To be a bit shocked that people are still weaning their babies really early?

[bumbleymummy]

I'm not talking about within a few weeks of 6 months and I know that some babies with reflux are weaned a bit earlier under the guidance of a paediatrician - I'm talking 3 week olds being given bottles of baby rice/rusks because they're big/hungry/whatever. I just can't believe that some people still think this is ok and will argue about how milk just wasn't enough for their baby at that age

Advice does nor change all the time (the only people who say this are those who are trying to justify their ignoring all advice)

yes advice changes all the time i dont mean every few days of course I mean within years it changes guidelines change health advice changes

When my DS was going through a growth spurt I'd just BF him more but my MIL didn't trust it at all as she FF then early weaned her DCs, she used to give me the big hungry boy spiel and I'd just nod along. Even now he's weaned onto solids she asks me when I'm going to give him 'proper' milk and not breastmilk

no it doesn't. Its been after 4 months for about 30 years now, then 4-6 months for the last ten.
How is that changing all the time?

Sorry for disappearing - visitors!

Just wanted to say that I did not criticise these mums for their choices/say anything rude about it. It was a conversation about advice for a hungry baby. I did say about choking risks and the 6 month guideline but this was just dismissed by the early weaning mums. It was more that they are passing on their own experiences as facts to other new mums that bothered me. I actually had a premature baby and one that was over 9lbs and they both managed fine with just BM until 6 months. DS2 has always been a complete chunky monkey (miss those big squishy thighs! :) ) so I'm not sure how much size/birth weight/what age they were born really comes into it.

My experience was the same as some other posters. They had a growth spurt, fed a lot for a few days and then settled down again. I think that maybe people don't know about/expect growth spurts and then perhaps jump to the conclusion that their child is too hungry for milk and needs 'proper' food even though it is a normal thing...

HAve only got partway through replies so I'm going to keep reading now....

I don't think anyone here is saying 4-6 months is "early"

Shocking is 6 weeks, 2 months, 3 months. No benefit and several risks for the baby.

When I had my 1st two the advice was to introduce solids i.e. Baby cereal in very small amounts from 6 weeks. By the time I had the next two it was 3 months. At that time 'weaning' referred to the process of getting babies off the breast or bottle so that they were drinking from a cup. As far as sleeping was concerned you wrapped them up tightly and put them on their side. The big NO NO was co-sleeping.

When was this eddie? Sometime before the 1970s?

Just going to add that I think one of the women said that she was advised to wean early onto rice in a bottle by her HV. Surely HVs wouldn't advise that? I know there are some HVs out there who seem to advise based on their own personal experience rather than the current guidelines (Although there are plenty who do not do this!) but surely that advice would just be too wrong?

I don't know, some HVs/midwives come out with total nonsense. I had one try to tell me recently that if you lose weight while breastfeeding your milk will be too thin so you have to supplement with formula.

Just an aside, from my understanding, there wasn't any research done before Dr Spock started advising tummy sleeping, he just said it. It's only as research has been done, that that little gem has been disregarded.

As you were...

Annabelle both my DDs were born before the Internet, therefore most mums took advice from their health visitors and gps. I was advised to start weaning at 12 weeks with dd1- that was 22 years ago. I don't ignore advice and do my own thing, I followed the advice I was given by medical professionals.

Advice does indeed change (back to sleep campaign) and you'd be a bit naive to think it doesn't.

Yes I agree chicken - the tummy sleeping advice was based on common sense and instinct. It seemed obvious that a baby on its back might choke.

Epidemiological research on the records demonstrated a strong link between infant death and front sleeping, and that's what caused the change in advice. Of course the huge drop in death rates since the Back To Sleep campaign might be a coincidence, but that's not the way I'd bet.

60s

maja - aaaaaarrrrrghhhhhh! Where do they get this stuff from?

My gran gave my uncle rusks in his bottle from 4 weeks and cut the tips off the teat so e could suck it down even faster

There was a study published last week saying weaning after 6 months or before 4 months increased diabetes risks, optimum for that apparently is 5 months.

I wonder why the risk would increase after 6 months... DS2 wasn't really that interested in food even after we started at 6 months. Can't keep him out of the cupboard/fruitbowl now though

yy to cutting the teat. I've heard that before. Surely adding thickening things to formula would be a bad idea - don't they have to have the right amount of water added to them? Constipation etc....

I am weaning my 21 week old now (just a spoon of apple puree, hold of a banana etc - no roast dinners ) after I started a thread on here saying he'd nicked and ingested a crust of toast off my plate!! He seems ready to me. With my first baby I waited till exactly 6 months and she just wasn't interested, in fact she has only recently got the hang of food aged 3! I wonder if I somehow missed her "window" tbh.

I dont know, it's interesting.

Countess I weaned my DS at five month when je leaned forward and bit a banana I was holding! But he could already sit unsupported.

I am not convinced the evidence for after six months vs five months is that great. Before four months being harmful, yes. (as bumbley said, in fact)

*argh - for the love of Jeff.

Milk is the most energy dense food you can give a baby, because it doesn't matter how many calories are in the food if the baby can't process them...and at 3 weeks they CANNOT PROCESS ANYTHING THAT ISN'T MILK.

If you give a baby some rice/potato/chocolate/coal it will keep them quiet for longer because it sits in their tummy doing feck all except making them feel full.

The net result of feeding your supposedly extra hungry baby anything other than milk is that they will receive fewer calories in a 24 hour period than if you stick to milk.*

THIS. Well said!

Bold fail

I have noticed that AnnabelleLee posts in a fairly strident fashion, almost like she's pissed off with what she's reading and pounds that keyboard!

ExcuseTypos

What you said re the internet is exactly it (with everything!!). My oldest is 11, youngest 8 so not particularly old but I didn't have proper internet (chat room stuff / FB etc) until about 2007ish. All my baby rearing was done with advice from HVs, doctors, family members & friends - I never therefore witnessed strangers accusing strangers of near child abuse for things such as bottle feeding, sleeping methods, weaning etc etc, so never had sight of the massive guilt trips that are available today for new parents.