To think I am not being unreasonable re weaning

[memoo]

DD is just a few days off four months.

She is a very hungry baby and feeds every 2 1/2 hours in the day til about midnight where she will then go until about 8am most nights.

I am more than happy with this, I think we're doing fab despite the constant feeding which I think is pretty normal for a young baby anyway.

However its seems I am surrounded by people who have different ideas. My Mother and mil are both badgering me to start weaning her because in MIL's words "the poor little mite is starving" with is usually followed by "in my day ..... BLAH BLAH BLAH"

Now even a friend of mine who had a baby just a few weeks before me has started weaning her baby.

It seems I'm the only one who thinks DD isn't ready yet!

Cheesecake just like milk. Brilliant.
My MIL is horrified when she watched Ds eat. She is convinced he will never be able to eat in "good company" due to the shoving hands motion!

Parents, who have em?

OP, ask your MIL why she thinks a bit of pureed carrot will stop your baby from "starving"!

FWIW my biggest worry when weaning ds (at 4 months, as was the advice at the time) was that he was eating too much and hadn't enough room for the more energy-rich BM.

ds1 was a hungrey baby and when i had him it was the norm to start feeding him around 4months. when i had ds2 it had all changed to 6 months so waited till then. the difference between them not alot!!! go with what is right with you and your child. remember it's your choice and your babies not your mils

YANBU

my ILs put their foot in mouth the other day. They were talking about the latest weaning "fad" and how I'd probably not follow it as it seemed ridiculous. Turns out they were talking about BLW. Once they'd finished sneering, I told them that that was exactly what I'd planned to do.
Look on their faces was priceless.

pooexplosions I don't think what Darts says is rubbish at all. When the guidelines were changed from 4 to 6 months, it was commonly asserted (including by HCPs) that the WHO's advice applied mainly to areas where there was a lack of clean drinking water.

Whether it is right or not is a different matter - but it is not rubbish to claim that many people believe that the guidelines don't really apply to them.

You really have to go by your baby.

I was a baby that was weaned too soon and it caused me all kinds of problems right into adulthood. So when i had my DS i was determinded to wait as long as possible.

However he had other plans! he was in the 91% for his weight and slept 8 hrs with no problem then once he hit 20 weeks he started losing weight and stopped sleeping and was generally a grumpy little turd! my MIL said to put a bit of purreed something on his lip and see what he did. He devoured the little lump of baby rice so she suggested a little spoonful. Two weeks later he was eating mince and tatties!

Bet DC2 wont eat a thing!

TDWP, your mil sounds as loopy as mine!!!

at your IL'S Iggly buff, I can't wait to see my mil's face when we begin BLW, I think it will be the thing that just about tips her over the edge!!

Sounds to me mummysprog that you did the right thing with your ds.

What is BLW?

memoo it's great fun winding them up. They also don't understand feeding on demand either...

mummysprog it's baby led weaning - mumsnet has some info on it somewhere. Basically give your baby food as we'd eat it and let them get on with it.

I do think we have to remember how anxious we feel/felt about all matters to do with our lo's especially huge milestone like weaning,walking, potty trainning etc and think that our MIL's would have felt the same.

They were bombarded with lots of opinions and guidlines just as we are and due to the time weren't as able as we are to disagree and do their own thing.

I think some MIL's think that because we choose to do things differently to them that we are, perhaps, consciously or unconsciously, criticising the way they did things. I think they think we are saying -we know best, that we are incredulous as to what they did. They are feeling insecure about their choices -were they wrong? Did they do the right/best thing?

Pureeing was the way, formula was encouraged so they can't relate to what we do.
I just think we need to remember to be confident in our she choices and not to laugh at them quite so much.

My MIL hated that I gave DS bits of food and kept trying to puree everything, she kept trying to give me jars of food she had bought and just couldn't get it that I didn't use them. She wanted me to 'keep it in the cupboard in case I ran out' of what I don't know but she just couldn't grasp that I chose to fed my baby differently than she did. I stuck to my guns whilst being poilte. She now comments on how well both ds 1 (he started on purees) and 2 eat and the wide variety but never thinks to say it may have been due to the way they were fed. But I understand that to do this she would have to admit that there was another way that she could have tried and that's something she'll never do!

And this comes from someone who can't stand her MIL!

Really good post muppetgirl. I guess it is hard for older generations. My MIL BF Dh and his brother during a time when FF really was encouraged.

She told me that other mothers on the ward were looking at her with disgust every time she fed her baby.

They use to take the babies away at night then and put them in the nursery. She said they would bring the baby back in the morning and say he'd had 3oz's or whatever, because they were giving him bottles while she was asleep.

I gave DS puree's all the time and lots of food out of jars. He is 9 now and the most fussy eater ever. Its hard work when we take him anywhere for lunch!

I'm really hoping that by doing BLW with DD I can avoid having another DC like that!

Hey,

Thanks Igglybuff, That sounds a bit scary! but I will definatly look for more info to give it a shot with my second.

A little note to everyone else, well done for sticking to your guns and doing what feels right for your child. I gave into family pressure alot over lots of different things, stopped what i was doing and then realised it was right later and had to start again.

So good on you!

I really regret trying to wean DS earlier than 6 months (5.5, in order to make sure he was up and running by 6 months and the iron "ran out"), and regret even more doing the whole puree thing. Ugh. It took ages, and I'm sure held him back from exploring as he would have done with BLW. He is amazingly fussy at the moment, but perhaps that's just being 18m+ added to his general lack of interest in eating (not a greedy boy, tho' grows like a weed).

Don't be pressured to wean too soon. And when you do, don't forget to introduce meat (or protein sources like lentils) in good time. We had an HV who did an excellent session on weaning at our postnatal group: she was very hot not being slow to introduce lumps, and then meat, so the poor babes did not get stuck on puree for ages and lose the will to eat (who wants to live on puree? ugh)