desperate weaning help please

[Theosmumma]

Hello, I'm new to forum posting and this is my first.

My baby boy is 15 weeks old tommorrow and I think he is showing the signs of needing to be weaned already and i'm terrified of harming him by weaning too early. (ie before the recommended 6 months)

If i explain a little it might help with any welcome advice.

He was 9lb 8oz at birth and is now a heavy and long baby although not chubby (if that makes sense- he's just 'built')

anyway i had great breastfeeding support although i just did not have enough to satisfy him and tried everything to up my milk supply but in the end we ended up combination feeding. (we found out later we had thrush and I had mastitis too) (and feel hugely guilty about it)

Anyway he'd found his natural routine and was only having a full 210ml-240ml bottle feed first thing in the morning and after his bath at night and the rest of the time was breast feeding. He co-sleeps with us (he just won't sleep in his cot after buying so many things to help and trying numerous strategies but that's another story) and was waking at 10.30-11 pm, around 1am, around 4-4.30am and then up at 6am and I would just breast feed him and he only needed one breast for 5-10 mins and then would go straight back to sleep.

However over the last 2-3 weeks he has been waking in the night every hour always hungry as if his last feed wasn't enough, he's been taking both breasts and still hungry. and the last 2 weeks he's taken to fully waking up anywhere between 1 and 4.30. One day he woke up at 1- 3.30am, another he woke at 4.30 until 7am and last night he woke up at 3.30 and was awake until about 6.30am. During the day he has also been feeding up to every 2 hours which is not his usual. Everytime I eat he gets all excited and stares at me and watches my mouth as I eat and makes cute little grunting sounds and drools (more than usual )

I thought it might be a growth spurt so I started giving him another full feed at lunch time (210ml-250ml) and he is still just as hungry and after his full bottle feeds he sometimes cries for more and he's started throwing up after his feeds (which he never did before)

I have no idea what to do. Do I increase his bottle feeds or should i try giving him one ice cube of puree a day? I've tried contacting my health visitor and she's not replied to my call.

I'm absolutely petrified of damaging him if I wean too early but at the same time he's so unsettled.

I want to hold off for as long as I can so any advice would be so much appreciated, Thanking you ladies

[CarlaK]

Have you thought about moving up a stage on the formula milk? What stage are you on now?

Personally, I would wait to wean but I know lots of people who will say just the opposite- it is down to your baby (but I know that won't help!)

[isabellasmum]

I would increase his milk and hold off on the weaning - not sure why he is throwing up though!

[dara07]

I think if he seems very hungry, move him up to stage 2 milk for hungrier babies if he's not on it already. He might be throwing up some milk because he is so full up iygwim! If he's on the Stage 2 milk and seems very hungry still, I'd start weaning him. the advice for bottle fed babies is to begin weaning between 4 - 6 months. My LO is just over 20 wks and I started weaning her 2 and half weeks ago! We're taking things very slowly. Still on rice and pear puree once a day. My HV said you SHOULD start weaning a bottle fed baby by 20 wks. In same breath, she mentioned something about brain development but I didn't question her about it.
If he's waking and showing an interest in food, I'd go for it if things don't improve in next few days. HTH, D x

[Bubba82]

try him on the formula for hungry babies and see how he goes, all babies are different so what works for one isn't necessarily the case for the other, my 2 couldn't be more dif, Mia was hungry from day one and was on hungry formula from very early and i started to weaned her at 17wks (it's done her no harm!) but Franky was just 'normal' when it came to feeds but he had a very sensitive belly so was on comfort formula and due to this i didn't wean him till he was 6mths

[Theosmumma]

Thank you very much ladies.

He's been on hungry baby for a fare while now which is why i wasn't sure what to do next.