completely confused re weaning

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hv says start at 6 months not earlier at all

my 3 1/2 month old lo seems to always be hungry (bottle fed)

eats 4-9 1/2 (120ml-270ml) ounces every time totalling every day at least a litre but never sleeps through night..was waking up once now twice..and i think it is going to get worse

do i start with some babyrice? do i guve hungry formula? why is that frowned on??? do i give puree?

what do i do?

wont go up a teat size to size three..

could be just a growth spurt....they have a growth spurt at around 16weeks if i remember correctly.....otherwise cant help i'm afraid as my two were 6mths before wanting anything else other than milk!!!

Your LO is gearing up for a growth spurt. You need to increase the amount of milk you are giving, I don't know much about formula so I don't know how. Milk has far more calories than puree or rice, so changing won't help.

Before a growth spurt babies stock up on the calories by feeding more often and taking more each feed. They will also feed more at night than normal as women make more prolactin at night and babies know this - unfortunately they still do this even when formula fed. Not only are they stocking up but they cause mum to make more milk (again they still act like this if they are formula fed).

Milk is very important through this stage, they need all the milk and calories they can get. If you can hold off a little while this stage shouldn't last too long.

if he seems hungry you need to give more milk. this can seem awkward when you're used to a certain routine of feeds and amounts per feed. silly as it sounds but early weaning isn't about satisfying hunger, that's what milk is for. weaning is about learning about food, joining in at meal times etc. when it's about filling tummies and trying to get them to sleep longer that's when things get a bit messed up.

do not wean, honestly, he is too young, IMO and in the opinion of WHO

this is typical growth spurt time

try feeding on demand, as much as he will take, adding more to each bottle if he is draining each feed..

you could try hungry baby milk, but introduce it slowly, with a feed in the morning , so if it gives him tummy ache, you won;t be up all night with him

puree and rice will not fill him up, an extra milk feed or 3 ! will fill him far more than a spoon of rice or carrot

just need to ride it out

if there is a history of alleriges and / or excema in your families, that is a compelling reason to delay weaning until 6 months

but i fill bottle to max - nearly 10 ounces

so cant go more

he doesnt always take it but does sometimes

i am feeding completely on demand

just many times every day..... still.....

Formula-milk is more calorie dense than most of the early solids, and more easily digested. Why give him something (solids) with fewer calories and harder to digest? Wouldn't make sense... i'd just offer more milk (do you need to buy more bottles?).

Haven't read all of this link but there is advice about how much formula a baby needs. hth

Hi, just had a quick look at Wallace's link and just to reassure you my DS was having loads more than the "recommended" amount for his age according to that! Not saying that the info is wrong just that it's poss for a baby to be happy and healthy and just very HUNGRY and need lots of milk! At 3 or 4 months he was on about 35oz formula a day (not sure what that is in ml/L!) and by the time we started weaning at 6.5 months he was on about 50oz a day. He is now v big for his age despite being prem at birth, but he's not overweight (as his height is in proportion with his weight).

He will be asking for constant feeds, Tink would be on the breast 45 minutes in every hour, I'd hate to have been making bottles up too! It won't last though, just have a few days where you do nothing else. When your OH comes in get him to take over to give you a break.

Giving purees or any other solids isn't going to help at all, as someone else already said, there are far less calories in other food.