Today Oliver and I had an appointment at the Well Baby Clinic. This is a clinic attached to the hospital and I purchased a pack of 4 visits shortly after Oliver was born. This was our third visit and Ollie is about 16 weeks old now. Unfortunately today’s visit included a 30 minute wait in the aptly called “waiting room” which is never so fun with a baby. Ollie was good though and stayed happy for the wait which was something (it was later he started crying and decided to throw up on me, yay!)
Anyway so my visit today was ok. The nurse answered a few questions “Yes his head shape is fine (don’t worry about the slightly flat bit)”, “No those dots on his legs are nothing to worry about” and “No they aren’t ulcers in his mouth, they are actually calcium spots”. All good. His weight, height and head circumference were all good too, hovering around “average” (is this the only time when average is good?)
Unfortunately though I did come away with a few unanswered questions. Now that Oliver is nearly 4 months old Im keen to look at options around weaning him and thus introducing formula. But the nurse wouldn’t recommend a formula brand for us (although she did suggest one to avoid) and she also tried to talk me out of weaning him until he is 6 months old. She also couldn’t really suggest how to wean him…I was expecting something like “switch one feed a day to start off with and then every few days, switch an additional feed until he is having entirely formula”. But no. Silly me for looking for advice anywhere apart from online! Looks like Im back to researching in my “native hood”.
Hmm so I cant say I got as many answers today as I was hoping for. I really cant see myself feeding for another two and a half months either. Time will tell!
February 20th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Hi Lou,
I had an assignment on infant nutrition last semester…
It is recommended today that infants are exclusively breastfed up until 6 months of age (the previous recommendation was 4-6 months). After six months of age it is still of value for both child and mother to continue breastfeeding but it is ok to introduce complementary foods (weaning foods). **Possible** benefits include accelerated weight loss and return to pre-pregnancy weight, increased immunity for the child, higher IQ scores, visual acuity and psycho motor development.
Of course, you’ll have to talk to your GP/child nurse about Ollie specifically, as there are some children who can benefit from the introduction of solids earlier than 6 months.
Have a look at some of these links…
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/_files/foodinfa.pdf
and Chapter One of http://nhmrc.gov.au/publications/synopses/_files/n34.pdf
I’ll dig up more of our research sources, I can remember at least one article about weaning.
March 11th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
I started weaning both my kids off the boobs at 4 months. I’m a huge fan of breast-feeding but at the end of the day its got to suit both of you and I can’t see anything wrong with either of my kiddies. By the time you wean them its nearly 5 - 6 months anyway.
Formula? I used Heinz. I got told by the mid-wife to stay away from S-26 because it constipates them but basically the two of you work it out yourself.
I replaced the feed before they go to sleep at night with a bottle and each week just began to increase the feeds they replaced.
They DO NOT like weaning. They much prefer the breast stuff and its hard and can be pretty emotional sometimes.
Best of luck!!
April 21st, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Hi Lou!
This is all a little late, but better than never I hope!
I weaned both of our boys at 2-4 months, mainly because it’s what suited us. Apparently I had quantity but not quality!!! They both used/use S-26 Gold. I have heard that S-26 can cause constipation, but neither boy has ever been constipated, touch wood.
I do, however always add an extra 20ml of water to every bottle, even in Winter. Extra water intake in QLD, especially in the hotter months is never a bad thing!
Also, we started solids early too - at about 4 months and this was basically because they were both starving!!!
A book called Baby Love by Robin Barker has been my “bible” second time round, and I wish I had of know about this one with Owen. She is a nurse, with practical advice for real situations… And I do know of a who section in her book dedicated to weening..
Good luck!