Would like your opinions please ladies

Hannah has always been a really content little baby and doesn't really 'ask' for food between bottles and has slept through the night (11 hours) since 5 weeks old. She is however a big girl (over 18lb @ 4 months ) and is taking between 35-40oz hungry baby formula a day and would probably take more if offered.

She isn't waking in the night but is waking earlier (sleeping 9 1/2 - 10 hours) and doesn't seem as settled as she was. She doesn't 'demand' extra milk between feeds but she has quite a lot anyway and she takes it so quickly that she sometimes makes herself sick.

She sits up brilliantly and is almost sitting unaided already and everything she can get hold of goes straight into her mouth to be chewed on. She is absolutely facinated when we eat food and stares and sometimes whinges as if she wants some too and last week I found Thomas trying to shove his banana in her mouth and she was happily sucking away on it and moaned when I took it away.

I'm unsure wether I should start weaning her or not - even just to give her a little 'taste' of things. Would you wait until she is waking up in the night hungry or demanding more milk between feeds? or maybe start slowly introducing tastes rather than meals? I weaned Thomas at 18 weeks and although it went fine until 10 months we have had nothing but trouble with his eating since and I have blamed myself for weaning too early in desperation for him to sleep more than 3 hours at a time so I don't want to end up with the same issues.

What age did you wean your LOs and what was the main reason for starting? Did you wait till they woke in the night or was there other reasons?

xx

Hiya Debs - OMG Hannah is nearly 5 months

We started weaning Libby at 16 weeks, probably for completely the wrong reasons though. She had stopped gaining weight and I now think it was because I wasn't producing enough, we tried our hardest to get her to take formula but she just wouldn't have it - I got myself in such a state and the HV was absolutely useless and just told me to perservere so we felt the only other option was to start her on solids. However in saying that I also think Libby is destined to be tiny - she could be eating anything and everything but only gains about 1lb every 8 - 12 weeks if that (currently she weighs about 21lb).

I would go with your gut instinct hun, if you feel she is ready then go for it

Hey hun. I weaned Alfie at 16 weeks too. Hes a bit like Hannah that he was a big baby. I think he was 15lb at her age. He also slept 12 hours through the night. I weaned him because he was content drinking 7oz every 3 hrs and then started drinking 9oz every 2 hrs during the day (altho he still slept well at night). I tried hungry baby milk but it didnt agree with him. He was also getting grumpy during the day and xcrying when i was eating!! So i just started with a bit porridge (he didnt like rice) on a morning and then built from there.

Hes now on 3 meals a day of stage one and im going to move him to stage 2 shortly.

I think go with your instincts. Take her lead. Try her with something but dont push her to eat any more than she likes.

Mammy knows best.I got wrong off my HV for weaning him early but i didnt care. He was so much happier and content once he was getting the right amount of food i dont think ill ever regret it. Plus i dont think it was major early - i dont agree with weaning at like 8 weeks like my friend tried to do!!



Let us know how u get on. Good luck!!

x

I started Ava at 20 weeks, although she's not a big baby, (nearly 8 months she's just off 17lbs). The main reason I started her is she wasn't satisfied with just milk (I'm bf) she was waking a lot in the night and being irritable plus grabbing food off our plates.

If she can sit unaided I don't see anything wrong with giving her tastes for now and see how you get on.

howdy! elijah is just coming up to 23 weeks and i think we are going to try him with a bit of rice this weekend - he is exactly as you describe, fascinated with food (was happy just to watch but has started grabbing now and everything is getting chewed) and he has just started waking through the night after 6 weeks of sleeping through most of the time.
i wondered if eli's change was because of teething but i dont think a little bit of milky rice is going to do any harm. although elijah isnt sitting as well as hannah (she is so advanced!!) if you can put her in thomas' highchair and she sits well and you really think she would be happy to try something i think it's probably about time...

all of the stuff you described is exactly the same as elijah and im sure that it's because he is ready to start munching

Izzy was early, just over 4 months

She was taking a lot of milk, but still not satisfied, and didn't seem happy to be offered more milk!

We offered some food and she took to it right away, never any hesitation - so it was the right thing for her, we have never had any issues, she is a fantastic eater, will try almost anything and eats enough for me not to worry!