BLW advice please....

[diz]

Noah is coming up to 5 calendar months (22 weeks). At 19 weeks the HV told me to start weaning, starting him off on one teaspoon (before milk) of baby rice a day for a week. This was because of frequent night feeds (10, 12, 3, 5, 7) and because although he was still gaining weight he had dropped a centile (i hate those things)

A week later at his next weigh-in he had gained 6oz instead of the 1 - 2oz gain seen in the previous 3 weeks, so the HV advised to carry on weaning and gave me a print out of what foods to feed and when. The Dr also advised on early weaning.

I had read about BLW and decided this was for me and that is how i wanted to introduce Noah to food. I knew that the frequent night wakings were due to habit rather then the need for slop, and that the slow down in weight gain was not an issue. Despite this i did what i was told.

Noah still has all his normal milk feeds, and receives his 'solid' food after (two very small meals a day). We both hold the spoon, and he guides it to his mouth, and decides when he has had enough ... non of this trying to make in laugh just to shove another spoonful into his mouth.

Anyway, solid food has not made a slight bit of difference to his night wakings - which just reinforces my theory of habitual waking, and i just kind of feel pissed of with my self at introducing him to slop at 19 weeks (i really don't want to offend anyone who has chosen to wean at 4 months, i feel each baby & family is an individual and you should do what is right for you)

i dont know whether i should continue with what i'm doing and introduce BLW at 6 months, or to stop feeding solids altogether for now and start again at 6 months with BLW as tho nothing has happened.

I am keeping the different kinds of slop to a minimum (about 5 different foods). I know that BM/formula has all the nutrients a baby of this age needs, and it is usable, high quality, concentrated food source.

Advice please?

 

[Lu28]

I was in a similar position to you where I was advised to wean Aisling at just over 5 months because of poor weight gain so a bit later than you. I started off on purees and kept on with them incorporating finger foods until 7 months when I ditched the purees altogether and just did BLW. The transition was fine for us

I'm not sure if you stop the purees cold turkey, will LO be hungry? I guess increasing milk feeds could cure that but maybe drop one and see what happens and then drop the other a week or so later. It's only a few weeks until he can fully go onto BLW. In the meantime you could sit him at the table with you and offer him batons of steamed veg, sticks of fruit etc etc - he might surprise you and eat some!

If you do decide to stick with one meal, alot of us give cereal in the morning. We load the spoon and give it to LO to put in their mouths. You might find Noah is able to do this already if he's been used to the spoon