What exactly has changed????????

squashy

TBh I would research yourself as the HVs don't always get it right. However I beleive the new 6 month guidelines were brought in as a result of further research linking early weaning with lactose/wheat intolerance and other allergies, also I agree with Bernadette, the later you leave it the easier it is is as you don't have to purify everything within an inch of its life which then leads to babies being less fussy etc etc.

heather38

Ellie2758 wrote: »

I saw a mother giving a baby less than 9 months old WOTSITS to eat yesterday.:eek:

organics carrot sticks look like giant wotsits. dd loves them but only gets them once a week. i prefer to give her rice cakes or toast

roseycozy

I was going to say the same thing Heather, my DD loves those carrot things too but aren't they messy! :rotfl: I don't give them to her very often but I'm sure they are better for her than a lot of other baby foods you can buy anyway.

And Moogyboobles, just wanted to say I've been loving your blog - found it ages ago and it's great!

Justie

isaacsmum wrote: »

Please consider carefully before you put your childs health at risk - all for the sake of having to breastfeed - lets hope you are doing that at least- a bit more frequently - it is only for a very short time (even though it feels for ever) in your child life. Kick back, enjoy the feeds, get some rest in the day, and don't rush your baby just for your convenience!

Whilst I agree with the facts of your post the tone isn't imo very helpful to a mum who is doing her best to find out the information and to ask advice. Making women feel guilty is far from empowering and whilst I don't subscribe to the 'it never did me/mine any harm' philosophy of parenting nor do I think it helpful to dictate to women what they should be doing. Give the information, give the best alternatives then the best ways of doing other things if they're unable for whatever reason to follow best practice and then let mum get on with it.

hev_2

isaacsmum wrote: »

The guidelines aren't "made up" to make life hard for you, rather they are research based!!!!
In fact, 6 months plus for weaning is more like what used to happen before the evil baby food manufacturers tried to part you from your money as soon as possible and before we had blenders!
Weaning early is not good or progress or a sign of an advanced child - it is not a race!
Children who are weaned early are more likely to develop diabetes ( that is late onset type 2) heart disease, obesity, allergies...shall I go on?
You may think your children are ok and maybe they are now - but what about their future health - you may not be here to see that - or you may as it is suggested that the generations of children now will die before their parents due to these diseases!
Please consider carefully before you put your childs health at risk - all for the sake of having to breastfeed - lets hope you are doing that at least- a bit more frequently - it is only for a very short time (even though it feels for ever) in your child life. Kick back, enjoy the feeds, get some rest in the day, and don't rush your baby just for your convenience!

I would like to say that I held out til 6 months to start weaning and I am now completely confused about what I should be giving my DS, how fast to introduce new stuff, what sort of new stuff, what quantities... My HV is lovely but will just throw another leaflet at me!

Oh, and as for breastfeeding, my midwife repeatedly reduced me to tears when I was physically unable to breastfeed. To put into context, that was the only time I cried in the three months after DS was born because otherwise I was really happy!

I wonder how long before the guidelines will change again and I will be completely wrong for following HV's advice?

(can you tell I am a bit stressed about this?)

Hev

isaacsmum

Justie wrote: »

Whilst I agree with the facts of your post the tone isn't imo very helpful to a mum who is doing her best to find out the information and to ask advice. Making women feel guilty is far from empowering and whilst I don't subscribe to the 'it never did me/mine any harm' philosophy of parenting nor do I think it helpful to dictate to women what they should be doing. Give the information, give the best alternatives then the best ways of doing other things if they're unable for whatever reason to follow best practice and then let mum get on with it.

In my experience the people that ask these sort of questions and challenge the professionals and the research do so because they want to feel better about doing something that is not good for their child - similar to those who say they haven't enough milk to breastfeed when in reality only a very small number of women cannot - it just takes some effort and in these days of quick fix, easy option, instant gratification effort is a dirty word.:rolleyes2

poppyscorner

Hi and thanks to all for the replies,

Did not realise I would cause quite so much controversy.

But here are the answers to some points raised

1. I do not breast feed Why? well it certainly is not because I cannot be bothered I have tried to B/f both of my kids and my experience of it is this my breasts are very large 36H to be exact when breast feeding both of the kids have struggled to breathe I asked for support I was told this shouldn't happen and the response was the midwife made me go upstairs into my bedroom remove my clothing then proceeded to grab my very sore breasts and shove them in my babys faces after a few weeks of this both times I felt like a complete failure and I gave up am I a bad mother because of this because that is certainly how I feel I am portrayed.

2. I don't want to feed him to shut him up I genuinely think that he is not satisfied by his milk alone and he spends most of his days now crying when he was never like this before he had already had baby rice prior to my posting and he doesn't spit it at me if he did I wouldn't give him it.

3. I say my first son is healthy because he is I am not a mother who believes in giving wotsits or any other junk to them to eat I make fresh foods with fresh ingredients and my son is the type who would rather have a piece of fruit than a bag of sweets this is because of the way I educate him we discuss healthy foods all the time and if you ask him his favourites are cucumber and carrot sticks.

