1st Time Parents... Advice Appriciated...:)

[Teri]

Hey you most probably get this ALL the time lol...
But
My little man is 18 weeks old today

He has never slept thru the night (Wakes at 3 & 6 for 5oz) and has always been a hungry baby (Has about 7 bottles of 5oz a day... I was going to up his feeds as he drinks the whole bottle but if i put his bottle up to 6oz he doesnt drink the last ounce lol...

We would like to start giving him some baby cereal which states its suitable for 4 months old... the only thing is im not sure how to start... whats best, time of day, how much and if its going to be ok etc..

I have no HV to speak to as when i go to baby clinic it is different HV each time and they all say different things!!!

ALL advice is welcome... Thanks

xxx​

 

[Tinylo]

I started weaning Lewis at 18 weeks, on baby porridge. You could try giving your LO a teaspoon or two of baby porridge mixed with his milk for his breakfast.

Try not to give it to him when he is really hungry, otherwise he may just refuse it alltogether. Perhaps offer him half his bottle first, then the baby porridge and then the rest of his bottle.

Out of interest what time do you give him last feed of the day before bed??

 

[mommyof3co]

As everyone here knows I don't agree with giving it before 6mo, here is the info on why it's good to wait, of course the choice is yours

https://askdrsears.com/html/3/T032000.asp

If you decide you still want to start now though I wouldn't give it in a bottle, it can be a choking hazard and can also cause them to overeat. It really sounds like he is satisfied with the amounts he is getting so at this point I really wouldn't see the need to start cereal yet. But the whole point for any solids in the first year is to teach them to eat from a spoon and introduce them to new foods and textures, so I would only give it to him on the spoon. The side of the box should give directions on how to make it for the first feeding, you make it really loose. It's also best to introduce new foods earlier in the day so you can see if they have any reaction to it, so hopefully by nighttime it won't be bothering them so much so they can sleep...if they react of course.

 

[alio]

i've been giving fin a bit of baby cereal for the past week, so i suppose i'm really early... ll is well.. i give him as much as he's interested in eating which is usually about half a little weaning bowl every evening (we're up to about six or seven spoonfuls of the little weaning spoon from boots).

he loves it. good luck with your weaning. he's your baby and you only asked for advice on commencing weaning, not whether you should wean or not. x

 

[Teri]

I started weaning Lewis at 18 weeks, on baby porridge. You could try giving your LO a teaspoon or two of baby porridge mixed with his milk for his breakfast.

Try not to give it to him when he is really hungry, otherwise he may just refuse it alltogether. Perhaps offer him half his bottle first, then the baby porridge and then the rest of his bottle.

Out of interest what time do you give him last feed of the day before bed??

Thanks
His last feed is around 7 which after that he either plays for a bit or drops off himself..x

 

[Teri]

i've been giving fin a bit of baby cereal for the past week, so i suppose i'm really early... ll is well.. i give him as much as he's interested in eating which is usually about half a little weaning bowl every evening (we're up to about six or seven spoonfuls of the little weaning spoon from boots).

he loves it. good luck with your weaning. he's your baby and you only asked for advice on commencing weaning, not whether you should wean or not. x

Thankyou
Im defo going to give it a try... hopefully he will be as good as your Fin hes doing fantastic xx

 

[leeanne]

I've been giving Chase baby oatmeal for the past few days. Since he sleeps well at night already, I give him his oatmeal at around 10:30 a.m. After a week is passed I will incorporate another oatmeal feed at dinnertime. Chase is just over 4 1/2 months.

 

[Tinylo]

I started weaning Lewis at 18 weeks, on baby porridge. You could try giving your LO a teaspoon or two of baby porridge mixed with his milk for his breakfast.

Try not to give it to him when he is really hungry, otherwise he may just refuse it alltogether. Perhaps offer him half his bottle first, then the baby porridge and then the rest of his bottle.

Out of interest what time do you give him last feed of the day before bed??

Thanks
His last feed is around 7 which after that he either plays for a bit or drops off himself..x

Something to think about, if you hadn't already, would be a dream feed to try to get your LO to drop the 3am feed. I had the same problem with Lewis, he was having a feed at 6.30pm then going through til 3am before he wanted another feed. So 2 weeks ago I decided to try feeding him at 10.30pm and he now goes through til 7.00am before he starts to get hungry I'm not sure if it's having 2 meals a day (purees) that helped or the dream feed......but either way it's working.

Good luck with the weaning. x

 

[Lucy&Pard]

Did you get a copy of that Birth to Five a4 book thing from hospital? Its got quite good weaning advice in there I was reading it in bed the other day (gone are the days of reading Jilly Cooper!)

 

[Emmea12uk]

I havent read what other people have put, but before you give him food i would make sure he on a stage 2 or even 3 teat on his bottle as they get frustrated if it flows too slowly.

They recommend weaning when their appetite increases - 5oz per feed isnt that much. Tom went up to 10oz each feed before i started weaning him, and he was only 16 weeks. Also when they get hungry earlier and earlier and wake in the night for feeds more frequently.

Whenever Tom finished his bottles, I would keep giving him an oz more and let him take as much as he wanted. Eventually we went up to 10oz 6 times a day and he then started wanting even more milk.

I started tom on baby rice in the evenings, just a few spoonfulls at first, then after a week i let him have as much as he wanted, which was loads! It certainly helped him sleep through. I started to add fruit to it after a few weeks.

If your baby wont drink more milk but still seems hungry, maybe you should try a bit of baby rice after a feed to see if he takes it.

hope this is helpful

 

[Emmea12uk]

it is better to start on baby rice as apposed to baby porridge as it is much easier to digest and doesnt have other added ingrediants