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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to wonder why no one boasts about weaning at 8 months because they had such a SMALL baby who slept through the nihgt and showed no interest in food?

50 replies

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 10/10/2011 21:42

I mean, statistically speaking, there'd be as many of those as there would be big babies who are begging for a roast dinner and sponge and custard at 14 weeks
Surely?

OP posts:

WoodBetweenTheWorlds · 10/10/2011 22:00

Hmm, my dd was weaned at 6 months but she wasn't remotely interested in solid f

Original poster

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 10/10/2011 22:00

Has anyone with a small/ not food interested baby been ADVISED to wait though?
Hunty :( sorry to hear that. Hope he is now eating you out of house and home!

OP posts:

WoodBetweenTheWorlds · 10/10/2011 22:02

Hmm, my dd was weaned at 6 months but she wasn't remotely interested in solid food at that time. Still isn't, really.

She is small for her age.

skybluepearl · 10/10/2011 22:05

Putting my hand up - I had two babies who were small, slept through the night and showed no interest in food till 9 and 10 months. They both now eat like horses

BertieBotts · 10/10/2011 22:08

Yes and no. Advised by who? HVs were trying to persuade me to give him "Just one teaspoon!" of baby rice at 4 months. When I questioned WHY they wanted me to give him something which had less calories than milk when he was perfectly happy with milk they just stared at me open-mouthed and said "You'd be surprised! It makes a difference!" I was conveniently busy the next month (clinic was every 4 weeks where I lived) and the one after that we were actually at A&E being checked out after a minor car crash, so they didn't really bother us after that, but when I got the phone call from HV (follow up from A&E) I was really worried she was going to tell me off for missing clinic two months in a row!

Was advised by breastfeeding experts to just keep feeding DS and not to worry. He wasn't even that small compared to his birth weight, it's just he'd peaked suddenly before 4 months so it looked like he dropped more than he had if that makes sense.

MrHeadlessMan · 10/10/2011 22:09

My brain hurts from trying to understand the OP. For that reason I give you a yabu.

HeidiKat · 10/10/2011 22:09

I wasn't advised to wait but if DD hadn't been my PFB and I had been a bit more confident in myself I would have delayed weaning a couple more months, she has never been a hungry baby, stopped night feeding at 6 weeks. It took a lot of persevering to get her to take purees, I even considered at one point giving up and trying again in another few weeks but thought that babies had to start weaning at 6 months or they wouldn't tolerate new tastes as well.

Original poster

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 10/10/2011 22:11

So no one has actually been advised by a HV to wait then? It's under 6 months for the big, hungry babies, 6 months for everyone else?
Headless, don't blame you! Even I'm not totally sure what I mean

OP posts:

Original poster

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 10/10/2011 22:12

FWIW I asked whether I should wean DS early and was told by HV to wait until "around the end of next month"- when he would be a few days over 6 months. So in fact am I the only one who's even come close? :o

OP posts:

GoodWitchHunting · 10/10/2011 22:13

We were advised to start weaning because DS was slow to gain after 6 months. We were referred to a 'failure to thrive' clinic by HV and told to weigh weekly.

He never once lost weight but some weeks he stayed the same and he dropped down the centiles. But he was a healthy, happy and very active bf baby.

He is small compared to hid peers but he eats very well.

chicletteeth · 10/10/2011 22:14

I knew somebody that did this.
Her DD was just shy of eight months and hadn't ever eaten a thing.

SpectralHarrassmentPandaPop · 10/10/2011 22:15

My HV was harassing me from 5 months as to why I hadn't tried dd with some baby rice.

woahthere · 10/10/2011 22:17

Just need to say that this statement... 'Two of the main reasons to wean at (or before) 6 months are due to not enough iron in breastmilk' is not true, there is enough iron in breastmilk to last them until 6 months because breastmilk iis so effectively digested by the body that none of it gets wasted and is absorbed in to the bloodstream. Thats all I wanted to say, not bothered by the rest, although it does get my goat when people start bragging about having to wean their babies early because they are so big and hungry...its a load of bollocks, and none of us are impressed... but i probably wouldnt start a thread about it!

MamaMaiasaura · 10/10/2011 22:19

My ds2 was 8lb14 so not small and started trying solids between 5/6 months.

