waiting 'till 26 weeks is HARD!

[Caz10]

dd is 24wks and i am going out of my mind with tiredness as she is feeding every 2hrs or even less (i know, food may not make a difference!)

i can't eat while bf-ing her anymore as she swipes at the food, and has started trying to get her hand in at my mouth whe there's food in it! (yes, i know, she swipes at everything, it's not just the food!)

she screeeeams when dh or i finish our food and take the plates away

my MIL is driving me insane with constant remarks containing the words "starving" "baby rice" and "proper milk"

yes i know it's only a fortnight...rant over!!

Give her some real food if you want too!

You know you can let her swipe (safe) stuff now - if it makes its way to her mouth and gets swallowed, she is ready. They develop that ability at the same time that their gut is ready to take solids.

TheProvincialLady I did wonder about that - having read a few of the threads and links on here re early weaning, gut maturity etc I was feeling quite determined to wait. And I agree with the posters who say that given that you can't see inside your lo's gut to see if they are ready, why risk it? But they're not all going to be ready at bang on 26 weeks, so I wondered if dd's sudden interest in trying to shove food in her mouth wouldn't have come about if she wasn't close to that point?
Do you reckon then, that if left to their own devices, they instinctively won't swallow the food until their insides are up to it?

It's not just what I reckon. The La Leche League have always said that weaning onto solids can begin around the middle of the first year - if the child can sit up well by itself and can get the food into its own mouth and swallow. These things apparently develop at the same time as gut maturity - which makes sense if you think about it.

I decided to go for this approach and at 24 weeks I let my son at a chunk of banana as he had been showing so much interest. But despite a lot of trying he was not quite ready to get it in his mouth (I was really tempted to help him but managed to resist!), but I kept offering and he kept trying and playing with food, then at about 6.5m he finally got the food in and ate some! You should check out the Baby Led Weaning/BLW threads on here, they are really useful.

Firstly well done for getting to this point.

This is probably a growth spurt, so I would wait a few days to see if it eases up then, if you want to, start with food play. Put baby in the highchair with bits of carrot/broccoli/whatever, and see what happens.

Have a look at Aitchs blog it's likely she won't eat anything straight away anyway.

Thanks all!

VS I've been on Aitch's chat forum for a few weeks now, as I am (sadly) very excited about BLW! She has been like this for weeks now, the no sleep thing started at 15wks and I assumed it was the often mentioned 16wk growth spurt, but it has never improved

The give-me-your-food tantrums/grabbing and stealing have only started in earnest over the past week or so, so I guess the 2 are not connected.

We have finally got her highchair, so I think I might just sit her up with us at mealtimes (we are going to have to stop our lazy tea on a tray watching telly routine) and give her some bits to try and see what she does.

I think I am getting my head muddled around giving her solids and offering them IYSWIM...I feel as long as I am not shovelling them into her pre-26wks it is probably ok?

Well that's how I felt. There is a big difference between offering and giving IMO. She might just play with the food, or she might eat it - but if you offer it is her choice.

i think so, yes. if you give her a shot and she picks it up and eats it, it makes sense that she's ready imo.

am so bizarrely excited at thought of seeing my lo pick something up and eat it - does everyone get like this?!!

am so tired and disorganised at the moment that I'm quite sure it will take me the best part of a week to get myself together enough to go and buy vegetables etc, by which point she'll be 25wks and I'll feel better about it!

i do think you are right too, if she eats it on her own, she is ready.

Caz, I had the feeling my little one was ready for food at 5 months. By 5.5 he was ripping my food away and eating it independently. I think that was a sign and have let him choose his food from my plate (if save) ever since.

I have to admit, I'm not sure if waitng another two weeks will make that much difference. I would start letting her take food at 24 weeks.

Those two weeks might make all the difference if she is a baby that isn't ready til 26weeks.

However, each week waited, that risk gets smaller (the possibilty of a baby being ready before 17 weeks is apparently zero, whereas the possibility at 26 weeks is supposedly close to 100% so each stage will get higher possibility and lower risk) and it has been suggested that a babies development will go in line with its physical readiness.

It's very unlikely an animal of any form would be developmentally able to do something before it was physically able, so if she is able to sit unaided and pick up some food, put said food into her mouth, chew and swallow, then nature suggests she is ready.

Caz, we are a week ahead of you (25 weeks and a bit now), and our little one took matters in to her own hands (literally) over the weekend when we offered her a cooked carrot stick to play with and shoved it into her mouth (we had cooked a batch for her later on in the week) - so we took that as a sign that she is ready!

