Weaning dilemmas

Mia is now four and a half months old. At this age, Harry was on three meals a day, both baby rice and homemade fruit and vegetable purees. We started weaning at 17 weeks because he was sleeping so badly and was grumpy almost constantly. I assumed it was because he was hungry. Of course, weaning didn't make any difference at all to either his sleep or his general demeanor.

I've barely thought about weaning Mia. She doesn't seem ready at all, and I can't believe that I was shoving spoons into Harry's mouth at this age. Looking back I wish that we had waited, I just really thought that it was what he needed, and I was struggling.

The good thing about weaning early was that it meant that we got into a routine. I was tailing off the breastfeeding, so we got into a routine of bottle, breakfast, bottle, lunch, bottle, tea, bottle, bed, then I think two bottles at some point in the night. It meant that I could space the feeds out a bit. I'm still breastfeeding Mia, and she does feed very frequently. Another thing was that I could get him used to the fruit and vegetables before introducing all the other foods that he could have at six months.

In my mind, weaning goes along with stopping breastfeeding, and I'm not sure I'm quite ready for that yet. Unlike Harry, Mia actually seems to like breastfeeding, and I'm managing a lot better with it myself. I must admit that there is some laziness involved. If she's a bit grumpy it's very easy to pop her on for a feed, even though hunger might not be the problem. It's also handy to be able to feed her to sleep, or at least calm her down. I am starting to feel though that the breastfeeding might come to an end soon.

This time round I will probably go for more of a baby led weaning approach, especially as I'm preparing food for Harry that she could eat too. I expect that I'll still be faffing about with the blender and ice cube trays though, as I like to know that something is going in.

So I'm torn between craving that routine (and hopefully a bit more sleep, although I know from experience that is by no means guaranteed even if it does mean help with the night feeds) and doing what I know is best for Mia, which is waiting until she is 6 months old. I'm not sure that we'll last quite that long, but for now I think we'll carry on as we are.