To wean or not to wean, that is the question....

[routineschmootine]

Helllllllp. My DD is 23 weeks old and exclusively breast fed. She feeds very frequently (on demand) in the day and there are no issues in this area. However - up until about 4 months old she slept great at night, waking only once at around 4/5 then sleeping through till 7. Since 4 months that has all gone out the window and she is awake every hour and a half / two hours again - nothing but a feed will settle her.
I am by no means under the illusion that weaning is going to be the miraculous solution to this - but - do you think she is just showing that she is ready for it? Initially I was holding out for 6 months whatever happened - but now I am not so sure.

also - is it 6 months or 24 weeks? 24 weeks is only next week.... That might help things....
Thanks

Hi, I started to wean my dd at 5 months and she took to it very well. She was bf and then ff. I was still doing a dream feed at 6 months - just until she was established on solids. You are nearly there anyway so you could try her on purees or baby rice....or some do BLW....which is what I am doing now as by 7 months my dd decided that she did not like to be fed with a spoon......weaning is great fun. It's lovely to see them try new things. x

it's meant to be 6 calendar months
but is she sitting up well alone? lost her tongue thrust reflex? grabbing things and sticking them in her mouth? (more real signs here - sleep is a red herring)
if not, hold out

but if so there is no harm giving her a stick of steamed carrot / chunk of banana / slice of peach to mess about with

hmmmmmm - well she can't sit unaided yet, but she is definitely trying to get everything into her mouth. She was staring and staring at an apple I was eating the other day, so I let her suck on it and mess around with it - and she really went for it and cried every time it was taken away from her. I am not sure whether she has lost her tongue thrust relex though as she has not been given the opportunity to demonstrate it if you see what I mean. I just don't know - I don't what to rush things unnecessarily - but then again I don't want to delay them unnecessarily either.

I had a similar problem. 5 month old DD was waking up twice a night absolutely starving after a couple of months of sleeping through. I had been determined to EBF to 6 months so was very upset at prospect of weaning earlier. However, when thought about it logically, decided to give in. She has been sitting up since before she was 5 months (absolutely solid by 5 months) and I think she was just using up a lot more calories during the day because of this. Also, the waking in the night was upsetting her as much as us (it was so obvious she didn't want to be awake, but really needed to feed).

She's now been on solids for just under 2 weeks (she's just over 24 weeks now), and loves it. We have also now had 3 nights in a row of her sleeping through. It is a dificult decision, but make it based on what you think is best for YOUR child. Remember that the guidelines are based on an average. Some may need to be weaned a bit earlier, some can wait a bit longer.

PS I was told by a breastfeeding speacialist HV that they work on 24 weeks as being the best time.

Thanks everyone. YummyMam - I feel exactly like you describe - I too have been determined to EBF to 6 months, and definitely feel funny about weaning earlier -because of the guidelines I guess. Your DD is a little more energetic than mine, using up more calories with sitting etc - mine isn't doing anything terribly energetic at the mo. I am terribly envious of 3 nights of sleep tho! I bet that's lovely! (the hallucinations begin again......)