I don't do anything I do for an easy life I do it because I believe that it is in the best interests of my boys and if that makes some people regard me as a bad mother then so be it I won't do anything to please the pc brigade I don't see why I should. As regards to allergies there is no incidence of this in either of our families (thankfully) and if there were maybe I would try to force my son to wait.

My HV is very similar to hev refuses to talk about things with me but also doesn't give me leaflets and it is very confusing, conflicting and all round frustrating my MIL regales me all the time with her tales of being told to put rusks in bottles neither of my kids have had or will have these and I wouldn't dream of putting one in the bottles she is also amazed by the fact that they do different size teats these days they used to make the hole bigger with a pin still she must have done something right because hubby is 32 and a picture of health.

Thanks again for all the replies especially the hipp and pampers website post I have looked at them both.

I now feel like a crap mother but hey so I should because I won't comply with regulation.

Poppy

Justie

poppyscorner wrote: »

I now feel like a crap mother but hey so I should because I won't comply with regulation.

Poppy

Please don't feel like that Poppy all we can ever do is the best as we see fit at the time. And it's not helped when the support we're supposed to get from professionals is lacking.

Is it worth seeing if you can change his formula so that he's on one for hungry babies (not sure if you've tried that already) or to mix in a later stage fomula - I know nothing about formula feeding though so please check with someone who knows. I have heard though that some formulas suit hungry babies better than others.

Justie

isaacsmum wrote: »

In my experience the people that ask these sort of questions and challenge the professionals and the research do so because they want to feel better about doing something that is not good for their child - similar to those who say they haven't enough milk to breastfeed when in reality only a very small number of women cannot - it just takes some effort and in these days of quick fix, easy option, instant gratification effort is a dirty word.:rolleyes2

never because they've tried asking the professionals but been let down by lack of knowledge or skill then? None of us are perfect parents, we can only do our best. The more women are supported the easier it is to make good choices for our children. Judgement and snide remarks do nothing to aid women's faith in their own abilty nor to compensate for a lack of support or information from the professionals.

misswig

poppyscorner wrote: »

Hi and thanks to all for the replies,

Did not realise I would cause quite so much controversy.

But here are the answers to some points raised

1. I do not breast feed Why? well it certainly is not because I cannot be bothered I have tried to B/f both of my kids and my experience of it is this my breasts are very large 36H to be exact when breast feeding both of the kids have struggled to breathe I asked for support I was told this shouldn't happen and the response was the midwife made me go upstairs into my bedroom remove my clothing then proceeded to grab my very sore breasts and shove them in my babys faces after a few weeks of this both times I felt like a complete failure and I gave up am I a bad mother because of this because that is certainly how I feel I am portrayed.

2. I don't want to feed him to shut him up I genuinely think that he is not satisfied by his milk alone and he spends most of his days now crying when he was never like this before he had already had baby rice prior to my posting and he doesn't spit it at me if he did I wouldn't give him it.

3. I say my first son is healthy because he is I am not a mother who believes in giving wotsits or any other junk to them to eat I make fresh foods with fresh ingredients and my son is the type who would rather have a piece of fruit than a bag of sweets this is because of the way I educate him we discuss healthy foods all the time and if you ask him his favourites are cucumber and carrot sticks.

I don't do anything I do for an easy life I do it because I believe that it is in the best interests of my boys and if that makes some people regard me as a bad mother then so be it I won't do anything to please the pc brigade I don't see why I should. As regards to allergies there is no incidence of this in either of our families (thankfully) and if there were maybe I would try to force my son to wait.

My HV is very similar to hev refuses to talk about things with me but also doesn't give me leaflets and it is very confusing, conflicting and all round frustrating my MIL regales me all the time with her tales of being told to put rusks in bottles neither of my kids have had or will have these and I wouldn't dream of putting one in the bottles she is also amazed by the fact that they do different size teats these days they used to make the hole bigger with a pin still she must have done something right because hubby is 32 and a picture of health.

Thanks again for all the replies especially the hipp and pampers website post I have looked at them both.

I now feel like a crap mother but hey so I should because I won't comply with regulation.

Poppy

:T :T :T

My sentiments entirely!!

I also did not wean my DS early for convienience- whats convienient about preparing a baby food (I made mine fresh not from packets or jars!!), blending it expressing BM to water it down if too stiff etc etc). I loved BF but when your child is demanding a feed evry 30 mins to and hour DAY and NIGHT for 2 weeks then it soon becomes something not enjoyable to do.

I started off very gradually with baby rice made with expressed BM and progressed slowly. My DS was an extremely hungary baby and did not in actual fact sleep through the night until 8 months old when i stopped BF (My DS choice not mine- he simply refused to feed from me one night preferring a bottle!! I was devestated) so i also did not wean my DS early in order to make him sleep throuigh early on

He is now a happy, healthy little 3 year old who eats like a horse :A ( Although he seems to have a fasination with boobs- is that normal?? He said to me the other day ' i got small boobies, you got big boobies mummy'!!!):rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: