To be stressed about weaning already? Ds only 8 weeks!

[Moulesfrites]

I am ebf ds and feel that I have eventually built up the confidence to politely ignore pil and others when they say I am feeding too often, spoiling him, blah blah.... But now I feel like I have only just established feeding and I can sense another battle looming wrt weaning...

Ds was not v big at birth 8lb 7oz, but has gained lots of weight- was 13 lb by 6 weeks and on 91st centime. This seems to make people think that my milk will not be enough for him for much longer, even though it is what has got him so big! Even my mum, who has been fab with the breastfeeding - totally gets demand feeding etc, has said that by 12 weeks ds will be chomping at the bit! I felt that with breastfeeding I armed myself with lots of info to deal with people's questions but I don't feel as confident with weaning - are there any books you would recommend. Plus there were all those headlines a few months ago about not waiting til 6m which didn't help. Any advice would be appreciated...

[moondog]

Just ignore them, hard as it is.
The watery mush people want to give to babies isn't as calorific as creamy breast milk for a start. It just fills them rather like wallpaper paste fills a plastic bucket.

Your tailormade milk or that?
No contest eh?

[Bogeyface]

Just smile and say "Well we'll have to see won't we?"

Some people, grandparents in particular, seem to feel the need to comment on everything. Most of the time its just something to say. I am pg at the moment and despite the fact that I am measuring bang on for dates on my fundal height, everyone seems to want to voice their opinion on how big/small my bump is, whether I will "make it" to my due date etc. Its annoying but basically harmless.

Ignore them as far as you can, and just go with weaning when you are ready. Aslong as you have read up on it and are happy with your own choices and your babys development then you dont need to worry about other peoples comments.

Toughen up love, it gets worse as they get older :o

[ShowOfHands]

My family were the same. DD was 7lbs when born, off the charts by 3 months. I got lots and lots of comments about how she would need more, I wouldn't satisfy her etc.

I was very firm in the end. Just said 'I will be bfing dd for as long as she needs it'. Some people who genuinely could be educated about it and didn't understand were interested in the signs of readiness for weaning (sitting up, able to self feed, no tongue thrust) but largely I just repeated firmly that I would NOT be weaning early.

There is a booklet aimed at family members about bfing, but I don't know who publishes it.

DD was 6 months when we started blw and weighed around 25lbs. My mother told me a couple of months later how amazed/proud she was and said dd had clearly thrived.

[madhousewife]

what moondog said!!

i'm not sure what people's hangups about bfing are, just ignore them, trust your instincts and feed that baby what you think is best. are there any local bfeeding groups near you? great for meeting supportive moms.... ask your midwife or hv, i highly recommend it!

you've done a great job so far!

[Firawla]

Just ignore them and try not to let it stress you out for now. Also being big does not necessarily mean they will be desperate for food before the 6 months,one of my ds was a really big baby and even at 6 months he was not interested, he wouldn't eat anything hardly until 7 months! btw if that happens it's not too much worth worrying either as they will get there eventually.
If they keep saying things i would just say 'we'll see how it goes' and change subject every time

[RobynLou]

just ask them, if they wanted to put on weight would they eat cream or carrots?

[Cambington]

I agree with mad and Fir - when baby snatches your toast out of your hand you know they're ready!

[flipfloppop]

Surely the fact he has put on so much weight already speaks volumes about the benefits of your breast milk. Seems to be doing the job to me!

[Rabat]

Yes, just ignore them. My DS was a 75 percentile at birth - continued along that for a while before settling (for at least the next 6 years on the 50 percentile), so at this at this stage smaller than your son for comparison.

I went back to work (v. part time) but continued ebf, so pumped. I know from a few experiments with that that my son took quite a lot of milk - but I maintained an oversupply as well (to freeze). Your body will make what he needs. I didn't start weaning until well past 6 months, and he didn't have solids every day until he was 7 months.

To get round the MIL comments I used to stick leaflets on the fridge about the current guidelines - I don't think even she can deny that my DS has had a tiny fraction of the illnesses that her children/her other FF/early weaned grandchildren did now. I don't think I would have any negative comments at all now if I did it all again...

Your DD may well be ready for solids before mine - so I wouldn't stick to the 6m rule rigidly - it is just a guide.

[NinkyNonker]

Smile and nod, at 6 mo start food. By then he'll be sitting up etc and you'll be able to show them how ready he is! Then do baby led weaning, that'll piss them off.

