Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

betterlife

thanks everyone, i do agree no food in bottles, and i also agree that most hv dont have children and also midwifes, when i was in labour with my 4th a home birth, when the midwife come to my house i was pushing, she examined me and said stop pushing your not ready you are only 5/6 cm, i said do you have children, she said no. i said this baby is coming , im ready to push and within a couple of pushes cody was born. x say no more.

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

stef240377 wrote: »

Having 3 kids - the youngest now being 11, i too noticed the guidelines have changed reagrding how early to start weaning, this was down to being left my neice for a few hours. She was screaming the house down after her bottle no amount of winding her would stop this. My sister was adamant it was because she had got colic and would readily dose her up with whatever she had obtained on prescription and still failed to settle her. On later baby sitting sessions with her i refused to give her any bottle until she had some baby rice, she were about 10 weeks old, and she loved it and happily enjoyed her bottle afterwards with no screaming, just a well deserved sleep. I told my sister how this had been and she went ballistic accusing me of attempting to make her daughter ill and more likely to become asthmatic etc when older. All this had come from the HV who would read up on info before vistiting and then ram it down my sisters throat, being young and niave my sister soaked it all up with a sponge believing it as gospel and having a very unhappy daughter. She left it until she was exactly 6 months old until changing her onto second stage milk again through her HV advise and a month later she tried her on her first jar of food. This made me livid as there was no natural progression through the foods you give a baby. She is now 13 months old and still on jars of food my sister will not give her anything her HV has advised against and i have never seen such a skinny miserable baby in my life.

My dd1 (now 13) was 4 weeks prem weighing 3lb 11oz and was on second stage milk by 3 months and not long after baby rice etc - she is 5ft 3 in a ladies size 6/8 clothing and weighs 7.5 stone.

My ds1 (now12) weighing 6lb was on second stage milk at 6 weeks and was not interested in weaning until after 12 weeks even then not wanting to try foods and is fussy with food now - he is shorter than ds2 and weighs just over 6 stone.

My ds2 (now 11) weighed 8lb 4oz was on second stage milk at 3 weeks constantly having a 9oz bottle in his mouth as he were always hungry and was 6 weeks old when weaned on HV advise because she said she could tell how he were growing and with his ever hungry apppetite he would never have made any of the clinical guidelined ages - he is now over 5ft tall size 6/7 feet and 10.5 stone and is solidily built.

Like other mums have said you are with the child 24/7 you become intune with your babies wants and needs, how can a HV and the likes tell you what the child needs after a 5 min consultation. If we believed that weaning a child from too young an age would give them this, that and the other our own parents would not have done it to us. TBH i dont see that many adults who are asthmatic or excema sufferers blaming their parents for their conditions.

To be honest, if you had given my child anything other than milk at ten weeks, I would be livid too. Good on your sister for standing up for what she believes in. I'm sorry that you feel her daughter is so 'miserable.'

There is no need to start babies off on bland foods and 'progress' through - from six months, they can have whatever you can (within reason of course - perhaps not McDonalds!). Second stage milk is also advised for only older babies because of the high iron content; it can constipate even then, so I wouldn't contemplate giving it to a younger baby.

OrkneyStar

Jo_F wrote: »

I appreciate what you are saying, but it was exceptionally runny, and there is no way that it could have been served with a spoon, I only added a small amount, and it was the consistancy of the milk anyway. In fact I made it that runny, that it came out of a standard teat quite well.

If it was such a small amount that it made the milk no thicker could it really make a difference ? Just wondered
Regarding the spoon, well I have fed a mixture of EBM and a baby rice so runny it looked just like milk, straight from a spoon so it is possible.
This said, DS was about 5 months then, so perhaps a younger baby would not manage this (and as I already stated if they cannot cope with a spoon perhaps they are too young for solids- no matter how runny).

Originally Posted by stef240377
Having 3 kids - the youngest now being 11, i too noticed the guidelines have changed reagrding how early to start weaning, this was down to being left my neice for a few hours. She was screaming the house down after her bottle no amount of winding her would stop this. My sister was adamant it was because she had got colic and would readily dose her up with whatever she had obtained on prescription and still failed to settle her. On later baby sitting sessions with her i refused to give her any bottle until she had some baby rice, she were about 10 weeks old, and she loved it and happily enjoyed her bottle afterwards with no screaming, just a well deserved sleep. I told my sister how this had been and she went ballistic accusing me of attempting to make her daughter ill and more likely to become asthmatic etc when older. All this had come from the HV who would read up on info before vistiting and then ram it down my sisters throat, being young and niave my sister soaked it all up with a sponge believing it as gospel and having a very unhappy daughter. She left it until she was exactly 6 months old until changing her onto second stage milk again through her HV advise and a month later she tried her on her first jar of food. This made me livid as there was no natural progression through the foods you give a baby. She is now 13 months old and still on jars of food my sister will not give her anything her HV has advised against and i have never seen such a skinny miserable baby in my life.

