HV said it would be detrimental to my babies health not to wean at 18 weeks

[BornToBeAPrincess]

I'd been having a few problems with my dd2 who's 18 weeks so I decided to go to the baby clinic to see my HV.
Dd2 has been feeding for what seems like 24 hours for a good few weeks now and just wanted some advise on any other ways to try and get her to sleep longer at night (she only sleeps for max of 3 hours before waking for a feed).
They weighed her and it turns out she's dropped off the line she was following. But she has still gained some weight. HV said to me 'I advise you to fatten her up a bit'.
I asked her how I was meant to do this as she is already feeding continuously and she said I should wean her with 'just a bit of baby rice'. I asked if this had more calories than milk and she said 'well not really but it tends to make them put on more weight'
I told her I had heard that the government didn't recommend weaning until 6 months and she said she disagreed with this, it has always been from 4 months.
I said I would rather keep doing what I'm doing and wait until 6 months to wean my baby and she said 'that will be detrimental to your babies health as she clearly needs it'.
So now I'm confused
How can I 'fatten her up' without weaning?

milk, milk and more milk is all your DD2 needs ..as your HV says, baby rice is not even more calorific..so spooning some mush in is hardly the right thing to do.....

do what you are doing, do not take her back to be weighed, if she is well and happy and you know that better than the HV, then carry on with milk until she is 6 months as that is what you want to do!

some children are destined to be petite and trying to fatten a slender child is not always the best thing to do

Thanks, it is nice to be reassured that I'm doing the right thing.
She had me feeling guilty.

She also needs trained with the current guidance!

What percentile is she?
If your DD is not very small and is steadily gaining weight (even if she has slipped off her curve, which I understand to be normal for b/f babies) then I would be inclined to ignore the HV and carry on as normal. You're right - she clearly has no idea about current guidelines.

If DD's weight is very low and you are worried, take her to see a doctor. I do not see how baby rice can make a child put on weight faster than milk if it has less calories. I had understood that it sits more heavily in the child's stomach, so can lead to them feeling fuller for longer. If this is the case, I would have thought it could lead to your baby taking in less milk, therefore less calories rather than more and actually have the opposite effect. I'm no expert, but that seems logical to me.

And don't worry - I bet you're doing fine.

Thanks for our replies.
I'm not really sure about these charts. She was on the line that said 25th (?) and gone down to the 2nd.
Shes 11lb 14 and seems fine to me.
Any ideas how I can stop her waking every 3 hours? I go back to work in 4 weeks and feel like a zombie!

She could still be going through a growth spurt.

Are you worried about her otherwsie? Is she happy and alert, with plenty of wet nappies? Go with your instinct - if you are worried about her weight drop, go to your GP and get a referral to a peadiatrician. If you think she's healthy - stop worrying.

Can't help about the waking up three hours - my ds slept through from 2 weeks (although that in itself caused its own problems with lack of weight gain), so never had that problem!

he did go through a phase at about 16/17 weeks where he wanted feeding a lot more - although fortunately most of that was during the day!

God I am really no expert, but DS at five months got to the point of waking every hour during the night. My HV also recommended weaning and I did give him some baby rice, and then a few days later some carrot and lo and behold he slept like a dream (he was never a good sleeper before). I just wanted to say it did work for us, but if you are not keen to start weaning yet you should not be pressurised to do so at this early stage. 2nd percentile though is quite low, so possibly worth taking her to the doctors just to make sure, but it's not like she has dropped from 90th to 2nd, which WOULD be worrying.

my DD is also 2nd centile and always has been so (now 6 months), but paediatrician was shocked when I suggested baby rice at 4 months and told me to wait until 6 months. They gave me some higher calorie milk to supplement her with (she is breastfed) so maybe this is an option? However in my case this hasn't fattened her up at all, so maybe some babies are just meant to be small!

Thanks BigCookLittleCook.

I'm not really worried about her. She seems perfectly fine to me. Shes alert, smiles and laughs and plenty of wet nappies.
She seems to have had a cold permenantly for the last month so that could be why shes unsettled.
Shes now been bf for over an hour without stopping!

I would lodge a formal complaint about untrained professionals with not even the haziest grasp of basic science.

'Not really but it tends to make them put on more weight.'

How so exactly??????

And as for the 'detrimental' bit-!

Mentalist.

Big fat mentalist.

How odd - haven't read rest of threat, but just to say that 'weaning has always been from 4 months' without explaining why is a bit odd. Anyway, it hasn't always been from 4 months - DH was fed babyrice in a bottle practically from birth because he was so 'hungry' - they wouldn't recommend doing that now.

Thanks noseynora, I think I'll just keep bf on demand for 2 weeks and see how she goes. If she hasn't gained I'll go and see our gp.

Thanks for the advice everyone

complete load of rubbish, and i would complain. if she can't even explain what she's saying then no way would i go with it. the best thing is just feed more milk. loads of people end up starting weaning around the 18 to 20 week because they don't know how to handle the growth spurt that happens at that time. they think the weaning has settled the baby but who's to say the baby wouldn't have settled anyway? you just have to ride these things out.

Thanks for the replies moondog and madameplatypus, this woman isn't even my proper HV. Mine is a lovely woman who always supports me, so I might have a word about this other woman to her.

Forgot to say, DS used to feed for HOURS. He would take two hours for each feed when breastfed (one of the reasons I started giving up bf at three months, as well as gaping hole in left nipple and lots of blood ). So I would start a feed at say 2pm and then finally about 4pm he might say "Ok I'm done now". If I tried to stop him earlier he would scream. (am not suggesting you move to bottles I hasten to add!).

Dizzy, I told her I thought it was a growth spurt and she said it would have settled down by now.
Don't think she knows what shes on about.

Born..I wouldn't trust your GP either.Generally speaking,they know even less about b/feeding and weaniong than HVs.

She sounds absolutely fine,but if you need reassurance.try the lovely people at Assoc for breastfeeding Mothers (who do know what they are talking about.)

Helpline is 0870 401 7711

YThey may have a group near you too.

That woman deserves to be shot!

And the assumption that the wallpaper nutritionally empty gloop that is baby rice is 'needed' more than your lovely tailor made nutritive and calorie dense milk is mindblowing.

BigCookLittleCook, dd2 fed from midnight till half 2 last night. And then woke again at 4:45 for more! I feel like a milk machine.

one other thing princess- yes of course go see the gp if you have concerns about your baby's weight gain but please also be aware that most GPs have had incredibly little bf training. they may have only been taught a tiny bit as part of their original medical training. so if you do go see the gp just bear that in mind when you decide how to take the advice he or she gives you.

ah- moondog got in there first!

Thanks moondog

And thanks Dizzy

Maybe your baby isn't meant to be fat ????? All babies vary as to how they follow the chart-none of my 5 have done the conventional ' following the centile ' thing. Try doing what you feel is best.

Thanks mozhe, wish the HV was as helpful as you guys!