Baby weaning

[gizmosslave]

Why and when did the weaning advice change from 4 months to 6 months? And how come if babies are not putting on weight or have allergies paediatrics suggest weaning early ( 4 months).

My baby is having huge issues with bowel movements and I’m wondering whether introducing some veggies would help? Obviously I know the current guidelines but I was weaned at 3 months and I’m fine!

Advice appreciated

My DD is nearly 20 weeks and is FF. She has suffered with constipation since birth but I have noticed a slight improvement in the last few weeks, in the fact she is going at least every other day instead of every 5. The DR at about 4 weeks suggested adding an extra half oz of water to the bottle, but when I saw the HV she didn't agree and advised one 200ml carton if the ready made which we still stick to now. She is on SMA and has been the whole time.

I'm thinking of starting weaning at 24 weeks but not sure if I should and start at 26 weeks as recommended. She's nearly sitting up independently and you can see she so desperately tries every waking minute!!

My HV said she's had a lot of babies having formula made with the perfect prep who've had tummy problems, and then when they've stopped using the perfect prep the problems have gone away. She had no idea why, but it might be worth trying making up the bottles properly for a week or so?

Might be worth trying colief colic drops in his milk - these helped my son’s poo issues.

If you suspect cows milk intolerance could you try SMA Wysoy Soya? I saw it in boots the other day. It says "It is suitable for milk protein intolerance, lactose and sucrose intolerance, galactosaemia and galactokinase deficiency. Consult a healthcare professional before first use and for dietary advice".

I'm tempted to try it myself as I've been having similar problems with my DD for over 3 months and our paediatric appointment is still 6 weeks away... we get the green poos too and the screaming when passing wind or stools. I didn't think it was constipation because she goes everyday and it's not solid but something doesn't seem right.... she is also incredibly refluxy and ranitidine hasn't helped.

Oh and forgot to say, I've been seeing a specialist nursery nurse who advised if you want to wean before the 6 months it should be veg and fruit only and in purée form. The guidelines are set with babies in mind all over the world, and she said it's safer to say to all not to wean early due to unsafe food sources.

Algebraic Soya isn't recommended under 6 months and it's worse for boys apparently. Something to do with fertility I believe.
If an allergy is suspected from his symptoms (there are lots of sympton checkers online) and especially if there is a family history of CMPA, eczema or asthma you, in discussion with your GP, should be able to ask for a 2 week trial of a specialist formula.

The guidelines in my country are 4-6 months and there is I believe evidence that delaying all solids to 6 months may be linked with increasing allergies.

Regardless of the variations between countries, you also need to remember that guidelines are for situations where all else is equal. If you wean earlier, you may run a risk of XYX gut issues and there isn't any benefit to earlier weaning for the average fully healthy baby. But in your case, your baby already is experiencing a very specific problem right now and it is possible that weaning earlier than 6 months may be the answer. You are balancing dealing with an actual problem that he is experiencing right now, with the potential increase in risk of him developing a problem related to early weaning.

Definitely don't do anything on my say-so but talk again to your gp or health visitor if you can. Look at it from that perspective of what can help my baby with his actual problem right now, rather than the theoretical generalised population-wide guidelines.

TrinitySquirrel In what way are current guidelines 'way outdated'. Do you have professional knowledge?

Also dont worry if when your baby gets to six months they arent ready. My DD was 8 months and that was only Ellas kitchen! (I got a free packet in asda cafe ad she ate the lot)

In answer to the original q with my first born in 2008 the age to start weaning was 17w

I would advisw you to have a read and have a think. People can advise you on what has worked for them. I had similar to you. My little boy was on Comfort Milk but it just wasnt keeping him full he was very constipated and ended up on Movicol. He started following any food around the room and screaming while we ate. Our health visitor said it was okay to try some baby rice which he loved. He was more content. We started intrducing purees then BLW at five months but topping him up with bottles, yoghurts and puree. At first it seems like a waste as they spend more time rubbing it round their chops and squeezing it but eventually it goes in. I have a sixteen month old witha healthy appetite. Some things he loves others not so much. Please follow your instincts and do what makes you all happy

