To ask what age you weaned your children?

[buncakes]

I have a DS, 19 weeks and am a FTM. I am conflicted about when to wean. NHS says 6 months. But my family and friends think I'm mad for waiting and they think he needs food now. He is FF and does cry for milk a lot more than he used to and I find it hard to fill him. I am not sure if weaning would help this - everything I've read online says no but everyone I know says yes.

Would be interested to hear experiences and opinions. I just want to do what's best for my baby.

7.5 months. I started trying to wean him at 6 months, but he wasn't having it! He finally gave in at 7.5 months and started having his first tastes.

I haven't read all the replies. I have a 14 year old, and when he was a baby the guidelines were 4 months so I started to gradually wean him at 4 months.
When my now 10 year old was born, the guidelines had changed to 6 months in that short space of time.
I weaned 10 year old at 5 months and a half.
The reason the guidelines keep changing, I think, is because new research keeps linking early weaning to allergies or the gut being too immature to cope with everything.
So up to 6 months sounds reasonable and the longer you can last out to that the better.
Happy to be corrected on anything I have just said though as I'm no expert!

4 months with my first (she wasn't ready though) and 7 months with the others. I agree with PP that babies are all different. And also you can trust your own judgment rather than that of family/friends. Nothing horrifying will happen if you wean a bit early or a bit late.

DD was 5 months, but purely because she helped herself to a banana I was eating, which after the initial shock, told me she was ready

Thanks pennysnow that's a really useful post. I suppose the thing that is putting me off is the attitude like that of the first poster on this thread - the experts know best and the rest of us are unqualified idiots who must follow guidelines. I do trust in the opinions of women I know and I think discounting anecdotal evidence does women a disservice. I may try him and see how he does, if he's not interested or doesn't do well then I'll give it another few weeks.

Thanks @bunfights.

I don't claim to be an expert, as I am sure you and many others don't, but as you said, it's very unfair to discount and poopoo the opinions and views of women who have had children, and grandchildren and looked after other children etc, for many decades PURELY because they don't have an 'official qualification.'

My mother had me on solids at 3-4 months AND my brother too, but the son of an old work colleague of mine didn't start on them til he was 7-8 months old. She said she did attempt it at around 5 months but he just spat it out. I guess you just have to try and see, and baby will let you know.

Yes advice from other mums is great but not if it's in direct opposition to current medical theory. The most recent studies have shown a link between early weaning and allergies and intolerances. Waiting till 6 months is believed to give the stomach more time to mature to be able to deal with these new foods. Babies don't need anything other than milk for the first 6 months so I'm not sure why you'd risk it. All on the NHS website.

@HiJenny35

But Jenny, many people have weaned their babies at 3-4 months with no adverse affects. And as the 'experts' keep telling us that this is good and that is good, and this is bad and that is bad, and then changing their minds every few years, (and telling us that the good things are not good after all, and the bad things are not bad after all,) I will trust my own instincts thanks.

And as I said, when I told my doctor that I was starting to give my daughter occasional solids at 3 months old, they said it was fine if she seemed ready. And she did. Milk alone was simply not satisfying her.

Frankly, I think it's absurd for anyone to state that every single baby should not even put a scrap of solid food in their mouth until they are past 6 months old. (And that all babies MUST be breastfed til they are 12 months old.) It's just silly, because all babies are different, and grow at different rates. So whether it suits people to hear it or not, I take much of the advice from the 'experts' with a pinch of salt.

On the HV's advice, 16 weeks.

Don't listen to Pennysnow! there are proven risks to weaning younger than 5.5 months, including lifelong bowel issues and increased chance of obesity. Weaning at 3 months is just stupid and dangerous according to all the evidence, a baby's intestines aren't developed enough to properly digest anything other than milk. Please ignore all the 'ur bubba ur rulz' and 'mama knows best' bollocks, as that simply is not true on this issue - there is an extremely large body of evidence showing it is not a good idea to wean before 6 months (ish) unless your baby was premature or has other health issues and you are specifically advised to wean by a paediatrician.

A lot of parents mistake the 4 month growth spurt for being ready to wean - this isn't the case. Milk has FAR more calories than pureed fruit and veg, the only reason weaning can briefly make them sleep better is because their immature digestive system struggles to digest solids much before 6 months.

Here's the MN advice based on actual evidence:

Until 2003, parents were advised to wean between four and six months. This was changed to six months after worldwide research (endorsed by numerous health bodies, including the World Health Organisation and the Department of Health) showed, if you wean before six months:

There's a very real chance your baby's digestive system and kidneys won't be developed enough to cope safely with solid food

Your baby may absorb fewer nutrients from breastmilk (if he's breastfed)

There is no positive health benefit for your baby

Your baby's risk of developing infections and allergies - and going on to have digestive problems and obesity in later life - can increase

Don't listen to @ahedgehogcannevebebuggared.

She is only going on the scaremongering she has been fed.

You will KNOW when your baby is ready for solids.

Don't be scared by so-called experts. As you can see OP, many posters on here started weaning at 3-4 months. It will NOT do your baby any harm. If baby is not ready, they will spit it out.

Take no notice of the scaremongering. You will get a lot of that when you have a baby.

