Weaning questions

I would be interested in a daily BLW thread. I am still quite nervous about it all!

El

Ooh yes count me in for a BLW thread. Not planning to think about weaning for another 9 weeks though if he is ready then.

Have to say I agree with Hannah though, if you are giving food now then I'd personally class that as weaning. And it sounds like BLW too if you're giving him melon, carrot and banana

Dinx, if you've given melon, carrot and banana you've already started weaning !

If he is fine on just his milk and still putting on weight etc then I would really try and avoid starting so early.  There are reasons why 6 months is recommended.  There are very few babies who need to be weaned early, I don't know any of my real life friends who have even those with very big babies.

I do find it quite interesting how the feel of the forum can change so much, when we were looking at weaning so around 6 months ago, and I was probably paying attention for a few months before that, there really weren't many weaning before 6 months but now there does seem to be a trend. 

In terms of the food I've offered so far, it's probably a bit misleading the way I've worded it.... he briefly sucked on a stick of raw carrot once, had a suck on my melon the other day and then put the banana to his mouth when I did the banana test.  Each of these foods he's had once, and hasn't actually eaten them, just put them to his mouth.  Is that classed as weaning?!  As he hadn't actually eaten anything I figured it was like him chewing/sucking a toy, just with a bit of flavour.  Urgh, I'm one of those crap naive mothers aren't I? 

Anyhoo, have done some more reading and I won't be offering food again for a bit, we're sticking with milk for the time being and will see how we go. I'm in no rush to wean and my absolute priority is doing what is best for George.  He turns 20 weeks on Saturday so with each week that passes we get closer to the six month mark.

Thanks for your replies everyone, it's good to hear other people's experiences.

jelly baby:

Dinx, if you've given melon, carrot and banana you've already started weaning !

If he is fine on just his milk and still putting on weight etc then I would really try and avoid starting so early.  There are reasons why 6 months is recommended.  There are very few babies who need to be weaned early, I don't know any of my real life friends who have even those with very big babies.

I do find it quite interesting how the feel of the forum can change so much, when we were looking at weaning so around 6 months ago, and I was probably paying attention for a few months before that, there really weren't many weaning before 6 months but now there does seem to be a trend. 

I'm really glad you posted that JB. I was thinking about it this morning and came here to post pretty much the same thing.

Re the food to fill them up thing, milk has waaaaaaaaaaay more calories and nutrients than anything you'd feed a baby before 6 months  - which isn't recommended at all, but if you do, it should only be fruit/veg - and the danger with offering anything other than milk at that age is that they may "fill up" on veg for example, which feels bulkier in their tummies thus meaning they take insufficient milk. All the vast, vast majority of babies need for the first 6 months is milk, and lots of it! It's such a shame that Healthcare Professionals are giving advice that's against the NHS's own guidelines

Incidentally we weaned at 24.5 weeks - when Milly grabbed an apple from H's hand and took a bite! - and it made her terrible sleep even worse, which I'd honestly thought wasn't possible!

As an old pro with 4 or so weeks of weaning experience under her belt , I'd recommend waiting until as close to 26 weeks as you can - for all the reasons outlined above but also becuase <bad mummy alert> it's such a bloody faff. I was so excited about weaning, but I'm so over it already! More than any other aspect of motherhood so far, cleaning up the mess 3 times a day is just really wearying me. We're BLWing, but I've tried spoonfeeding a couple of times, and it's just as messy. I'm the least houseproud person ever, btw. 

The feeding has also become never ending between bottles and food and it's a struggle trying to think of food suitable for her. I'm probably stressing too smuch over offering a balanced diet at 29 weeks - that will hopefully come with time and we also need to avoid dairy, so not everyone will have that aspect.

Her sleep also detirorated really badly the first week we weaned and again this past week now she's back eating after she'd been off all feeds (milk and all ) while ill, and I don't think it's a coincidence.

It's not all doom and gloom, of course, and it's so lovely to see her really enjoy something.  

CV - off to clean up after breakfast, then get the 11am bottle ready... 

ETA a weaning thread sounds like a great idea.

Another one interested in a daily weaning thread.

