Weaning... have i shot myself in the foot?

[keylovesAva]

Hi All,
Can i ask for some advice/guidance pls

I have two DD, 2 (almost 3) and 7 month old. You'd think with this being my second child i would have some sort of idea of what i am doing but alas today it would seem not! :(

I took DD2 to get weighed today and the HV was a little curt and said she was "too big", i said what do you mean? She said that DD2 had jumped 1.5 percentiles and that it was a bit rapid. She then asked if we had established weaning.

In all honestly i have been struggling with the two of them and we just got over the potty training mountain finally with DD1 so maybe i have dropped the ball. DD2 isnt fully on solids yet. On this occasion i have introduced BLW and spoon feeding as she seems to enjoy holding her food and i manage to get some food in her mouth on the odd occasion.. However with this being said the HV said she is getting way too much milk and to drop her to 3 feeds a day - she is currently on 5ish

I feel pretty awful - i always thought we led with the milk as that is their main source of nutrition until they are 1, but today i've been told different.

She wasn't born a heavy baby and was just over 7lbs 2oz at birth and is still small but this talk of growth jump has me oddly concerned. I think i am a bit offended by her tone too but trying to get past that and look at how to approach weaning better and get it going better in the mix of running around with a 3 year old.

Do any of you have any tips?

Thanks all x

[ParrotsForLife]

My main tip would be ignoring your HV as no 7mo (if started weaning at 6mo) is fully on solids. Babe needs milk milk milk.

[keylovesAva]

@parrotsforlife this is what i thought! - and yes we started bang on 6 months!

[tappitytaptap]

She sounds a bit mad, my 9.5 month old still has 4 feeds in the day and 1 or 2 at night and he's on 3 decent meals a day. What you are doing sounds fine (and what I did with DS2 as well, some spoon and some finger food, led by him). I'm only now over the next month or so going to try and drop the middle of the day feeds for going back to work.

[Embracethechaos]

3 feeds a day at 7 months! I breastfeed, didn't count, just fed on demand but I did count once and it was more like Advise I've heard from hv to friends babies who put on too much weight is reassurece and that they normally go back to their percentile as they become more mobile.

[Sevo7]

I really wouldn’t worry,milk is meant to be their main source of nutrients at this age. My dd who is 8 months and on 3 meals a day still breastfeeds at least 4/5 times in the day plus a bottle before bed and 3 times at night, she’s also jumped up the centile chart slightly but isn’t even chubby and I’m sure if there is any excess it will start to come off once they’re mobile.

[oyoyoy]

I got told the same by our HV and got told to stop any night feeds and give LO water instead. I said that wouldn't be happening as I wasn't concerned about my baby and reiterated how the growth percentiles aren't 100% valid and reliable and it depends on other factors how tall/heavy a baby is. She looked at me with a disgusted look on her face and wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the appointment. I didn't even get a "bye" as we left! 🤷🏻‍♀️

[oyoyoy]

Ps. I have a baby who is a nightmare to feed (it takes us ages to get a few spoonfuls in him) but he does like certain foods over others. He's on 2 meals a day (approx) and the rest is milk- mostly at night.

[keylovesAva]

@oyoyoy that's insane! Water?? So no night nutrition!! This seems extreme. I do think that some advice should come from someone maybe more well informed, like a nutritionalist or doctor. I've heard so many mothers who have said that their child has fluctuated on the percentile and it levelled out as they have gotten older
It's so easy to develop complexes over these things

[oyoyoy]

Yup, water. This coming from a children's professional who should know better.

It's so easy to develop complexes over these things

It really is and I did in the early days about my baby's lack of sleep, etc. but I've had to ignore what the books/other 'well-meaning' people around me say and trust my instinct as a mother and hope that I know what my child is like and what I need to do to help them. I told my HV that my baby was cruising and will soon lose the puppy fat once he's fully on his feet and he'll soon balance out. Like I said, she wasn't impressed! Carry on doing what you're doing. X

[popehilarious]

She's jumped 1.5 percentiles? As in e.g from 50th centile to 51.5? That's absolutely nothing, am I missing something?

[Preggosaurus9]

Thought the current advice was "food is for fun until they're one" !

[popehilarious]

^^ that's usually from v pro-breastfeeding groups. It's actually not the best advice because they should be learning to eat when they start (ime it can take several months for them to learn the mechanics of eating) and actually eating a basic amount of solids by one. I heard this mantra all the time and my dc1 self-weaned before 1 and it made me unnecessarily worried.

[keylovesAva]

@popehilarious I just checked her book and she was just above the 50th and now looks like she's smack bang in-between 50th and 75th ?!

I thought food was fun until they're one too but by what she was saying she made it seem like solids had to be fully taken onboard asap.

I definitely think we are still in the stages of understanding eating/food. We are gulping down our meals at all yet.

[keylovesAva]

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