Weaning - now or later?

[wobblyknicks]

DD is 4 and a half months and f-fed. For ages she's been chewing on her fist and in the past two weeks she's been more and more reluctant to finish her bottle and I have to persuade her to, or else she'll fuss for it an hour afterwards. She's usually really good with her feeds so I'm starting to think she might need weaning. She's also dribbling like anything but not showing any classic signs of teething. Should I start weaning or wait for more signs?

Also, she's being more and more unsettled. That could be down to problems DH and I are having but I'm wondering whether it's because she needs weaning.

Hi - I have flipped over to have a look. You say she's formula fed - have you tried her on the hungry baby formula, Gold or Plus or whatever it is? 4.5 months is about right for feeding isn't it these days (see I am old) Why not give her a chunky baby spoon to hold and chomp on when you're having your brekkie/lunch/dinner. You could even try dipping it in the formula milk so she'll get to know that "the spoon tastes good".

Also you say you're having problems with dh. My kids have heard us arguing but they also see us cuddling and kissing ("eeyuch" says my daughter). Do you want to talk about it?

Sorry, just noticed you'd flipped!!!

I thought about hungry baby formula but wanted to avoid it, no good reason, just have a bad feeling about it (call me crazy). Heard a couple of people go on about constipation from it and bad reaction from baby, so that's put me off a bit. Will speak to HV or someone about it tho, but I thought it might just be time for food. Like the spoon idea, only thing is, she doesn't put things into her mouth very quickly, loves staring at them first and drops them a few times first so may not work too well on her.

Will happily bore you with my tales of monster DH if you've got them time and the patience!!!

Interesting point about hungry baby formula - ds was big greedy mite (8 12 at 37 weeks) I'm 5'2". He had hungry milk and is so unbelievably constipated still !!!!!!- I'll look into that.

Happy to listen if you're happy to talk!!

If she'd be happy on hugrier milk but instead I wean her - do you think they'd be any problem with that? I know it should be left as near to 6 months as possible but surely it won't hurt too much - no history of allergies etc.

Basically DH is a dh (d**k-head) and in the past 2 months I've left him 3 times, today being the 3rd and FINAL time. There's two long threads on all the probs somewhere around, I'll find them and post in case you want the full story (if you're bored one day)!

The threads are;

In Relationship board - "Have just split with DH" and "Sorry, need more help"

In Chat board - "Urgent - please help"

But only go looking if you are VERY bored!!

When I weaned my daughter 10 years ago the recommendation was 12-14 weeks. Surely it depends on the child. Also what they were advising yesterday doesn't mean its wrong today.

True, and surely if I've got it wrong and she's not ready, she'll let me know.

I think I remember reading that thread. Are you staying at your sisters? How are you feeling?

At the moment I am staying as my sister's, and I'm not feeling too bad. Usually the worst bit is about 3 or 4 days in, so just trying to wait it out! Terrified that I won't be able to cope with dd, but must be about the most irrational fear I've ever had!! Not trying to say I'm a great mum but I went through the pg without much help from anyone even tho DH was being horrible as usual, went through the birth ok, survived two-week hospital horror and have done most of the caring for dd since so I don't see what will suddenly change now. Maybe it's just the suddenness of not having someone to share the reponsibility. But DH hardly ever did anything with or for the baby so I suppose not a lot has really changed!!!

AT not as!!!!

just remembered where I recognise your name from! How is the situation with your dds' IEP?

I really sympathise with you. My dh was crap with our children when they were little and when I was pregnant too. You are stronger than you realise wobblyknicks and you are a great mum. I've had a quick look at your first thread and it is long - do you mind if I read it tomorrow? I'm working from home tomorrow (today). Don't forget that if you were to stay with your dh your daughter may become aware of his attitude towards you and her relationship with him may suffer. I think you're being kindest to yourself and dd by taking this very brave step. I hope you feel better tomorrow. I'll post you tomorrow. xxxx

Haven't spoke to teacher yet as dd was wagging school on Friday - she was doing 11plus test on Saturday and we wanted her to have a chill out day. Have discussed dds confidence with my sisters and friends and although dd is fairly shy with strangers no one seems to think she has a real problem. I think the teacher is a bit p*ed off cos she's not going on the trip.

Hey, thanks for reading any of it, I'm sure most people who have are sick to death of the whole thing! Don't worry about reading the thread, basically he's a prat and a worm and that's all there is to it!!

DD is the one that spurred me on to do something, rather than just be a doormat constantly. It would kill me if I saw her DH behaving like my DH does, so how can I bring her up thinking its ok because her mum puts up with it. I think that's the one thing that made me leave! Otherwise maybe I'd just be a domestic violence statistic a few years down the line.

Good for dd - getting a day off!! Teachers are getting worse and worse these days. Don't they have teaching to do instead of doing unnecessary paperwork to worry parents?

Wobblknicks - baby's chewing fists and drooling isn't a sign of hunger, it is the oral phase where babies begin to feel with their mouths. That is why everything goes in. I would leave the weaning for a while longer.

mears - yes, and she's been doing those for ages. It was more the boredom with the bottle I was thinking of. It doesn't seem to be that she's full because if I don't 'shove it down' (joking) then she'll winge for it later. Just thinking that alone may be the 'sign'.

Wobblyknicks - hi. I'm still reading through your thread. Hope you're feeling okay. How's things? Isn't it about day 4 now? I hope you're still feeling strong.

I had really busy day yesterday. My pal dropped in unannounced and stayed for ages - her son has CF and is in hosp at the moment. Consequently I then had to get on with my work. And today has been spent preparing marketing report for my boss for tomorrow. (should have started yesterday) Still haven't finished. Maybe I will become SAHM by accident!!!

My dd was breast fed and was a pain to feed at exactly this age - I think it's just the age, she's now 6 months and I'm starting to wean her but she's not particularly interested (unless it's on my plate!)

I weaned my DD at 9 weeks (f-fed from birth, hungry baby milk from 7 days) and she's had no problems. At 9 weeks she was taking 9 9oz bottles of blue cow and gate in the 12 hours she was awake! Needless to say I didn't discuss with HV. DD is absolutely fine, in no way overweight, no allergies, no difficulties eating etc..

We never had any probs with constipation on "greedy baby" milk (as DH called it). The omneo milk we tried in aneffort to avoid weaning caused real probs though.