Since then she's gone mad for food, demolishing apples, nectarines, brocolli, melon (the last two at the same time, different hands).

It's really quite cool - but we aren't too upset that she beat us to the count by a few days! It certainly brightened up our weekend of rain!

Good luck!

Yes but Caz a few months down the line you'll be groaning to yourself thinking "Now I have to get off my arse and get dd some dinner, I wish she was still just breastfed"

Lets count down together... 13

Hee hee you are so right clairey! I'm quite sure my complete laziness is why we haven't cheated and started yet anyway!
13 days is not long....

(13 nights can be Veeeeeeeeeery long.....!)

ILD that's brilliant! You must keep us posted on the "little acorns" how your dd's weight goes once she gets wellied in about those veggies! Is she still bf-ing madly? dd has gone back to the 2hrly routine at night..zzzz

VS - v sensible thoughts - I think (again when we get organised) I will let her take the (safe) food when she wants it and just see what happens - right now I am keeping it away from her and it's causing tantrums!

My intention was to wait until 26 weeks, it always was. However, my DS is now 21 weeks and is becoming increasingly difficult. He has been a very tricky baby from birth but in the last couple of weeks it has been quite unbearable. Very unsettled behaviour all day. He used to settle well at night, but now he's awake hourly from 8.30pm and I haven't slept properly for over a week.

I know all the guidelines say wait until 26 weeks, but I'm not convinced that starting earlier would be detrimental. The way I see it is happy mum = happy baby and I simply don't have the energy to wait another 5 weeks. My HV says that in 24 years she could count on one hand the number of babies who made it to 26 weeks.

A big WELL DONE to those who make it this long. I wish I could have done so. My DS had his first spoonful of baby rice today. His mouth was clamped shut so I used my finger at first. He wasn't entirely sure and then threw it up half an hour later. So......it will be a slow process but we'll get there!

so he didn't want it, clamped his mouth shut to stop the spoon getting in and then threw it up?

and you still think giving him solids is the way to go?

I didn't think he would take it straightaway. I know it might take time. He took it off my finger though.

I know it is a controversial decision to start weaning early. But tbh, I will try ANYTHING now. He is well over the minimum age of 17 weeks. Please don't judge - you have no idea what sort of baby he is. Screams day and night. It took me 8 weeks to establish bf and now it seems to be the only thing that keeps him happy. However........he will not accept more feeds during the day - he just pushes me away. It has got to the stage where we had to take the bull by the horn and do something to save our sanity.

For the record, I don't really think solids now is the way forward but I had to try something, anything. I don't think you can judge unless you've experienced my DS's behaviour mornng, noon and night. There is no let-up.

Sounds like you're having a rough time. Has the GP or HV said anything useful? Has he been tested for silent reflux? Dairy intolerance?

Sounds like she's telling you she wants to feed herself. Let her try, if she's ready she will get it in, if she's not she won't and you will have the decision taken out of your hands. But everyone said that already!

at "proper milk" proper milk for babies is breast milk, proper milk for calves is cows milk...

Ignore her

No wonder she can count on one hand, she sounds soooo supportive of the guidelines.

17 weeks is not the minimum recommendation though! The minimum recommendation is 26 weeks. 17 weeks is a "never before", knowing that some people won't listen to reason.

He obviously isn't ready for solids and most likely he is actually going through a growth spurt and needs all the milk he needs, solids will just take up space that the milk - therefore calories - he needs can't.

No MrsBadger, there is nothing wrong with him. We've been to the GP and he's been checked for all those things. He is what you call a "high-needs" baby - he won't be put down to play and wants to be carried everywhere. Even then he gets bored. Clutching at straws really, but we've been hoping a bit of food might help but I can't see that happening. My DH is worried I'm having a nervous breakdown (I'm not, I'm fine, just knackered) so in order to appease him I promised we'd try weaning.

HV just sympathises. She's very supportive but can't really fathom him out. When he's happy he's adorable but that's not very often as he gets very overtired and angry. He used to sleep reasonably well at night (not sleeping through by any means) but is waking hourly and has done for weeks now, hence the decision to at least consider weaning.

overtired is no fun at all
I guess you've tried solving the sleep problems by normal routes already (NCSS, cosleeping etc)...

Sounds a lot like Tink. I did find that having her in a wrap helped and I used to walk a lot as she would be quiet when we were out and not so demanding on the breast.