Solids & Premmies

My DS was 8.5 weeks prem (he's 5 mths old now) and he is a ff baby that is below average on the graphs for weight but is still in the healthy range and we have started solids. Our MHN is very happy with him and has said its fine to give him solids but she feels its a little early but as he is grumpy between feeds and seems much more settled with 1 feed of solids a day she is happy for him to have it. He's not having a huge amount when he has solids about a third of what would be in a jar (trialling a few different things to see what he likes so I can make my own). I am hoping I am doing the right thing, he's only having fruits and veggies because he hates baby rice cereal, and he's doing so well with development and stuff

Anyway not sure what I hoped to accomplish by this but I needed to type it out I think

Dd1 was 6 weeks early and struggled with her weight, even at 3.5 she is apparently underweight. She started on solids very early, at 4 months or 3.5 corrected there abouts. It helped with her weight gains and she was much more settled. We did this on the advice of our pead.

Dd2 was a late starter at almost 9 months and Ds was 5 months.

Hey hun, if it works for you and if you feel like he need them then go for it. My son was prem and we started him on solids around the 5 month mark (acutal age). His paed said that his gut develops the same as a full termer and my DS went from strength to strength. Its a big step, I still remember giving my DS his first spoon of food and his face was priceless lol he loved it. Apples were always a favourite early on. Listen to your mummy instinct, you're doing a great job.

Yeh he's much more settled with some food in him too. He seems to sleep deeper when he has had a feed of solids too.
If I find he is gaining too much weight too fast I will consider stopping or only 1 solid feed every second day or so.
I know alot of people probably dont agree with my giving him solids yet but I cant give him more formula so I had to do something to try to help him be more satisfied and he always has a bottle before solids

I started my prems somewhere between actual and corrected age...so for my 25 weeker (who has had serious weight issues) I started him at 7.5mths actual (4mths corrected) my pead wanted him to start earlier but I wasn't comfortable with it so I waited.
He took to them very well.
A lot of prems are smaller for some time and it is better to look at the chart for their corrected age because they have had to start from so small.
My DS is still tiny but very healthy and that is better indicator than a chart.
As Usplus2 said trust your mummy instinct :D

I had trouble with people disagreeing with me giving DS solids to, and the most vocal ones were people without a prem bub but somehow "knew" what was right for him. How can anyone say that your bub feeling better and sleeping better is a bad thing? Dont listen to them hun, you're doing what is right for you little man. My little guy was also underweight by his actual age but was just on if we went by corrected. His weight gain increased steadily when he began solids. Have fun on the solids journey, aaah the joys puree food lol.

Ds started at just over 3 1/2 months actual. He was ready for it. Trust ur instincts.

How is he going Kat?

I'm really struggling with the idea of giving DD solids.

She was 34 weeks and is now just over 4 1/2 months (3mo 6 days, corrected)
She's been hungry for a while now. She gets frustrated at her bottle because its not satisfying her.
She finishes her bottle and is still hungry, give her 10ml more and she'll vomit!
I'm so frustrated.
I don't know what to do.
As some of you may know DD had a rough start to life being born with IUGR and all of her small and part of her large intestine outside her body (Gastroschisis).
She had her bowels put back in a few hours after birth and started feeds at 9 days old.
We're seeing the surgeon on the 11th of May to talk about solids.
But she's hungry now!! Afternoons are horrible because she's hungry but can't drink anymore.

What do I do? Please help. Sorry to hijack the thread.
Do I just struggle for a few more weeks til we see the surgeon or do I ring him and talk to him now?

Charlotte i would ring now it cant hurt.
My boy was the same wasn't full but refused bottle or threw up so i started him on solids only a spoonful at start and it helped a lot. After a week or so he wasn't having a bottle in morning he wanted rice cereal. So yeah maybe give him a call and see what he says he may prefer you to wait until checkup but then he may say go for it.

hmm Charlotte thats a hard one, more so because of the IGUR. Is there anyway you could call your Dr and ask? I was told that DS was right to start solids by his actual age because it matured the same as a full termer, but given your DD's history I wonder if that is not the case for her. Do you think that maybe she might be going through a growth spurt? Maybe until you see the Dr you could space out the ml's you give her, or up it by 5mls at a time.

how come by afternoon she cant drink anymore? Is it because she is tired by them?

Thanks guys.
Melssy, thats exactly like DD.
I'm trying to up her formula a bit. She drinks 120-150ml and then I'm offering her another 30ml before she gets back to bed about an hour later. She only takes about another 10ml and then spits it out.

By afternoon she's hungry, but she just 'chomps' on the bottle and gets cranky.
I'm off to weigh her this afternoon to see if she's put on some more weight.
I'll see how she goes today, I may ring the surgeon this afternoon. He's usually fantastic, I've rung him a few times since being home and he's always rung me straight back and is a massive help.

Flynn's doing really well now maybe looking at 2 solid feeds a day now but we'll see how things go.
Charlotte most of the time instinct is the best but as there have been other issues just call and see what they say.
If they say no maybe get some formula thickener (most chemists have it) and add a little into her bottle to make her feel fuller if thats a better option

Just coming in to say. Sam is 6 months and has caught both weight and length of a six month old now. He is in the 50%ile He grew 6cm in a month. Went from 000 to 0. Didnt think it was right but the mchn measured him twice to be certain.

Charlotte- did you speak to surgeon or are you waiting till appointment? Your appointments tomorrow isnt it?

Off to see the surgeon tomorrow. I rang him on a totally different subject (DD's Zantac dosage) but he never rang me back, unfortuately. I'm not worried.

DD got a 24hour bug (that went for 3 days) that included massive diarrhea and some vomiting. So we rang The Childrens and asked if, since she's not drinking because she's not feeling well, if we could give her some farax or something. Got a different surgeon and got told that if she's vomiting she needs to go straight to the emergancy room. No. So, will talk to her real surgeon tomorrow. He's awesome.

I hope all goes well tomorrow with the surgeon and you get all your questions answered Charlotte

Good to hear Flynn is doing so well Kat :D