If you feel there is a milk allergy involved, there are strict guidelines from the nhs (possibly nice can’t remember) which documents the interventions the gp can donand what the paediatrician can do. Google will give you a few nhs trusts flow charts ( something cows milk allergy paediatric treatment)

Lactose free milk only removes lactose from milks - this may help it may not as it would depend on what your child is reacting to

Cows milk protein allergy is a reaction to the proteins so needs a milk which is heavily processed to alter the protein and less reaction - nutramigen is the usual starting point, there is also a pepti one which tastes better but isn’t as refined, if that doesn’t work there is also neocate. All of these are buyable over the counter but are not cheap.

My eldest was constipated with Sma, sicky with cow and gate, loose with aptamil and not great on comfort. Then moved onto allergy milks. My 2nd and 3rd I was ready for so acted and got them on allergy milk much earlier.

Early weaning - all 3 of mine were weaned early due to severe reflux and cmpa but tbh I don’t know if it helped, I look back and wonder if it was just a natural development point where they became more settled.

There is plenty of emerging evidence that introducing major food groups prior to 6 months reduces allergies and no good evidence that weaning from 17 weeks causes any issues at all. It is extremely likely that the guidance will change again to reflect this. I do have some professional knowledge and have had this conversation with a number of paediatricians, the vast majority of whom have chosen to wean their children at around 5 months, as I did. What I would say is weaning is not a good idea to try and increase calorie intake or to help with sleep, two of the main reasons people tend to choose to wean early.

It’s definitely comfort formula.

You mentioned you think he has a cows milk allergy? I think children are not supposed to have cows milk until much later maybe avoid this?

@April229 most formulas are made from cows milk.

@April229 I’m not giving him cows milk, the formula is made from it.

Try changing formula but go to Doctor for advice first.

Sounds like the comfort formula is not working for him at all.

Weaning after 17 weeks is unlikely to do any harm, I'm not aware of any research that says weaning between 4-6 months causes problems.

we have the perfect prep so bottles are made correctly

I wouldn't touch one of those things with a barge pole tbh - have you seen the stories about mold and plenty of other invisible bacteria getting stuck in the tubes?

The first thing I'd do is ditching the machine to see if this was the problem.

@UnicornRainbowColours no formula seems to be working with him :(

Dd1 ended up lactose intolerant after a dose of cryptosporidium and was prescribed a lactose free formula, she was already old enough to have been weaning by that point but having been preemie she was on nutriprem before that and wouldn’t accept many foods until later. You can definitely get the lactose free prescribed. Dd2 was a hungry baby and Hv and gp actually advised weaning early with her and she refused all purees but liked baby led weaning style. If the lactose free doesn’t work you might be advised that weaning early is fine.

But if the issue is with cows milk protein then lactose free will not help as the lactose is the sugar in the milk

Yes I suppose that's true @Rooberoobe .Soya has oestrogen I believe so not good in large quantities.

If there suspecting a cows milk intolerance (an allergy would be much more severe reaction), they should be trying him on prescription formula. Normally they will ask you to have prescription for a few weeks and then try to introduce regular back in. We eventually got my son onto that after 7 months of stomach cramps/reactions to standard formula. He's miles better. If your child isn't putting on weight this can often mean they are intolerant.

Weaning early won't stop an allergy/intolerance. There's a difference between allergies and intolerances.

He may be struggling with constipation if your giving a mix of the ready made stuff and comfort milk. Try and stick to one. The milks have a different consistency, so it may not be helping his stomach. It can take a few weeks for the formula to work out of his system, so it may take a couple of weeks for his poos to be less green.

You can get wysoy milk which is dairy free, although it's not recommended for boys.