Weaning stopped

[MumtoEliane]

Hi there,

I went away with DD for 6 weeks (to my country of origin), she was bottlefed and before we went she used to sleep all night after her normal feeds and a dream feed. As soon as we arrived she started waking up a lot more, I know it could be the change and noises outside (apartment in middle of city), but a month later she was still the same so I started weaning her at 5 months. She loved the pureed vegies and slept through the night a couple of times. But then she got really constipated and refused milk. I think she was getting to full? and started waking up again. I asked the pharmacyst and the feeding advise was so contradictory to that given in te U.K. that I decided to stop giving her solids. That was 3 days before we came back. The only thing I gave her is a tea type of thing for babies they gave me for the digestion. And as soon as we are back she had a big poo, took most of the bottles and slept through the night!

Do you think it was the change? Did I do well in stopping weaning her? I am getting a bit worried thinking we might have problems when we start again.

Also, in your experience, do your babies stop taking milk when they eat solids, DD went from 28 oz. or so to 15-20. Is this ok? I phoned the HV and she said she shoud take between 28 and 32oz even when weaning. I thought This amount plus the food was too much for her! And everyone else but the HV told me not to worry let her take as much milk as she wants?

So now I want to have my head clear when we start again!

Thanks for reading!

IME babies do reduce milk when weaning, at least at the start. My first was of the "wean at 4 months" generation and I remember talking about what a huge difference in milk consumption, a tiny spoonful of baby rice seemed to make.

Thanks. The HV scared me a bit saying that until 6 months they should take between 28 and 32 oz otherwise they don't get enough nutrients. No need to say that everyone in my family said that was loads of crap as my baby is in an excellent weight and would do her any harm.

But just in case I decided to delay the weaning until 6 months

I meant wouldn't do any harm (to take less milk)

ignore hv

remember if she was still bf you'd have no idea how many oz she was getting, and it still wouldn't matter

well done for backing off on the solids if you think it's disagreed with her. when you restart at 6m, try finger foods as well - lots of babies really enjoy feeding themselves

thanks for the nice words! I have seen somewhere here a list of finger foods to try. I thought she was too small and she might choke?

fist-sized pieces of any soft fruit or veg - so cooked carrot or broccoli, or lumps of pear or banana.

she's unlikely to choke but she might gag (ie make a coughing noise and spit it out) but this is ok as it's part of her learning how to deal with food

loads more about finger food here

Mmm DP says no to finger food, I explained the fist sezed pieces but he says that she might bite little pieces off. Do HV recommend this? I have an appointment soon and I will ask, but as said above, I am not a big fan of hers...

yes, the NHS recommenmd it too
look here

It shows "bad request" when I click on it

oh sorrty

google 'start4life'

Right, HV came yesterday and I know I had to ignore her advice regarding the milk. But she left me gobsmacked. DD is supposed to take 9oz. 4 times a day plus veggies and cereal. 9 oz???????? 9 seriously? the bottle doesen't even have that marked!!

Well today she took 2 bottles of 4 so far and a bit of cooked apple this morning, and I will give her a bit of veg this afternoon. I will be happy if she takes 20oz all together...

I really wouldn't worry about how many oz of milk she is having, as long as you offer her milk frequently and let her take as much as she wants. The main thing is not to enocourage her to cut back or drop feeds too quickly, but you can't force her to drink it, as you well know!

As MrsBadger said, if you were breastfeeding you'd have no idea how much she is having.

This is the official Dept of Health weaning guidelines that you and your HV should be following - notice there's nothing about minimum amounts of milk and it says to offer your baby finger food as soon as they are interested.

Some babies are interested at 6 months, some take a bit longer, but it will do no harm by iffering her some finger food from the word go. If she's not interested that's fine, but if you don't offer it you won't know.

WRT choking, the main things to remember is to ensure she is fully upright when she is eating, not reclined, and let her be in control of the finger foods that she puts in her mouth, ie don't break off lumps of food and pop them in for her. Generally baibes won't try to eat finger foods until they are developmentally ready to eat it, though to begin with she will spit most of it back out again. That's fine too, it's all part of the learning process.

And to repeat MrsBadger [again } don't confuse gagging with choking. Gagging is when a piece of food moves too far back in the mouth and triggers the gag reflex. usually the baby will cough and splutter a bit, the offending piece of food will move forward and baby will carry on quite unperturbed - much more of a parent frightener than anything else. Choking is when food gets lodged in the windpipe. More serious but much much rarer, especially if you follow the guidelines I previously mentioned.

Google Baby Led Weaning. You may not want to follow the whole philosophy (I did with DS2 and it was fantastic, I'd never wean a baby on purees again, but that's just my view) but it's still very good for safe finger food ideas.

Just keep everything relaxed and happy, offer her a good range of foods and plenty of milk and I'm certain she'll do just fine

Thanks so much for all that advice )
I have a feeder,a net thing where you put veggies or fruit, they eat it by themselves but can't get big lumps. I am happy to give her finger foods but DP is not so keen so I thought this was a good compromise.

And yes, I am aware about the gagging, she did it a time where I pureed the food with a sieve rather than a blender only because the bits made her gag, she wasn't choking, and I wasn't bothered.

But I will give her some pureed stuff. She loves it! I have to be careful not to give her too much so she doesn't cut down on the milk. I think we gave her to much when I was back home, as she was so happy eating it!

I am now going to read about BLW and the link posted.

Thanks!

In the leaflet linked it actually says "you can droop a milk feed but continue to breastfeed or give 500-600ml (that is around 20oz) of formula a day until at least 12 months of age"!!!

I would show this to the HV but we live on the Isle of Man and they have a different booklet here . Anyway now that I have seen it in print I am happy, and will enjoy the weaning process as I love all the new things and changes but I was a bit stressed.

So glad the leaflet reassured you

You sound like you are doing great x