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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To start weaning my baby at 4 months old???

107 replies

bubbsy · 02/09/2007 17:52

I started weaning my baby and he will eat a rusk with his milk for breakfast, but wont eat lunch or dinner, but will eat pudding. Can someone tell me why he maybe doing this or if i have maybe started to early.

OP posts:
nurseyemma · 02/09/2007 19:45

Hiya, I weaned my daughter for various entirely justifiable reasons at 4.5 months. Weaning like breast v formula stirs up emotions and everyone gets very passionate about it. Like every other aspect of baby care it's totally individual to each baby and can't be dictated by standard protocol.

I say weaned but I started off v slowly with just a bit of baby rice mixed with formula once a day at first. I introduced fruit and veg purees v v sloely over a 2 month period then other foods/textures until now at 1 she eats coarsely mashed versions of mine and my dhs (healthy) diet. I always used fresh stuff never jars and gave lots of finger foods when I felt confident she wouldn't choke and she loved them!! Never used rusks until now tho and occassionally use lo sug organic ones as a pm snack.

My dd was a different baby with food, she loves it! Although I still included the recommended amounts of milk in her diet and still do she's a babe who prefers food. Some do and although I got myself in a tangle about her not having the correct amounts of milk i made sure she wasn't "substituting" food for milk at any time. She doesn't drink much now but I've researched it extensively and just include plenty of calcuim and iron rich fresh foods in her diet. She also likes water whish I think's great.

You'll hear time and time again that milk MUST form the main source of your babies nutrients for the first year but sometimes with some of us and our babes those nutrients are found from other food groups.

As for those who say save yourself the bother we actually found weaning really fun and much more enjoyable than just milk!

It's different for everyone.

tegan · 02/09/2007 19:47

dd1 (9) was on hungrier milk (6oz every 3 hours without fail) at 2 weeks old and by 10 weeks was on baby rice for breakfast and before bed. she was also on cows milk at 6 months which by then she was also having a roast dinner (mashed) every dinner time and she will eat everything and anything you put in front of her.

lulumama · 02/09/2007 19:49

well, as far as i am aware, at 6 months , babies still need formula / breast milk, not cows milk, as there are more nutrients...also, at a young age, you need to be quite careful about the amount of salt a baby has

re the eating anything...that has nothing to do with when a baby is weaned, you don;t miss the opportunity to give them a varied diet by weaning later

but 9 years ago, advice was different, and the point is, research now has shown there are benefits to waiting to wean

tegan · 02/09/2007 19:55

but dd2 followed suit.

i bf for 5 weeks then she was on hungrier milk , solids started at 12 weeks and cows milk at 8 months she too eats very well.

i never really did the bought baby food for either of the girls, they always ate what we were having.

lulumama · 02/09/2007 19:56

well, that worked for yuo, but i personally, having read up about it, would not be comfortable weaning before 6 months.... i also don;t understand the hurry to get babies onto food

but that is my POV

and i think this could well become a circular arguemnt, so i am going to step away now

tegan · 02/09/2007 20:15

fully agree each to their own, baby led of course

MrsTittleMouse · 02/09/2007 20:17

I almost weaned DD at 4 months because she was driving me insane. She was waking all the time and feeding all the time, and I was exhausted. Other MNers suggested that it was probably a growth spurt, and they were right. Sadly it was just something that I had to ride out.
I eventually gave DD BM with baby rice 2 weeks before 6 months and carrots at 6 months, which worked out really well.

ruddynorah · 02/09/2007 20:23

exactly. some people choose to ride out the 4 month growth spurt, then see it pass. others choose to wean through the 4 month growth spurt and say the weaning sorted it. i guess the op is reading up on blw now.

Weegle · 02/09/2007 20:25

I weaned "early". I tried desperately hard not too but my DS is v heavy and tall (not fat at all, in fact lean) and he simply could not hold the volume of milk that he needed to sustain growth. He was having 360-420ml per feed and the sheer quantity of fluid would make him vomit so he didn't benefit from the feed. His weight started to slow right right down. I weaned him early and was able to reduce his feeds to about 280ml per feed and he was a completely different baby. It might be best for the majority to wait until 6 months but it would be naive for anyone to think there are no situations where it is actually a good thing to wean sooner. Not a decision taken lightly I might add.

andiem · 02/09/2007 20:31

why didn't you just feed him smaller amounts of milk more often?

Weegle · 02/09/2007 20:32

I did - it sprang straight back up.

