..In not wanting to wean early?

[sweetjane]

Should possibly have posted this in the Weaning section but am too annoyed and need a rant!!

I'll (try to) be brief. Ds is 5 and a bit months old. He is bf on demand, anything from every 2 to every 4 hours during the day. He wakes up x1 at night for a feed, or sometimes sleeps through from 10:30 til 7 (rarely but it does happen). He is happy, alert, active, gaining weight (not loads but steadily).

Then why ffs do family keep on and on at me to introduce solids now? HV is happy for me to wait until 6months. But the latest dire warning I have been given from family is that waiting too long could impede speech development and might mean he will resist solids later on as he will be too used to milk. AIBU? Someone please please please tell me if this is in any way evidence based or if you have experienced problems from waiting to wean yourself?

Dawnybabe - my MIL is scared of me so fortunately doesn't dare say anything to me. Own Mum slightly more difficult to ignore due to forceful personality and living much too close for comfort...

Have just skim read thread... But wait and do it when you're ready. The current guidelines say wait until 6 months anyway - something about it reducing the risk of food allergies / intolerances I think - and more to the point he's happy! No problems with doing it early if it's right for you and your child but if he's happy then there's no need. But you can use this ammo to your family when they give you the speech nonsense!

I'm a speech therapist. I have NEVER heard anything to suggest that late weaning can affect speech development. If you weaned at 3, then maybe, but if you're weaning at 6 or 7 months instead of 4, doesn't make the SLIGHTEST difference. Personally, began weaning dd at 5 months, but that was because it felt 'right' to do so for her as an individual, and we did take it very slowly.

Don't feel pressured. Do it when it feels right for both of you.

My advice would be to stick to your guns. My HV is putting pressure on to wean my bf DS who is 21 weeks and in fact all the other babies who attended the same weaning class as mine. The line seems to be that there is a window of opportunity to wean and if you leave it until 6 months to start then the baby may have trouble weaning, reject solids etc. Allegedly a number of babies the HV has dealt with have had this problem. It sounds like rubbish to me particularly as it is not so long ago 1920s/30s that it was usual to wait at least a year until weaning. My DS is a strapping lad and eats like a horse which is quite tough particularly at night! but he is happy and still putting on weight and it is only a few more weeks so I am sticking with it unless something changes drastically in the meantime to show me he needs it. Can't see it though as less calories in solids initially than bf in any case...Also some interesting reports on this eg. www.sacn.gov.uk/pdfs/smcn_03_08.pdf Also had some pressure from MIL on the basis weaning might help him sleep better at night but have ignored it.

wean your baby when you feel he is ready. i got pressure from mil from 11 weeks!!

YANBU. About every 15th thread on weaning is someone being pressured into it - why they don't all just belt up and mind their own business is beyond me.

I waited to past 6 months to wean dd, and as soon as we started she was wolfing down the food like it was going out of fashion, so I don't think waiting harmed her ability to deal with it in the slightest (in fact, she now eats more than babies I know who were weaned earlier). Window for weaning, my arse.

Our DS went through grandparent led weaning as opposed to the baby led variety.

Basically this was being harassed by my parents until I caved in and started weaning at 5 months. Strangely enough they weren't the ones peeling the blinking pears, apples, carrots, then boiling and straining the darned things, then putting them in those dinky little weaning boxes.

Oh and to add insult to injury the minute I started weaning they tried to feed him ice cream and got all miffed when I explained that current logic said that dairy foods should be excluded until 6 months.

Bless em, they are only trying to help in the best way they know how.

I'm in the same boat as you Sweetjane, my daughter nearly 5 months but helpful friends keep saying why don't you start solids and make me feel like I'm doing something wrong though my baby doesn't seem ready.

Am I allowed to post any link? - am quite new on Mumsnet - but there's really helpful info here www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/delay-solids.html which should give you plenty of reasons to give your family for delaying solids!

Louplet's mention of a weaning class reminded me - when I was enduring the pressure of waiting till 6m when inlaws thought 14 weeks was best - our HV's do a 'weaning party' where you go along, get freebie baby cutlery, toothbrushes etc, and lots of advice and demonstrations of weaning foods. One day, during the usual 'isn't that baby on solids yet' rant from MIL I said well we are going to a weaning party next week (5m) and before I could say 'to get all the information about weaning at 6m' she said .... 'OH SO HE'LL GET SOMETHING TO EAT THERE THEN'.
Luckily now that its a dim and distant memory I find myself smiling.

