To start weaning my twins at 4 months?

[mummybearah]

Everyone I speak to and everything I read says that I should wait until 6 months.

However I feel that they are so ready! Of course I'll still be giving them their milk, but to be honest they aren't that interested in milk anymore.

Found that they would eat more solids than milk (baby porridge, rusks etc.)

I feel so bad- AIBU?

[FatherSpodoKomodo]

I'd be interested to know who's funding this research. Because its not like formula companies have ever funded this sort of research to make it say what they want it to say.

Back to the OP. I weaned my twins at 6 mOnths and it was so much easier than when I weaned my others at 3/4 months. Finger food is so much easier to clean up than that mushy crap.

[HayDayQueen]

And here I was thinking this was a thread about weaning a baby off milk and onto food. I didn't read anything anywhere about breast milk. Oversensitive?

[summertimeandthelivingiseasy]

Really, people are just trying to do the best to meet their child's needs in the midst of conflicting research, changing advice and pressure from people around them, advertising, what's available etc. If there was a right way, it would be so much easier.

It is a minefield, there are lots of ways, and all you can do is your best at the time.

[fifi669]

I read babies weaned earlier were more likely to be obese as adults....

[Fortheloveofralph]

If you do some online research about early weaning you will discover lots of digestive problems associated. Lots of people do if though but I wouldn't.

[FizzyMummy]

Oh for the love of god!!! You need to look at the research on depth not just take it at face value. Early wearing leading to digestive problems has been shown to be tosh!

[FizzyMummy]

Sorry, lots of typos due to my exasperation

[LaurieMarlow]

Here's a link to the Ohio research on BF benefits Fizzy Mummy mentioned earlier.

researchnews.osu.edu/archive/sibbreast.htm

Published in a highly respected peer reviewed journal, funded by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Source is as reputable as it gets. Though as others point out, it's a complex question and we only seem to be starting to get to grips with the many variables

[MAsMum]

My 5 yr old was weaned at 16 wks and was on puréed spag bol at 6 mths. He was a very hungry baby and my HV said that although she normally advised that you should wait until 6 mths it was very clear that he was a very hungry baby and milk was no longer sufficient to sustain him. We were told to get him interested in sports/exercise and give him fruit snacks.

In contrast DD was weaned at 5 mths ( on HVs advice).

Both are healthy, DS is 75 percentile height and 91 st percentile for weight ( although he is v skinny ). He is still a very hungry boy and would eat his own dinner, his sisters and mine and still have room for more!!

[GuybrushThreepwoodMP]

Do what you think is right. But...
Even if you wean early, milk / formula should still be the main source of nutrition for a long time yet so their disinterest in milk is not an argument one way or another.

Personally I didn't wean before 6 months despite pressure from (older) relatives. What's the point? There is simply no benefit to doing it early except in medically proven cases such as premature babies. It's hard work, messy, wasteful, stressful. Doesn't make them happier, healthier or more likely to sleep. Night just possibly have a negative impact on happiness, health and sleep. Might as well wait.

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

Fizzy You brought up breastfeeding in the first place, this was a thread about weaning.

[Tingatingatale]

Weaning is hard work. There are also certain foods they can't eat. Were they prem?

I really don't get the rush to wean. Babies have a big growth spurt at four months so need more milk, not food.

[thebodylovesspring]

Hi op, I weaned all of mine at 4 months. The lightest if the 4 was over 91b born so they would t have waited and I couldn't spend all my waking/sleeping hours breastfeeding either nice as it is.

You know your babies best so do what feels right.

My first baby was born in 1989 while last in 2000. The differences and I mean totally opposite advice on all methods of child rearing is laughable.

Read up, consider, do what's right for you.

[thebodylovesspring]

Slightly disagree with the comment that it doesn't make them happier or sleep better.

Mine slept far better after beginning to wake in the night after having solids.

You really really can't generalise about babies as they are all different and need different requirements.

They don't all walk/talk/etc at a certain cast Iron Age so what's with the 'no weaning until 6 months'

Nonsensical and afraid I am old enough to be extremely healthily cynical about research. Who is paying??

[leedy]

"The lightest if the 4 was over 91b born so they wouldn't have waited"

I must have forgotten to pass this memo on to my 9lbs 7oz at birth DS1, who managed fine on breastmilk til 26 weeks.

[Thenapoleonofcrime]

Quite a few people saying milk should be their main source of nutrition or that 'mush' won't fill them up- surely it depends on the speed of weaning. Mine were on mushed up chicken casserole (made without salt etc) by about 7/8 months, normal food, not fruit puree or mush and they did seem to thoroughly enjoy it. It was hardly a taster and mainly milk til they were a year old.

[leedy]

Yes, but that's a 7/8 month old, not a 4 month old: the amounts a 4 month old is likely to consume (plus the limitations on what a 4 month old can eat - basically fruit and veg) mean it really isn't going to fill them up. I think by "mainly milk" most people mean milk is making up more than half their calorie intake, not that they are consuming almost entirely milk and just tiny tastes of food (though the odd baby will do that). And even then, it's not like milk is mysteriously "not satisfying" and babies won't feel "really full" without loads of solids.

I have amusing photos of 6 month old DS1 eating a lamb chop.

[shanghidawn]

The advice has changed time and time again since I started weaning babies....I have seen advice for 3, 4 and 6 months 3 x over. I have seen children ready from different ages and some not until later on. You know your own child.

[geekaMaxima]

Fizzy - you are right that research must be read critically. But that includes the Ohio study you mention, which had a number of confounding factors they did not control (incl medical issues that prevent a baby feeding effectively or a mother developing a full milk supply).

They also did not measure outcomes to do with allergies, diabetes, and immune status - all of which have repeatedly been shown to be positively affected by breastfeeding.

It is entirely untrue that many of the benefits of breastfeeding have been debunked. You - and your paed - are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts.

[fledermaus]

Advice doesn't change that much - 4 months since the 80s, 4-6 months since 1994, 6 months since 2003.

[thebodylovesspring]

I think I did say every baby was different.

That was my whole point. Mine couldn't wait and were very unsettled. If yours isn't then great.

Please read the whole post and not just bits.

[BoffinMum]

World will not end if you give them some baby rice now, but I would hang on another month if you can.

[Aeroflotgirl]

Ask your HV, but if you think they are ready go for it. In the past it used to be 4 months. Dd was weaned at 4 months she is fine.