Don't want to get caught out with trying to hold off too long this time around.

[Mum of girl, boy, boy]

Hi there,

I am looking for advice for my DS who is 20 weeks on Monday.

If I can give some history to my experience with weaning DD it might help explain where I am coming from.

I breastfed DD (born on time at 8lb 10oz and a pretty big baby) exclusively and tried really hard to hold off weaning and managed to get to 5 1/2 months before I started. Basically she feed quiet frequently and I never remembered getting up to 4 hours between breast feeds however she sleep through from 8 weeks until weaning and this is where we got off track for a little bit. DD didn't really show any signs of weaning (well I didn't think the signs were obvious, she wasn't interested in our food, wasn't sitting up until around 9 months, and she still had a bit of the gag reflex) so I held off and held off until one night when she was up every 2 hours hungry and I had nothing to give her and was completely exhausted. She had already had a bit of a growth spurt around 5 months. I remember giving her pear and baby rice in the middle of the night and really having to up her quantities quite quickly. Things settled down and I continued to breast feed happily for some months after.

My concern with DS is that I don't leave it so long that I am rushing it all through to stop the night wakings etc due to hunger. DS was a little early but still weighed 6lb 7oz (last week he was 14lb 6oz so he's doing well). I have managed to get him on to a good easy and he has been sleeping through since around 12 weeks with no dream feed (we do cluster feeds at around 5/7pm). What I have been noticing is that he is getting hungrier. Just last week I never heard him cry for hunger it was more me feeding him on EASY than him crying for food but he has started to wake up from naps with a little bit of a cry for food. Also I was finding that both boobs would be full first thing in the morning and he would take almost the whole of one side and not be interested in the other. At his 11am feed he would then take the other full boob but never completely empty it. By the last two feeds of the day the supply is getting lower because of the bigger feeds at the start of the day (taking from both sides).  Last time DD just fed more in the day and then all of a sudden it was no where near enough to a point that I couldn't do anything but wean as she was completely unsettled and it felt like we had left it a bit too late as we had to start with quite large quantities.At what point do I jump in and start weaning. I don't think DS is ready right now but I want to be prepared and hope it will be more gradual and I can head off the night wakings and keep him on a good easy. I know there is still time for my milk supply to increase but I don't want to end up with the same thing as last time. Oh and by the way DS (like DD) is slower with his milestones. He is starting to hold his head better but back strength still not there. Gag reflux has almost gone and compared with DD he shows interest in watching us eat. He is just starting to grab / hold things.

I would welcome any views and advice.

Thanks

J

[Heather]

I came from the other side, having started solids too early with ds#1 and regretting it every day since.  We started around 4 months and he took to it great, it was never a matter of him seeming too hungry it was just me being over-eager to get to the next stage.  BUT we had constipation issues from the day we started solids and no matter what we tried, nothing made it better and it just go worse and worse and worse on until after his 3rd birthday .  Looking back, I wish I'd stopped as soon as we had problems and waited longer but I didn't know any better at the time so we kept on.

Their little bellies aren't mature enough to handle it at such a young age and I feel that even if it happens all of a sudden that your ds seems to be ready for it, I'd still wait until that time.