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Original poster

Help - weaning advice needed! Think I'm doing it all wrong

21 replies

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:15

DS is coming up to 5 months. He's ff and has always been huge (98th centile at birth and remains so).

He has been consuming about 42-45oz milk a day. He's been getting increasingly hungry and restless both in the day and at night so my health visitor suggested that the time was right to start weaning.

I had wanted to wait so that I could do baby led weaning but he's so hungry so decided to give it a go. I have tried a little bit of baby rice, a little bit of baby porridge and a little bit of banana mashed up with his usual milk (each one on different days). In each case, I have tried after he has had a bottle. In each case he was recoiled and refused to eat, turned away and cried so I have stopped.

Not sure what to do. Is he just not ready? Have I not found something he likes yet? Am I expecting him to have too much - is the first week just about trying a tiny tiny taste as opposed to a spoonful?

Any advice appreciated. Am worried that he's not going to like anything at all!

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TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 02/03/2011 12:16

Someone better than me can advise but I would stick with doing BLW. He won't swallow much at this stage - he might just not like the spoon feeding.

He will like things eventually but best to let him take the lead. Milk is fine for the time being.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 02/03/2011 12:18

NB: I know nothing about FF but is that a lot of milk?

Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:19

Thanks Tondelayo - I had thought that even large babies are ok on milk until 6 months but he did seem to be serious hungry and unsettled.

I might try a few more things and then leave it for a bit.

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Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:20

Sorry, seriously. Doh.

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Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:20

Yes, I think that 42-45oz is quite a bit of milk but I'm no expert and he's my only child!

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CharlotteBronteSaurus · 02/03/2011 12:21

he might not be ready.

I would try when he's hungrier though - not ravenous, but a bit peckish. so say he normally goes 3 hours between milk feeds, perhaps offer solids 1.5-2hours after a milk feed.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 02/03/2011 12:22

Well...I know they're reviewing the advice but that's a whole other discussion. My DS (born on 91st centile) was fine on milk till 6 months.

I would just keep it gentle and occasionally offer soft foods he can hold in his hand like banana etc.

But I am NOT A DOCTOR as they say.

Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:24

Thanks Charlotte, I'm considering offering him something half way through a feed.

I just don't want to make it an issue for him or for him to hate/dread it. I want him to enjoy food!

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BertieBotts · 02/03/2011 12:27

You can start BLW before 6 months - just put a bit of banana on his tray and see whether he picks it up and gums on it, or not. If he ignores it or just plays with it for now then that's fine, he'll get there at his own pace.

It sounds as though he's not interested in spoon feeding at the moment. I would leave that for now.

But, being hungry and waking at night aren't signs of needing weaning any more. It could just be a growth spurt. I don't know about amount of milk either but I'd say it's ok to just increase the milk for now. TBH when they first start on solids they eat such small amounts it probably won't make a difference to his sleep etc anyway.

What about hungry baby milk? Have you tried that? It's harder to digest than the first milk, so fills them up for longer, but still not as hard to digest as food.

SaggyHairyArse · 02/03/2011 12:28

Personally I would start on savoury foods; steamed carrot batons/roasted squash sices/green beans that will mush up when he eats them if you let him hold them or which you can puree down and offer one type of food for a few days rather than keep changing flavours/textures so he has a chance to get used to whats going on.

Also, it might be that his teeth are playing him up so any stimulation to the mouth could be painful. That said, if you offer some finger foods and a couple of spoonfuls of mushed up stuff and perhaps do it when you are eating and just make it a fun/social occasion, it is not too important how much he ingests but that he is introduced to food in a nice way that encourages him to enjoy mealtimes.

HTH, good luck!

BertieBotts · 02/03/2011 12:30

I probably wouldn't do it halfway through a feed - there's a good bit in the BLW book which says to remember at first, they will have no idea that this food stuff fills them up like milk does. So if they are too hungry they may well refuse it, wanting milk, and the best time to offer food is between feeds - so they are not too hungry, but not too full either. If you think of it as a fun exploring activity rather than a feed/trying to replace milk just yet, it makes more sense to keep it separate.

Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:33

He's on the hungry baby milk, yes.

Agree that he could be unsettled and hungry for other reasons. Perhaps I bowed to pressure to wean him too readily to be honest.

Thanks for advice . . .

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BertieBotts · 02/03/2011 12:36

I don't see a problem with starting now - it might help. Just don't hang all your hope on it helping is all I mean. And I would go the baby led route before 6 months, personally. I subscribe to the theory that says nature wouldn't give them the ability to pick it up, gum it and swallow it unless their gut was ready to digest it.

trixie123 · 02/03/2011 12:39

the first thing we gave DS at about 4.5 months I think was rusk mushed up in milk. We gave it to him between bottles, in the late afternoon. He loved it. Don't worry about the BLW thing, you can do a mixture of both as soon as he is old enough to put hand to mouth.

Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:40

And of course weaning might disrupt him more! Yes, it's no guarantee that he'll be more settled.

I just don't want to force the issue if he's not ready. Agree it would be a good idea to give him some bits to play with and explore.

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justalittleblackraincloud · 02/03/2011 12:40

Just to reassure you, my DD was/is 98th centile, and was hammering through the milk in the lead up to weaning (6 x 7oz bottles a day, so about the same as your guy), and we successfully BLW from 5 months.

We only started early because she was sitting up unaided, able to put thing in her mouth accurately, and showing an interest in our food.

In the first month or 2 of BLW she didn't eat much solid food anyway, so the milk was obviously still enough until she was nearer 8 months. Even then it still forms the majority of their nutrition until a year anyway, so she was still on "lots" of milk until beyond 1.

BLW was the best thing we ever did. She's now 19mo and eats whatever you put in front of her.

Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 12:45

Thanks littleblackraincloud - that's really positive. I had really wanted to do BLW as I think it encourages a great attitude to food and progresses at the right pace for each baby.

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justalittleblackraincloud · 02/03/2011 13:10

It really does what it says on the tin, I can't recommend it enough.

Big thing to remember is that no food comes close to milk (formula or breast) on the calories or nutritional front. If he's hungry, then his body needs nutrition, not just to feel full. The two are very different things.

BertieBotts · 02/03/2011 13:44

DS didn't sit unaided until 9 months but we did start BLW at 5 months I think. He could sit up fine for 20 mins+ in a highchair (had a tommee tippee boster seat with tray - still using it 2 years later!) and was desparate to grab the food and touch it etc so I let him play with stuff then. He ate a bit but not much at first.

As long as they can sit up supported without slumping over, and you're not sitting them in a reclined position, it's ok to start BLW.

Original poster

Honeybee79 · 02/03/2011 13:55

Great, I'm going to start sitting DS in a highchair at the table with us at meal times so he can see what's going on and have bits and pieces to look at and play with.

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petisa · 02/03/2011 15:52

My dd was drinking huge amounts of formula at that age, and had started waking up at 4am for a bottle again. It was a growth spurt,a nd it calmed down in a week or so. She wasn't interested in spoon feeding at all, so that's how I got into BLW. Milk contains more calories than most solid food anyway, so don't feel you're starving him.

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