13 Week old baby - family suggesting need to ween

[LEMONADEGIRL]

Hi, need some advise from all you experienced mums out there! I have a 13 week old ds who when last weighed at 11 wks was 13 lbs 6oz. He is breast feeds around every two hours during day for at least 30 mins and then has last feed at around 7pm of formular c&g no. 2 approx 6-7 oz. He then sleeps through to around 4-5 am. My question is I have been advised by family members that I should try to ween him as he is taking too much milk. HV has advised not to try anything until 6mths - which family members scoff at. Checked baby rice packets and they advertise from 4mths - just don't know what to do for the best!!

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

HV is spot on. Ignore your family. A baby's main diet should be milk in the first year. Weaning shouldnt start before 26 weeks for many many reasons.

Baby rice - bleugh - dont touch it
The packets on baby foods are misleading, I'd love to see them changed, tbh.

[ja9]

deffo too early to wean...

personally, i'm surprised that you've got a hv who actually advises in line with WHO. I held off until 26 weeks to wean, but was scoffed at by HVs!

[lulumama]

no such thing as too much milk at this age...milk, milk, milk and more milk
the most nutritious and calorific food source you can give your baby......

WHO guideline say 26 weeks......absolutely not this early.....

a spoon of puree will achieve nothing at this age...

is he happy, content, growing nicely, sleeping well? yes! then don;t mess with what you are doing x

[LEMONADEGIRL]

Thanks VVV for replying so quickly - I guess my family need to realise that times have changed - trouble is they do think they know best - will smile politely but continue to ignore!!

[beansprout]

Don't do it!! Milk until 26 weeks - nuff said!

[LEMONADEGIRL]

Thanks ja9 - hv very seems very keen on guide lines.


Lulu - ds very hungry little boy but very happy little one also - thanks though will not ween yet!

[jabberwocky]

Be strong, stand firm LG. Just smile and nod, smile and nod...then keep doing what you know is best

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Thats exactly the way to do it LG

[LEMONADEGIRL]

thanks - may show this to family if they wont take my word for it

[sweetkitty]

At toddler group there were 2 mums discussing how they had started weaning their 10 and 12 weeks olds on baby rice and rusks as their HVs had said they were taking too much milk they were saying they were downing 4 8oz bottles in the night ( I don't know if this is a lot).

They were in utter shock when I told them DD2 was not weaned until 6 months and was born 9lb 3ozs and never lost an oz and has followed the 91st centile ever since.

I found with DD1 that family members especially thought I was crazy and depriving her of food and that I couldn't possibly feed a baby for 6 months on my own. Have proved them wrong twice now .

Your are doing fab ignore them, weaning is an utter faff, hold off on the purees for a while yet.

[bigbird2003]

You shouldn't do anything just because your family expects you to do.

If baby is happy and sleeping there is absolutely no reason to wean him and even by the old guidelines he is way too young

A baby needs a certain amount of milk in every 24 hours. If your baby is sleeping from 7pm to 4am, he needs to make up for those hours missed feeding

My son used to sleep from 7pm - 7am from 6 weeks old, so ended up BF every 90 mins during the day. He needed to make up for the hours he was asleep. Also alot of the BF isn't the milk part, it's drinks and comfort, so for the 30 mins he is on, he isn't getting pure 'food' (iykwim)

I'd just smile sweetly at family members and say we are fine as we are

[mawbroon]

I used to try to mention it as often as possible in front of my family, but without having a discussion. Eg, if we were having something to eat, I would say to my ds, "Oh dear what a shame ds, none of this for you for another x number of weeks." It was my way of telling people that he wasn't being weaned until then - end of!! I now do the same because he has an egg allergy. "Oh dear ds, this has egg in it, so we had better not give you any, had we?" Not directly telling them, but bringing it to their attention that the most unlikeliest products contain egg.

[LEMONADEGIRL]

thanks everyone for all your positive comments, ds loves his milk and I love b/f anyway.

Bigbird - good point about getting his feeds in during day as he is a good sleeper at night.

[bigbird2003]

I was trying to remember weight for weight amounts ( I had to know them 12 years ago as last child was prem and tube fed)

I found this
If your baby isn't eating any solids (as he shouldn't before 4 to 6 months of age), the general rule of thumb is to offer him 2.5 ounces of formula per pound of body weight each day. So if your baby weighs 6 pounds, you'll give him about 15 ounces of formula in a 24-hour period. If he weighs 10 pounds, he should drink 25 ounces in a 24-hour period.

So from his last weigh in he needs around 32.5oz a day, (so if he had 5 feeds in his waking hours, that would be 6oz a feed, 7 feeds = 4.6oz etc)

hope that helps

[dejags]

This is why I came back to MN. It can be such a valuable resource.

I face the same pressure after DC3 is born in a few months time and for the first time I will not bend. I was advised to wean DS2 at 12 weeks by the paediatrician in 2005 (yes two years ago). The professional was adament that DS needed additional food. I held off until 15 weeks despite his nagging. DS ended up with all sorts of miserable tummy upsets and recurrent infections.

You are doing great Lemonadegirl.

[justJAM]

It is this weird culture of early
weaning, all my friends look at me now like I'm mad when I tell them I'm waiting till 6 months. They have all weaned their babies around 4-5 months - I find myself justifying my decision
DD is doing just fine and If one more person tells me "but look at her watching you each so intently...poor DD desperate for food"
she also watches:-
the cat intently
my hands intently
oh and me doing the washing up intently...does that mean I should get her a pair of marigolds?
Sorry rant over, just wanted to say stick to your guns!!!