Most of the weaning advice I've read is quite contradictory. It says you should wait till 6 months but then goes on to say that by the time your baby is 6 months old the iron stores are depleted and if you waited this long you have to rush through the weaning even though it says everywhere to ideally take your time. To say I am confused is an understatement. One day I panic that we haven't started yet (the girls will be 24 weeks on Monday) and the next day I think it's way too early. I've got all the basics in the house but keep putting it off. Will quite likely wait another week or so but I do want to take it slowly and introduce new foods in stages but am worried about them needing meat etc. more quickly because I waited so long. Argh, nobody told me having children would be so complicated. Oh and to top it all off H is a vegetarian and I haven't cooked meat in years.

Ronja, it's that iron stores START to deplete around 6 months rather than they are already depleted.  I can't remember if your girls are bf or ff, but if they are ff then there is iron in the milk so it's not an issue. 

I actually don't think it is contradictory.  The advice from the NHS itself, see the link further up, is that you should wait until around 6 months.  The other "advice" out there is from manufacturers of baby food who want you to start earlier and out of date advice from before the guidelines were changed.  It's quite clear that it is better to wait until around the middle of the first year.

jelly baby:

Ronja, it's that iron stores START to deplete around 6 months rather than they are already depleted.  I can't remember if your girls are bf or ff, but if they are ff then there is iron in the milk so it's not an issue. 

I actually don't think it is contradictory.  The advice from the NHS itself, see the link further up, is that you should wait until around 6 months.  The other "advice" out there is from manufacturers of baby food who want you to start earlier and out of date advice from before the guidelines were changed.  It's quite clear that it is better to wait until around the middle of the first year.

Ah, I see. Now it makes sense. Thanks for that. Panic over (for the moment). The girls are almost exclusively breastfed with the occasional (maybe once or twice a week) top up in the evening. I am contemplating introducing a bottle for meal times to make weaning a bit easier. I don't tandem feed them so think bottle will be the better option. Otherwise I really will spend all day feeding them. The plan is to breastfeed them for all meals that don't include any food and for the meals that will include food (so lunch, then lunch and breakfast) to offer a bottle to make sure they feed at the same time. Only time will tell if that is going to work out though.

jelly baby:

I do find it quite interesting how the feel of the forum can change so much, when we were looking at weaning so around 6 months ago, and I was probably paying attention for a few months before that, there really weren't many weaning before 6 months but now there does seem to be a trend.

1

JB i was thinking the same thing.

i wonder if its the emergnce of DW, and lots of new faces here?

we went blw from about 22 weeks, he didnt eat much atall but was able to hold, and eat it. once we were at 6 months he was offered lots and we introduced some purees for ease.

this time i wont to wait as long as poss. hoping to achieve the virgin gut this time, as t has eczema and really want to do everything i can to avoid it again. also once 6 months she will just eat what we eat. so much easier.

(his ezema appeared prior to weaning so im not suggested they were related, but i wonder if it didnt help)

Ronja, we found it best not to offer milk at the same time as solids.  So generally did :-

breakfast

bottle

lunch

bottle

dinner

bottle

Slowly the bottles were either dropped completely or replaced with a snack.  I know my friends who were breastfeeding were able to introduce solids without needing to switch to formula, so you don't have to if you don't want to. 

I started introducing Ethan to food at 5 1/2 months - playing with sticks of veg, tastes from my finger.  He was really interested in food so it seemed good to involve him a little.  I started proper weaning at 6 months.  I tend to mix purees and finger foods as I tend to be a little anxious about making sure he eats enough - Ethan has puree for breakfast & lunch, and finger foods for dinner & snacks.

We've had our hiccups, but it seems to be going well.  But purely on the basis that its a faff, and destroys any routine you may have - I would say wait as long as you can

I am interested in the point the JB raised about the change in the forum, etc. I am the only one in various groups that I go to that hasn't started weaning and none of the other LOs are 6 months yet. They all started weaning somewhere between 13 - 18 weeks. G still isn't showing signs of being ready (she is 18 weeks). If she did show ALL the signs of being ready, I would start BLW with her prior to 26 weeks but avoid any food that is likely to be an allergen ie just stick to certain fruits and veg until 26 weeks (but then we have no family history of allergies/ ezcema, etc).

Some HVs are advising to wean early - I can't understand any clear reason from what people are telling me, others are weaning as their baby used to sleep for 12 hours and now wakes once in the night. They are reporting that the babies sleep through when they start weaning which may be coincidence or could potentially be related to giving baby rice late in the evening which takes longer to digest?