was a large baby at 6 mths but quite content with breastmilk.
It is very individual, I feel strongly about not weaning early, but it is up to you and your mummy instinct, if you do then stick to very non allergenic things like rice and root veg/fruit etc..

Kellymom is a US site which has the best information I've ever come across on breastfeeding and weaning.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think what I'm going to do is wait 2/3 weeks (he will then be 4 months). Then start him on some baby rice and see how it goes.
I can't believe how quickly time is going, it only feels like yesterday that gave birth!