formula fed, when to wean?

[sunglasses]

My DD is nearly 22 weeks, just over 16 lbs and on 5 8 oz bottles a day between 7.00 a.m and 10.30 pm. we have a really good routine established and she now sleeps through the night but i dont know how i can make sure she is having adequate amnount of milk until 26 weeks unless i start introducing more milk feeds.(to correspond with her weight gain/growth) i dont want to feed in the night so how can i fit it into the day. i cant fill her bottles any more as they are already filled to the max!!! Is it safe to begin weaning with say baby rice over next few weeks or better to stay with formula milk. all the advice on mumsnet seems to be for breastfed babies so would like to know what advice is for formula fed babies.

i thought the advice was the same as for breastfed babies.

I would suggest sunglasses that if you think she will take more after a feed - just refill the bottle you have just been using with a bit more formula to see. My thoughts are that she is taking in enough and if she is gaining weight I wouldn't worry. If you are making a 8 oz feed it tends to be 9 oz by the time you have added the powder.
HTH

I know advice is same for breastfed babies but usually babies can be encouraged not to wean until 26 weeks by increasing breastfeeds i.e feeding every 2 hours. this is more difficuilt to do with formula feeding as the time between feeds is usually recommended to be every 3-4 hours. I could try and give her more from a different bottle- dont know if it is ok to fill up the bottle she has just drunk from? wont be sterile surely? just wondered if anyone had similar experience re what to do when you appear to have reached the maximum amount of recommended formula in 24 hours i.e 5 8 oz bottles. just want to make sure i am meeting her appetite whilst holding off weaning until 6 months.

faster teats?

faster teats?

Faster teats????
how does this provide more food.
are you having a laugh?

My dd was bf until 10 weeks but then was ff. I didn't wean until 24 weeks as she was a good sleeper, often didn't finish all her feeds etc. I use the Avent bottles which have a max of 9 ozs - when the formula goes in is really full.

I only decided to wean when dd seemed hungry when she finished her feeds. So one day, when I had prepared the water for the days feeds - I gave her another 9oz bottle just to see how much she wanted - necked another 5 ozs - so obviously was still hungry - so this is when I introduced 'food'.

Before, I introduced food, I tried the hungrier type of formula first (I used Aptimil)

One of the benefits of later weaning is that you can miss out a lot of the mush stage - even if they don't have any teeth.

Does you baba 'want' to have food? e.g. has the tongue thrust reflex gone etc.

There is nothing wrong with upping the milk feeds in the short term as could be just a growth phase - but it could be that bab is ready to be weaned.

Well done for holding out - oftern we give in to pressure to wean too early - IMHO.

Thanks for that hotmulledwinemama. didnt know wether it was possible to give 'too much' formula so was worried about over feeding. she seems ok at the mo with her bottles- not hungry as far as i can tell after she has finished so will try what you said if she does get hungrier. she can take calpol from a weaning spoon and actually opens her mouth wide when it comes into view. not all of it goes in mind so maybe not quite ready yet. cheers.

I think your doing just fine, your dd is good routine and sleeping through the night and I'm sure if she was hungry she would wake during the night looking for more.

You will know your own baby and whether you think she is getting enough food or not. I introduced baby rice around 22/23 weeks as my dd wouldnt take any more than 6 ozs milk at a time and started waking during the night again.

It is safe to introduce baby rice whenever you think dd needs it. Dont worry too much about the 6 months weaning time, every baby has different needs and some need it slightly early.

My ds is 6 months this week. He was 20lb 13oz 5 weeks ago! (haven't felt the need to rush back and get him weighed since then ). I have only started him on solids in the last couple of days as he was pretty contented during the day and slept through at night. I was squeezing in one extra feed a day compared to you (although each bottle was only 7oz of water making 8oz total). I fed at roughly 7.30, 10.30, 2, 5, 6.30, 10.30. HTH.

I would carry on exactly as you are Sunglasses - carry on with formula - you don't need to correspond with her weight gain/growth - just what she is asking for.

I didn't start properly weaning my DS until he was around the 7 month mark and just gave him as many bottles as he asked for. My son will drink no more than 6 oz and would have around 8 bottles of it a day. The guidelines on the tins say they are just that and some babies may want more or less than the amount stated.

Thats my opinion anyway! Its a blimming minefield isn't it???

PS I switched to the faster teats too - he got bored with the length of time it took to drink and used to spit it out and get really cross - changed teats and everything was hunky dory again (took him a couple of days to get used to the speed, but after that he was fine)

By the way - meant to say that I agree with what HotmulledwineMama says - great advice on working out when to wean.

Thanks everyone. thats made me feel better about the whole-'right amount' of formula thing. will just increase via another bottle if she is hungry and try and hold out until 26 weeks for food.
it is a minefield and there is so much different advice out there. it seems at 6 months they should suddenly be on 3 meals a day but nothing but milk until that!
what solids did you start with muddlingthru? and what sort of quantities?

Also, I found that after a couple of weeks of introducing baby rice/ mushed fruit/veg - dd started turning her head anyway. So rather that get stressed (both of us) I just stopped giving her solids and just gave her milk - started having solids when she was hungry - you can't starve a baby and retain your eardrums!

I would recommend the Annabel Karmel book on Baby and Toddler feeding - big mumsnetter recommendation! Gives good advice on what and when to wean - and a schedule/planner - I found this really helpful - esp as a first time mum.

We started on sunday with 2 ice cubes of butternut squash. Monday was sweet potato, initially it was quite a thick puree which he didn't seem so keen on, once I had added a bit of formula to make it mushier it went down much better (down his face, down his bib, down the table ). Today was a cube of parsnip again made quite runny with some extra formula. I gave it about an hour after his mid morning milk and stopped when he started turning away or getting grumpy.

Good advice you two! havent got Annabek karmels book but do have another weaning book with recipes. i still wasnt entirely clear on the amounts so basically just start with a couple of cubes once a day and then build up from there sounds like the plan. i am quite excited about trying all the different foods, although it sounds like quite hard work pureeing and freezing etc. how long can you keep ice cubes of food in freezer for? a month? maybe i will start preparing now!!!

I think you can keep veggies about 8 weeks in the freezer. I spent an afternoon doing a batch of butternut squash, sweet potato, swede, carrot, parsnip, apple and pear. Freezer is now full of oh so cute cubes which should keep us going for a good while.

6 months in a 4 star freezer for fruit/veg purees and 4 months for anything with fish/meat in it.

Thats from Annabel Karmel by the way, not the dark recesses of my mind

You do get over the fun of freezing pretty quick though! I used to freeze cubes then put them into plastic bags - then I could take out a few cubes of carrot/parsnip/sweet potato etc and mix and match - IYSWIM depending on dd's current tastes.
When dd got bigger, I made bigger portions and froze them in reusable pots.