They will be telling you next that you must breastfeed him til he is 2 years old or he won't grow any taller than 3 feet high.

Scaremongering, that's all it is.

@GrilledAubergines

On the HV's advice, 16 weeks.

Sounds about right, and much better than the hysterical scaremongering by @AHedgehogCanNeverBeBuggered

Wow lots of mixed messages here! Good luck :-)

My 95th percentile baby was weaned at 17 weeks he was starving. Weaning got us sleep and a happy happy baby. He's 12 now and still on the 95th percentile and still a very happy happy chap!
My 90th percentile baby girl didn't fancy food until about 20 weeks and then dropped milk like a stone. She hates milk even now and is 9. Never ever touches milk unless it's mixed with chocolate.
I would suggest try, we did only veggies for a few weeks and see what happens. You can always revert or push on. X

I used hungry baby milk? Otherwise I would have been constantly feeding my DD!

I think I did start weaning before 6 months too. I made baby rice with the formula milk, quickly progressing onto the baby porridge (I didn't blame her the rice tasted like cardboard) she didn't eat much of it at first and her milk intake didn't decrease.

You sound like a good mummy so just do what your motherly instinct tells you to do! Every child is different and you know your baby better than anyone.

I'm keen to see any research that indicates introducing food before 6 months is detrimental. I've been advised by DDs pediatrician to introduce solids now and she's 4 months.

6 months.

Being hungrier just means they need more milk. There are more calories in formula milk then food. Babies watch everything you do, havingba glass of wine or doing the hoovering but it does not mean they are ready to have wine or crack on with the house work just because they have seen you do it.

The NHS guidelines state that, at some point between 4 and 6 months, baby will be ready to start solids. My first started at 17 weeks on doctors advice due to poor weight gain. My 2nd was ready at 21 weeks. The signs of readiness are on the nhs website. Read them and decide if your baby is ready. I know a lot of mum's who stuck rigidly to the 6 month rule, but the guidelines don't actually state that you must wait until 6 months. I know lots of grandmas who pressured mum's from 3 months too because the guidelines were different 'back then'. At 19 weeks, stick yo fruit and veg puree. Your baby will be fine.

Penny you can't out "experts" in quotes whilst deriding them then say that your doctor said it was ok so there. Is your doctor not an expert?

OP can your DC sit unaided? Have they lost the tongue thrust reflex? Frankly, weaning is messy and time consuming and I would be in no rush to start if I didn't need to for medical reasons. I started blw when DD was 5.5 months (another plate raider here ) but I didn't drop any feeds - there are very few calories in fruit and veg and it's not like she was actually eating much of it anyway. Giving baby food is not going to mean you can cut down their formula for quite a while yet.

Also, now is a good time to get yourself booked on a first aid course if you've not done so already - eating brings a range of hazards and it's best to be prepared.

6 months here with DC1...ate nothing for months and still isn't interested in food much 2 years later! Found weaning very stressful and messy and one of the least enjoyable aspects of parenting. Will be waiting for 6 months with DC2.

I've found lots of research linked to on this page suggesting waiting until 6 months is best kellymom.com/ages/older-infant/delay-solids/

The 6 month guideline is about yur baby being able to sit up unaided.Which we know is not universal,so why should a guideline be universal.Babies are individuals,so they have individual needs.

And may i ask if feeding a baby prior that 4 months brings on allergies and bowel problems.Why is there an increase now,rather that the statistics basically staying the same.Or actually decreasing,

My three, 12, 8, 4 were all six months and even then weren't interested.

I think you need to not be stupid about it and follow your gut instincts but actually make sure they are showing the right signs.

If your kids showing an interest when you are eating, can sit unaided (so they don't choke), has the coordination to pick things up and get it in their mouth, can swallow solids and their tongue doesn't have a reflex that spits food and spoon back out, starts wanting more feeds and waking in the night more often (and you wait for some time to pass to make sure it isn't just a normal growth spurt)

Then yeah maybe they are ready. I do think mums that go through that list and think yeah my kids ready know best. My health visitor said when my son was six weeks old "he's 12 pounds and waking hourly though the night, he's ready for food". He really, really wasn't.

This subjects so inflammatory.

My father in law put a spoonful of Jam in my son's mouth when he was two weeks old. "Look he's licking his lips he wants food" no he doesn't "we did it back in the day never caused any issues" fuck off.

I don't have enough fingers to count my friends who have ibs, Celiac and crohns disease. We were weaned at apparently eight weeks old.

Go through the list and go with your gut instincts he's your baby.

I think it depends entirely whether he is showing signs that he is ready and capable of weaning, not just his age. If he is then it is your choice but don't be pressured by others.
The British Medical Journal has written some very interesting things on weaning which has made me keen to wean my DS when he is around 5 months (if he is physically showing the signs / ready) take a look at this link
www.bmj.com/content/342/bmj.c5955
It is also believed by some that the NHS have maintain their 6 months stance as they know that parents will often wean early, so don't want to drop the limit to 4 months as baby should absolutely not have any solids prior to this. How accurate that is i don't know.
Developed countries the world over promote weaning at four and a half months so you won't be causing any damage, however plesse only do it because you Want to and you and dc feel ready - not cause your relatives say so!