Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

xmaslolly76

I would agree with everyone that has said take your queue from your baby if they are showing an interest in your food then they may be ready for new tastes otherwise i would hold off and try other things first. My bubs was weaned at 5months because he kept gestering for our food so we let him have a some which eventually led him to having his own littel bits in a dish and it worked a treat. One thing i have always done though is give baby tastes of stuff not actually give them food but just rub my finger over things and put it to their lips for flavour and non of my 3 older ones have ever been fussy eaters.

With the second one i was advised to use milumil milk as it apparently keeps them fuller for longer but i dont think you can get it any more it may be worth asking if there is an equivalent product available now :-)

meritaten

I dont know if others have noticed this but HVs tend to be rather dogmatic about things and insist that the way they recommend is the right way! totally ignoring the fact that they may have said totally different things a few years ago!

Spendless

kindofagilr wrote: »

Thats not really the case, sorry but HVS tell so many different thing to different people, I told my HV what the paediatrican said and they were like :eek: no dont give him solids till he's 6 months old

What's not really the case? That the HV doesn't know the poster or the child? That she should go on the advice of people on an internet forum instead? or that years ago you were told to wean at 3 or 4 months?

Put it another way, if 10 years down the line the advice is not to wean until 9 months and someone posts 'my 7 month old baby seems really hungry and my HV has told me to wean now but it seems really early' do you think people like yourself who weaned at 6 months would say no you must wait until they are 9 months? My betting is they wouldn't.

liney

I mentioned hungry baby milk on your other thread because that does seem like a massive amount of milk in 24 hour period. (I didn't mention weaning because i knew it would derail the thread)

These recommendations are guidelines, and if the HV thinks the baby s/he must be showing the physical signs of readiness, and you are observing this insatiable hunger so if it were me i'd give it a try. Advice 6 years ago was 4 months I think; i know my June baby had a Christmas dinner

jackomdj

My DD fed like yours.

Our HV said to start on solids early & avoid the hungry baby milk as it was full of bulking agents rather than nutrition that the baby is looking for.

We started at 13 weeks (although this was almost 6 years ago it was still early based on the then guidelines) & within a few weeks she was having 3 large meals a day! She never liked baby rice, but loved vegetables & baby cerial.

Go with your gut feeling. Good luck

carolpinkdreamer

My two are teenagers now but I had to wean both at 9-10 weeks. I felt that I wouldn't leave a dog hungry so I certainly wouldn't my beloved babies. Both seemed so much more content and settled once they had started on solids. If OP's HV has advised it, I'd suggest it's good advice.

PS Mine are both fit, healthy and slim now too.

fernliebee

Personally I think a lot of health visitors spout a load of nonsense (to put it politely.) so I wouldn't solely go on their advise alone, and in fact would be more trusting of a whole forum of mums who have hands on experience than 1 woman who may or may not have up to date training, may or may not even be a parent themselves. Just my opinion!

In my understanding, signs of a baby being ready for solids are more important than actual age. My DD1 was 5 1/2 months (but 2 weeks late) so pretty much spot on, however she prob could have done with food a bit earlier, as she had been sitting unaided since 4 months, taking a very keen interest in our food since around the same age, and found a pepper that had rolled out of the shopping bag and gnawed it a lot

DevilsAdvocate1

My nephew was weaned at 12 weeks with small bit of baby rice, and had a major reaction to it which we now know was asthma. My SIL has been told that early weaning is a likely cause. He is 13 now and looks pale, is small for his age and his asthma is severe.

I weaned my son at 16 weeks and he ended up being admitted to hospital with constipation. I was told to go back to milk only and try it again in a few weeks. I did this 3 times and it was only when he was 22 weeks that he finally took to it without any problems.

The same thing happened to my cousins daughter.

So I would urge caution if you are to introduce solids. I've never understood how they are able to help with getting the baby to sleep more or eat less as solids have less calories in them and don't have difficult fats to be digested. It certainly didn't help any of mine to sleep.

The reason the advice changes was due to a large study which took place over several years. If we were to go back 100 years, babies were weaned at nearer 1 year old, so 6 months is early compared to then.

pinkclouds

Tbh, 14 weeks sounds ridiculously early to be weaning her but I'm not her mom. However, that is the whole point - *you* are the mom so *you* know what is best for your baby. (That's what my dad always says - even when my mom is "telling" me what to do with my kids. I'm the mom so I know what's best for my kids.) Go with your instinct and remember nothing is set in stone and you won't be far wrong. If baby doesn't want to eat, then she won't. If she does, then great. If you feel it's a mistake, you can stop and resume later on. And so on.

My own experience is completely different to yours (totally opposite, in fact), so there's little point mentioning it all. The only thing I'd say is don't expect food/milk to affect sleep patterns. Waking through the night can be for any number of very good reasons. But I'm sure you already know that. And if you really want to know what I would do (not necessarily what I think you should do) then I have always breastfed on demand so I would just give more milk.

alleycat`

OrkneyStar wrote: »

Thanks for singling out my post even though several other said a similar thing (inserted confused smiley).
As it is guidelines suggest waiting until 6 months or as close as you can get. I appreciate the guidelines have changed recently, with increased understanding of the science behind gut development (and other factors). In some cases earlier weaning may be a solution, but that should be with as much knowledge as possible and careful weighing of pros and cons!
Re: breast-feeding, I was not suggesting that I was better than the OP who formula feeds, simply pointing it out in reference to my complete lack of knowledge regarding what formula might help!
For the record the OP does not seem to be asking for 'permission', simply seeking a census of advice, which seems a very sensible thing to do imho!
I hope the OP gets through this time- I remember the growth spurts being a tiring time! x

Hi Orkney,

I picked your post out as your response was exactly what i was expecting back.
It wasn't a shot at you in the slightestbut it was a microcosm of people doing as their told by "scientfic experts" and not trusting themselves.

I also wasn't suggesting you thought the op was bad by bottle feeding.
What i was suggesting was that the "science" behind the 6 month weaning was brought in to coincide with "breast is best" (maybe i'm just a cynic?).
Personally i think breast probably is best but again that is only an opinion.
Most science is nothing more than that as people set out to establish something and find what they want to find.

As another poster has said on here if the scientists tell you that all the "6 month mums" were harming their children by early weaning in another 15 years time and it should be 9 to 12 months i imagine Your response would be, load of old toot, it never did my child any harm.

As with all things you'll get mums with horror storys and mums with success storys.

If the baby wants to try the food they will and if they don't want it then that also isn't a bad result either.

OP If you want a genuine second opinion ask a doctor or a food expert but i suspect in your own mind/heart you already know what you want to do.