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Weaning

16 week weaning

13 replies

macs08 · 26/11/2012 15:16

My son is just coming up for 17 weeks and I've been giving him some food as he wasn't lasting with just milk and he's over 17lb. My HV said not to start until 6 months or drinking a full 8oz bottle which he was but she said not to start 2 and a half years ago with my daughter I was told to start at 17 weeks which I found was perfect for her. Anyway now I'm giving him meals he's not that interested in his milk as much and only having about 4oz out if bottle but he will take pretty much it all when he gets up the next morning. So I'm really just looking for advise as I still want him to have milk as I know he's not nearly ready for cows milk but worried he's not getting enough? But seems happy enough and piling on the weight. I also tried not giving him food and just the milk but he wasn't any different he just wants to eat?

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ElphabaTheGreen · 26/11/2012 16:39

He needs a lot of calories at this age and he can only have fruit, veg and baby rice/porridge which are going to reduce his over all calorie intake if you're filling him up with these instead of milk. Have you tried him on the same quantity of hungry baby milk to see if this satisfies him more?

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Figgygal · 26/11/2012 21:49

I don't want to be a hysteric here but my DS was 98th centile and he took 8oz bottles every 3 hours We weaned earlyish and would have liked him to last longer but would never have started weaning so early and I can't believe any hv would suggest it unless there was a health reason to do so.

Your DS needs more milk yes 20oz minimum and you shouldn't be introducing dairy until 26ish weeks to top him up if he is now less interested in milk drop back the food.

I'm not clear why u started giving food so early instead of offering more milk?

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SirBoobAlot · 26/11/2012 21:53

There is no need for food this early. It isn't advisable with the way their digestive system is developing, and there aren't any calories in the small portions of mush that he will be eating right now.

You say he wasn't lasting without milk. Exactly how long was he going / were you expecting him to go between feeds?

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gnocci · 26/11/2012 22:04

We started weaning at 15 weeks when he started drinking 10oz bottles at 14 weeks. He still needs to have at least 20oz of formula per day though.

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macs08 · 27/11/2012 07:33

ElphabaTheGreen thanks I will try the hungry baby milk.
He only last an hour and a half and he isn't getting dairy I give him baby rice made with his milk or rusks with his milk so he is getting his milk someway or another. Yes my HV did advise to start my daughter at 17 weeks

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macs08 · 27/11/2012 07:34

I was expecting him to last longer than an hour and a half!

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PearlyWhites · 27/11/2012 07:38

My Ds will be 17 weeks tommrw and weights. 9 pounds 2 oz ( he was prem) his consultant advised weaning at 17 weeks to help him put on weight.

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macs08 · 27/11/2012 07:42

I found weaning my daughter at 17 weeks was perfect for her but my son is a lot bigger than she was at this age he's still having plenty of bottles just not full bottles just like 4/5 oz and that's why I started him with porridge/rice/rusks so I could make it up with his milk

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ElphabaTheGreen · 27/11/2012 07:46

That strikes me as very odd advice from your consultant, Pearly...the advice with prems is usually to make absolutely sure you don't wean until 5-6 months, even more so than with term babies, as there is nothing that they can take in, in the same quantities, that has as many calories as BM or formula. Consultants can have some very funny/old fashioned ideas, just like anybody else, and I'd be inclined to discuss that advice with your HV, or discuss the reasoning with your consultant.

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lottiegarbanzo · 27/11/2012 07:56

My, much smaller, baby was taking a bottle every two hours through the day at that age, so I don't think an hour and a half is that odd. She seemed to be feeding a lot during the day to make up for starting to sleep through the night, with just one night time feed. We weaned at six months.

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gnocci · 27/11/2012 10:57

Should add to the above about my son drinking 10oz bottles at 14 weeks - he was MASSIVE! And still is - 24 months and 37lbs / 100cm tall.

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SirBoobAlot · 27/11/2012 13:25

There are very few calories and no nutritional value to things like baby rice and rusks though.

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PearlyWhites · 27/11/2012 15:30

Elephaba I know what you mean about consultants given funny advice my baby is " failure to thrive" and I was told to top up my breast feeds with formula as " it has more calories" which I know isn't true . But my ds adjusted weight is still 0.5 off the centile chart so they want him to get extra calories from solids.

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