Weegle · 02/09/2007 20:34

Bear in mind this boy was 12lb 12oz at birth and just simply could not get the quantity of milk he needed to get the number of calories he needed to stay in his tummy. It was a very stressful time and he was being fed pretty much constantly.

frazzledbutcalm · 02/09/2007 20:36

I have 4 dc who were all weaned from 12 weeks. I dont think 4 mths is too early but i would give baby rice not rusks. dd1 wouldnt eat plain baby rice but you used to be able to get baby rice with strawberry and she loved it. I let each dc guide me and each weaned differently. Give most milk feed first, then rice, then rest milk

andiem · 02/09/2007 20:49

weegle sorry but I am confused are you saying he vomited every feed up and where was he on the centiles. I have a 10 week old exclusively bf on the 92nd centile and we don't have a problem with him feeding or gaining weight. And I don't feed him every hour

Everyone can argue that their baby needed to be weaned early but as other people have said the evidence is that weaning early is not good for gut development. Advice should be based on evidence not anecdote

Weegle · 03/09/2007 09:16

Ok I have gone and got his red book - he was a milimetre above the 99.6 line for weight at birth and 0.5 cm above the 99.6 line for height. At 21 weeks (when I weaned), his weight was on the 91st and his height was nearly 1cm above the 99.6 - as I say, he is exceptionally tall. He did not vomit every feed, no. They got progreesively worse as the day went on.

You can choose to believe I made the wrong decision if you wish, your prerogative. Similarly I certainly shouldn't feel the need to justify my parenting decisions when I am an intelligent, caring mother who knew her baby better than anyone and did not take the decision lightly and not just because I felt it was "cool" to wean early, or because a HV suggested it or whatever, if anything at that stage I was adamant to do it all "right" by the books. Kind of regret posting now! Feel very wound up!

tegan · 03/09/2007 16:06

Please don't stress weegle you have made right decision and I truely believe you will carry on doing so as you're ds grows into a healthy tall young man.

pipsqueeke · 03/09/2007 16:18

andie - each child is differnt, my DS was on the 75ht centile and needed feeding every hour at some points, so it is unfair for you to assume that your DC and weegles should be the same - what works for you might not for someone else - and rememebr recommendations have changed a lot in the past few years.

weegle - i'm sorry you feel you have to justify yourself - you really shouldn't do - at the end of the day if you have a happpy healthy child and did your best that's all that counts.

Weegle · 03/09/2007 17:34

tegan and pipsqueeke, thank you for your support. I shouldn't have taken it so to heart, I know I (and DH) took the right decision and at the end of the day that's all that matters - well that and having a happy healthy DS of course!

smeeinit · 03/09/2007 17:41

weegle,you know your child better than anyone,it doesnt matter what evidence there is or who says what you know your child and you know what is the right thing for you to do.
it really pisses me off how people judge another for doing what they think is right for their own child.
i weaned both mine at 14 weeks,maybe even earlier,i also bottle fed them and occasionly gave them fruit shoots and choclate farking bars, and guess what? yep they are alive and well and more importantly healthy! ds1 now 17 never and i mean never had anything time away from school due to illness. i done what i think is right for my children just as my parents did for me and their parents for them,im happy in my choices and so you should be weegle!

smeeinit · 03/09/2007 17:43

oops sorry that turned into a bit of a rant!

nurseyemma · 03/09/2007 18:38

Totally agree with the last 4 posts, it's up to you and your better than anyones informed knowledge of your own baby and his needs. He sounds fine!

Babies aren't robots they have approximate times for set things such as growth spurts and weaning. I strongly doubt anyone on here was breastfed exclusively til 6 months and I'm sure alot of us are relatively free of all these multiple health problems that are scaremongedered about. The World seems full of ways to undermine the unique and exceptional qualities you posess as your childs mum bandies about by various experts and sanctimonious mumsy types.

Go with the flow, I'm sure you're doing a great job!

nurseyemma · 03/09/2007 18:39

Sorry made up word in there couldn't think of another way to describe it!

lulumama · 03/09/2007 18:40

"The World seems full of ways to undermine the unique and exceptional qualities you posess as your childs mum bandies about by various experts and sanctimonious mumsy types.

don;t think there is anything sanctimonious about sharing information about weaning, that might suggest early weaning is not always a good thing

as i said, no harm can be done by delaying weaning, what;s the hurry?

and no-one can see in side their baby's gut, it is one area where instinct might not always be correct

NAB3 · 03/09/2007 18:40

True, every Mother does know their child better than anyone but she asked if she was unreasonable to wean at 4 months and some of us think she is. Just the way it is.

nurseyemma · 03/09/2007 18:48

Sharing evidence based info about weaning is one thing, comparing babies might not always be that helpful due to the differences between them. Lots of babies with vomiting/reflux probs are weaned early on the advice of experienced GPs.

Most parents have read everything, gone on here and talked to health professionals before taking this decision.

And for some people weaning their babies a little earlier than normal transforms them temperament and sleep wise, not neccessarily "easier" but happier and healthier.

Some babies on the other hand are absolutely fine til 6 months on breast/formula.