6 months - stiffen my resolve!

[GloriaMumble]

Most of my ante-natal class mates have started weaning their DCs (baby rice, purees etc) already; they range between 17 weeks and 22 weeks. My DD is 19 weeks and I was trying to hold off weaning until 26 weeks and then BLW but I feel a bit silly for holding off when all the other DCs seem to be doing so well on spoons and puree. I also feel I can't whinge to my mates about DD not sleeping through when they seem to think that weaning was the answer to all ills... and, to be fair, the way they report it, it has been the answer for them...
Please remind me why I'm waiting till 26 weeks. I think I believe its the right thing to do but please, remind me, why?

[BizzyDint]

sleep often goes pear shaped around 4 months. you either ride it out or you wean and say the weaning sorted it. there are lots of kids who eat a lot of food, i'm talking older kids, like 2 or 3, who don't sleep through. food is nothing to do with it. they sleep or they don't. there are plenty mums on here who have more than one child who will tell you each one is just different.

stick to your plan, you'll be sooo pleased you did in the end. your friends will still be pureeing and spooning while your dd eats a sandwich.

[GingGangGooley]

Dizzy is right. Weaning does not make a baby sleep through at all. I have loads of mums on my birth board that thought it might but most have been first to admit it didn't.

I must admit to start with I was a little concsious of being the only mum to wait but my god I'm glad I did! It has been the most refreshing thing I ever did. I love blw and i love watching my dd explore new food.

Peer pressure is a mother fecker but don't bow down to it! carry on as you are you'll be so chuffed when you look back.

Good Luck xx

[jetjets]

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[MrsBadger]

oh, and have Kellymom's evidence for delaying weaning page for good measure

[beansprout]

It's this simple - we now know that their digestive systems aren't ready. Just because a baby isn't ill at 17 when it is eating food, doesn't mean you are doing him or her any good by giving them food before they are ready.

Plus, milk will sustain them longer than any amount of puree so it's a nonsense to assume that they will sleep through as soon as the mush touches their lips

I was counting the weeks until 26 weeks but I'm really, really glad I did. Good luck

[littleEasterlapin]

Hang on in there... a few sleepless nights are a small price to pay for improved digestion, less risk of allergies etc. You'll get the old "well, the doctors used to recommend weaning at 4 months" argument - yeah, well they used to prescribe leeches for illnesses, times change!

[beansprout]

Erm , that would be 17 weeks, not 17!

[GloriaMumble]

Thanks. Why is the "new" advice for solid food 6 months? Does anyone have any links to the research that that advice is based on? Otherwise there's a little voice that says to puree now and move to finger foods at 6 months...
Bang on right about peer pressure - I keep remembering my teachers saying "if everyone else jumped off a cliff would you?" and tbh, if the "everyone else" was a peer-mum and it would stop them looking at me like I am some kind of lentil weaving weirdo, at the moment I feel like I would get jumping!
I used to be a confident ball-buster working in the city and now I'm worrying about succombing to peer pressure from a group of women I only met 6 months ago

[GloriaMumble]

whoops, sorry, as I was bemoaning my loss of confidence you all came up trumps! I will read the kellymom link with interest - I used that site a lot when BF didn't start well...dunno why I didn't think of it now (cus my mummy-brain is MUSH!)

[BizzyDint]

the WHO have been saying 6 months for 11 years i think. it's just now becoming 'fashion' here as maternity leave has increased to 9 months, thereby making breastfeeding to 6 months a possibility fr more women.

[Gemmitygem]

if the baby gets enough milk they may just as easily sleep through, I think. My DS has slept 11-7 for ages, when he was just being breastfed and now with breastfed plus purees (he's 6 months next week, started purees at 5 months just for fun tastes.

So please don't think it's the weaning that helps them sleep through necessarily, it's more being a bit older, sleeping more deeply and having a bigger tum which is able to store more milk and energy through the night...

hang on in there!

[Tapster]

Interesting statistic by WHO - only 1% of mothers EBF until 6 months. So they have a guideline that 99% of mothers fail. Easier to get to 6 months if FF IMO. I think the guidelines will lead to fewer women breastfeeding beyond 4 months which I personally think is much worse than weaning early.

[GingGangGooley]

Have a look at my rant and also people's comments about early weaning! it is linked to various gut issues in later life.

[GingGangGooley]

Tapster - think it's a bit off to say 99% of mothers "fail" i certainly don't think i have failed my daughter anything.

[Tapster]

I personally don't think it is failing, but alot of people make you feel like you are. Seems a bit ridiculous to have such a target that only 1% of women achieve - I am really worried that BF rates will fall even more in this country as people switch to FF and hungry formula milk (which I think of as liquidised mcdonalds) to "achieve" this target. We all make choices but the militancy of 6 months could be leading to detrimental impact on babies - 7% of babies have an allergy to the cows milk in formula.

[mrsjohnsim]

tapster, it isn't a target, it is a recommendation based on research.

[jetjets]

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[GloriaMumble]

wow, thanks for the replies all. Exactly what I needed; I'm now much more confident to stick with my decision to wait - of course it helps that DD went to sleep this evening easily
Is that 1% statistic correct? I also find that quite a confidence boost. DD and I had such problems with bf at the beginning but I (and she) perservered and we're headed for 6 months bf with foot to the floor... (though she has had about 8 ff in total so maybe that makes it not ebf by the statistic standards).
I do find the "being different" thing a double edged sword though jetjets - I try and second guess myself in case I'm only deciding to blw in order to be different and thats not a good enough reason - hmmm that sounds more silly than I mean when I write it down!

[jetjets]

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