weaning at 20 weeks
Hi all
my health visitor suggested I start weaning at 20 weeks onwards as my DD is still waking 4 times a night for feeding, she is exclusively breast fed.
I was wondering if anyone else has done this and if so how did you do it? What did you feed LO and how did you get on?
Thanks for any advice
x
MG and Ettie ( almost 16 weeks old)
[Modified by: manologirl on 15 July 2010 18:29:48 ]
my health visitor suggested I start weaning at 20 weeks onwards as my DD is still waking 4 times a night for feeding, she is exclusively breast fed.
I was wondering if anyone else has done this and if so how did you do it? What did you feed LO and how did you get on?
Thanks for any advice
x
MG and Ettie ( almost 16 weeks old)
[Modified by: manologirl on 15 July 2010 18:29:48 ]
0
Replies
We started at 21 and a bit weeks (LO's five month birthday!)
I am giving him baby rice (made up with his usual formula) about an hour after his breakfast bottle. I'll keep this up for a week and then move on to two meals a day (a veg puree for lunch).
I have been advised to start with veg purees before offering sweet ones (i.e. fruit) as your LO might prefer the sweet ones and then resist the less sweet veg. So I'll make sure he has had some carrot, parsnip etc before starting to mix apple etc into his breakfast.
Good luck and enjoy it!
Best of luck with the night wakings though. I'm still getting up several times a night with my LO and after 7 months it's KILLING me!
[Modified by: ***Calleigh*** on July 15, 2010 07:50 PM]
I would do a new food every 3 days to check for allergies. I then got to 6m and introduced wheat and dairy. By 7m they were on 3 meals and 2 puds had been introduced to most foods except egg and nuts. That's how slowly I took them!
Good luck
Just to add ds2 didn't sleep through until he was 7m and had been having 3 meals a day for a couple of weeks!
xxx
xxx
I only say that as another point of view, as it does seem strange for your hv to suggest early weaning as a way to help them sleep through as pretty much all the literature I have read says that it doesn't help them to.
However, I have to agree with the others that it seems odd that your hv has suggested this - first as an answer to sleeping through (believe me, it doesnt help most babies!), and secondly, without offering any advice as to how. We were given leaflets, advice and answers to any questions we had when early weaning was suggested, along with the advice that we didnt have to start but their milk intake was quite low.
We didnt bother with baby rice as it has to be mixed with their milk and they hated milk! We went straight onto root veg, and did one meal a day for 1.5 weeks, then 2 meals, then 3 meals, each starting after 1.5 weeks. We didnt give puddings until they were on 3 meals for a week or so.
The boys were up 2 or 3 times a night until they were just over 6 months, but we realised they were waking for comfort when they didnt take much milk, so we started giving them water, which didnt help, so we shush/patted and gave them dummies for one of the feeds and still gave them the other one. They stopped this one themselves at about 7 months.
HTH hun xxx
I started with 2-3 teaspoons of baby rice made with expressed milk about an hour before bedtime.
She started sleeping through again from the first night. We stuck with this for a couple of weeks and then progressed to vegetables and fruit. We followed Annabel Karmel and it's been a huge success.
The HV said that it was against the current recommendations but I said that I know my baby and she's so obviously ready!
B x
Just edited to say that I had also read what it said in the 0-5 NHS book but my LO most definitely needed food and it did help her sleep through again, instantly! - The change in her was astounding.
They're all different and I doubt that many have read the NHS book - if she's showing all the signs and you feel she's ready, she probably is.
[Modified by: Mrs Busby on July 16, 2010 12:06 PM]
We started with rice for one week, and then progressed to veg purees, followed by fruit ones.
The first few veg ones were
carrot
parsnip
sweet potato
butternut squash
brocolli
spinach and pea
A favourite became carrot, parsnip and apple
Then:-
apple
pear
apple & pear
papya
mango
peach
I introduced finger foods at 5 months and Grace is now 10 months and and eats anything that we eat!
I think the Annabel Karmel book is useful for ideas.
Em xx
has your HV not given you any leaflets, we got one given with what byou should give and when from 4 months x
Good luck xx have to say my hv was v good gave me leaflet and a list of foods to avoid as under 6 months, she knew as well that my ds1 was weaned from 16 weeks (advice was this age when my ds1 was born before I get jumped on lol it about a year after I had him to 6 months)
hope it works for you xx
I was not given any leaflets just suggestions as to puree some vegetables.
I will do lots of reading before I even think about starting as I like to be properly informed.
Thanks so much for your ideas everyone