when to start weaning?

[emz31]

DS is 14 weeks and has regularly started waking up twice in night starving. he feeds every 2-3 hours all day on both boobs. have heard so much advice that you shouldn't start weaning til 6 months, but DS won't take a bottle to supplement so when can i feasibly start him on baby rice? am finding night wakings tough going after having him sleep through from 3 weeks!!!

i'm thinking of weaning bean soon, he's 22wks, so i'm interested in what people think is a good time to start. i think 14 weeks is definitely too soon though, the advice is to wait until 6 months and definitely not to give any solids before 4 months. Waking twice in the night doesn't sound like much for a 14wk old, bean sometimes wakes up that often now (or more often)!

Bugger! - was hoping baby rice may help him sleep through!

My DS is 25 weeks and wakes at about 11, 1 , 3 and 5. Agree its a pain, I am shattered. I've just started baby rice this week to see if it helps. I didn't want to try earlier as we have a family history of allergies on both sides.
Emz - it might be a growth spurt and settle down in a week or so??

Def agree it might be a growth spurt. I find this site very useful for all things feeding related.

When dd's suddenly started feeding more often, not seeming satisfied, etc, I've also tried to improve the way I latch her on so that she gets better feeds. I've found that bf technique needs to be adapted as they get bigger!

HTH

emz31 - I know there is this new advice about 6 months but when I had ds1, most of the girls in my NCT group started before the then recommended 16 weeks. My best friends baby was VERY hungry and I'm pretty sure she started on baby rice at 14 weeks-ish. He's always been a big eater and he's still huge compared to my ds1 (same age) - he's not fat btw, just bigger all over but lean with it. He looks about 5 or 6 even though he's only 3.5.

Anyway, I don't want to give you the wrong advice and say 'go ahead' but I do know people who have done it this early and they don't seem to have encountered any problems.

What is supposed to be the problem with early weaning anyone?

BTW, I've weaned mine later but only because I've followed their lead and they've not been overly hungry babies.

the advice about 6 months isn't new. About 10years old I think. There are loads of problems associated with starting solids early, the babies digestive system just isn't ready for solids until at least 4 months. lots of reasons to delay starting here

OK, thanks beansmum - that's why I didn't want to say 'go ahead' and I've never really looked into the reasons not to do it early myself as I've always weaned mine late cos they've not been particularly hungry and have slept through from a very early age

i was getting sleep too until last week! bean has always slept 11 hrs at night but has started waking every couple of hours, that's why i was kind of thinking about solids. will try and hold out for another month although i did buy some feeding spoons yesterday.

Hmm, should I admit to this?

Neither ds1 or ds2 started to wake again once they slept through from about 6 weeks!!! Part of the reason I was never very sure about when to start weaning so just waited and waited. Don't they say to start by 6 months or else they might be fussy eaters? I thought I'd heard something about early weaning being partly to get them used to new tastes and textures before they reach the age where they might start refusing for the hell of it - could be wrong though.

DS1 is a terribly fussy eater and because I've read this somewhere I wondered whether it was because I left weaning him till later than all my friends did. They all seemed to want to get started at the first opportunity.

With regards to the fussy eaters thing, I think its more relevant with bottlefed abbies as isn;t breastmilk supposed to change taste etc.

I did hear that they used to recomend starting by 6 months becasue a baby would not learn how to chew otherwise. However the study that proved this theory was discreditied when it was realised that the babies comapared were tube fed rather than bottle or breastfed.

The advice when I had my first, four years ago, was to start weaning at 3 months! Did that with no obvious detriment. This time I've hung on despite constant night waking and fist chewing from 10 weeks and two hourly feeding in the daytime (breastfeeding only), until 22 weeks when I decided I needed some sleep and wanted to get ready for going back to work in December. Based on previous experience I felt it wasn't going to be too much of a problem - and now I get some sleep and dd seems happy. I am taking it REALLY slowly, though - rice only for nearly two weeks and still on v small amounts after three weeks. Feel terribly guilty about starting before 6 months, but most women I know have started well before that.

my baby is 14 weeks and sleeping all night, but i find it quite hard to keep him to 3 hour breast feeds during the day, he always seems hungry. i am beginning to think he needs baby rice to give him a bit more substance, he is not really as contented as he used to be and constantlt chews his hands.

help!!

totally sympathise katebest, DS feeds for 45mins every 2 hours and has done this since he was born and constantly chews hands too - i am v.jealous of your baby sleeping all night!! - my mum and MIL both agree that DS probably needs more sustenance but after browsing my countless books, have discovered that early weaning can lead to kidney damage, so am now really confused as don't think he can make it to 6 months without something more!!