[waterrat]

re. the not waiting until 6months - if you read up on what was actually said, it was really no different to current guidelines. Have a look at the report - it said that it's okay to introduce the odd bit of something before then, it didn't say breast milk wasn't enough. That was very mis-reported in the media.

[beesimo]

I have had five the first three I weaned much earlier than is the considered wise now. My twin boy I weaned about 6 weeks later than the first three, my twin daughter would not go on to solids she was distraught about it all and wasn't properly on solids until about 14 months I used to cry my self to sleep over the little bugger. Don't torture your self about it OP no two bairns are the same you sound like a lovely sensible Mam just do your best and let all the conflicting advice go right over your head.

[IMissSleep]

I started my DS on a little bit of solid food at 4.5 months. He would open his mouth EVERY time I was eating and could hold his head up on his own. I breast fed till 6 months and one day he just didn't want the boob anymore! (now 7 months) Hes ow weaned and has 4 meals a day and 4-5 bottles + water.

You know when your baby is ready, no need to hurry with it!!

[GKlimt]

No need to hurry it, as imissSleep says.

Please don't stress yourself about this. It seems to me that there is no right way to wean yr DC.

Over recent years [decades] there has been lots of contradictory [?sp] 'advice'. Can't help but think that its all a bit 'faddish' - my cousins were breastfed but given solids from at least 8 weeks.

They are all fit and healthy.

[ShowOfHands]

To be utterly frank siobahnagain, that's anecdotal evidence and does not outweigh the body of research that tells us weaning before 17 weeks is not recommended. And 8 weeks is ridiculously early. And actually, you can't say that somebody has not been affected by early weaning. Firstly, because you don't know how their health would be otherwise and secondly, because you don't know what might happen in the future. And single anecdotal stories a body of research does not make.

And it's not 'faddish'. The guidelines have been 6 months for 8 years. And for 20 years before that they were 4-6 months. They've barely changed for decades really. Hardly faddish.

[LessNarkyPuffin]

Ignore the 'helpful advice'. Just smile and nod and ignore. And when they say milk won't be enough because he's gotten so big on milk, laugh.

[ENormaSnob]

Anecdotal evidence means shit all.

[confuddledDOTcom]

You need cmotdibbler's parenting manual. She has a selection going back 100years plus. Until the introduction of mass produced formula post WWII babies were weaned during their first winter, aged 9-12 months.

The article was misquoting a heavily biased report that hasn't been taken seriously by anyone who matters.

Highly recommend Gill Rapley's book. Personally I found BLW have me an insight into my child's development in a totally new way. My youngest wasn't ready for solids until almost a year old and we could see that by her reaction to food. If we'd done puree I don't think we'd have the same insight.

[valiumredhead]

Just smile and ignore! :)

and just so you know 8lb 7 is a really good weight. what do you consider a 'big' baby

[petisa]

My dd is nearly 7 months old and is really not interested in solids yet, apart from a bit of toast, banana and avocado. They're all different. Ignore the comments.

[LostInTransmogrification]

Agree with Flipfloppop, and my DS was the same. I weaned just before 6 months and he was happily sitting on the 98th percentile at that point. Do they think the weight would have gone on so fast if your milk wasn't going to be enough?

If I could re-do the first 6 months I would stop being so polite about people giving their opinions, it just encourages them to continue to interfere. Tell them that you will wean when you feel your baby is ready and don't discuss it any further. They'll get the message eventually.

[Moulesfrites]

Tanks for the advice all - I will adopt the smile, nod and ignore approach!

blw would really shock the pils, mil will prob do her tutting and head shaking which I have posted on about here before! I think it is an alien concept to them as their 10 month old granddaughter - bil's dd, is still on jars of puree .

Greatpoint about cream and carrots robynlou!

Valium redhead - I know 8lb 7 is a good weight but in my side of the family there have been some 10 or 11 lb babies, so I just meant he wasn't massive!

[valiumredhead]

He he he he he I had a tiddler of 3lb 9 - so anything over that impresses me!

Get used to people giving you 'advice' - it carries on and on and on.....................

Just refuse to discuss things and nod and smile etc etc

[confuddledDOTcom]

Your baby was twice the weight of mine!

Here's a good line for you to practice "No wonder you're so fat if you think carrots have more calories than icecream! Don't you know you're supposed to give up icecream, not carrots on a diet"

[confuddledDOTcom]

Not half the size of valium's baby I had two 4lbers!