Discomfort with weaning

[gd1976]

My ds2 started to be weaned 5 days ago on rice with pear, and then some sweet pot yesterday. Anyway, he's been waking in the night more and he seems to be loving the food and therefore had quite a large quantity which I think has been the problem. He has been an angel baby and from 16 wks slept through from 7pm-7.30am. Over the last few weeks he's become fussy over his milk and started waking in tr night for a feed, progressively earlier each morning until it got to 2am and 5am for a feed.
So on advice from hv and because he was showing the usual signs we started to wean at 20.5 weeks. I've only offered food after a full feed and last night I offered some rice (with pear) after his evening feed. He loved it, however from 11 pm last night he was awake with what seemed to me like tummy ache for most of the night on and off.
My question is, do you think I should stop weaning altogether presuming his digestive system is not ready yet? Or maybe just give a small amount at lunchtime when it's not close to bedtime? It's hard as he seems to really enjoy the food, and also had full milk feeds..... He's seemed a bit fractious in the day sometimes as well since introducing food and as he's normally so calm it all seems a bit of a coincidence to be happening at the same time as introducing solids. . Ds1 had severe reflux and was a totally different child, weaning was very different as he wasn't really consuming anyway milk, so I feel like I'm doing it for the first time with ds2! I've followed the gina ford timings for when to give the food at his age.
Any thoughts??? Before anyone says, the only reason we started before 6 months was due to usual weaning signs and on advice from hv.
Any feedback would be great, thanks

Anyone??

is he under 26 weeks?

if so, yes you should stop weaning and wait!
just because your HV thinks he's showing signs of being ready, doesn't mean he's ready.
she can't see is gut or any of his insides, and the NHS guidelines are to wait till 6 months.
and if she's recommending it earlier than that, then she's going against NHS guidelines and you should complain about her.

It's so hard to know isn't it when you're given conflicting advise and they're supposed to be professionals! He's now 21 weeks so it feels early to me, I'd rather be up giving him extra milk feeds.....

I'd stop and wait till 26wks. I started at 26wks and DD even then got wind that woke her up and her first partially solid poos gave her some bother. Even if she showed the signs of sitting up independently, grabbing things and putting directly in her mouth and had lost her tongue thrust prior to 6 months, I'd still have waited because it's all about her gut really.

yep, if you're more comfortable giving him extra milk, then do so.
they do grow at funny rates, and all they need is more milk!
(that's what their gut is designed for)

have you also increased the amount of milk you give in one feed? (sorry, I can't see if you're BF or FF - if BF then offer the next side again, and if FF then give more floz in a feed)

sometimes, if they're hungry, then they just need more, not different.

digesting adult food is probably doing quite a job on his system!

I think you already know the answer. You are his mother and is there when he has an upset stomach. It really doesn't hurt if you wait or another few weeks and try again isn't it?

Thank you for your replies. My only doubt about not weaning him is he's having less and less milk per feed now, so sometimes only having 16oz over 24 hrs. I'm ff now, I stopped bf at 11 weeks. Up until a few weeks ago he would gobble an 8oz bottle but now it can take an hour to get 4-6oz down per feed. He feeds 4 hourly, I have tried more frequently but that was worse..... He used to sleep happily through the night, but now is waking once or twice for milk in the night, which in turn means he then doesn't want his morning feed

Ps he's only had milk today so fingers crossed he's happier tonight!

if you give food it is best to give it in the morning or at lunchtime so that if something disagrees with them then it doesnt interfere with the night-time sleep. He was probably too full with a full milk feed plus food on top. I used to give milk first and then give solids an hour or so afterwards.

Thanks, yes I think I need to just give a tiny amount at lunch time and see how that goes, just not sure how long to leave it till I start introducing solids again. If e carries on having such reduced milk feeds, I will worry about his weight......

he'll catch up again when he realises that's his only food source.
don't worry :)

If he's cutting his milk feeds then I'd definitely stop the solids because there is not enough for his nutritional needs in solid foods at this age because of his stomach size. He's at a classic age for getting distracted whilst feeding and making up for it at night instead. Not ideal for you but for him, the world is starting to get very interesting

Ok, thanks! Bit annoying to be going back to night feeds, we seem to be upside down with day-night. Thanks for your words of advise, it's good to know this is a common phase where they get distracted.

Milk milk milk Nuff said

dd is the same - i'm convinced she gets it all in at night (although she is now starting to sleep longer at night )

We've now introduced the 11pm feed which feels like we're going backwards as we've never done that feed before, he's now having far more milk at night than in the day

It's not going backwards! They go through lots of growth spurts. Also there is a period between 6-12mo that is really bad with sleep because they are trying very hard to learn to crawl, pull up and then walk. At least for my DD, it was a continuous period of bad sleep until over a year old when she finally started walking. There is also a lot of teething as well. But we all get over it, just think one day at a time.

don't worry!
it's all fine - he's just catching up, that's all. :)