Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

Fivenations

Sorry to hear that - I must have been very lucky with mine. What about your GP?

If she is waking up in the night then I think that shows she is hungry and in need of more solids. I recall my mother telling me to breastfeed for no longer than 15 mins per breast then give solids - as much as baby will take - no force feeding though. Let them judge when enough is enough. As long as what you give is easy to digest she should be OK.

I also used to add a teaspoon of Extra virgin olive oil to any savoury food and that helped my hungry critters. It is easily digested, at least by babies with Italian DNA!

fsdss

i agree with andicarmi - top up to 3 meals a day.

you could start topping her up with Breakfast such as weetabix / readybrek when she reaches 6 months, and you can mix this with breastmilk.

root veg mix at lunch (possibly include pasta)

and tea yoghurt / fruit compote

dont forget you can introduce finger foods at 6 months also, something which breaks down in the mouth such as COOKED carrot stick, toast to suck on.
personally i would feed a baby roughly about the same time that i eat 8am, 1pm and 5pm
, to get them into a routine.

full-time-mum

heather38 wrote: »

yes she's waking more. she did sleep 10-6/7 now shes up at 12 and 4 as well. arrr thought we were past this!!

It maybe that she is having a growth spurt and your supply needs to catch up. Are you making sure that you are eating and drinking properly yourself - I remember how easy it is to negelct yourself. You need to let her suckle to increase your supply.

It is probably a case of just needing to find the correct balance between solids and milk. It takes 2 or 3 days for your milk supply to catch up with demand. Giving formula will interupt the supply and demand cycle so bear this in mind when deciding how you want to handle the situation.

Giving solids 3 times a day might help but don't rush her as her body needs to get used to digesting food and it is possible that she is waking in the night as her digestive system feels strange with all those new substances gurgling around. Maybe you need to increase solids earlier in the day and drop them off near bedtime.

Do you have a local breastfeeding councillor (NCT/La Leche etc) as they are often a good source of support?

I'm sure that things will improve soon.

cha97michelle

Just for reference, my baby boy is 25 weeks tomorrow, and about 18 pounds, and has 3 meals a day:

7-8am - breakie - portion of baby cereal made up with either 2oz cooled boiled water or baby milk, plus 6 oz bottle

11:45-12:30pm - lunch - savoury food, homemade from annabel karmel recipes. Either two cubes (annabel tray - i think probably 2 normal size cubes per one cube) or 1, plus a bit of packet food such as veggie casserole + a 6 oz bottle

3-4pm - 6oz bottle

6:00-7:00 - 1 cube fruit puree, sometimes with some baby rice + 6oz bottle



I would definitely say that if your baby is waking up through the night again after previously sleeping through then it is because food is needed.

I only managed to breastfeed till he was 4 months, but my friend with a 7month baby found when her boy started weaning, he was suddenly starving all the time, and started refusing milk during the day but still happy to have BF at morning and night.

Most people i have talked to with babies of 5-6 months are on 3 feeds a day by now.

I let DS eat before i offer the milk, and i have just upped the food and dropped him from 8oz to 6oz of milk at each feed as he wasn't voluntarily dropping the milk, and was sick after every feed, which shouldn't be happening at his age.

Hope there is something to give you food for thought there.

Michelle

heather38

we're following the anabel karmel book and are still on the first taste pages, next week we're on second stage so 3 meals a day but then according to that she should drop a milk feed. but i don't think she will just yet.

newmum1

I would continue breastfeeding you have done well up till now, try offering more solids to see if the baby will take it. this my well solve your problem.

inkie

Well done you for breastfeeding - keep it up, there is nothing wring with your milk - sounds like your baby just needs to have nmore solids!

I breastfed min unitl they were 12 months and once we started weaning at around 4 months they were quickly onto 3 meals per day.

You will probably find that this works as:
breast on waking
breakfast (weaner meal)
mid-morning breast snack or EBM
lunch (weaner meal)
mid afternoon snack of breast or EBM
weaner meal 'tea'
a good breast feed prior to settling down for the night.

Hope things go well. Just let baby eat as much solid as she needs during the day. Not a HV, (i'm a MW) but just adding my experience of weaning and breastfeeding.

heather38

we are trying 3 meals today but she didn't like her tea (broccoli and cauliflower) so may try something else tomorrow!!

black-saturn

I used to just puree whatever we were having unless it was something like curry or chilli and then I'd give her a jar meal.

One thing does spring to mind though. Was she a lowish weight at birth? Both of mine were low birth weights and they seem to need more feeding than babies who were born at a high or average weight.

Jo_R_2

Hi Heather

It doesn't sound like it's your milk that is the problem, I think it may be that DD is simply requiring more calories. Totally agree about trying her with a little more food, possibly a later meal - the great thing about weaning is that you can try things out and if it doesn't work, take a step backwards. But definitely worth a go if DD is waking up again.

Good luck!