My dd1 (now 13) was 4 weeks prem weighing 3lb 11oz and was on second stage milk by 3 months and not long after baby rice etc - she is 5ft 3 in a ladies size 6/8 clothing and weighs 7.5 stone.

My ds1 (now12) weighing 6lb was on second stage milk at 6 weeks and was not interested in weaning until after 12 weeks even then not wanting to try foods and is fussy with food now - he is shorter than ds2 and weighs just over 6 stone.

My ds2 (now 11) weighed 8lb 4oz was on second stage milk at 3 weeks constantly having a 9oz bottle in his mouth as he were always hungry and was 6 weeks old when weaned on HV advise because she said she could tell how he were growing and with his ever hungry apppetite he would never have made any of the clinical guidelined ages - he is now over 5ft tall size 6/7 feet and 10.5 stone and is solidily built.

Like other mums have said you are with the child 24/7 you become intune with your babies wants and needs, how can a HV and the likes tell you what the child needs after a 5 min consultation. If we believed that weaning a child from too young an age would give them this, that and the other our own parents would not have done it to us. TBH i dont see that many adults who are asthmatic or excema sufferers blaming their parents for their conditions.

I would have been livid had you done this with my son- who are you to tell your sister how to feed her child ?
Anyone who behaved like this, toward me or my child, would not be welcomed back unless they changed their opinionated ways!
Offer help yes, force your way of doing things on her, absolutely not!
My DS is also skinny at 15 months but TBH I would rather that than a porker! Joking lol, surely babies come in all shapes and sizes ?
x

betterlife

i did not mean this to start a war lol, thanks for everyones opinion though you have all really helped. anyway tried him on farleys with baby milk, about an hour ago, just a couple of spoons to see what he thought, well he nearly bit my hand off! and he was full of smiles, think it is safe to say by my experience he liked it! will try again tomorrow and see how he gets on again. my first child was about the same age so im happy with trying him now. give it a couple of weeks and he`ll be on pasty and chips lol, homemade of coarse, and before any of you panic i am only joking x

frugallass

I was 24 when I weaned my daughter

sorry, it was just the way I read the title to your thread.......:o

forgive me ?

.

OrkneyStar

betterlife wrote: »

i did not mean this to start a war lol, thanks for everyones opinion though you have all really helped. anyway tried him on farleys with baby milk, about an hour ago, just a couple of spoons to see what he thought, well he nearly bit my hand off! and he was full of smiles, think it is safe to say by my experience he liked it! will try again tomorrow and see how he gets on again. my first child was about the same age so im happy with trying him now. give it a couple of weeks and he`ll be on pasty and chips lol, homemade of coarse, and before any of you panic i am only joking x

All the best.x

mspig

2 months with first, 6 weeks with second, and about 9 weeks with third, they were all hungry babies even on the higher milk. They tried baby rice but didn't eat it, so i gave them baby porridge which they loved.

funky-footprints

pukkamum wrote: »

My friend sees a dietician for her eldest child as she has cerebal palsy and when she asked her about the new 6 months weaning rule, the dietician told her it was a government response to the obesity problem, the thinking being that the older you wean the child the less likely you are to overfeed!
I didn't really see how this would work personally.
They try and tell you it is to decrease the risks of allergys but i, mychildren, my sisters all my friends and no doubt thousends of other babies were weaned at four months and we are all fine!!!!
My babies were ready at four months so i did it simple as that!!!!

same her pukkamum, by the time my 3rd was born the 6 month guideline had been introduced, but by 16 weeks number 3 was desperate for more, and starting to refuse the extra milk that was suggested, from sleeping through she started waking, all the signs she showed us were signs of hunger. we all know our own babies, I know my 3, all over 9lb born, non of them are obese, and none of them have allergies or dietry problems or unhealthy diets.

jellyhead

stef - do you mean the health visitor actually tells your sister to feed jars of food to her 1 year old?!

i'm with the others, i'd be furious at anyone who went against my childcare views. do what you want with your own children, but mine eat what i say.

Bitsy_Beans

I weaned my son at 5 months. He was FF and was initially feeding every 3 hours. This increased to 4 hourly feeds which was great. However he then dropped to 3 hours again and was giving me the impression that he needed more bulk than milk. He was 8lbs 3oz when born and a tall (IYSWIM) baby.
My daughter is also 11 weeks and since she was 9lbs 6oz at birth I think I will be weaning her around the same time if she's anything like her brother. I shall leave her til 6 months unless she gives me other signs.