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Weaning,

Hi,

Hollie is now 5 months old, 21 weeks, and i am planning on starting to wean her soon. We did start weaning at 14 weeks after pretty much constant feeding night and day from 11 weeks. We started her with rice and she also had an apple puree which she ate loads of.
But as she got a cold a week into the solids i stopped them so that she wasnt filling up on solids and not wanting the milk. I didn't want her to become dehydrated as she was off her food because she found it hard to feed when she was blocked up. (I am breastfeeding, so she found it really hard to breathe and feed).

Anyway at the moment she is being demand fed and usually sleeps well at night, last 2 nights were 9-5.30 and 9-4.30. Should i wait until she starts waking at night demanding more food before weaning? She shows a lot of interst when Ian and I eat, and does grab at our food. But i am not sure if that is her exploring as she grabs at everything anyway, or a sign she is ready to wean.
I really dont know when to start her, as i dont want to leave it too late but dont want to start her if she doesnt need it.

Any help would be great.

Karen x

Replies

  • I gave riley home made purees if i could but i also used rusk as you can make that to the consistancy your lil one likes.
  • I just did a big long reply Karen, wheres it gone???!
  • Hi Karen,
    If she is sleeping well at night, she might be ok for a bit longer, how long does she go in the day between feeds? If its at least 3hrs then she might not be ready yet? Luka became really unsettled was finishing all his bottles (7oz every three hours) so I started him at about 20wks. He is now just starting finger food, and having lumpier consistency and so will soon be eating our meals, it is so easy then.
    Have you got Annabel Karmel book? It is great, you can usually get it out from the library, and renew it!! It has great puree recipes in there. Might be worth a look whilst you are making up your mind so that you can at least be prepared. I used to do a 'cook off' each week. More so with Tate, I haven't had as much time now, so Luka has about 50% homemade food, 50% jars (hipp organic or plum baby). Sorry to go on!!
  • Hi Nicola, She does tend to go 3-4 hourly in the day, and anything between 5 hourly to 7/8 at night.
    But the last few days she is demanding to be fed every hourish, but not sure if it is because she hass a cold and so is feeding little and often.
    I have the book, and i did make a puree for her when we started weaning, before stopping her. I have read it through, but still not sure when to start her. I have read somehwere that if you start them too late they lose the ability to move the food around in their mouth. Not sure if that is true or not, but i dont know whether to wait until she is 6 months. Or should i start her on rice just before she is 6 months?
    Sorry i dont make much sense but i am confused about it all?
  • I think you just 'know' when its the right time to wean.
    If its any consolation i did'nt wean Katelin till she was 8 months as she showed none of the usual signs that she was ready. She still slept from 7pm-8.30am and had 4 hours during the day and showed no interest in our food.
    She was a bit slow on the uptake but after a few weeks was fine and would eat whatever i cooked.
    I really enjoyed the weaning stage and had every gadget going and a mountain of mini pots.
  • Thanlyou Lucy, that has really put my mind at rest. She is eating, or should i say drinking just fine, and doesnt seem excessively hungry. She has been showing interst in our food for weeks now, but im think it is just because she likes to grab pretty much anything. She was ripping up the yellow pages earlier when i was holding her and using the laptop.
  • Who needs expensive toys eh???
  • ha ha she is terrible i cant do anything without her touching things and grebbing at everything in sight. I dont mind really its just the way she is very inquisitive and alert.
  • Ahhh I do miss that age!
    Everything they do is delightful. They are in awe of everything.
  • Yes she definately is. Especially when i am trying to feed her and she hears something she has to pull off to have a look around. We were in the baby clinic the other day, and i was feeding her whilst waiting to see the hv after her jabs. It was pretty quiet because we were one of the last to go in. The hv called her and she pulled off to see what was going on, she had everyone in stitches because they thought she knew her name.
  • Ah bless her.
    She probably does,Karen. She sounds very alert.
  • I expect she might know her name Karen. How sweet. I think they say you should wean by 10months to avoid any problems. The chewing helps with their speech as well. So you've got ages to go yet. Just like Lucy said you do just know. You don't have to give them baby rice you can give carrot or apple? Personally I think I did start all mine on rice. Then the savoury ones, ie carrot, sweet potato, butternut (they love that!) apples, pears, peaches plums! I love that stage!! You use so little tho to start I have a couple of sachets of rice I can put in the post if you like so you don't have to buy a whole box? If you're interested pm your address and I will send tomorrow.
  • Hiya, Karen i can't add much advice to what the others have said but as you know we have had terrible trouble getting amber on to solids. She'll be a year old on march 16th so obviously i've really worried about any bad effects this may have, on top of it i've had various hvs and doctors tell me amber will suffer from speech problems, food phobias and lethargy!!
    Happily she has shown no ill effects what so ever and her speech is more advanced than Ethans was and yet we were VERY late weaning so i wouldn't worry about starting a few weeks late i'm sure it won't cause any problems at all.

    I hope she thoroughly enjoys her new foods when the times right!
  • Thanks Nicola that will be great. I will pm my add in a bit for you.

    xx
  • Thankyou Tasha, I know you have been through a really bad time with Amber's feeding. But tahnkfully things seem to be getting a lot better for her and i really hope they continue that way.
    There isn't much info about on what age you should wean before the only guidelines i have seen are those saying not to wean before 4 months. So thankyou Nicola i didnt realise it was 10 months. Hollie isn't very big at all so i think this is why she isn't ready yet. She was 6lbs 13oz born and now weighs 13lbs 9oz so isnt getting excessively hungry.
    We will carry on with milk for now and see how she goes in a few weeks. I can't wait to make purees for her, its going to be brilliant. Ian thinks we should feed her jars as it is less hassle but seeing as im the one that is propably going to be doing most of the work, i will make purees.
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