Would you start weaning...

[Poshpaws]

.. a 15.5 week old baby, who has been sleeping 7pm til 7am/7.30am every night for the last three weeks , but has started to wake at 5am. He already has 4 x 9oz bottles a day and weighs over 15lbs.

Am going to the clinic for his checkup tomorrow so will ask the HVs there, but wondered what other mothers would do.

Thanks

[flamesparrow]

I probably would... but then they were telling us to wean at 16 weeks when DD was needing it!

[KBear]

I would and agree with Flamesparrow. Don't know what the current thinking is. As always, my theory is that mother's know what is best for their child. HV's have to tell you what the govt tell them to tell you.

[Windermere]

I would leave it a few weeks.

[Windermere]

I do agree with Kbear though, at the end of the day you know best but I would wait until at least 17 weeks.

[QueenOfQuotes]

I would weaned both my boys at 16 weeks/4 months - that was 'current' advice for DS1 (now nearly 5) and 'out of date' advice for DS2 (now 21 months)

[edam]

Probably not - they all go through a growth spurt at that age hence sleeping and feeding patterns change. World Health Organisation advice, based on all the medical evidence they could find across the world, is to delay weaning until six months. That's been the advice for years but the UK (and HVs in particular) was slow to adopt it. Small babies have an 'open' gut - so bigger molecules can go directly through the cell walls, which helps them digest milk. But may cause food allergies if they are given solids too soon. Personally I'd rather not take the risk. But some people wean earlier and are happy with that.

[motherinferior]

I wouldn't, but then I've never felt I knew much at all about either of my babies. Certainly not best.

[alux]

babies wake at 5 am because they do. I would think it is more a sign that her nervous system is maturing rather than needing weaning. she is understanding the world better. mine has been from below 12 wks. she chunters on and i ignore her. mostly she goes back to sleep. if she is hungry, she cries and i feed her. she's 20 wks on Tuesday and I have not started to wean.

there are a series physiological developments that you ought to consider before weaning:

1. double birthweight or more
   i2. nterest in food (babies at this age are interested in everything food is just one of them)
   
2. they can grasp with the thumb and index finger rather than fingers and palm
   
3. the tongue moves up and down when a foreign object is put in the mouth rather than just backwards and forwards.
   test it with a rice grain or when you give drops of some sort.
   
   
   To me the last one is important as it means that more of the food will go into mouth and into stomach rather than on face, in ears, on floor, on baby and on you. sounds more like needless hard work to me.

[hunkermunker]

No, I wouldn't. His gut's not mature enough for anything other than milk. If you have allergies in the family, hayfever, eczema, anything like that, definitely not.

Lots of people do. But I wouldn't.

Waking early's not a sign they're ready for weaning.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Another sign, alux: being able to sit unaided. I think that, and pincer grip, are the best two signs, as it means the baby is ready to feed him/herself. Which means, for a lazy mother like me, no spoons, no purees!

[alux]

ah yes, sitting up unaided. dd is not long off doing that.

[NotQuiteCockney]

I weaned DS1 at 16 weeks, which I now realise was a mistake. I weaned DS2 at 25 weeks, he was sitting unaided, but not using pincer grip. It took him about a month to get the knack of food, but he eats very well now, at 11 months. He likes corn on the cob, straight off the cob.

[Mojomummy]

wouldn't start until 6 months old - as HUnkerMunker states, babies guts are developed enough to digest anything other than milk.

Sarting weaning is about introducing new tastes & textures - it's not meant to fill them up & it terms of their long-term health it really isn't worth the risk.

I was determind not to wean until 6mths, so I would just haul my dd into bed, feed her & then she'd go straight back to sleep in her cot. The waking up really doesn't last that long honest !keep going for as long as you can

[Poshpaws]

Thanks for all the replies - think I will just increase his milk supply.

I suppose I have been spoiled by DS1, who I weaned at 3.5 months (he is now 4 and I did not know abut the WHO guidelines) and he has no problem with food. Then again, all children are different.

Thanks again.

[milkmoustache]

Sorry for hijacking... but I was about to post the same question as Poshpaws anyway, but my DD is 19 wks now - and I feel completely confused about how to proceed! She can't sit up by herself yet, but all of a sudden she has gone from a once a night feed to twice a night, and the times are all over the place. She fed at 11.40 last night which is unheard of - she has previously been managing to go from 7pm to at least 3am for weeks now. Does this just sound like a growth spurt or should I get going with the baby rice?

[handlemecarefully]

probably not - I think that young babies sleep patterns are constantly changing; not all attributable to the stimulus of hunger.

[dejags]

I always used to think that the weaning of advice re. leaving it till 6 months was ott. Sadly I have a DS who is a right porker - and was advised by the paediatrician and nursing sister who care for him to wean him at 12 weeks, I left it until 14 weeks by which time I was under intense pressure because he was needing 1200mls of milk a day to keep him satisfied.

He now has allergies and I could kick myself for not sticking to my gut instinct and delay weaning him.

[NotQuiteCockney]

Oh, dejags, poor you. Lots of us followed that sort of advice, my DS1 was weaned at 16 weeks, as was the current advice. You can't be sure it was early weaning that caused the allergies, and even if it did, you were following what you believed to be the best advice!

[dejags]

Thanks NQC ? I am fairly certain it was the weaning ? he is allergic to dairy (not that I weaned with him anything resembling dairy), but it wasn?t long after he was weaned that the allergies became apparent, so I am fairly sure it was introducing food to an underdeveloped gut which caused them. He now suffers from chronic sinusitis, stuffy nose, he is on long term medication for hidden reflux and so it goes. I was seriously pissed off at the time but what can you do ? cant sue for allergies I am afraid