PenguinPatter · 10/10/2011 22:19

I've seen a HV advise early weaning for a small baby under 6 months to bring weight up then turn round to next woman and advise early weaning as baby is big and won't wait till 6 months.

I've no idea what 'average babies' were told.

BertieBotts · 10/10/2011 22:21

To be fair HVs have to stick to current NHS advice, which is 4-6 months, and by 6 months finger foods should be introduced alongside smooth purees. Which some of them take to mean that you should start before 6 months so that you can work up to the finger foods, otherwise it's a big shock to their system. Which of course it isn't, but that seems impossible for some people to understand.

It's only in BLW books and breastfeeding-centric books which have ever expressed the notion that actually some babies still aren't ready at 6 months and that waiting a bit longer for them to catch up is fine and okay and you aren't going to miss some kind of magic window.

woahthere · 10/10/2011 22:21

just realised that you have made this thread because of another thread, and think you are a bit unreasonable actually...and bored.

BertieBotts · 10/10/2011 22:24

I don't see why it's a problem. Better than trying to start a fight on the other thread, no? It's a fair discussion point.

Original poster

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 10/10/2011 22:24

Sorry . Oher thread reminded me that I have been meaning to start this for a while. If I left a decent amount of time between that one and this one I'd forget again.

OP posts:

Woodlands · 10/10/2011 22:25

Nope, never heard anyone being advised that. I do have a friend whose baby is only now beginning to try putting food in her mouth now at 16 months, so is still BFing pretty much hourly. The baby has recently been diagnosed with anaemia, fairly unsurprisingly, although my friend says it's because of the baby's low birth weight rather than that she hasn't eaten anything much other than breastmilk.

I saw another friend recently with a 7 week old baby who was following about the same weight line as my DS, born just under 9lb so not small but not huge. She was saying that there was no way she would be able to make it to six months before weaning because he was so big and hungry etc etc. Yes, my DS was big and hungry too, but milk was the best thing for him before six months! We eventually started weaning at about 5.5 months because of the pressure from family etc etc, and he was definitely ready, but I'm sure he could have waited another couple of weeks.

Original poster

SHRIIIEEEKPoolingBearBlood · 10/10/2011 22:25

BB afaik NHS advice is still "around the middle of the first year" - so ~6m. With the proviso that if you want to wean ealry, absolutely not before 17 weeks.
Could be wrong though, happy to be corrected

OP posts:

BertieBotts · 10/10/2011 22:33

Just looked on the NHS birth to five website and it says "around" 6 months, but then keeps mentioning that breastmilk meets all their nutritional needs "until 6 months" which implies IMO that you need to have started by then (the iron thing I guess? It doesn't mention vitamin drops, not on the first steps page anyway.)

Also 8 months isn't really "around 6 months" (I'd take that to be 2, at a stretch 3, weeks either side of 6 months.) 8 months would be "around the middle of the first year" though, agreed. But NHS website doesn't mention that phrase at all.

Faffalina · 10/10/2011 22:33

When my DD was 2 days short of 6 months old, I took her to get weighed and the HV plotted her weight on the wrong line of the chart, and told me she had dropped a centile when she hadn't (from 75th to 50th) and that it was my fault for not giving her solid food. She was horrified that DD wasn't on 3 meals a day.

Bt no, I don't know anyone that had a small baby and waited. If my next one is small I'll give it a go

bringmesunshine2009 · 10/10/2011 22:34

Tried DS2 ona bit of baby rice at 4.5 months, he didn't care for it and still had tongue trust. Tried again at 5 months, wolfed it down, followed by carrot puree and the finger food banana which he ate himself with a little help with the holding.

He is HUGE. 9 kg at 4.5 months. >10lb@birth 99th centile etc etc. Breast milk has kept him on that centile with ease. And sucked the fat from my saddlebags. Result.

Can't say he is sleeping much better tho. [sobbing]. Though has beaten his record so far this evening by sleeping for a TWO HOUR STRETCH (previously 1 hour 45 min) yay.

Ignored all advice just tried to give him food and didn't persist until he was capable of eating it.

Moominsarescary · 10/10/2011 23:32

With ds3 we were advised to wean from 5 months, he was premature and they say 5 months due to their iron stores depleting earlier than full term babies

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