Night feeds - confused!

I just wanted to check this out with you guys, as I don't want to force Jake to go through the night if he's not ready. Basically, up until around four months he was going from somewhere between 6:30 to 8:30pm to around 3-4am. A couple of times he went until 5, and once he slept right through until 6. Then things went to pot. We seemed to go from the 4m growth spurt to bouts of colds right up until the 6m growth spurt and more viruses! His sleep went to pot and he started feeding like a newborn at night, sometimes more than that as he'd wake two hourly from about 11:30pm until he was finally up for the day. Despite all that, when I took Jake to be weighed at 6m he'd dropped from just below the 75th centile to just above the 50th.

The HV then started putting doubt in my mind, and that's not something I've had to deal with before - she was asking about weaning and as he'd literally turned 6m three days before the day I had taken him to be weighed I said we'd only just made a start and she said "Oh, well done for waiting but you really need to get on with it now as you don't want to miss his window for weaning - they all have one and you don't want to miss it!". Then she said that I have to take him back in 6w to check he's starting heading back to the 75th. It's really made me doubt my decision to BLW with Jake, as I did it with the others, but I've tried feeding him and he simply will not let me! The second he sees a spoon he clamps his mouth shuts and turns his head and no amount of trying to weedle it in works. He's also perfected the blowing a raspberry with a full mouthful of food move.

Anyhoo, this last week he's done longer stints at night like he used to in the beginning and it's been bliss! I've felt like a new person. Last night though he woke at 2am and as he was crying a little I comforted him before feeding him to settle him down, and once he was settled he was looking around as though he was wide awake. I tried feeding him but I could tell he wasn't bothered by the way he was sucking (lots of flutters, not much swallowing). I took him off and he was just led there quietly so I turned our night light off and we both eventually went back to sleep until 6am.

Is this okay to do? It feels as though I pushed him into going through the night, but he wasn't upset or anything. I'm really worrying about it all at the moment because of that silly witch.

Sounds like your doing really well, despit what the HV had said. They don't have to stick to a centime through their entire growth! I haven't taken Holly to be weighed since she was 12 weeks for exactly this reason. As long as he isn't drastically losing weight dont panic! As for weaning please don't try to force feed him. Just remember that you wouldn't appreciate someone trying to force feed you

I think you hit it on the head calling her a silly witch!
A window for weaning? So, is she suggesting that if you miss this mythical window he will still be breastfeeding at 14? What a load of tripe!
Remember that food is for fun under one.
That centile drop is not huge, Ewan was still finding his line at 6 months - he went from 90th at birth down to 25th at 4 months and gradually settled around the 50th. I stopped going to have him weighed there as he was perfectly healthy and the HVs were stressing me out. We just stood on the scales with him at home if we wanted to know...
Personally, as long as you are happy he is alert and healthy etc, I wouldn't even go back - it's not compulsory!

if he didn't want to sleep he wouldn't hun xxx

and yes she is a silly witch ignore and carry on as you were, you're happy, bubs is happy, so she isn't who cares. Jog on witchy

Thanks all, this is what I was thinking but needed a bit of reassurance. I've been struggling with the PND really badly over the last few weeks and she really hasn't helped the situation. She even rang me two days after his weighing to talk to me about the PND as I'd explained to her that I was low, thinking that I was doing the right thing, and when she rang she said "So how's your relationship with Jake?". I said that it was fine and she replied, "Well I wanted to ask as you didn't speak to that baby at all when you came in". I felt like saying "That's because I was talking to you!!!", but bit my tongue and just repeated what I'd said, that we are fine (and we are).

Agree completely with the force feeding - I could never do it to him, and he won't allow it anyway (quite rightly too!). And yes, I think she was trying to say taht if I didn't wean in this 'window' that I'd have trouble in introducing him to food in the future. Neither of my boys weaned at 6m - Ethan was more like 7-7.5 and Rory was the same. We actually tried jars, etc... with Rory due to reflux on the hospitals advice as they told us it would make him vomit less. I know it works for some, but all it did for us was turn his vomit orange. We knocked that on the head pretty rapidly then and returned to BLW when he was ready.

Jake's really loving BLW though. He's tasted quite a lot, but not really eating anything yet. I know he will when he's ready though.

A window for weaning that must explain all those fully grown adults you often see breastfeeding or drinking from a baby bottle, their mothers must have missed their one and only chance. Ffs, what a crock.

Ignore that rubbish, I was told by my phn that Rhys would be severely ill and malnourished due to blw and waiting til 6 months, ams that if better start at 4 months since he was bottle fed, I ignored her completely.

As for the centile, what centile was his height on? If that dropped to a similar degree then that means he's still perfectly in proportion, Rhys was around 97 for both for the first 6 months, but then dropped to around the middle, but his height slowed too, so he was proportional.

Yep I agree with all of the above.

My little lady has just turned 11 months and we have been following blw since she was 6 months too. Your lo is enjoying exploring his food and over the next few weeks he will actually learn to chew and swallow some of it too. The fact is, he is tasting food now so he is not going to suddenly turn fussy and decide never to eat again.

It is really common for babies to drop or gain weight during the weaning process and remember that bf babies' growth slows down at this time too (more so than for bottle fed babas) so don't worry about the weight. If he is happy, alert, otherwise healthy then you know he is doing just fine!

Whenever I see a health visitor about weight or blw, I get a different response each time. So go with your gut instinct

My dd normally wakes in the night for a feed too but I know it is a comfort thing rather than a need for calories. Sounds like it is probably the same for yours, and that he was perfectly content with a cuddle

Sounds like you re doing just fine.
I ve heard about this 'window' before and I think what they mean is that if baby doesn't get introduced to different textures early enough they ll struggle to go from purée to more solid food. Obviously that doesn t apply to Blw as the textures are there immediately, and you re offering everyday food that you eat as a family. It's if you waited til 12 months to then feed them purée!
Keep going xx