To think that baby food companies should be banned from advertising food as 4months+?

[babynamelol]

I was having a discussion about weaning with a family member who works in a profession that works with families. The issue came up that there is conflicting advice between what baby food companies are telling parents and what the official guidelines say. She mentioned that many families who do no have the official information or education to research official guidelines and the benefits of waiting until 6 months use this packaging as a guideline of when to feed their babies and assume that it must be true because it is written by a big company. When she tries to advise them to wait until as close to 6 months as possible they then say, well why does it say I can feed it to my baby at 4 months then? Aibu that these notoriously money grabbing companies are simply using this to make more money, as the earlier people feed their babies then the more products they buy? Why aren't they being made to follow official guidelines?

Six months is to promote breastfeeding in developing countries.

I was led to believe the suitable from 4m/6m on packets was due to there being some things that really should not be introduced before 6 months, and some that it was ok to introduce before then, even though guidelines stated waiting until 6 months is best.

Six months is to promote breastfeeding in developing countries.

Is it? I would have thought developing countries breast fed more as less money or access to formula, clean water, appropriate solid food.

Don't know though so not being goady

Not all countries wean at 6 months though. Some countries recommend from 4 as their evidence shows it benefits babies.

FreeNiki could be that children were being fed inappropriately when weaned, breastmilk is nutritionally fantastic especially when compared to a diet that may be sparse or reliant on unsafe water. So the guidelines became "Breastmilk or safe infant formula for at least 6 months" to help babies survive and avoid them having to rely on that diet for as long as possible

They put on the label that 6 months is recommended though.

Also some babies need to be weaned early so it’s good to know what’s acceptable for that.

So I disagree with you!

I am in paediatrics. I recommend that parents can introduce solids at any time between 4 and 6 months if they think their baby is ready. I advise there is no rush at 4 months and equally if their baby isn't ready until after 6 months that's ok too. I advise there is developing evidence that it's better from an allergy or coeliac perspective if babies have solids introduced before 6 months but it's not something to stress about, as it can be conflicting with confounding factors (BF vs FF etc).

I also advise that jars and packets from the supermarket are completely unnecessary. Babies can eat normal home cooked food, just mushed up. They can have egg, dairy, peanut butter etc introduced at any time. The jars/packets offer convenience if you're eating out, that's all.

So YANBU, but for the wrong reason. I'd like baby "food" restricted to advertising only for occasional food/convenience rather than the pervasive belief they should be basis of 2-3 meals a day.

Notbad I completely agree. If there’s an issue, it’s with widespread advertising of special baby foods as the mainstay of a healthy diet, not with the 4/6 month issue on which opinion seems to be constantly altering. A baby who spends the second half of the first year of life entirely on Ella’s pouches is not having a great diet even if she is also still breastfed (a whole different issue of course).

It would be great if parents could be given more advice on allergens, too — eg I wouldn’t have dared to give mashed up egg or peanut butter until 9-10 months but they do actually make great first foods...

Exactly what notbad said. Not that I'm in paediatrics, but it matches my personal view, and the advice I was given when it became apparent dd wasn't doing well on breastmilk alone in early 2004.

I never quite understand why some people are so keen to insist dc should all be the same age with the same needs when it comes to weaning. They all sit up/ crawl/ walk/ talk/ swim etc at different ages, and even between 12 & 24 months we accept they'll all have different appetites/needs. So why assume they are all identical regarding diet before 6 months?

No other species weans based on a fixed age, they do it based on the individual need.

Also could be anecdotal as not something I've researched. But when dd was little, the general attitude to babies who weren't interested in weaning till later was along the lines of 'don't worry, they're all different, some early, some late, they'll eat when they're ready'. I don't remember any parents stressing about it. Now parents worrying their dc isn't ready at 6 months seems quite common. I can only assume it's because they constantly hear the magical 6 months line from those around them.

When my HVs visited when the baby was 4 months they always asked if I had tried weaning, if I thought they were ready for weaning, reminded me what signs to look out for. They told me from 4 months is fine if baby is ready, and I probably could have started that early with DS2 but I left it until 6 as I thought he'd be as much of a PITA as DS1.

notbad- I advise there is developing evidence that it's better from an allergy or coeliac perspective if babies have solids introduced before 6 months

But that is really over simplifying. I agree with the statement but if we examine the studies this advice is given because the evidence suggests that introducing solids while a baby is being breastfed offers protection from any negative effects of the solids- allergenic or gut reactions.

Far more babies are breastfed at 4 months than 6 months, so on balance there is argument to suggest 4 months as weaning time because more babies will still have breastmilk.
A safer option however would be to breastfeed while introducing solids around the middle of the first year.

Both my children were big babies and ready for solids at 4 months. I think the guidelines on introducing solids should be 4-6 months not from 6 months.

Hairy the guidelines state " around 6 months". not "from 6 months".

Which means parents have flexibility.

If we start suggesting 4 months then some parents will also assume that is a flexible guideline and consider 3 months or perhaps 2 months OK.

speakout you're right, but it veers close into another stressor around the whole BF vs FF debate. It would be ideal if women could BF until at least 12 months but people stop when they do for a variety of reasons obviously. So I try not to push the BF side of the research as an imperative for that reason (as an aside, to me weaning means weaning off BF). As stated above, many babies just aren't developmentally ready at 4 months. Your last statement I would agree with.

NotBadConsidering maybe we should be considering infant feeding as a whole though.
I agree that the BF/FF thing makes the whole situation of introducing solids ( sorry I understand that weaning means different things to different people) complex, but maybe we should have a more integrated approach.

After all from the baby's pint of view it's all nutrition, whether Formula, Breastmilk or solids.

It may make things easier from an adult perspective to try to put things into neat little boxes, but is that best serving the infant.

But I also totally understand the need to make messages as simple as possible to avoid misinformation.

We must also realise the historical aspect on infant feeding.

Only a few decades ago babies would have crumbled sweet rusk of baby rice in a bottle, sometimes from only a few weeks old. When I was a baby babies were spoon fed cereals at 12 weeks.

Still that legacy persists, often from older generations, in an effort to "settle " a baby or push on to some milestone as is it was a mark of achievement.

With a 6 month advisory many parents will introduce solids at 5 months- which is probably OK for most babies , some will introduce at 4 months - which will be fine for some, but not for all.
If we advise from 4 months that downward push will continue to exist and we will have babies being spoon fed at 3 months or even 2. Which is not OK.