Breast Feeding my Premature baby (part 3)
Ciara and Samuel breast feeding story continues
Just when Samuel and I were getting the hang of breast feeding it was time to start weaning. I was advised by Samuel's paediatrician that I should start weaning him at about 5 months old. This is because premature babies do not have the same vitamin and iron stores in their bodies as full term babies so need solids earlier. So when Samuel weighed only 10 pounds we embarked on baby rice and amazingly he took a few spoons really well.
Initially I gave him small amounts of rice once a day and then introduced fresh vegetables and fruit after only a few days. Although he liked the food, it took him a long time to learn how to eat without spitting most of it back out. Samuel still had breast feeds every 3 -4 hours and I gave him the solids with an afternoon feed. By 7 months samuel was breast feeding just 4 times a day and having 3 meals a day. By this time I had introduced meat, dairy and wheat but Samuel was still very keen on spitting almost as much out as went in. He also has a rather strong desire to grab at the spoon or try to eat either his feet or the bib instead!
As I did with my other 2 children I make Samuel meals, puree them and freeze them in ice cube trays. Doing this makes giving home cooked food easy and with very little planning required. I have found baby food cook books very useful and used recipes with vegetables I have never cooked with before.
Samuel is now 9 months old but about the size of a 5 month old. He enjoys his meals, especially the puddings. He has 3 breast feeds a day and soon will just have milk in the morning and at night. Our next stage is to introduce Samuel to lumps. At the moment he does not tolerate any lumps in his food! We continue to get support from the local breast feeding group and we'd like to thank them for all their guidance.
