to be peeved with my GP friend?

[mrsbean78]

My ds is 6 months old. We are kinda-sorta baby-led weaning.. as in, he gets some food chucked up on an Antilop tray to push around/mush with/shove in his mouth and/or a spoon to use to flick food at the wall.

When he's had a good ol' play about, we mush up the remains and he feeds it to himself on a spoon. I feed him the odd spoonful too...
In some ways, it's not very baby-led at all, more like 'lots of chance to experiment and muck about and a few spoonfuls at the end of a meal from mum if I'm not complaining'.

I'm a Speech and Language Therapist so I know a fair amount about gag reflex/swallowing etc and I also know that my son's oral cavity/swallow etc are okay and have judged that this is fairly safe for him. I like the play aspect and the fact he is learning e.g. how to use cutlery etc. He's taken to it like a duck to water, enjoys the whole 'game' of it and is having a ball, digesting the food too (says the baby Gillian McKeith ).

Anyway, I put a video on my facebook page.. not even publicly (didn't publish, family only) but was talking to an old friend who hasn't seen ds and asked him to have a look because I was very proud of one video where ds is gurgling/cooing and all smiles.. just wanted to show off my boy really.

Cue long lecture about how it's not safe to give meat to a six month old because babies can't handle bacteria???? This from someone who also had issues with me bfing??

Really? So am I being U or is he?

NHS guidelines state that meat canbe given from 6 months old. Perhaps he subsctribes to American guidelines, which are dated./

be peeved - i would.

YANBU, he is, obviously. What issues did he have with you bfing? GPs are often full of shite IME.

I wouldn't give meat to under 6 months but age 6months+ is fine, what is he on about? yanbu

larsk35 - oh the most awful issues about it being done in public, where are people supposed to look etc.

I really like him but I had such a reaction to this.. I think his issue was the 'wholeness' of the meat as a 'finger food' but surely if you puree it they take more in so that would be a bigger issue re: bacteria etc?

It just gave me a bit of a fright. I have been ready to do the whole he's-six-months-he-won't-choke spiel and discuss the mechanics of gags and swallows etc but the bacteria angle floored me and of course worried me..

there is no more bacteria in properly cooked meat than there is in properly cooked anything else.

How strange. they are strange. And I worry about a GP not giving meat due to "bacteria".

I'm amazed how many GPs are anti-BFing, or at least against doing it past 6 months. flippin ridiculous given the WHO guidelines. what were the issues this GP had BTW?

YANBU, every right to be peeved, but don't waste energy on it. GPs might have lots of training but that doesn't equate to common sense and/or experience as a parent!

we're kinda-sorta-BLWing too. it's great! DS 9m tomorrow and eats anything/everything! keep going

mrsbean78, I think it is entirely right to treat as highly suspect the pronouncements of anyone (esp a GP, ffs) who would seek to discourage a mum from bf at all let alone over such irrelevant considerations as where other people would look!.

I thought that colditz but I had a moment of oh-my-god-he's-a-GP-so-he's-right-and-I'm-wrong panic about it.. I got a bit cross (as he also made some quip about him having a large appetite like his mother) and kind of did a half-huffy, half-jokey 'bit much to be calling me fat and questioning my mothering skills in the space of five mins' comment.. and we left it there.

Grrr.

oh oops x-post. hmm what a muppet.

I was surprised how many people don't do BLW because of the gagging, but it's such a short phase.

erm...what a load of rubish

Actually I wouldn't give a baby meat at 6 months. It's v difficult to digest and it seems a bit too much of a jump from bm to meat. I would stick to more easily digestable food such as fruit vegetables rice etc. for a while. Still plenty of variety available

What rubbish - YANBU. Do what's right for your baby. Both my 2 were after more substantial food then breast milk at 4 months old. We started with homemade apple puree then quickly moved on to other fruit/veg purees. At 6 months they were on chicken/fish pureed with veg and it did them no harm at all. I agree that the more fibrous meats(beef, lamb) probably ought to be left until 9-12 months but the whole point of BLW is just that!!

DS was chewing strips of (well-cooked) steak at 6ish months. With DD we did 'normal' weaning but she was having pureed meat before 6m. I don't see the bacteria issue if it's cooked properly!

Interesting. about the GP I mean.We had two very close doctor friends (godparent type close)who dropped us when our children were about 2 and 5. No words were spoken but I think it was because they couldn't stand us not taking their professional opinion on how to bring up children. (she was a child psychiatrist) We thought we were simply having informed discussions and were allowed to take a different point of view. They were severely insulted. I rather hope that their well behaved little boy has turned into a really difficult teenager.