Weaning - what age did you start with your premmie?

[MiniPopsMum2012]

And what foods did you start with? MiniPop is 22 weeks, so wondering if I should start soon. Any advice from fellow premmie-parents would be very welcome.

ps: he was born 10 weeks early so is 12 weeks corrected, no real medical issues except reflux.

I think the advice is that you start based on actual age rather than corrected age. The advice when I had my prems was weaning at 4-6 months (although I think its back to 6 months now?) but we took it very slow - baby rice for at least a week or so before introducing puree - carrot I think then apple, pear, butternut squash etc. Good luck! Its messy ;-)

Yes, you are advised to start at 6 months actual. There's a good leaflet on the Bliss website www.bliss.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Weaning.pdf The Annabel Karmel weaning book is also good if you are crap at thinking of things to try, as I was.

I also did baby rice and then pureed veg and fruit, I also used lots of those Ella's Kitchen pouches as they are really easy to take out and about and you can bung them in the fridge - and I am lazy. Once they get the hang of it then a ricecake is a good start for something to hold, also pieces of banana to suck on.

It was a very slow process so really don't worry if it seems to take ages and they don't eat much. Under 12 months it's all just about having a little taste and getting used to it. I used to stress a lot that my LO didn't seem to eat much and we seemed to be on puree forever, now he's a total gannet.

We also suffered with reflux and it is so nice to get beyond just giving milk. I tried to be as calm as possible with food, even if I was stress or frustrated, as I wanted it to always be a positive experience.

Good luck!

We started at 6 months actual, and started with fruit & veg purees (all attempts to give DS baby rice were totally rejected).

But I took it very slowly until DS started showing signs of readiness - sitting, reaching for food etc, which happened at about 6 months corrected for us.

And agree with JoEW that you shouldn't worry if it takes a while. Until they're 12 months, the advice is that most of the nutrition should come from milk, so to begin with, weaning's mostly about them getting used to having different tastes and textures, and learning how to deal with solid food.

Good luck

Hi minipopsmum. I also have a 30-weeker ds who is six months old next week so I've read this thread with interest. Have you started him on anything yet? I wanted to do blw and avoid purees because I'm lazy but what I've read about weaning premmies suggests purée is what you give to start. Have you read similar?

My ds has his six month development check at the hospital next week so planning on finding out some more before we start.

Ps I think we both know the poster cupofteaandahobnob (if that's her correct username!)

Hi minipopsmum - nice to 'see' you again :) I have also been told 6 months from actual birth date. We are going to start in 2 weeks time (jetbaby is 24 weeks yesterday) how is your sleeping going? We have regressed sadly and have several night wakings for feeds I'm sticking it out for 2 more weeks and hoping that solids will help!
Hope minipop is still doing well with weight gain and everything :)

Oooo look it's my friends Minipopsmum and Cheeser!

Well, we will be starting tomorrow, when DS will be 27+3 (19 weeks corrected) - I've made some purées, and will try baby rice too. I'll see how it goes - if he doesn't seem ready I will give it another week. I'm not entirely convinced he has lost his tongue thrust reflex.

He is only just starting to notice people eating but I wouldn't say he is really showing an interest in food.

I was planning to wait until he showed The Signs, but when I met with our neonatal unit outreach nurse to discuss weaning, she rather pushed starting him ASAP, as she thinks if I leave it too much longer, he will get too hungry before he is really established on solids - I'm not sure I believe her but at the same time, I don't want to do things wrong for DS

I will report back!

P.S. a friend of mine started her baby at 5 months (2 months corrected) as she wasn't gaining weight that well on milk. Baby has come on leaps and bounds in the last month - she started with baby rice (and then baby porridge as the rice wasn't terribly well received), and has just introduced fruit purées.

Hi TeaandHobnobs, how is it going? Has he taken to any of the purees? Hope all is going well!

Well, we've tried pear two days running now, and he loves it the gannet. He is really going for the spoon. Going to try sweet potato tomorrow!