Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months – Weaning

Since being weaned my 18 week son has started to wake at lunchtime

Having been a perfect CLB from birth, everything has started going wrong this week! My son is 18wks and 14lbs and showing all the weaning signs in the CLBBW, most notably waking at 4.30am/5am for food when he slept through 11-7 at 6 weeks and dropped his 10pm feed quite happily at 12 1/2 weeks after a growth spurt – he was only taking about 3oz of EBM and hated being woken.

We are on day 2 of the weaning plan and he’s loving the baby rice and grabbing the spoon to put it in his mouth, but now his lunchtime nap is going wrong, having never been a problem before. Today he woke after 1hr and 15 minute’s and wouldn’t resettle. He woke just less than 2 hrs after going down yesterday and again was in a real strop.

Sometimes he has hot pink cheeks and dribbles but other times ‘s fine – he cries so rarely that this is really stressing me out as I don’t know if he’s hungry or teething or what!

In the CLBB it suggests dropping the 10pm feed at 3-4 months p.116 if the baby shows no interest (which he wasn’t) but elsewhere on this site people are saying don’t drop it until weaning is well established. I don’t really want to regress as I haven’t been expressing for a month now and am not sure if I will have enough milk to express to feed him at 10pm. I’m really confused as everything was going so well until now.

My son is fully breast fed at 7am, 10.45am, 2.00pm and 5.50pm. He takes both sides and the feeds take around 15 minutes although at 5.50pm he can feed for nearer to 30 minutes. He is having 1 teaspoon of rice at 11am.

My son weighs 14lbs.

He naps at 9-9.30am, 12-2pm and 4.15-4.45pm. He settles at 6.45pm.

Until your son is taking more solids at lunchtime offer him a top up feed before he settles to sleep at 12midday. Keep this feed in place for at least a week and see if it helps the problem. If it does then hunger is the cause of his waking.

Continue to offer your son a top feed after his lunchtime solids for the first month of his weaning. If he begins to lose interest in having this feed once he is taking a larger amount of solids you can very gradually begin to cut it down, providing he continues to sleep well throughout the nap.

The 10pm feed does usually stay in place until weaning starts even though it can be as small as 2ozs. If a baby does drop this feed before being weaned, especially when fully breast fed, it may mean going back to needing a feed in the early morning until weaning is fully established. Also, until your son starts to have solids at 6pm he may continue to need a 10pm feed, especially as he is fully breast fed. As you are concerned that you will not have enough milk at 10pm to reinstate the10pm feed you will have to continue to offer your son a feed when he wakes early at 4.30/5am. It is advisable to carry on with giving an early morning feed for a few weeks rather than beginning to wean your baby before 17 weeks.

A growth spurt can occur around 4months, which may have happened with your son.

The present guidelines recommend waiting until nearer six months before weaning. This will mean that some babies will have to go back to having an early morning feed until they are well established onto solids even if they are still taking a small feed at 10pm.