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Early weaning

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ems101
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Early weaning

Postby ems101 » Fri Aug 29, 2014 6:47 pm

Im sure i had this dilema with james but i cant really remember my thought process!

Ben is 4m 3 weeks and is feeding lots. 2/3 times a night which is fine with bed shariring. But he is indredibly interested in food. Hes been gumming on cucumber and raw carrot sticks this week as we thought he was teething but he seemed to really enjoy them. He can put a proffered spoon/veg stick into his mouth but cant really sit up yet. He seems unsatisfied with milk even with regular feeds. He is really reaching out for food when we have meals.

Would you yet? or wait a couple more weeks? I got to 5m2w with james
Last edited by clothmama on Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Added some tags :)

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monsterm
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Re: Early weaning

Postby monsterm » Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:23 pm

All perfectly normal developmentally. I would let him continue gumming while you guys are having meals but not start solids yet.

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Re: Early weaning

Postby clothmama » Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:45 pm

I think I started Josh at a simlar age at as the time the recommendation was 4-6 months depending on the child. There are whispers starting that there may be changes back to that more flexible timescale. I just had a look on Uptodate to see what they had to say on the matter. They give a list of developmental milestones which is qutie good, is he meeting all these?

Developmental milestones — The best time to start solid foods depends not only on your child's age, but also on your child's ability to sit up, support the head, and meet other developmental milestones. These guidelines apply to all children, including those who have delays with gross motor skills. The infant should be able to do the following:

●Sit with support

●Have good head and neck control

●Push up with straight elbows from lying face down

●Show readiness for varied textures of supplemental foods by placing their hands or toys in their mouth

●Lean forward and open the mouth when interested in food, and lean back and turn away when uninterested in the food or not hungry


Interestingly they are talking about the 4-6 month area again
Introducing solid foods before age four to six months is not helpful and could be harmful
. This seemed like an interesting point as well to consider readiness:
By four months of age, most infants usually have doubled their birth weight. When your infant has doubled his/her birth weight and weighs at least 13 pounds (5.9 kg), you may need to begin supplementing their liquid diet with additional foods to support growth and satisfy hunger.

Link to article: http://www.uptodate.com/contents/starti ... the-basics

I know there are a large number of articles backing the 6 month guideline and haven't read much for the 4-6 month. I'll see if I can find out more!

I think with Louis we made it to just over 5 months, my boys were so big and so ready I'm not sure I could have made it to the exact 6 months!

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Dancing mum
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Re: Early weaning

Postby Dancing mum » Sat Aug 30, 2014 1:29 am

Thanks for posting all that info @clothmama! My baby is 5 months 10 days and I am now constantly having to take food out of her hands as she keeps grabbing it whenever she can get close enough (her hands shoot out very quickly!).
She meets all those signal points and has been sitting unsupported for a few weeks now.
She does feed a lot and still wakes pretty much every 2 hours throughout the night to feed. Having read all that I'm now wondering whether she's 'too' hungry and maybe I'm not giving her enough any more just through bf? Don't want to slow her growth down just through stubbornness of trying to wait until 6 months!

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Soupdragon
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Re: Early weaning

Postby Soupdragon » Sat Aug 30, 2014 2:44 am

From a developmental perspective, I'd question:

1) Can he sit without support?
2) Has his tongue-extrusion reflex disappeared?
3) Has he moved from forwards-backwards tongue movements to up-down tongue movements?

Basically, is he able to get food in, manipulate food when it's in his mouth and deal with it before swallowing? If he can't, then I'd question whether he's actually ready for food, or just more interested generally in what's going on.

The tongue movements are really important, as being able to control a bolus is what prevents things going down the wrong way.

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ems101
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Re: Early weaning

Postby ems101 » Sat Aug 30, 2014 6:39 am

Interesting stuff. I read a bit tge other day on bbc about the guidelines possibly changing from 6 to 4-6.

Im not sure how to judge tongue movement without trying spoon food. Weve always done fingerfood.

I think the thing that makes me want to try tgem with food is the interest at meal times, reaching out and grabbing for food, and tge disappointment wgen he cant have it despite being breastfed on demand. He took a chocolate wrapper from my hand the other day, put it straight to his mouth and sucked like mad. He cried so bitterly when I took it away.

I think ill try and eek him out for a bit longer but im also keen to be baby led so will try and follow his signals as well as the development milestones that yoyve described

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Soupdragon
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Re: Early weaning

Postby Soupdragon » Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:03 am

Try and get a sense of whether he's moved from suckling (the in-out or horizontal tongue movement pattern) to true sucking (the up-down or vertical pattern of movement). Sucking tends to happen at around 6 months.

Without my speechie hat on, I'd put my finger in his mouth and see what happens. ;)

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clothmama
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Re: Early weaning

Postby clothmama » Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:22 am

Soupdragon wrote:From a developmental perspective, I'd question:

1) Can he sit without support?
2) Has his tongue-extrusion reflex disappeared?
3) Has he moved from forwards-backwards tongue movements to up-down tongue movements?

Basically, is he able to get food in, manipulate food when it's in his mouth and deal with it before swallowing? If he can't, then I'd question whether he's actually ready for food, or just more interested generally in what's going on.

The tongue movements are really important, as being able to control a bolus is what prevents things going down the wrong way.

Really good points about the tongue movements, thanks for adding all that!

Soupdragon wrote:Without my speechie hat on, I'd put my finger in his mouth and see what happens. ;)

@Soupdragon will it be an obvious difference to feel?

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ems101
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Re: Early weaning

Postby ems101 » Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:29 am

Ooh ill try that and see. I think I inow what you mean! @soupdragon

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