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Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Weaning

anyone tried early blw?

30 replies

wartywarthog · 04/08/2006 22:59

my dd is just over 5 months and is waking up hungry during the night (has slept through since 6 weeks), salivating wildly and lunging at our food staring at us all the while like a rabid wolfhound. i'm convinced she's ready for food and am considering starting her on blw next week when she's 5.5 months.

i figure that if we give her fruit and veg to chew on, if she's ready she'll manage to eat some, otherwise she'll just enjoying smearing it everywhere.

does anyone have any thoughts on this? do you think i should wait the extra two weeks until 6 months?

tia

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aitch71 · 04/08/2006 23:06

well, it's up to you obviously, and the guidelines are just guidelines and all that, but for the record my daughter's sleep got worse rather than better after i started weaning her.

i think it must be quite a shock to their system to suddenly be digesting food so i imagine it would keep them awake at night rather than settle them, especially as you'll probably be giving your baby carrots or veggies of some description.

good luck, wartywarthog. (love that name, i find myself saying it in my head sometimes). by the way you asked what age my daughter was and i forgot to reply... she's nearly eight months.

Norah · 04/08/2006 23:06

Well five years ago the advice was to start at 4 months anyway - and I started my dd a couple of weeks earlier than that - she loved food from the start ! No ill effects seen so far (she's nearly 6) so I'd say follow your instincts ! She certainly shows all the things that I was told meant they were ready to try real food !

Ags · 04/08/2006 23:06

My dd is the same age and has been showing signs of readiness for food however, a thread on here the other day convinced me to wait until 6 months. The thread was called "Weaning Early" on the Weaning Topic. The leaflet linked to on Corriedale's post was really interesting.

Having said that, my ds was started at 4 months and is fine but this new research and advice seems really convincing.

Norah · 04/08/2006 23:08

BTW - when you say "give her fruit and veg to chew on" I presume you were joking ! They can only cope with very very smooth and quite runny purees to start with, and you start as bland as poss - mixed with their normal milk ! Chewing comes a bit later - and there's a real choking hazard !!!

wartywarthog · 04/08/2006 23:49

ags, tried to find that thread on weaning early and the search came up with nothing. tried to find corriedale's post, and found something that referred to not giving wheat before 6 months. is that the thread you're thinking of?

i'm not really worried about weaning early per se as she's older than 5 months. i guess i'm worried about blw earlier than 6 months iyswim. i figured that if she's too young for food, her reflexes won't be developed enough for her to move food to the back of her mouth anyway. wondered if anyone else had done it.

norah, baby led weaning (or blw) is a fairly new approach to weaning where you don't puree the food but just give the baby finger foods. apparently there's been some research that shows a baby is more likely to choke from purees being put at the back of their mouths before they can cope with it, than babies gumming pieces of steamed veg etc. there are a few threads explaining a bit more. all to do with when their reflexes are developed enough to chew and swallow food, they'll do it, but until then they just enjoy the textures and generally making a mess of things! i'm probably not the best person to explain it though... perhaps i got it wrong... don't want to offend... errr

aitch, i'll be refering to your blog for advice!

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aitch71 · 04/08/2006 23:50

ah-hah, Norah... you didn't spot that it said BLW on the thread header, did you?

mind you, it's probably not a bad point... if the babies are developmentally ready to eat steamed carrots or peaches etc at 6 months, will they be ready at 5 and a half? (i mean i think probably yes, but it's an interesting point nevertheless...)

aitch71 · 04/08/2006 23:53

i'm glad to hear it, wwh! if you find out anything interesting then promise me you'll leave comments as i've got friends starting to do blw over the next few months so you'll be an expert by then...
h x

popmum · 04/08/2006 23:56

my ds is 26 weeks this weekend and has been having purees etc for a couple of weeks, but coped today with a bit of bread in the supermarket (mnade a mess, but was quiet fr a while) and has had a couple of rice cakes.
I think as long as you watch then, try and see. If not it's not the end ofthe world to wait a couple of weeks is it?

Ags · 05/08/2006 00:25

Warty, have never even heard of BLW before so my post was probably irrelevant. Sorry.

You learn something new everyday.

aitch71 · 05/08/2006 01:03

i thought it was interesting and i'm doing BLW, ags. thanks

Ags · 05/08/2006 01:07

Aw thanks for making me feel better. That is nice of you.

Felt a right plonker for missing the BLW in the post title. LOL

wartywarthog · 05/08/2006 08:10

no worries!

i guess the main reason i was thinking of starting is because she's waking up at 4:30 / 5 every morning wanting a feed. i'm so exhausted! but from what aitch is saying, it might not get better.

aitch, is your dd still not sleeping well? i'm hoping there's an end in sight very soon...

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FrannyandZooey · 05/08/2006 08:29

WWH, I am no blw expert, but the thing about trying early weaning to deal with baby waking, apprently through hunger, is that any foods they can have at this age will be less calorific and filling than milk anyway. If your baby really is waking up hungry (which is of course debatable - sounds like teething to me!) then she needs more milk, not bits of carrot.

