Hi again - Mom has given me permission to post. I have a question that I really should know the answer to, but have to confess that I don't. I usually lose track of the pre-term babies that I have worked with once they are launched and breastfeeding, so it does not often come up, but this mother has kept in touch and now wants to know when to introduce weaning foods. Baby was born at 32 weeks gestation weighing 2100g, and now weighs 7100g at 5 months (corrected gestational age 3 months). His weight shows that he is absolutely thriving on breastmilk alone, but there seems to be some concern that he needs solids now in view of the fact that he *was* sleeping at night from 8pm to 5am and is now waking again at 12.30 am and 2 4 5 and 6! Otherwise mom says he's fabulous and only cries if he's hungry. She's a lovely mom, worked very hard to establish breastfeeding in the early weeks (it was hard!) and wants to do the best thing for this little chap. What is your advice? With the exposure of sIgA and growth factors contained in breastmilk does the pre-term baby's gut mature as quickly as a full-term baby's? Or should pre-term babies start weaning foods at 6 months corrected gestational age (for this baby 8 months)? Many thanks. Pamela Morrison IBCLC, Zimbabwe [log in to unmask] *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html