Weaning for a premature baby?

[ihearttc]

Just after some advice if possible? I had DS2 at 32 weeks in November-thankfully he was absolutely fine just tiny! He is now 18 weeks and weighs about 11 1/2 lb.

My plan when I was pregnant was to go down the BLW route as Im cooking for the rest of us and thought it would be easier and less stressful but obviously when he is actually 6 months he will only really be 4 month developmentally so don't think it will be possible.

I spoke to consultant at last visit and she said that he should be weaned at his actual age and to aim for somewhere between 4-6 months as prem babies have even less iron stores than full term babies.

I don't even really know what Im asking tbh...I really wanted to do blw but there is no way will he be sitting independently or picking stuff up by 6 months so I assume Im going to have to go down the puree route.

He's not on the prem formula anymore as he refused to drink it (he was only drinking 2 oz at a time) and I can't blame him as its awful so he's on normal formula and I can't give him the iron supplements (Sytron) because it really upsets him tummy so his iron levels will be quite low already.

I asked HV and was told exactly the same as at the hospital but nobody has told me how exactly to do it...although he is very strong he can't sit on his own and he hasn't lost tongue thrust yet so how exactly am I supposed to get any "food" into him at all?

I know Ive got several weeks yet but am totally confused by the whole thing and wondered if anyone had any experience of this situation?

Hello, my little boy was born at 28 weeks, weighing 1 pound 11oz.
Our midwife came round for the very first time to try purees, as he had problems when very small with the suck/swallow/breath technique of drinking milk, so didn't want to risk choking on anything too 'chunky'.
The first few times we just let him taste the puree, it was either pureed carrot or apple out of a jar because there wasn't any point spending time cooking etc, when most of it went down his top. At this point he was just getting used to the feel of something different in his mouth. He was in a high chair at this point but was not able to sit up on his own, in fact he couldn't hold his balance to sit up until he was one.
He was about 4 and a half months corrected age when we started. We tried once a day for a while then twice a day, but obviously he was drinking lots of milk as he wasnt really taking it in at first. By about 7 months he was able to eat a significant amount twice a day, but was still really liked his milk more.
Have you tried the premature birth threads?

Got no advise but just wanted to say hi.
I'm in a similar position to you, my son was born at 33+3 in November & is now 18 weeks..... our babies must of been born within a few days of each other i think.
Was only taking to my husband about weaning him today, only 6 weeks to go.... doesn't time fly.
He isn't ready or showing signs of wanting food.
I can't remember the weaning process with my other children.... second youngest is nearly 5 & i can't remember when he did things.... bad mum lol.

Thank you...nope haven't tried premature birth threads but will try posting there as well! There just doesn't seem to be much information about it at all so it's great to hear what others have been doing.

Hello Serendipity...nice to "meet" you!! DS2 was born at 32+5 on 23 November so he's 18+2 today! He isn't showing any signs of wanting food either which is why I can't begin to imagine how this is all going to happen in 6 weeks or so! He's still tiny and I can imagine Im going to get some very odd looks if i try to feed him "food" when we're out...people still assume he's a couple of weeks old!

DS1 is 6 and I can't remember what I did with him at all...feels like Im a first time mum all over again.

Why did your DS come early (if you don't mind me being nosy)?. I had severe pre-eclampsia and was very poorly so they decided to try and induce me but warned me it might not work but he arrived within 6 hours so obviously realised he was better out than in lol! He was in SCBU for 3 weeks and came home a week before christmas.

DS was born at 33 + 4. I started on purees at 6 months actual and then moved to BLW when DS could sit up properly at around 8mo actual. He showed no signs of being ready to eat at 6mo but took to it well, regardless. He had lost his tongue thrust though - wait for that to go at least. I'd be a bit nervous about weaning a premmie at 4mo actual.

Bliss have some advice on their website.

I was given Cytron and told to give it to DS till 12mo but never did because he was breastfed and it was a faff having to express for him once we'd got bfing established. He showed no sign of low iron stocks. A dietician also told me that constipation with Cytron means that their iron stocks are fine and to stop giving it.

Thank you-that was what Id thought as well when the doctor said to aim for between 4-6 months because technically he'd only be around 2 months when we started. Think Im going to wait for as long as possible and then do as you did and start with purees and then move on to blw.

Will have a look on the bliss website as well.

We had the opposite problem with the Sytron...every single time he had he had it he really really loose runny nappies within a couple of hours of having it.

DD was born at 32 weeks and we were told to wean her at 6 months actual, as you have been. We did try, but to be honest she didn't really manage to get anything down until she was 6 and a half months corrected so I don't know if it was worth it in hindsight! She used to "eat" about a quarter of an ice cube's worth of puree per meal. As you say, BLW just wouldn't work.

Good luck! They all get there in the end!

Have just been to get him weighed and he's 11lb 3oz now so getting bigger at last lol!

Spoke to another HV and she said to leave it until he's 8 months actual which would mean 6 months corrected and that way he should be ready to wean whichever way I want...wish they'd just all make their minds up and say the same thing!!

Hi.

My son was born on the 24th of November via planned c-section. I've had 3 babies all at 33/34wks via c-section due to having a previous stillbirth & 2 abruptions. I had steroids a week before my c-section & i think it helped a little bit. He was my smallest at 5lbs 4ozs & was in SCBU for 4 days.
He still looks like a little baby to me & its going to be really strange feeding him foods. He doesn't even drink that much milk & isn't a hungry baby like my others were.

