weaning at 20 weeks

[sweetiesavage1]

Hi all. I have started to spoon feed by little boy, he is 20wks old. I started him just under 2wks ago. At the moment I give him aptimil baby porridge. Along with the porridge he takes 3x 7oz bottle 2x 5oz bottle. One of the 5oz bottle he takes with the porridge and the other is top up bottle at 11pm. I am just wondering if there are any mothers that started weaning early how they went about it and how long they waited before introducing a 2nd spoon feed. I would like to introduce some veg, either pouches (4-6mths on pack) or freshly made by myself. I also want to cut out the 11pm bottle. I know this will take time and guildlines say 6mths before weaning but i feel weaning now is right thing to do. Thanks in advance

Sorry no advice about early weaning, but was just wondering why you want to cut a bottle out?

Hi. Once he is established on spoon feed i want to take away 11pm bottle so as he sleeps from 8pm-6am. Obviously if he still needs the top up i will continue to give it.

I wouldn't be looking to reduce milk feeds at 20 weeks tbh, as nothing is going to be more nutritious or calorific than that.

Don't the Annabel Karmel/Gina Ford type weaning books give advice on this sort of thing?

In not looking to reduce milk feed at 20wks. I will look to do this once a solid/milk feeding has been established but only when he is taking 3 spoon feeds. Im simply looking for advice from other mums on how they weaned , how long it took before introducing 2nd and 3rd spoon feed for future reference

Current advice is not to start before 20 weeks, why did you feel it was right to start early, did your HV / GP recommend? mine was quite stern about not starting early.

Well if it helps I got to 3 meals a day at around 8 months, which is what is suggested by the NHS (around 8 to 9 months is what they suggest). Milk feeds dropped naturally from this point without having to force the issue.

If its any help I weaned at 19 weeks but on the advice of a paediatric consultant who had looked after my premature twins and wanted them to gain weight more quickly. This was 10 yrs ago (when the general advice was to wean between 4-6 months).

We introduced baby rice, very watery (made up with EBM) and stuck to that for about 2 weeks, once a day gradually making it thicker. Then very slowly introduced pureed fruit and veg.

For me personally if I was weaning early I'd make sure it was all home prepared.

Current advice is actually not to start weaning before 17wks. I felt it was right to start at 20wks as I felt that my son was ready. Not to be rude but I don't feel that I need to explain my reason for that.

Hi mandy. Thanks for that. How soon after starting to spoon feed did you introduce 2nd and 3rd spoon feed. My goal is to give my son homemade food as I'm not keen on the jars.

Perhaps you could ask your health visitor, OP, as absent a medical condition there's no reason to wean a child so early - and it seems you think that by stuffing your baby with low nutrition pap instead of milk it'll make your child sleep through, which isn't the case. There are very real risks to weaning early, perhaps the HV could explain them to you

I also started weaning my prem baby at about 18 weeks ten years ago. I can 't remember when he had a second spoon meal every day, but I do recall he went very quickly from having "lunch" to having "breakfast" too - perhaps within abut three weeks? I didn't keep a record and was very much led by what he wanted to do (which was eat )

It was a very long time before he slept through a decent amount, though - closer to seven months

I am NOT filling my baby with low nutritional pap to make him sleep through!!! Tbh I don't know why I even bothered to ask for advice or experiences on here as it seems that the only thing that happens is mothers get ridiculed and Interigated for simply asking for advice. There is no need to attack for asking a question

No one is attacking you Sweetie. Your choice to wean early goes against advice and carries risks and posters are just pointing this out. Lots of parents wean early because they are given poor advice and posters are just trying to help. To answer your question though, my understanding is that regardless of when you start weaning you should aim for 2 meals a day by 7 months and 3 meals a day by 8 months. I think that you should take it slowly if you introduce solids at this early stage.

Hi Christine. Thanks for your comment. Im afraid of introducing 2nd feed too early which is the reason for my question. Although some people think that i want to shove solids into my baby to get him to sleep. My baby already sleeps through the night and has done so since he was 8wks old. This was led by him not me. I would give him a top up bottle around 11pm but eventually I would think i would no longer need to give this bottle once he is feeding well on solids. Obviously this will be led by my baby.

Hi clarinsgirl. I do feel like im being attacked for doing what i feel is right for my baby. My hv told me that if i wanted to feed early to do so after 17wks which is what i have done. The reason for me asking advice here is to gain other mothers experiences. I am taking it slowly but im asking questions for future reference. I am well aware of the guildlines to not wean until after 6mths but they are just that, guidelines. Not all babies are the same. What is right for my baby may not be right for another and vice versa.

I started weaning Dd around the same age as she was so hungry and ready for it. She started taking baby rice at lunchtime for the first two weeks, then added breakfast for two weeks then we added a dinner of pureed vegetables. Now at six months she has a morning bottle, fruit mid morning, pureed vegetables at dinner time and a bottle and bowl of baby porridge at 8 before bed. She usually has 4 8oz bottles a day. This is what works for us. Cant offer any advice about sleeping as dd had already been sleeping 9-7/8 from 3 months. Do whatever feels right for you and your ds.

Also, I found that once solid food was well established, the first feed to be dropped was the lunchtime one. The last feed at night was needed for quite a while but maybe that was just my DS's.

Hi passthenutella. Your comment has helped thank you. Can I ask. Before u spoon fed how many oz/bottles did your baby take? Did that change once u started weaning? Sleeping isnt the problem as my baby sleeps from 8pm to 6/6:30am. I wake him for feed at 11pm. So sleeping isnt an issue for us

Im more than happy to give last feed later in the evening. I think that somewhere along the line I have been mistaken for wanting to remove this completely for my baby to sleep through. But as i say sleeping isn't an issue

She would have taken 5 of the 8oz but shes dropped the lunchtime one completly since she started spoon feeds. I had started making smaller bottles but she seemed happier just having fewer 8oz bottles. As for the 11pm feed its up to you but I always felt that unless she woke up hungry I wouldnt have woken her to feed.

I would definitely recommend reading up on weaning, libraries should have a selection of books with different approaches. The Mumsnet weaning page is also useful, as is the NHS weaning advice section.

Many of the books will have a stages and food plan to follow which might be helpful.

Thanks guys

sweetiesavage1 you will always be attacked for weaning early...I was treated like shit by a few sanctimonious Mnetters even though I weaned at 18 weeks on the advice of a paediatrician. - I guess there will always be people out there who think they know better than a dr!
My DD (now 21 weeks) has Apatamil porridge + 5oz bottle for breakfast, a 7oz bottle around lunchtime, another 7oz bottle mid-afternoon, then has either homemade veg/fruit puree, various finger foods (she loves organic rice cakes!), and little bits of whatever me and DH are having for dinner. She then has another 7oz bottle before bed, and usually wakes once around 3/4am for another 7oz bottle, then sleeps until 7am. I introduced the second "spoon feed" last week, and she is doing great! I've had her weighed every week since I started weaning (again on the advice of paediatrician) and she is gaining wonderfully! I wouldn't worry about the 11pm top up feed at the moment - some babies still need feeding in the night up to the age of 6 months. I'm going to keep going with the one night feed until DD is 6 months old and then try to slowly drop it, because she is still golloping down the full 7oz at the moment! And remember, you know your baby best! If he seems satisfied with his porridge and smaller bottle in the mornings then go with it ....as long as he is gaining weight, still wetting plenty of nappies in a day and isn't pushing the food back out of his mouth when you put it in, then I don't see a problem!!
(Naughty mummy!!! Not following NHS guidelines to the letter )