to think that someone who works in paediatrics should know better than to wean at 20 weeks?

[vampirebankholidayweekend]

none of business what age they wean, I know.

It is a member of my family, she has decided to start weaning her son, who is 2 weeks younger than my DD, which would make him 19 weeks this week. She has said he is particularly hungry and her health visitor has managed to pursuade her to hold off til 20 weeks!
Even my mother, who weaned us at about 3 months (as was the advise in those days) has tried to convince her it;s probably a growth spurt.
She is a paediatric nurse

He's nearly 5 months. Fashions for weaning ages change, there's evidence not introducing wheat before 6 months helps the immune system but not much evidence that giving say apple puree or mashed banana is harmful. If you have a baby with reflux earlier weaning can be beneficial. Nothing magic happens when they reach a certain age, the babies gut just gradually matures.
The late weaning trend is mainly to stop the rusks (which contain wheat) in the bottle at 6 weeks brigade.

fashions for weaning age have on the whole encouraged later weaning, even later than 6 months

if he is showing signs of being mature enough for food, i.e sitting unaided, good head control, loss of the tongue thrust reflex, could grab , cehw and swallow food, then fine. if not, then i would leave it, unless there are some medical issue that has required early weaning under medical advice

if it is because he is hungry, then milk is the most filling, safe and nutritious food you can give a baby

i thought there was evidence that early weaning was related to food allergies.
I think its irresponsible if there's no reason other than your baby is not sleeping through any more

we were advised to offer baby rice and mashed fruit at 16 weeks as our ds was just constantly hungry and having so many milk feeds

didnt give real solids until 6 mths but didnt do real regular meals until 8 mths

mashed fruit is real solids. anything other than milk is solid food.

YABU, its none of your business, regardless of her job.

YABU, it is none of your business, and 20 weeks, although earlier then current guidelines, isn't extremely early either.

lol i meant no potatoe or meat or anything no real meals fruit yes is solid as is baby rice i just meant no full on meals were given solids to me was more solid food not mushed up stuff that was what i was trying to say

i always say solids as bread sticks toast anything solid to eat and mushed food for the other just my form of speech lol

Trends change. I weaned one at 15 weeks and the other at about 17 weeks as was the advice given at the time. Both are fine and have no allergies.

They said no peanuts when I was pg now peanuts are evidently fine. They said eat an egg a day, then they said no!, now they say eat as many as you want.

Really don't think it is irresponsible. Giving said baby a mars bar and a packet of crisps would be irresponsible, but a bit of pureed pear and baby rice really really isn't.

It is - as you say - absolutely none of your business

Some pureed carrot and baby rice is not the same as giving them a can of Coke and a bag of chips. I'm sure she won't be impressed by everything you do with your dd, so just leave each other alone.

thing is, just because she is a paed nurse, doesn't man she necessarily knows everything about Babies....depends on which area she works in....
if she has all the information, than it is her decision to make. And whilst it is not unreasonable to disagree with her, it is 't any of your business....

We were advised to start weaning at 18 weeks because DD was having so many milk feeds. We did it slowly and it worked very well. I am curious as to why you think that you know better than she does? You have (i am assuming) made your decision from the information available to you, i am sure she has done the same. If you were saying she was trying to wean at 3 months i could see your point but 5 months then yes you are being unreasonable

Not only is it none of your business, but a friend of mine, who is a midwife, has started weaning her daughter at 16 weeks. She did a lot of research, looking at medical papers etc. She found that the reason the WHO have changed the guidleines to 6 months, is because in some countries babies were being weaned at 8 weeks, on the basis that it's 'only 2 months early'. Therefore by upping the guideline age, the 2months early would be 4 months, and therefore 'safe'.

I weaned both of mine at 6 months and followed current guidelines. However I have friends who started at 5 months as they genuinely felt that was right for their babies. I think in this case you are being a little bit harsh. Perhaps it is a growth spurt and she's got it wrong or perhaps this is a decision she has reached over time after careful consideration and it is the right thing.
20 weeks is not desperately early.

A classic case of 'judginess'
Rest assured you are the better parent

FWIW my boys were weaned at 22 and 24 weeks as thats when they were ready.

Exactly Ineedabetternickname. When my babies were weaned the advice was 4 months but I knew babies which were having baby rice at 11/12 weeks (although these children are also fine). By changing to 6 months, 11/12 weeks is clearly too early but 4-6 months is fine. Don't most baby foods still say on them "suitable from 4-6 months"???

13 weeks is very early though shineon, was that under medical advice or did you decide to wean then?

Oh I am so sick of posts like these! The WHO recommend 26 weeks but that does not mean that weaning earlier is akin to child abuse and that are people are required to 'know better'.

Remove yourself from your high horse because it is none of your business!

I disagree greensleeves. OK yes it is early but not shockingly so. I was told at about 14 weeks by my (lovely and very well respected) health visitor to start giving some baby rice or mashed potato. This was only 6 years ago.

As I say, trends change.

I think the people in the profession are a lot more sanguine about this than the rest of us.

I am sorry though because I still can't help loling at gasp 20 weeks! Do you not realise that there are millions of bouncy healthy resilient strong children just a few years older than yours who were routinely weaned at 16 weeks, or younger, if they were "hungry" babies?

I know, I know, the stock response to come back to me with is "but weaning is not recommended now until 26 weeks". Fine. You still need to realise though that this is only a recommendation, not a life or death decision.