I must take my son round to get weighed. Not keen on going round as the HV are so nosey and speak to you like your clueless. He has a tendency to pee on the poor HV's when they weigh him though lol..... i'm sure its his way at getting them back for making him strip off infront of lots of people

I followed the Bliss advice and started at 5 months, but he wasn't really that ready and to be honest I am sure leaving it until 6 wouldn't have harmed him in the slightest. I wanted to do BLW but didn't at first as I thought the same as you - that he wouldn't be ready by 6 months. Actually, by about 6 months and 3 weeks he had started picking things up and putting them in his mouth, and he was not enjoying purees with any texture so we made the jump and he loved it! SO you can if needs be start BLW later (although I guess technically it wouldn't be pure BLW in the strictest sense, but you can apply most of the principles of it by starting it instead of moving onto lumpy/mashed food stage if you see what I mean).

The thing is with BLW or any other kind of weaning is that you don't have to do it exactly as the book says. I think this is particularly true of those of us with premmies - we already have to deal with that putting a spanner in the works of our carefully laid plans.

Do what feels right for you. If you want to wean at 6mo actual, why not. The other thing with weaning is if it isn't going well you can always stop and start again in a couple of weeks when you think they might be more ready.

I am lucky, my DS loves his food. But that's nothing to do with purees / BLW / age of weaning, etc but just him. No doubt if I have another they'll be a total bugger with food.

Our DS was born at 33 weeks and we started just before 6 months actual, mainly because we were aiming for around 6 months and he seemed to be interested in our food - hadn't read the 4-6 month advice for premmies until after we started! We started with baby rice, then added veg purees, then fruit purees, now proteins and all sorts of other interesting things :) and there has been no looking back. Does vary from baby to baby though so just progress at your own pace... He is also still on Sytron. Very healthy and flourishing, 8 months old now.

Oh and we sat him in a Bumbo for extra support while feeding since he couldn't sit up on his own - recommend. He is not quite ready for finger foods yet, though he likes chunky bits now (eg. small raw fruit pieces) and will take food and suck it if we give it to him,m though he drops them quite soon after. So the puree route is working just fine for us.

P.S. I'd recommend trying to keep going with the Sytron. It is normal for extra iron to upset their tummies, as they get bigger (more weight!) they can cope with it better. DS also used to have very awful smelly and runny poops, HV said due to Sytron, but they're much better now.

Thank you all so so much-honestly Ive had better advice on here than from asking any of the "professionals" lol!

Serendipity-aww they are a day apart then...thats rather cool! Wow he was huge then for 33 weeks...well huge compared to my DS! Just wanted to say so sorry for your losses-can only imagine how horrific that must have been for you.
I had the steroids as well because they were initially going try to get me to 34 weeks but my BP went through the roof and I was so swollen I couldn't breathe properly it was actually rather scary so they decided to induce me.

Mine doesn't really drink that much milk either-Im lucky if I can get 24 oz into him in a day. Ive got another DS who is 6 and he was born at 36 weeks and he was exactly the same-didn't drink much milk but he loved solids big time and thrived on them so Im hoping it'll be the same this time.

Im going to get a Bumbo and try that in a few weeks...it should help him sit up as well I hope.

I will get some more Sytron and try it I think and hopefully it will be a bit better now...everyone warned me it could make them constipated but not the other way round-he was literally going about 2 x hour on it before and his bottom was so so sore bless him which was why we stopped it.

We got a bumbo a few weeks ago but he kinda gets the hump when we put him in it.

He has finally started drink 5oz bottles, although sometimes will only drink 3-4ozs. He probably has 25-30ozs a day.... on a good day.

My i have 6yr old DS too, he was bigger when he was born at 'i think' 33+4, he weighed 6lbs 4ozs & my other son was 6lbs 1oz at 34wks..... so to get a 5lb baby was a shock lol.

That must have been scarey to have breathing problems & worrying about yourself and baby.

Its really nice to know someone whos baby is only a day older than my son, esp as they were both born early.

Yes it's really nice-it's been a strange few months tbh and it's really hard especially when you see other 4 month old babies who are so much bigger and further on than your own is. The whole experience was really frightening...they couldn't get my BP under control at all and I had so much protein in my urine they thought I was going to go into kidney failure which was when I started swelling up. DH literally doesn't worry about anything and afterwards he told me he thought he was going to lose me. They gave me one chance to try an induction and if it hadn't worked by the morning they were going to do a c-section but it all worked rather quickly and I think he realised he was better off out bless him lol!

I was expecting a smallish baby anyway as I had a growth scan the week before and they estimated him at 2lb 7oz-it was there that they picked up all the protein in my urine so Im really thankful I went to the hospital because wasn't due to see mw for another 2 weeks. DS1 was only just 5lb at 36 weeks and Im tiny so I don't do big babies lol. Having said that he's in Y1 and is now bigger than most of the Y2/Y3 but I think Joseph will take after me and be much smaller than his big brother.

He's only just started having 5oz bottles as well and most of the time only has about 4 oz...he sleeps from 11-7am as well so I have to try and cram all the bottles in all day which is fun! Didn't think Id try the HV suggestion of waking him up during the night!