To think this may be dangerous

[Armadilloboss]

Just went on social media and a girl I know who has given birth 10 weeks ago has uploaded a video of her feeding the baby smashed avocado!

I always thought the guideline was nothing Til 4 months, which has not been changed to 6. Surely 10 weeks is far too early!!

Also, we don't know the baby's reaction!! Cute photo maybe, but as soon as the camera turned away, for all we know baby may have pulled an 'I don't think so mum' face! And that is the end of mum's adventure with avocado!! When DS was really tiny we took photos of him asleep surrounded by loads of chocolate!! He hadn't actually eaten any of it! But it did look like he had in the photo!!! :)

Smh. The world is fucked.

No the world is fucked when we all stop using our own common sense.

Even in the ‘old days’ this would have been too early. Three months was the advice when I was born then it increased to four months, now evidence says six months but four months is the absolute earliest. Of course it is dangerous, no 11 week old needs avocado and I doubt they can even digest it.

No the world is fucked when we all stop using our own common sense

Exactly. It’s common sense to follow the advice of those with greater knowledge and understanding.

Why are people in such a rush to wean before the recommended age? Weaning isn’t for fun. It replaced calorie dense food with less nutritious alternatives and risks choking. It also creates a hell of a lot of mess that any right minded person would put off for as long as possible.

Exactly. It’s common sense to follow the advice of those with greater knowledge and understanding.

But when these people are changing their minds every 5 minutes it doesn't inspire much confidence in their wisdom. I'm not saying we should be ignoring their advice completely but even my HV advised me to wean a little earlier with one of my children,which I did with no problems.

@Aprillygirl every 5 minutes? 6 months has been the recommendation for 16 years and 4 months for 40 years.

User I completely agree! I must admit I wasn’t the type to keep DC as babies- they were in beds at 12 months, FT nursery at 9 etc but I don’t understand the hurry to wean at all. It’s messy and work you don’t need to be doing. Why bother?

But when these people are changing their minds every 5 minutes

They’re not.

@Ravingstarfish theres plenty of calories in formula and breast milk.

@CaMePlaitPas what did your GP say about your newborn drinking 74oz of formula a day? Did your baby keep all of that milk down?

I was eating food from day 1 due to my crying for food between the 4hr stipulated feeding times at the hospital directly after birth. I was 9lbs so not exactly starving to death. Anyway, the nurses mixed Complan in with my bottle to keep me quiet. Not exactly ideal by today standards but I’m 48 and still alive with no food allergies so... ( I am fat though but probably would have been anyway).

Not literally every 5 minutes obviously
Now I must go and find some solids to cook for the kids. If only I could get away with feeding them a bottle of milk now..........

Interestingly though on the NHS website regarding weaning at 6 months, none of the reasons listed for waiting til then are to do with allergies, illness etc.

Clearly if you’re bf then it will help with immunity etc but many babies aren’t, or aren’t exclusively bf at least. The other reasons listed are that at 6 months your baby can feed themselves, can progress to lumpy and finger foods more quickly etc which is more about the process of weaning being easier and more successful.

My two are 16 and 18 and we were advised with both, by different HV’s, to wean by 12 weeks. Both were quite early developers I.e slept though within a few weeks, crawling early, walking by 10 months etc. Both have no allergies, issues etc whereas 3 of my 4 nieces (under a different NHS trust) who were all weaned after 6 months have severe nut allergies and a dairy intolerance between them. Not sure what the experts would make of that..

I'm just baffled by the 4 month old who was crawling!

Haha, it's been 5 years since I've had a baby but I love that people are STILL saying "they keep changing the advice" 😂😂

If your baby has reflux then the advice is to wean into baby rice at 17 weeks to help weigh down the milk in the stomach. That advice was given to me by experts. I barely know anyone who has waited until 6 months to start weaning.

I have a friend who posted a video of her feeding her 12 week old a rusk. Like holding it up to his mouth and letting him chew, not mashed with milk and spoon feeding, and with her hand under his chin as well as he isn't really holding his head up well still. It made me cringe a bit but it's her kid.

@maidenover but 17 weeks is 4 months so that's following the advice of nothing before 4 months and for most babies 6 months (unless showing the signs of readiness before then)

@dorestdays there is a body of research which suggests that weaning after 6 months is linked to an increase in allergy rates

www.newscientist.com/article/dn28366-should-babies-be-given-solids-earlier-to-prevent-food-allergies/

@kaytee87 that’s exactly my point that the wait until 6 months advice is already contradicted by those giving it out.

Also I weaned DS1 at 6.5 months and he has zero allergies or any other issues. Weaned DS2 at just shy of 5 months and he's allergic to every damn thing I give him (milk, soya, peanut, cashews, citrus, to name a few). The theory of late weaning increasing chances of allergies certainly aren't true in my case.

@maidenover lots of people eat more red meat than they should, too much alcohol or sugar, don't get enough exercise, guidelines are guidelines not laws, just because "most" people don't do it, doesn't diminish the evidence advising the guidelines.

@maidenover. Yes, I’ve seen some other studies that show there’s a big increase in allergies in children especially those who are weaned after 6 months and who aren’t given ‘trigger’ foods until later.

It might not be right to wean that early but I believe years ago it was the norm to start solids early and it didn’t do thousands of babies any harm

Research shows it does do harm, which is why the guidelines are now 6 months. It wasn’t just changed on a whim.

Milk is a complete food and far higher in calories than most so saying babies will starve etc is wrong. In fact many babies who are weaned earlier can have problems with sleep as they are actually reducing calorie intake by replacing milk with carrot puree.

My dh was weaned before he left hospital if mil is to be believed. He was very “greedy” and so was started on heinz jars at weeks, if not days old.

As a 40 year old he now has the worst gut problems and needs to manage his diet very very carefully. It causes him no end of problems.

Yes most babies will likely seem fine. But the advice is there because early weaning has been shown to have a negative affect. We don’t drink or eat cheese in pregnancy because of the small risk, so why does it seem to be dismissed here?

@maidenover the advice isn't to wean after 6 months though. I'm trying to quote from memory but it's something like, nothing before 4 months and babies should be showing the 3 signs of readiness (holding head up whilst sitting in high chair, no tongue thrust and able to pick things up and bring to mouth), these signs of readiness don't usually show much before 6 months. Weaning after 4 months and before 6 months should be carried out on doctors advice (eg in cases of reflux).
I weaned my son 2 weeks before he was 6 months as he was showing all 3 signs of readiness.
This thread is talking about a 10 week old though!!