BLW an early baby?

[Laur_250]

Reggie is 5 months now and we really wanna start trying BLW at 6 months. He already shows an interst in grabbing things and putting them to mouth so i think in another month it will be geat timing.

I'm currently reading the book by Gill Rapley and finding it really useful, in it she mentions early babies and says its an individual thing but obviously a baby born at 28 weeks example wont be ready at 6 months but a baby born at 36/37 weeks may be fine.

Reggie was born at 35+5 weighing 6.01 lb which was a very healthy weight for an early baby and he has continued to thrive on breastmilk and is up on the higher centile thing in his book for weight. I really think he is level with other babies his (real) age though the HV still minus 4 weeks off his age when using it for reference.

So.......should i wait an extra 4 weeks to start BLW or shall i stick with my aim to start at 6 months?? I will still be breastfeeding and from what i gather in the book, for the first couple months baby is just exploring with putting foods into their mouths and doesnt neccesarily NEED to eat it yet but is preparing for when they do, so it should be ok??

Any thought, previous experience welcome xx

 

[beanie]

me personally I would start at 6 months - its not as if he was very early, he was practically full term. If you are nervous how about waiting a week after he is 6 months to make up that extra week.

 

[keli]

It sounds like he'll be ready at 6 months if he's grabbing stuff now. You'll know when he is, plus you could try at 6mths and if he's not ready you can always stop and then start again in a wk or two. It's a fab way to wean. Coopers 3 wks in and he's already eating everything i do. Last night we had spag bol. I'm so proud of him and its such a joy to watch he eat. Good luck its well worth the wait

 

[lisa&alex]

i agree aim for 6 months. babies are full term at 37 weeks, so really he was only born 9 days early. so his gut should be mature enough to start weaning at 6 months. where as a 28 weeker may take longer. teddie was born 36+5 and he was weaned at 21 weeks. just remember you know best when you decide your baby is showing the signs and is pretty close to 6 months, some babies need food before 6 months some dont xx

 

[Gem & Leland]

does he have any reflux problems ?
aim for 6 months but just be prepared that it might not work , i had to wean leland early on advice from pead and hv and at 6 months actual age i wanted desperatly to change to blw , but i couldnt , as any finger food made leland gage and progectile vomit , i kept trying for 2 weeks , but it didnt get better , hv told me to leave it for another month so at 7.5 months i tried again and gradually then he got better and better with keeping finger food down and it co incided with with corrected age of 6 months . he know doesnt gag on finger food at all and will eat pretty much anything you put in front of him .

 

[Laur_250]

Thanks everyone, i think i will start at 6 months Even if is just to realise i need to wait.

He doesnt have any reflux or weight issues, infct on the weight graph, last time he was weighed and they plotted him on the age he is -4 weeks and it put him on the higher centile, i asked what he'd be on if he were plotted at his real age as though he'd not been early and it would of been the middle line which indicates he's perfect weight for his 'real' age

In the book it mentioned some early babies run out of the iron supply early as they didnt make as much in the womb and so need purees earlier, but im hoping the fact he was only slightly off the full term mark this wont matter with us xx