I weaned ds early, at 24 weeks, because of night waking - it made absolutely no difference. He is a night waker, that's all, and has only just cracked how to sleep through the night aged 3.

There are clear benefits to waiting till 26 weeks - I would leave it a bit longer if you can. If you're going to be doing blw it is not like she would actually be getting much nutrition from the food at the moment anyway, just something new to play with really. HTH>

aitch71 · 05/08/2006 09:53

actually, wwh, it has settled right down again after we got some good advice on her from a MrsApron, bless her, who pointed out that i was probably feeding her too close to her last bottle. made a HUGE difference.

aitch71 · 05/08/2006 09:56

sorry, just read that back. her most recent sleeping issues have been more about teethign and feeding times than weaning. but she was unsettled with weaning for a few weeks. came as a right shock to the system as she's been sleeping through since 6 weeks.
i sometimes wonder if all that drooling and grabbing and watching etc might be about them learning to eat rather than necessarily being ready to eat, but that's just an opinion. one which i'm sure i've seen gill rapley propose, though.

wartywarthog · 05/08/2006 10:26

hmm franny, good point! she IS teething atm. god i really hope it stops soon! and you're right about the calories... damn, thought i'd be able to sort it quickly but seems like it's not the right solution. arghghghg could really do with some SLEEP! perhaps i could tank up her feeds during the day, although it's hard to see how to do that. she's eating pretty much every 3 hours as it is... don't think she's got worms!!!

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aitch71 · 05/08/2006 10:36

warty,
have you given her a dummy? i was dead against them but in a moment of desperation i tried one and the baby really appreciates it. she only gets it at night, though. and i don't know how you feel about teething gels but just so you know, the boots brand one has twice the dose of lidocaine in it than the calgel and bonjela crew.

wartywarthog · 05/08/2006 10:49

she does have a dummy, and for the first few days she would wake up every hour and i'd pop it back in. but now she's started complaining even with the dummy in, and it's a sort of 'i'm hungry' cry rather than a pained cry ifswim, or at least that's what i thought. i feed her and put her back down, but she stays awake right up until her 9am sleep - today it was more like a 10am sleep! i could try teething gel tonight and see if that helps. i've got calgel only, won't be able to pop to the shops before monday...

she LOVES her dummy, has made going to sleep so much easier!

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aitch71 · 05/08/2006 10:53

oh the poor wee chicken...
i don't know if this is the right or wrong way to do it but i have found that putting the gel onto the dummy is the most efficient way to get it where it needs to go... plus in my own twisted thinking i'm hoping that when she stops teething at the front she will be more amenable to giving up the dummy, iykwim?
good luck tonight

FrannyandZooey · 05/08/2006 11:33

I would feed her as many times as she will take it during the day (every 3 hours is not really very often, if you are expecting her to go through the night, IMO), and try any of the suggestions on here as you feel would be useful.

I'm sorry to say I have less sympathy than I could have. Sleeping through from 6 weeks? Welcome to the real world, baby

CorrieDale · 05/08/2006 21:48

Have you tried Anbesol liquid? I found that DS ate the gel, but the liquid seems to really do the trick.

Also, I can totally back-up Aitch's point about solids disrupting sleep. DS's sleep had just started to improve (i.e. only up twice a night!) when we started him on solids at 26 weeks. Result? I was up 3/4/5 times a night again! I couldn't tell my mum fast enough (she having been key peddler of 'solids will make him sleep' myth)

wartywarthog · 05/08/2006 23:48

ooo you are hard franny!! dd has been a very good sleeper up until a couple of weeks ago. she's got a good bedtime routine etc. used to sleep 7 til 7 with a dream feed that i'd wake her up for (and still do). don't think i'm unusual really - most of my nct friends have similar experiences. or are we all deluding ourselves? the worst is yet to come eh?

aitch and corrie, when did it settle down again? if i know there'll be an end in sight in say, a couple of months then i have something to look forward to. it's the prospect of years of this that's making me depressed.

i have put the gel on her dummy and it seemed to do the trick. i'm going to try it tonight when she wakes up and see if that helps.

thanks all for your help! at least i'm NOT going to start blw next week, but wait til the full 6 months.

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FrannyandZooey · 06/08/2006 08:16

Good luck but I found it's easier to feel better about the whole sleeping / non sleeping thing when you don't expect much. It's really not unusual for little, breastfed babies, to need attention in the night. Assume for the time being you are going to be woken and go to bed earlier yourself. I hope it settles down soon.

Norah · 06/08/2006 10:33

Sorry - never heard of blw - my dd is almost 6 so don't think it existed when I was weaning her !

I assumed the blw was a typo in the title !

I'll keep my nose out in future - sorry to intrude !

wartywarthog · 06/08/2006 10:54

thanks franny. yes, i may be expecting too much. i got spoilt you see!

no worries norah, you weren't intruding.

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