would early weaning help a poor feeder?

[entropy]

My 15wk old dd is really rubbish at feeding. she was bf but didn't eat enough so I had to ff. she takes about 22oz a day in 6 or 7 feeds. she only weighs just over 10lb. My old HV (I've moved to a new area) suggested weaning at 16 wks to help her gain weight. I don't have a new HV yet and 16 wks is fast approaching and I don't know what I should do. I'm a bit worried that filling her up with baby rice/puree etc will make her take even less milk and make her fall even further off the weight charts! but on the other hand she might like them more than the milk and eat more.....

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

you've got it in one. baby rice etc is empty calories. it will fill her up but it certainly won't fatten her up. she will get far more calories from milk

some babies are just meant to be small. someone has to be on the lower centiles. as long as she is happy and healthy and meeting her milestones then you have nothing to worry about

my dd was crap at drinking milk and was crap at eating. she loses interest in food if she is poorly, tired, in a bad mood or i look at her wrong!!!! give her as much milk as she will take......it is the most calorific and nutrient rich food you can give her....a spoon of rice or puree will make no real difference at this age! DD is now a healthy 15 month old, still petite, still not great at eating, but i have chilled out so much more!

that's the thing, I dont think dd is sposed to be small... DH and I are both big people, she is very very long with huge feet but is incredibly skinny. She bites furiously at her toys/hands/my hands/anything she can get in her mouth, but wont have more than a couple of ounces of milk at a time without getting angry (she was in obvious pain feeding until she started on reflux medicine now she just strops) why I thought she might do bettter on puree is because she will welcome medicine (it is sweet) whilst refusing point blank to have the milk. Its as if she just doesn't like it! but I know that milk is the best thing she can have to help her gain gthe weight she needs.

Hi entropy - Can you ask your doctor who your new health visitor should be? There should be a baby clinic in your area even if you haven't been allocated a health visitor yet that you could go along to.
If the health visitor there is concerned with her weight then she may well advise weaning early.

Hi Gracie, I will get a new health visitor next week when I move into my new house. They wouldn't allocate one for the time I was living with my parents as it was originaly only going to be 2 weeks but has dragged out to over a month in the way that these things do...

Hi again Kayzed. I really hope weaning helps your DD with her reflux, I would be interested to hear how you get on.

DD usually accepts some milk at each feed so long as I leave it at least 2h between them. it seems to be the first burp that is the critical moment as to whether or not anything else will be accepted. Apart from today when she has chucked up most of her feeds (I think this is because of her having her immunisations yesterday) she is rarely sick and I am still in two minds as to whether it is milk aversion or silent reflux caused by me winding her.

It's the way she will scream at the sight of the bottle when she has burped, but bites my hand off if I offer infacol (sometimes I forget to give it first....) that makes me think I could get more into her if I introduce puree.

Feeding her as she is drifting off to sleep or dream feeding during naps is a good way to get 2 to 3 oz in without a tantrum but I can't get bigger feeds in that way (she starts snoring with the bottle still in her mouth ) I am experimenting with new bottles to see if the the change breaks her association with the pain (and because I hate the Dr Brown ones we use and hope I can persuade her onto something more practical)

good luck with the weaning!

which doc?? we've asked a few but no-one has of yet been of any help dd is seeing a general pead doctor as she has inherited my sight problems. we asked her about it but she seemed thrown as the appointment was sposed to be about her eyes. she ordered some tests and and said I should book a follow up appointment. when it came through it was for mid January!!! as she had offered no advice I thought it might have been a bit sooner. I asked GP for referals to a nutritionist and pead with gastric interest last month but havent got anything through yet. went to GP this morning as she is still really throwing up and food intake is really diminishing, We have an emergency appointment at same hospital as unhelpful pead for monday. the GP didn't want to make any recomendations about weaning or extra calorie milk (what our previous nutritionist wanted us to try) I must have looked at the end of myy tether as she offered to have dd admitted to hospital if I couldn't cope until monday.

did you really manage to express 50oz of EBM a day for your DS??? my record was 4oz so I am in complete awe!

I have read that a baby needs to have at least doubled its weight before you introduce solids.

have you tried her with a faster teat? she may just be getting frustrated/bored

entrophy - my dd is also long but skinny - does not take after me (sadly for me!) but rather her Grandma.
Like Hairy says - try moving up a teat, 3 months is about the right time.
Don't worry about introducing solids until you have had some more HV/Docs advice - you have at least a couple of weeks before the earliest you could start anyway and earlier posters make the best point - milk does have more calories anyway

bear in mind that suggested weaning times are fashions that come and go. Fr'instance if you read the guidelines, your baby should be solely breastfed until 6 months but should also receive a variety of foods at 6 months. Now anyone who realises how gradual weaning can be knows you can be stuck on the baby rice/ apple puree stage for months. How's that for a contradiction? If you feel YOUR baby is ready for weaning and would benefit from some grub, its your decision.

I now have a HV! who on the first meeting seemed nice!!! she is going to chase up the nutritionist for us and sort out why my referrals havent led anywhere. My DD was eating normally (for her) again by the weekend so I couldn't hand on heart say it was an emergency and cancelled the appointment for today. I hope I've done the right thing and that the HV doesnt let me down.

I have had my DD on the 3mnth+ teats since 8 weeks! as I accidently used one and she was very happy on it. have been wondering if I should try the 6mnth+ ones.... she does seem to be sucking very hard at first but I'm always disappointed by just how little has gone when she comes off. (usually by ripping the teat out with her hands and screaming so it could well be frustration )

KZ - how long did it take you to express 54oz! and how on earth did you stop without your boobs literally exploding!!!

Awwww Entropy, I have just logged on to change my mn name and found you've got the one I wanted. Wierd huh, the day I finally get round to changing mine, someone with the one I want posts.

Saw the 6mnth+ teats on 1/2 price sale so I thought I'd give it a try and touch wood its working brilliantly! I think DD is just really lazy..... I still have to bribe her with infacol to get her to start eating but she has 4oz (which used to be an hour long battle) in about 2 minutes! then we get the fussing and screaming but I feel I can relax and anything else she might want is a bonus. When she was doing this after 1 or 2 oz I felt like I had to get more into her no matter what. DD now occasionally looks pregnant after a feed! as her belly looks full but the rest of her is so skinny! hopefully she will fill out all over.

I have crossed my fingers that this is not just a 16wk growth spurt I had a false dawn at 12 weeks when I thought we had made headway only to have her go back to her old ways a few days later!

cantwaitforthesnow - are you a physical chemist too?