Weaning before 6 months

[Lambster76]

My DS is 13 weeks & weighs 15'5 which I've been told is quite big for his age. I've been ebf since he was born but have been giving him a bottle on an evening with hungry baby formula as he was constantly waking up hungry through the night. This seemed to work & he was sleeping for 6-7 hours before waking for another feed. I started to feel like a normal human being again. The last couple of days he has been waking 3 hours after a 7oz bottle & is hungry. I breastfeed him another 4 times last night. My mum has suggested giving him rice cereal at night. All the women in my family weaned their babies at 3-4months... Obviously I'm aware the guidelines state 6 months. Has anyone on here weaned before 6 months and what was your experience?

Weaning isn't shown to help with sleep. If your DS is thriving on milk (and it sounds like he is!) then why change yet? Milk is the most calorie dense thing you can give him - rice/cereal may fill him up but he won't be getting the calories he needs.

It's normal for babies to need feeding every 3-4 hours, or more!

Your baby may well have hit the 4 month sleep regression and be going through a growth spurt.

Being big isn't an indicator for weaning either - DS was 11lb 7oz when he was born. He's now 21w and not yet weaned. The earliest recommended age for weaning is 17w as the gut isn't mature enough to handle solids before then and it can cause digestive issues later. I'd chat to the HV - advice will probably have changed since your mum weaned a baby

I've started weaning a little early at 23 weeks as ds was never satisfied and was trying to grab food. He was displaying all of the signs of readiness on nhs guidelines so hv agreed we should go ahead. It's made him much happier in the day but has made no difference to his sleep (not that I expected it to ).

I think it's just luck if weaning helps sleep tbh, there's no medical evidence. I wouldn't even consider it so young.

I wouldn't be considering weaning for at least another month. Babies wake during the night for feeds it's a pita but it's what they do, weaning won't change that Ds was still waking for night feeds at 14 months and still doesn't sleep through at 2.10

Do your research. I have told the same to countless women trying to wean to help there baby sleep.

Yes our parents/grandmothers and there mothers may have weaned at 3 months but time DVD research has come on since then and the guideline is 6 months for a reason!

Why on earth do mothers expect there babies too sleep through the night so young anyway?

*time and research

Babies are designed to feed at night. It is just what they do. They also have growth spurts where they wake more at night for feeds. Milk has more calories in it that nay food you could give him now so milk is what he needs. Babies, grow, develop and change and all of that has an effect on sleep. It is prefectly normal for sleep to go to pot when they are growing or when they are learning a new skill.

Thanks for the replies. I personally think he is too young to be weaned too. I will read up about the 4 month sleep regression as I don't know anything about this. He suffers from wind & reflux too so I don't think that helps. Doctor has prescribed gaviscon & that seems to be helping...he was screaming so much last night & wouldn't settle at all..I've had about 2 hours sleep.

"I've had about 2 hours sleep"

Welcome to parenthood .

It passes. It all passes. They grow up so fast. Snuggle your baby, nap when you can. Co sleeping (safely) is a good way of getting through these phases too.

Wowserz129... I do not expect my DS to sleep through the night!!!! He has been waking at 3am & 6am for feeds which has been fine but the last two nights have been unusual..
I HAVE been doing research-part of that is talking to people with experience (my mum raised 4 children & my MIL 4 too).. Which is why I came on this forum to ask for people's own experiences..
I have also asked women at my breastfeeding support group & baby massage group.. All their babies are sleeping 7-8 hour stretches by 12 weeks.
I have even been to My doctor who said my DS should not be waking up through the night for feeds at his age! ... Which is why I came on mums net to ask for other peoples advice & support! !
I have tried co-sleeping & DS usually loves if but last couple of nights has screamed & won't settle in bed or cot.
As for only having 2 hours sleep-yes I'm well used to it but he has been in a good pattern for a while now until last few days.. When he was a newborn I was feeding every 2 hours on demand so I know all about it!

I'm going to read up on 4 month sleep regression.. Thanks for the suggestion

I think you need new doctor, it's ridiculous to tell a first time mum that a baby that young shouldn't be waking for feeds. DD is 8 months and her sleep has changed loads. From 1-4 months she slept through doing 10-12hrs then since then it's all over the place. Sounds like you're doing a great job, all he needs now is your milk

my babies all had night feeds till they were 7months, one of them till 9 months I think! It was only once they were on 3 big, solid meals a day - sometimes including cereal just before bed, that they didn't wake up hungry in the night.

I weaned at 4 1/2months out of desperation with ds1 and he wasn't ready. Try putting a small, soft spoon in your baby's mouth and he will show you if he's ready to start weaning. Weaning is not adding rice to a baby's bottle.

