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...

Do you have a good health visitor? If so try and ask her next time you are at baby clinic. In some areas Health visitors and or children's centres run talks or groups about weaning.I went a group at my local children's centre that was run my a nursery nurse and a HV. They gave me loads of useful info about what signs to look out for to show DS was ready for weaning, surprisingly, not that he appeared more hungry. They also gave advice on what foods to give, recipes for cooking my own food and how to progress through the different stages of weaning. I found it really useful as all the books and leaflets said different things and i was getting confused.

8lb 7oz is a very good weight btw,I was 6lb at birth. Just ignore them, you just do what you think is best, enjoy bf and wean when you think you think he is ready.

It's your milk that's made hime so big... Therefore you are proving daily that your milk is enough

OP, in 2 years of parenthood, what I have learned is that the well meaning comments never stop and they just move on to another topic as your child grows. Definitely learn to smile, nod and ignore as if your parents/inlaws are anything like mine, you will be doing that for a very very long time!!!

showofhands and enormasnob - clearly neither of you have any scientific background at all, it seems.

'Anecdote' [as you arrogantly dismiss it] does indeed hold little weight in the evidence base for weaning or anything else, if you are only ''google-trained''.

The [vast] majority of research only actually applies to specific cohorts and not to individuals. In this situation individual babies.

Best to keep an open mind and a critical appraisal of the latest fad/research ?

Agree with novice. Just smile, nod and ignore. My dd was much plumper when she was just on breast milk. She eats well now but she has dropped from the 50th centile back down to the 25th - which is what she was when she was born.

Actually, I'm all for looking at individual babies. DD was NOT weaned at 26 weeks, she was weaned when she was ready. And I am always pleased that the guidelines point out how to know your baby is ready by looking at the signs of the individual child. They take the evidence base and then use terms such as 'around this time' or 'about this time' because ultimately you're dealing with individuals. And the guidlines also make a nod towards the absolute base norms of a child and point out that while 26 weeks is average, before 17 weeks is not recommended but to seek medical advice for that individual child if necessary.

And while I'm on a public forum giving advice to a general population, of course my advice is along the non-specific. I would not dream of giving a story of a child weaned at 8 weeks on a public thread like this and present it as just fine, because I would never be responsible for the repercussions of how that might be taken. I am not here to give recommendations. I can provide a single anecdote about very early weaning in my family and very sadly, the outcome is not the same as with your cousin's. It's very, very different indeed. But that story does not help the general picture.