Told to wean at 4 months

[Cookalia]

We've been told to start weaning our DD at 4 months by a consultant in the hospital and by our HV.

She's exclusively BF and we've been told to start with baby rice or baby porridge mixed with breastmilk. Has anyone else been told to do this? Any tips/hints etc?

I’m a little surprised tbh, as porridge/baby rice is far less calorific than milk. If she already has a small appetite, giving her food may decrease her appetite for milk further.

FWIW my DD was born on the 1st centile - went up to the 9th, dropped to the 2nd and hovered around there for a while. She didn’t really start gaining well until 7 months when she started eating proteins and ‘proper’ food. Baby porridge, veg, fruit etc didn’t do anything for her weight gain, all it did was make her want less milk.

She’s 10.5 months now and still a tiny little thing (about 18lbs so doing okay) but I think that’s just how she’s built. (I’m tiny myself).

I’m not saying don’t do it, that’s up to you just sharing my experience.

I was told to wean dd early I said no I’ll wait until 6 months because of her reflux and weight loss due to cmpa. The weight stabilised months ago and I’m glad I waited until she was 6 months for solids as it’s made no difference to the puking.
I do give her baby rice as the fruit and veg doesn’t stay down but it fills her up and then she wakes up ravenous because there’s not enough calories in it. I mix it with oatly because my milk curdles quick.
I would ask for the high calorie formula to mix her food and if and dieticians referral.

@Cookalia

Thanks *@Vicky1989x* yes to holding head and sitting when supportive.

Not due to reflux, she's small and never gained the minimum of 110g a week but has always gained and is hitting everything else developmental wise, is happy etc so they dont know why she isnt gaining (not a supply or feeding issue) so it is a case of try the weaning and seeing if it helps

Just a thought. Has she been checked for a tongue tie? Reflux is often misdiagnosed when the main issue is actually a tongue tie.

My dd (19 now!) was weaned at 12 weeks due to very low weight gain and needing extra calories. She was ready to eat thankfully, and it really helped her. We were also given something called poly cal which could be added to her food to give her extra calories. My dd ended up falling off the chart for her weight as she has a jaw deformity which made drinking bottles extremely difficult and was why were were asked to wean her.

Bliss has some good info about weaning early. Might be worth a look.

Just a thought. Has she been checked for a tongue tie? Reflux is often misdiagnosed when the main issue is actually a tongue tie. that's so true. Milk Matters have some really good info on TT heree*.

Just wanted to say, take it slowly and don't be surprised if LO takes tiny amounts at first and if sleep gets worse fir a while.

You've probably been advised to offer food just once a day at first, so I'd try in the morning then hopefully their tummy will have settled by bedtime.

There's some good Weaning Recipes on MNN and some really good suggestions of what to try them with in on Page 17 of this guidee.

As well as introducing solids, this guide on increasing weight from Kellymomm* might be helpful.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Just to add that I was told to wean DS at 16 weeks and it made no difference unfortunately. He's 17 now and has always been roughly on the same centile but we are both quite small. My DSIL was told by the HV once that her DD was "too tall". Not sure what the HV was proposing she did about that...

@BunnyRuddington

Just a thought. Has she been checked for a tongue tie? Reflux is often misdiagnosed when the main issue is actually a tongue tie. that's so true. Milk Matters have some really good info on TT heree*.

Just wanted to say, take it slowly and don't be surprised if LO takes tiny amounts at first and if sleep gets worse fir a while.

You've probably been advised to offer food just once a day at first, so I'd try in the morning then hopefully their tummy will have settled by bedtime.

There's some good Weaning Recipes on MNN and some really good suggestions of what to try them with in on Page 17 of this guidee.

As well as introducing solids, this guide on increasing weight from Kellymomm* might be helpful.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

I used milk matters. They are amazing.

I used milk matters. They are amazing

Just wish I'd found out about TT and Milk Matters when DC1 was a baby. Never heard if it until I was PG with DC2 and joined MN.

@BunnyRuddington

I used milk matters. They are amazing

Just wish I'd found out about TT and Milk Matters when DC1 was a baby. Never heard if it until I was PG with DC2 and joined MN.

It took me two babies, a stint as a breastfeeding peer supporter and a third baby with a 100% tie before I hear about them. You can only do what you can with the knowledge you have at the time x

This is a random one but have they measured baby’s height? My baby is 4 and a half months and she was born on 75th centile but by 10 weeks had dropped to 25th and then to 9th by 14 weeks. HV and I were having a bit of a panic but confused as she was ahead developmentally, alert, happy and feeding well. It was only when we talked about me being tiny that she decided to measure her. She’s only on the 2nd centile for height which then meant she came up as slightly overweight rather than under!

How tall are you and the baby’s dad? I would be reluctant to introduce solids at such a young age, would you consider adding 1 bottle of formula a day instead for a few weeks and seeing if her weight goes up? If so then it’s a milk issue, if not then you can rule that out.

Also would you mind saying how much she actually weighs?