Getting anxious as nearing 26 weeks & ebf DS doesnt seem ready for weaning

[eightyone]

My ebf son is 5.5 months and I was planning on weaning exactly on 26 weeks but now that the time is getting nearly he really doesnt seem ready.

He is pretty good at grabbing objects and holding them and putting them in his mouth and he does watch us eat. So those signs are showing he's ready.

But Im worried about the sitting unassisted part. He is a very long, thin baby with a long torso in proportion to his legs.

For the past month Ive been working on his sitting skills, practising in bumbo but he is still quite wobbly in it and tends to slump to the side still. Ive also been practicing by getting him to sit in between my legs and playing with a toy while sitting like this.

How well do they have to sit? He would be no good at all in a highchair which is why I decided to work on him sitting in a bumbo and plan on feeding him in this initally.

Is there a problem with delaying him from having solids at 26 weeks for this reason?? I dont know any other babies his age so cant compare but how well did your babies sit when you weaned? Did you wait until they sat completely unassisted or just until they stop wobbling a bit?

Am getting a bit stressed about it all as he has been ebf and dont know if I will be starving him if somewhat if I wait a bit longer for solids. He wont take a bottle at all so I can't start supplementing him with formula. He has never been a particularly hungry baby either I dont think. I know milk is meant to be their number one food for the first yeat but will delaying solids a bit stunt his growth??

It's ok if he still needs a bit of support - many babies are a lot older than 6 months before they sit for any period of time.

If he genuinely doesn't seem ready then it doesn't have to be bang on 26 weeks. The nourishment they need comes from milk, and food is mainly an experimental fun thing at first. He won't be stunted or starved.

In your shoes I'd forget about it for a fortnight then reconsider when he's actually 6 months old. A lot can change quickly :)

Is his back straight when sitting supported in the bumbo? Or still slumped? It's important for them to sit straight to have finger foods so the can cough up lumps they can't handle. FWIW my DD can sit in a bumbo and the ikea antilop with insert at 24wk when we wean, but can't sit on the floor without a cushion till 7.5mo.

If your LO is slumped in the bumbo at 26wk and you are keen to wean, then start with purees for a few weeks? Also guidelines say around 6mo. Some babies will be over 6mo when they are ready. And don't worry about nutrition. I'm doing blw and DD isnt eating much at all in the first month.

His back is straight for a few sconds and then he wobbles and slumps. So he does not sit securely upright. He has been like this since we first got the bumbo.

So he should be alright to have purees in your opinion lilham?

Also shall I sit him in his bouncer seat (reclined slightly) when feeding him purees instead of in his bumbo?

When he sits in his bouncer seat he sits securely as he has very good head/neck control. It seems it is just his poor back muscles that is preventing him from sitting upright in the bumbo.

People who wean at 4mo will use the bouncer and smooth purees. You will have a bit more choice in the purees to include dairy and gluten, which will make it easier isn't it? I see no harm doing this until he can sit better in the bumbo. It can happen any day at his age!

In gluten I mean things like ready brek.

Bouncers really aren't suitable for feeding chairs as they really too reclined and baby would be at risk of choking.

Could you try baby on your lap while you sit at the dining table and feed him bits off your plate? That way you could support him when he needed it.

Or you could delay weaning until he is a bit steadier? It's not a deadline, just a guideline, and if he doesn't meet all the requirements to start solids it's no bad thing to wait until he is ready. It may only be a week or so until he gets steady enough to sit in a highchair.

My DD sat much better in her Ikea Antilop high chair with the insert than she ever did in her bumbo. In fact, she can now sit totally unaided on the floor and still slips to the side in her bumbo. This is the first time I've had a bumbo (4th child) and I don't really rate them tbh. The Ikea high chair is the best baby thing I've ever bought I think.

Midori I can believe its easier to sit in the antilop than the bumbo. It's super snug! And the insert is brilliant to take out to restaurants to pad out their highchairs. You can tell I'm a fan.

Yup, the Ikea Antilop's the very dab.

Do not get hung up on the 26 week start - especially if you're doing BLW. My DS ate very little before about 8 months even though he could sit fine. It's mostly about the milk until they're one - they don't get more vitamins or nutrients or calories in the tiny bits of food they're eating at this age.

As long as he's sitting upright, rather than leaning back, you could give him sticks of food to hold while he sits on your lap or on the floor between your legs (beware the mashed food on clothing and flooring!) to give him a little food experience, if you want.

Thanks for all your input. I wasnt planning on doing BLW, have family history of allergies so was going to go slowly with introducing foods one at a time, not just let him choose from what we're eating.

Since he cant sit up and I think he is still quite a way off being able to do so, I think I will start off feeding him purees in bouncer as it is not too reclined. Also as this is what happened traditionally when people weaned early I assume it is pretty safe to do so.

We dont have a table so it would be a bit tricky feeding him from my lap. Will check out the antilop too, thanks for the suggestion.

I do want to start solids at 26 weeks though as he is very alert and aware about what is going on around him and I think it would be a good learning/sensory experience for him. Also I am a bit worried about leaving it too long and him becoming fussy about eating.

bbc.co.uk/news/health-12180052

Also I don't want to leave it too much past 26 weeks as this is the recommended time as he is breastfed. That article concerned me.

bbc.co.uk/news/health-12180052

That 'article' in the BMJ has been well and truly been repudiated by all of the major health/baby groups (WHO/NCT/LLL/DOH - amongst others) as nonsense (well in a more scientific way).

Lots of detail as to why here.

And the recommended time is 2 years and then as long as you and baby want though the recommended exclusive is 6m.

truthsweet thank you for linking to that. Very clear and eyeopening, particularly part 2 and the info about the physical developmental signs coinciding with gut maturity. Lots to think about now.

eightyone if you read the news coverage, it does say doubts is raised by one set of researcher. But in the second half of the article, it does tell you that currently both the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, the Royal College of Midwives and the Department of Health still recommends the 6mo.

The beauty of science is you are allowed to challenge the status quo. If you can pull together an argument accepted by your reviewers, then your article can be published in a scientific journal, to be read by more of your peers. This article currently hasn't changed the recommendation by our HCPs wrt the time to wean.

I'm not in medicine, but I have a science background. At least in computer science, your submission is reviewed by two reviewers. And your acceptance doesn't mean your reviewers think what you wrote is the new absolute truth. Just they think your work is very interesting (and original) and that it's worth reading for other scientists. (It's like the group in cern has found nutrino to be faster than light, but the wider community still would regard the speed of light being the fastest).

And lastly, journalists are known to be rubbish at covering science stories. (Read Ben Goldacre. He's very good at describing how the whole publishing works). You'll need to read the original BMJ article, even just the abstract, to see what the UCL team actually claims.

I guess this one lone article stood out to me as I am starting to wonder if milk is really enough!

I know that milk is the best/main food till they are 12 months old. However when you compare a tiny milk drinking newborn or even 3 month old to a bigger, curious, commando crawling, chewing 6 month old, I start to wonder if milk really is all he needs!!? How can those feeds he gets which I dont even see be enough for him.

I guess I just have to remind myself that he would let me know very loudly if he was hungry!

That information about the 'external readiness' and outward development of fine motor skills/coordination coinciding with gut maturity was very helpful and something I had not heard of but it does ring true to me.

My DD really didn't eat much for MONTHS following us beginning BLW. Seriously, a bite of a banana does not a solid foods eater make! Just go with the flow and give him food when he's ready. Some people would say that the baby's iron stores are becoming depleted, if you are worried about this then there are vitamin drops.