Does 24 weeks count as six months?

[Moomma]

My DS was born at 36 weeks plus 6 days so effectively full term (though mini). He's gained slowly so I haven't been tempted to wean him, but it's getting hard to ignore how keen he is to be eating - staring at his parents as they munch, sitting well, everything going in his mouth and, most noticeably, feeding constantly including through the night which he had started to taper off. I'd like to start slowly rather than having to canter through the first month so he is up to meat by 7 months, as everyone seems to advise. But is 24 weeks old enough? And should I try to wait a bit longer? Not planning on cutting any milk out - he's on 9 or 10 feeds a day though, so it would be nice if he decided to himself...

6 months is 26 weeks (half of 52 weeks).

I started weaning when dd was showing signs of being ready. Not increased feeds, watching you eat etc. Increased feeds are hunger and growth spurts usually and well they watch everything, they watch you drive a car, doesn't mean they're ready to drive!

Signs of readiness:

Sitting up unaided, loss of tongue thrust reflex, pincer grasp and ability to pick up food, bite, chew and swallow. Put a couple of pieces of easy to grip veg in front of him and if he's ready, he'll eat it.

Don't worry about weaning schedules or any of that too much. There's no 'window' that you'll miss by not weaning bang on 26 weeks and not having introduced something in some pre-ordained order.

Thank you! Very helpful. I gave him a bit of cucumber today and he ignored it, so maybe not yet...

You can start slowly at whatever age you start - no need to introduce one thing at a time, unless you want to. It's best to introduce finger foods/lumps by 7 months to aid speech development but if you start at 6 months+ you can do finger foods (or a mix of finger foods and purees or mashed foods) from the start anyway.

Don't cut out any feeds yet - wait until he is really into his food, if he is fed on demand, it's probably easier to let him drop the feeds when he is ready. Milk is still the main source of nutrition until age 1 and food is really just for exploring and learning "This tastes nice and makes my tummy feel full"

It also helps to think of milk feeds as separate from food - remember food is mainly an exploratory experience to start with and doesn't need to go in in any great quantities, so just keep offering milk at normal times, food at meal times, and don't stress about substituting one for the other.

If it is a growth spurt, it's been going on for four or five weeks... so maybe he is just getting greedy. I will take things slowly and easily and hope he enjoys it. My DH used to store food in his cheeks rather than refusing to eat at all, but ended up looking like a chipmunk at the end of meals. Hopefully this is one way his son will be different from him.

TBH I have no idea how I would go about cutting out a milk feed anyway. He knows what he likes and he knows how to demand it!

I think the thing to remember is that a growth spurt isn't just about growing physically. At around this age they are learning some huge things and meeting massive developmental milestones ie sitting, making more complex noises, rolling, hand-eye coordination, manual dexterity, starting to pull up. It takes a lot of calories to do this. It's also a bit of a double-edged sword because while it takes many calories and they need the extra sustenance, the developmental changes also keep their brain so busy that they struggle to sleep as soundly as they might have done previously (I always compare it to starting a new job in adults, you can't sleep properly at all and your brain just whizzes and whirrs as you learn the new skills you need). And once awake, they need familiarity and comfort to settle again, which is often bfeeding. It happens in cycles. You see it particularly when they start to try and walk/talk at around 11/12 months. They lose the inability to switch off and providing them that comfort when the wake for the nth time is helping them through a period of massive change.

Don't think of it as greedy, but as being clever enough to ask for exactly what is needed. They self regulate very well indeed.

I always found that instead of fighting what was developmental and normal, it was easier to adjust my own behaviour and expectations ie how can you make life easier for you. Ask for help with things, sleep when you can, relax, co-sleep, whatever gets you through. It's just a phase, like anything and before you know it he'll be off to university without a backward glance.

Oh, I would feed him for three hours straight at two in the morning without a murmur of complaint; he gets what he needs when he needs it as I have a huge reservoir of guilt over not doing well with breastfeeding initially, and him coming early when I was super-stressed at work/generally (but this is a whole other thread...). I love to feed him since he's a tiddler - every calorie counts. That's one reason I'm so unsure about weaning as I know they often struggle a bit when they've filled up on veggies. He'll be getting his milk first, solids after, and we'll take it slowly. And not for two weeks, I'm now determined.

Thank you so much for advice and reassurance.

"Signs of readiness:

Sitting up unaided, loss of tongue thrust reflex, pincer grasp and ability to pick up food, bite, chew and swallow. Put a couple of pieces of easy to grip veg in front of him and if he's ready, he'll eat it."

I have often wondered about this one. DS2 has only just got his pincer grasp and he is 10mo! Was happily grabbing food in his fists from about 25 weeks though.

6 months is a rough guideline and some babies are ready earlier or later, and you are the best judge of when your DS is ready. The ESPGHAN (European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition) recommends in its position paper: "Complementary feeding (ie, solid foods and liquids other than breast milk or infant formula and follow-on formula) should not be introduced before 17 weeks and not later than 26 weeks." Look at this page