Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Flip

Original poster

early weaning

19 replies

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:04

hello there,

My ds is almost 4mths and big baby. mixed fed for 3mths and ff now. Takes 7oz 3hrly in day and sleeps 7-8 hrs at night.

Was planning to follow guidelines and wean at 6mths and possibly try BLW. however, last wk or so looks 'interested' in our food and we have on occasion let him have alittle bit of cream/ice cream off our finger he has got very excited.

Today he was watching me eat toast and i let him suck a little bit of it, with me holding it, again excited and cried when i took it away. I know i shouldnt have. Does that mean he is ready to wean or am i just teasing him. He seems settled on ff tbut this has got me thinking.

OP posts:

lulumama · 02/01/2008 11:06

it is very early days

cream/ice cream licked off a finger is not the same as solid food, is it? it is similar consistency to milk

if he is sleeping and taking milk well in the day, what is the hurry?

you cannot see inside your baby's gut to see if it is mature enough to handle food

babies are interested in everything, not just food... if he was watching you washing up, with avid interest, would you snap on the marigolds and hand him a brush??

if it ain;t broke, don;t fix it

also toast is not good at this age, you should try to avoid gluten until 6 months plus

dd666 · 02/01/2008 11:08

its personall choice i fed dd early but that was before i found mn so had no clue about blw you could try with yoghurts etc baby cereal or just toast etc hoping to bump for someone who blw's

lulumama · 02/01/2008 11:08

there are signs that a baby is ready for waening. holding their heads up and loss of the tongue thrust reflex are two important indicators

you cannot harm by hanging on , but too early weaning, especially if there is a family history of allergies is not a good idea

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:09

yes i know . Wouldnt have planned on giving him bread at this age. Maybe i should keep my fingers to myself. I suppose its hard os ds 1 was weaned at this age when the guidelines were different and ds2 is a bigger baby(i know it doesnt make any difference, but he looks old enough to be eating solids!)

He is a very contented baby. I suppose it just me thinking

OP posts:

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:10

i absolutely wanted to hang on till 6mths or at least 5 mths when i go back to work and he will go nursery one day per wk.

OP posts:

MrsBadger · 02/01/2008 11:11

lulu is wise - ain't broke, don't fix

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:12

he does hold head up but not sure what you mean about the tongue business??!

OP posts:

lulumama · 02/01/2008 11:12

so, why the hurry? you sound like you are not that bothered about weaning early... you could unsettle your settled baby , why rock the boat? sounds like you have it going really well...

as i said, you cannot see inside your baby;s gut to see if it is ready for food

have a look at BLW site for more tips and inspiration

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:13

i have looked at BLW site before, thanks!

OP posts:

lulumama · 02/01/2008 11:15

the tongue thrust reflex... babies will automatically use their tongue to push stuff out of their mouths, stuff that is not milk.. and when they lose that, it is far easier to get food in, or it just comes straight back out ! it stops the baby choking

tjos is very interesting

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:20

thanks lulu, very interesting. I have gone back to being normal again now. I will not tempt poor baby with food he doesnt yet need. But i am gonna look out for those cues and naybe do it slightly earlier if necessary.

OP posts:

sleepdeprivationandme · 02/01/2008 11:24

I had the same with both my boys - ds2 4 1/2 mths. Big, moving all over the place, people look at me like I am mad woman when I say he is this age. After discussion with our health visitor, she advised that as he was having (40+ oz) of milk in any 24hr period that that is not necessarily the best thing for him either.

She suggested the hungry baby formula - tired it - only really unsetteld him, screaming etc. So I have begun over the last 2 weeks slowly slowly careful weaning. Sugar free, gluten free rusk, and last week home made organic apple puree,I've just got him some carrot to try. He is perfectly happy, sleeps well and gs seem to be suiting him. Why dont you have a chat with your HV if she is anygood! I would say that for us it was by far the best thing - only be careful about what you offer at this age. I have no intention of offering meat/fish/cheese/yog until 6 mths.

Enjoy !

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 11:29

Thanks sleep!

Hes such a big boy! he honestly looks like he is 5 or 6 mths old. Ive gotta see HV next week so i will mention it but i suspect she will also say wait.

I wouldnt say he was having huge volumes of formula. 7 0z 3 hrly in day. Goes bed at 730 then still wakes in night(about 3-4 am)then up at 7am ish. What do you think of that?

OP posts:

Seona1973 · 02/01/2008 12:22

my ds was over 20lbs when I started weaning at 5 1/2 months (quite big considering he was born 7lb 13oz). He fed 3 hourly till around 4 months and dropped back to 4 hourly just over 4 months. He still woke for a feed at night till he was 8 months so solids are not necessarily going to help with night wakings.

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 12:28

not bothered about night waking. DS1 WOKE UNTIL 5-6MTHS AND HE WAS ON SOLIDS, SO KNOW DOESNT MAKE a DIFFERENCE. eXCUSE CAPS!!
Reckon ds2 is 20lbs already! . He was over 16lbs a month ago.

OP posts:

ShowOfHands · 02/01/2008 12:29

I started weaning at 26 weeks when dd was about 23lb (smaller than Seona's baby at birth!) and wearing 9-12 month clothing. She continued to feed 2 hourly (breastfeed that is) until just recently (8 months) and she now manages every 3-4 hours. Solids are definitely not the answer to night waking.

SanAndreas, everything sounds tickety boo. I dream of only one night feed.

gegs73 · 02/01/2008 12:38

I weaned both DS1/DS2 early. 16 weeks DS1 and about 19 weeks DS2 as they were drinking huge quantities of milk.

Only thing I will say is that if you do wean early don't give bread. The only things they should be having is baby rice and puree fruit/veg until 6mo.

Weaning didn't help either DS sleep, what did was slowly reducing the amount they drunk in the night until they were having less than an ounce then they stopped waking up. Problem I have now is DS2 is an early waker at 5.30 every morning!

Original poster

SanAndreas · 02/01/2008 15:00

yes you are right, everything is tickety boo, i should be glad he only wakes once in the night. If someone would have said a couple of mths ago that would be happening now id have jumped for joy!

Never thought about reduced amount of feeds during night, but actually he does take less at night probably leaves a couple of ounce.

OP posts:

Aitch · 02/01/2008 18:51

apart from the no gluten thing, personally i'd put it off because it's a pain in the neck compared with lovely clean easy to transport milk.

Flip