Thought weaning would be easy...

[Goods]

For goodness sake, I'm giving him a drink of water, not a full bottle and it's not a daily occurrence.

I appreciate the warnings about it, thank you and I really should have made myself more clear in my original question. I won't be giving it anymore, I will wait until my perfectly healthy child, who is in the 91st percentile, reaches the magical 26 weeks before a drop passes his lips.

I think a lot of things come down to parenting style, I am fairly relaxed about things so am applying the same attitude to my child. If I thought for a second giving him a drink of water was going to hurt him I would not do it, incidentally I've never heard of a baby getting ill from drinking water, only adults (why is this not a warning thing, like not letting babies sleep on their front)??? Why have I never been categorically advised you MUST NOT give water??! Am I a bad mum now, because that's how I feel.

 

[annanouska]

To wean at 4 months or 6 months, traditional v blw is one of those divided subjects like the bf v ff battle. You have to do what is best for your son and only you can know what that is.

A sip of water at his age is realistically not going to cause a huge issue, replacing bottles yes but that's not what you said. If he is a bigger baby he might possibly be hungry in the night but then he may just be a fidgety sleeper my son was!

Regarding the weaning, baby rice is pretty vile anyway my son never liked it, loved baby porridge tho (check on ages as gluten before 6 mo can be dangerous but they do make some ok from 4 mo) I gradually weaned my son from 4.5/5 mo but to be fair he wasn't really ready until closer to 8 mo and just had tasters.

He was really quite easy to wean and loved everything...fast forward a year and a bit he barely eats a thing! So just because he's not taking to it doesn't mean he will be a poor eater later x

 

[catty]

To be honest I know everyone is trying to help but I think its a bit harsh.
I was told to give water in bottles at night as my son was 98th centile. I was told to drop milk, I was told to give him milk out of a sippy cup from 6 months so that he wouldnt want it, I was told to put more water in his bottles to bulk it up a bit. All from health professionals if id listened to this advice my poor son would have been hysterical all the time

I began weaning at 19 weeks with my son as he was having about 50oz of milk a day and was still wanting more. He was on 3 meals a day by 6 months.

with my daughter I tryed her around 20 weeks and she didnt care for it so I stopped weaning and very very slowly introduced food and by 7 months shes only having 2 meals and a little snack.

anyway long winded way of saying do what works for your son.It sounds like hes not ready so I would hold off and try again in a few weeks. Maybe hold off giving too much water but sure a few sips wont hurt

 

[BabyMamma93]

i agree with felix, he will be hungry if you are giving water instead of milk.. the only reason i believe in early weaninig is for MEDICAL reasons, not because they are 'big' as a pp said, their insides are the same developed, no matter how big they are. I really would STOP weaning now and give the milk your baby needs, not food that he doesnt need.
i also only believe in water before 6m for MEDICAL reasons, i gave M water from birth bcos he couldnt poo, even then it was a oz here and there, this was my MW advice, not a friend that told me they tried it and it 'worked' i also dont believe in giving water instead of milk through the night when baby is so young, hes waking bcos he NEEDS that bottle, not just bcos he feels like waking you up in the middle of the night.
sorry if i come across a bit harsh..

I wasn't dropping any milk I just didn't think he would be so adverse to foods. As I mentioned, the HV said he probably won't last until he is 6 months so I'm hardly ignoring medical advise.

Just wanted a bit of advice not to be made to feel stupid.

i didnt want to make you feel stupid, nor did i want you to feel like a bad mum as you said in your later post, you are not a bad mum, youve just been given stupid advice thats all, never swap a bottle for milk so early on, he is waking for the bottle bcos he needs it, at 8 month old my friend was told to swap milk for water as at that age sometimes its more a habbit.
you have to do what you think is best, and if hes not interested in weaning then stop and try again at a later stage dont force it on him, let him lead the way

 

[ricschick]

wow everyones an expert huh!!

we have a big baby too and she was 9lb 1 born too and at 4 and a half months was on 40oz of milk a day which is a huge amount of liquid for their bellies so I started her on baby porriage giving little tastes every day until she worked out how to do it. sh is now 6months and has a breakfast and dinner. she too slept through the night from 7 weeks old and still does (touch wood) she now has 4 bottles a day of 8oz each breakfast and dinner. I will move onto lunch when I feel she needs/wants it. if you feel he needs weaning then just offer little tastes everyday and I find break fast is the best place to start and stick with that for a couple of weeks. at the end of the day all babies are different. its funny when my 10 year old was born weaning was adviced at 3months!

 

[ourturnnext]

You will know when your LO is ready and you will know if your LO wants milk or water so TRUST your motherly instincts and go with whatever works for you. If you find a winning way to get baby to sleep through the night, stick with it.

From my experience of weaning, I felt like my DD1 might have been ready at five months, so tried her with a small spoon of banana puree. She spat it out! So a week later I tried her with some wholemeal banana porridge (she was having terrible trouble with constipation so I wanted to get some fibre into her) well she wolfed it down and we never looked back.