Stick to your guns. My DD is 5 months tomorrow and I am hanging on for 26 weeks as now advised. Everyone around me is weaning before then. They look surprised when I say she is still exclusively BF and then ramble on about why they decided to wean earlier almost justifying it which is interesting

Ignore the family and make a stand over it they sound like they will offer 'helpful' advice all the way along but you know best

completely agree with everyone on here - you will dowhat you think is best, so stick to your guns!

i was under pressure from my mother to wean at 4 months (and ds was 2 months early ) but i think it was the link that someone else tried to post about early weaning that really gave me the ammunition not to!
DS also had a pretty bad rotovirus in feb this year and between feb and the end of april he basically went off solids - we had to pretty much re-wean him from may onwards (at 9.5 months) - he now eats pretty much anything and is happy on lumps as well.

just dowhat you know is best and don't be put under too much pressure!

This link is also really good on myths - good ammunition against MILs if needed

www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-wh en.html

I'd look in the weaning section and follow some of the baby-led weaning threads. There is so much pressure to introduce soilds when they are not needed. Breast milk is the most perfect food for your baby and any solids should only supplement this in the first year of life. when weaning begins it is only providing tastes and there are far few caleries in mashed vegetables than your beautiful breast milk.

Being more relaxed about weaning with my ds2 has been fantastic. He used to pinch bits off my plate, like toast, steamed carrots etc and suck them and wasn't really bothered about regular meals until around 10 mths. By about 12/13 mths he was enjoying 3 meals and snacks a day, and now at 19mths his diet is much less fussy than my ds1. Certainly not impeded speech development etc. He is still a B/f baby on demand and he enjoys upto 8/9 feeds a day, he is very happy and have had far fewer stomach upsets, colds etc than I ever did with ds1.

Family only mean well, but having a family of your own is about developing the confidence to do what is best and works for you and your family not what worked for your in-laws or your parents. We are all different and there seems to be a pressure on us all to conform when really we all need to be relaxed an dopen-minded.. (there, my rant over too, wonder if I've ever been critised or pressurised???)

errrr...open-minded not dopen minded...

Thanks everyone, blummin pc was knackered yesterdy so only just checked this. Have been close to caving in tbh so this is just the support I need. Dp has waded in now as well so feel beset from all sides. Keep trying to remember that solids won't necessarily mean that he will magically sleep through but head is too foggy to be rational! [sleepy emoticon]

I knew someone who weaned her dd at 4 months to try and help her to sleep better and it had the opposite effect - she started waking even more often! Stick to your instincts and do what's right for you and your ds

My dd age 10 went on a residential school trip today. She took no medication with her as she doesn't need any. Overheard the mother of one of her friends telling a teacher about her child's allergy meds and saying "and if that doesn't work she needs emergency ambulance".

How terrifying. Not saying early weaning causes these allergies directly, but there is much evidence to show that bf + late weaning minimises the risks.

keep going with the bf until you and baby feel its the right time to wean. DS was exclusively bf till at least 6 months and at 22 months has just given up being bf totally. his choice not mine and he made it clear to me he didnt want any more. Your baby will indicate the best way they can when they are ready to wean etc.

Big hugs and stay strong if you feel its right to do so

Had dd only 12 weeks ago; while I was still in hospital, I was told by the staff that the 6m weaning guideline may well be changed again soon, back to 4m. Can this be so??

awwww poor u - silly arses upsetting and pressuring u to wean too soon

i wiated 6month bubba 7month when using purees

of course u are right to wait - smile sweeytlty and think *o-shut-da=feck-up^//that what i did

honestly some people think its the baby olympics the soomer they wean/potty train/stop BF the better the baby will be

not necessarilly

LOL get me - all indignant spelling appalling

Is it me or are all the arguments for delaying weaning suggesting that it's mainly for the benefit of breastfeeding for longer? What if you couldn't breastfeed and are bottlefeeding? What's my argument? My 6mo dd doesn't always want her delicious rice and I assume it's because she's not quite ready for it. I can hardly tell the mil that I want to keep her on a bottle till she's walking. I was quite encouraged when I started reading this thread but now I see that it's kind of adding to the pressure and stigma of breastfeeding. I was hoping for some impartial advice on weaning at the right time, but I see it all reverts back to breastfeeding. Why do I feel such a failure every time that's mentioned?

And how come a recent survey said less than 1% of mothers are still breastfeeding by the kids age of six months? When most people on here reckon they breastfeed? Are all bottle feeders too scared to admit it? I'm not advocating one way or the other but I'd like a bit of recognition occasionally.

Dawny, perhaps the survey said that less than 1% of mothers are still EXCLUSIVELY breastfeeding by 6m. So that would exclude all the mums who combine, all the ones who have weaned or started weaning...
Don't bother about statistics they can be manipulated to state anything at all.
about weaning so I participated.
I just don't read bf/ff threads anymore! (this one was about weaning).

Dawny, the way I see it is that a newborn baby's stomach is designed to cope with breastmilk, and not solid food for several months. However, formula milk has been invented and although not perfect, it is the best substitute we have for when mother's milk is not available. That does not mean the ff baby is any more capable of taking solids early than a bf baby.