Babies vary so much. Your Dr should not at all be telling you things like that. As for the other mums, well, they just got lucky.

I was smug once. My ds1 slept 13-14 hours a night by 6 months old. He gradually dropped feeds all by himself. It was bliss (until we moved house too many times, he had ear infection and he forgot how to sleep but hey ho). My dd is 3 yrs 9 months and has only just really started sleeping through most of the time. Ds2 is 6 months and very unsettled at the moment doing a bit of a developmental leap thing. It is hard. Sleep deprivation is very, very hard to deal with. I have been there and I do sympathise. I lost the plot with dd I really did.

This might be of some comfort to you.

"By the time babies are 3 months old some (but not all) begin to start settling (sleeping through a night-time feed for a stretch of up to 5 hours). By the time they are 5 months old half of them may have started to sleep for an eight-hour stretch on some nights. Generally, though, babies do not sleep all night-every night until they are close to a year old. One study investigating infant sleep duration found that 27% of babies had not regularly slept from 10pm to 6am by the age of 1 year. 13% of babies had not regularly slept through for 5 hours or more by the age of 1 year."

Taken from www.isisonline.org.uk/ which is a great sleep resource.

I've not had time to read all the posts so this might have been done but i weaned early and it did not help one bit with sleeping so i wouldn't wean just to get him to sleep. If you feel he's ready to wean go ahead (i did) but don't expect him to suddenly start sleeping because of it i did and was gutted when it didn't work :(

I'm only a first timer too with a 6 month old, but what you're describing- your baby waking lots, being unsettled and not enjoying the things they usually like sounds like what my LO is like during a growth spurt. She's just going through one at the moment, and she's very much like this. It's exhausting...you have my sympathies! Everything is harder when you're tired and I find it especially hard when my LO seems to take step backwards with sleep. Perhaps ride it out for a week and see what happens?

I think the people in your groups are either fibbing about how well their babies are seeing or you have flukily lucky friends! In my group, only one out of the 8 or 9 of our babies is sleeping through. Most wake once or twice a night and some every one to two hours. The babies are all between 5 and 7 months.

Good luck, hang in there and nap if you get a chance during the day. You sound like you're being really thoughtful, doing your research and doing a good job. All the best .

DS is almost 6 months and is still waking in the night for feeds, plus he's being weaned early for health reasons, hasn't improved his sleep at all. Don't worry about it.

ps. your doctor is a twat for telling you that.

The mums at your breastfeeding group are almost certainly stretching the truth/lying through their teeth. Western society is obsessed with babies sleeping "through" and there's big pressure to be one of those parents who has the 12-hour-sleep baby lest you are seen to be a 'bad' parent.

At 13 weeks he is almost certainly in a growth spurt. They pass quickly, honest.

Thank you for your supportive comments. Had another bad night with DS last night (I eventually got some sleep at 5am)... Still very restless & waking lots.. I try to settle him but when he doesn't I bring him into bed with me which calms him down & I feed him & he falls asleep eventually though not after screaming like he is in pain.. It must be a growth spurt. During day he falls asleep in his chair/pram/other people's arms. He has reflux & wind a lot so that doesn't help as he seems in pain when laid on his back.
I don't expect him to sleep through the night but a good chunk of three or four hours would make so much difference to both of us ...he needs his sleep as much as me for us to both be happy... Here's hoping

You need to change your doctor if he's saying DS shouldn't be wake up in the night at thirteen weeks. Some babies don't sleep through. DS didn't sleep through consistently until he was two and a half.

Babies are designed to wake up in the night, its not actually good for them at that age to be doing 12 hours or whatever. I also believe "sleeping through" is considered 12am-5am until around a year.

Four month sleep regression and growth spurt time, I'm afraid. Food will make no difference, and is not really a safe idea right now either.

It will ease off. Try to remember how small he is, even if size wise he is chunky!

It will change. It might be soon or it might not be bit it will change. As he gets bigger the reflux will ease too so that will help :)

My doctor is a lady believe it or not-she has 2 children.. Says because he is breast fed he will just be waking up & wanting the breast for comfort! I always try & comfort him when he first wakes but when he cries & practically gnaws my hand off, I know he is genuinely hungry so i feed him as often as he likes. A few weeks back he did do a spate of 7-2 sleeps so hopefully things might settle down after the growth spurt... Fingers crossed

BF for comfort is perfectly fine. In fact, I love that DS gets comfort from me, as he has done since the day he was conceived

I feel your pain, neither of mine were good sleepers. Just a thought some babies don't react well to hungry baby formula, it is designed to be much harder to digest so it sits in stomach for longer. Could you try a different 'normal' formula at night?