Emz31 - like Helsey, I know LOADS of people that started around 14-16 weeks and all their kids are fine. Advice about these things always change - when I was a baby mothers were told to lie babies on their tummies to sleep and now it's the opposite!

Maybe if you just stick to the baby rice for a while ds will be OK. I thought the kidney damage was linked to salt which you should not give to a baby under 12 months.

not sure about kidney damage - have been reading too may of my bloody books - DH keeps threatening to set fire to them as i regularly find something to panic about in there!! - maybe will try baby rice when he hits 16 weeks next week - he can always refuse it if he doesn't want it i guess!!

Remember in your mum and mil's day weaning was really early and probably consisted of rusks in bottles, formula feeding etc.so don't just take their word for his readiness. His behaviour doesn't sound particularly out of sorts for his age and he may well just be going through a growth spurt. You could try to see if he'll go longer between feeds by taking him out, or better still getting Mum or mil to take him out, so that he is distracted and you get a break. If you can bear with it for a week or so you may find his behaviour settles again and that your milk supply adjusts to satisfy him again.

Chewing hands is totally normally behaviour at this age - and not necessarily a sign of hunger - dd chewed hands constantly but was fine with no solids till 6 months.

Not saying that everyone will want to do this - just that hand-chewing in itself isn't a sign that your baby is starving.

just the thread I was looking for .

caught DH feeding ds yoghurt that dd opened but then decided not to eat. Had a right go at him as ds is only 8 weeks old tomorrow! DH just said that ds really seemed to enjoy it. Ah well thankfully no reaction in ds so far and dh under strict instruction not to give ds any more solids until 4-6 months.

Will have a look at all the links posted to get some info together to show to DH why solids at 8 weeks in NOT a good idea.

Haven't had the time to read the whole thread (sorry) but I had to start weaning my DS at 10 weeks old. Whilst he started off as small baby, 6ib 11oz, he soon shot up to between the 90 - 95% on the growth charts and that was with a reflux problem! I was giving him 9oz bottle every 3 hours day & night. Couldn't get the volume of milk into him that he needed without making him sick. Needless to say he took to weaning like a duck to water with no adverse effects. I must confess that I didn't seek the advice of my HV but both Grans said that when we were little weaning started at around 8 weeks so I figured that as long as I was careful DS would be ok. He's now an active 21m toddler who eats pretty much anything and is still around the 95% mark (must be taking after DP who's 6' 5"!)

Does anyone know of a baby who's been weaned before 6 months who's had problems?
When dd was smaller (she's 2.5 now) the advice was to wean at 4 months. I still don't understand why this changed so recently. Anyone remember?

The trouble is that it's hard, if not impossible to identify in a single child what is the cause of any problems. That's why scientific research is based on large samples. As a baby I was bottlefed, weaned at 3-4 months mostly onto jars and all kinds of foods and I had terrible eczema and asthma. But who is to say if the two things were related?

It used to be much longer - 8 or 9 months and my great aunt said it was a year when she had hers.

DS is 30 weeks and only just starting to take an interest in food. He's not being spoon-fed though - just helping himself to bits and pieces. He has fun, there's no stress at mealtimes - what more can I say?! He's still fully breastfed (bottles of ebm when I'm at work two days a week), so I'm not worried about his nutrients and on a good day (night?) he's a very good sleeper.

Don't rush to do it - waking twice a night isn't appalling for a 14-week-old - I thought it'd be three months that DS slept a long time at night - was disappointed when the magic didn't happen at 12 weeks(!), but at about 17 weeks he started sleeping through

thanks all, i guess i'll just take Ds's lead as otherwise he's a very happy little man - on the sleeping front though, anyone got any ideas why he's started to wake twice in the night when he has always slept through from 3 weeks?

emz31 - I found my dd regressed at around 4-5 months and started waking up more in the night. I was in despair really, but then at 5 months she started to improve and suddenly at 5.5. months she started sleeping through 12 hours! I hadn't changed anything - she was still exclusively breastfed, and didn't get any solids till 6 months. I don't know if that's encouraging or depressing - just that sometimes babies do weird things on the sleep front and then sort themselves out of their own accord.