That was despite my HV telling me, quite sternly, to wait til six months. I knew my baby was ready. With DD2 im not even asking any advice, just gonna do it when I think she's ready.

Weaning can be alot of fun, good luck. If you would like any help/advice, without judgement, feel free to PM me, I loved weaning DD1 and she's a brilliant eater xxx

 

[NotNic]

I began weaning DS1 at 14wks (with GP and HV advice) and I feel a little that the OP has been judged a little harshly here. Yes 6 mths is the guidline but we don't know that baby's insides are ready at exactly that date and not the day before. 6mths is the age they expect baby's insides to be ready but there isn't firm proof that this is true for every child.

OP - if you feel that milk isn't enough and he isn't satisfied then try little tastes. If it doesn't work then give it some time and try again in a week or so time. A teaspoon of baby rice isn't child neglect so don't feel bad if you tried something and it wasn't right for your lo.
Personally I stayed well clear of baby rice. It's nutritionally bland, tastes horrendous and just empty calories. My son did well with porridge and quickly we scrapped the carbs and moved to veg purées.

 

[catty]

Last year I was told to give my son baby porridge and this year I was told they shouldnt have it until 8 months plus. Things change all the time and my son had alot of porridge last year and suddenly its not recommemded this year?

 

[NotNic]

I think the general advice is to avoid gluten before 6mths. You can get baby porridge which is corn and rice based, suitable from 4mths.

 

[zorak]

Wow people need to get off their high horses!

My LO was 9 lbs 10 Oz at birth. We weaned at about 5 months v slowly but he was v obviously ready and took to it with gusto. If your LO doesn't seem ready then they probably aren't.

 

[BabyMamma93]

the point people are trying to make is the OP said she stopped giving her baby milk and gave him water, she then said he isnt taking to weaning but basically wants to drop bottles bcos hes a big lad. we only gave honest advice and if she doesnt like the advice dont ask for it, im sorry but i disagree with swapping milk for water at such a young age, and if her baby doesnt want to eat food, why force it?

anyway ima do the same as felix, ive obv caused some upset with my honest advice, so i wont post again and i will unsubscribe

 

[Goods]

but basically wants to drop bottles bcos hes a big lad.

When have I ever said I want to drop bottles? Weaning to me is introducing bits of food until the baby accepts it, then look into replacing bottles. I'm following the Annabel Kamel weaning guide and bottles aren't dropped until the baby takes the food for a number of weeks.

 

[Goods]

Also just wanted to say thank you to the helpful comments I've gotten as well. My apologies I've just been so upset about the whole mess and implication I'm hurting my child I've been focusing on the negative.

I'm holding off on introducing solids for a couple weeks and then I'll see how it goes with weaning.

 

[fxmummyduck]

Im sorry you have been upset by some of the replies, i dont think people were trying to upset you or intentionally make you feel like a bad mother, after all were just trying our best. I yhink people were more shocked at the advice you were given, not your fault at all.
I think this is perhaps what worried people "To discourage the night time wakings I've been giving water instead of milk"... Clearly a misunderstanding as the amounts etc are talked about afterwards, but you can see how this might have been misunderstood.

Again, sorry for your hurt feelings.

 

[BabyMamma93]

Im sorry you have been upset by some of the replies, i dont think people were trying to upset you or intentionally make you feel like a bad mother, after all were just trying our best. I yhink people were more shocked at the advice you were given, not your fault at all.
I think this is perhaps what worried people "To discourage the night time wakings I've been giving water instead of milk"... Clearly a misunderstanding as the amounts etc are talked about afterwards, but you can see how this might have been misunderstood.

Again, sorry for your hurt feelings.

THIS!! i didnt want to hurt your feelings or upset you, i just myself cant believe the advice you have been given and im not getting at you in my reply at all, i would never say someone is a bad mother, we all try our best, and we all make mistakes, i know ive made my fair few and will keep doing that till he leaves home, its what makes us human!!

 

[Goods]

Well I've tried again this week and its gone brilliantly. He wolfed down his baby rice and has taken mashed sweet potatoe the last 2 days. Now I think about it he had a bit of a cold last week, I actually thought weaning would be better than the bottle since he was all bunged up, I thought it would help him breathe easier. What an idiot I am to think he would be wanting something new when he's feeling under the weather.

Thanks again for all your comments and my apologies for going all defensive.

 

[ricschick]

glad its going well x

 

[halullat]

I have a big boy too (10lbs 3.5oz at birth) and we didn't introduce foods until 6 months so the advice bigger babies need food earlier isn't actually true, he could have handled food I'm sure earlier (sitting unsupported, other signs of readiness - can't remember them now!) but he was doing so well on milk alone we thought it best to wait, plus weaning is a lot of effort and we wanted to allow his digestive system to develop before introducing food.

I'm not sure about milk advice, quantities etc. as my son is breastfed, but I would be inclined to suggest upping his milk if he is wanting more first x