Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

~Chameleon~

How times change!! All four of my babies were weaned onto baby rice between 8 & 12 weeks. This was considered the norm 25 yrs ago and it certainly did them no harm, all strapping healthy young men now!!

I don't believe in all this faffing around with newfound ideas that seem to change with the wind! Follow your instinct, mum always knows what's best for her child ;-)

onlyroz

alleycat` wrote: »

Most science is nothing more than that as people set out to establish something and find what they want to find.

As a former scientist, I find this tremendously offensive.

caz2703

As this thread is now 40 pages long you'll forgive me for not reading the whole thing before sticking my nose in.

I have a 13 month old and I'm also 13 weeks pregnant. I have a step-daughter who I've known since DS's age but the first year was a huge learning curve for me. Long story short, no matter how much the midwives and health visitors tried DS refused to latch so I had to express then formula feed from the very beginning. DS was always just under the 50th percentile for weight but very tall for his age.

Just after he turned 4 months we had a family emergency which meant a trip to England and a break from our routine. Bottles went from being steam sterilized to Milton tablets and the water was very hard compared to ours at home. DS was all but refusing bottles and his sleep was very disrupted. Just prior to the trip my HV had said that weaning "can" be done from 4 months but ideally wait until 6 months. While we were away we tried baby rice to try and get some milk into him but things still weren't great. When we got home I took him for a check-up and the HV went barmy at me for weaning early even though she had said 3 weeks previous that it could be done. I should point out that the weaning was only partial and we still perservered with formula for all feeds even though DS's weight had started falling off target.

Feeling like a bad mum I continued in silence but at the next check-up an older and possibly wiser HV told me if I hadn't started weaning already then she would be telling me to. DS's weight had started to fall and no amount of heavy feeds etc were working.

Yes, I was a bad mum and fed him Hipp food as he was refusing our blended foods but now at 13 months he is eating our food with some M&S kids meals thrown in for dinner if we're eating something unsuitable. I was given so much information by so many people (the professionals, the well meaning and family & friends) that my head was ready to explode.

I don't for one minute suggest that anyone ignores medical advice and/or guidelines but I do think that mums instinct is best. With number 2 due in 6 months I feel I am more prepared for these things. If this one refuses to latch at birth then I will not be brow beaten by midwives nor threatened with my child not being discharged from hospital because I can't BF. If I think my next one needs weaned early I will do it. If I think this one can be safely moved into its own room at 4 months like DS was then I'll do it.

tiamai_d

onlyroz wrote: »

As a former scientist, I find this tremendously offensive.

As I wannabe scientist I'm thinking that I must be doing all this studying for nothing... :cool:

clairehi

I have a 10 year old, an 8 year old and pg with DC3 and I can tell you one thing about weaning with 100% certainty that will never change:

Trends will come and go, medical advice will change with new research being published but

Women will always argue with each other til they are blue in the face about the "right" way to wean babies!