Hv told me weaning is fine from 18 weeks?

[Moulesfrites]

WTF?. I veer from reading stuff that says if I wean before 6 months my ds will have allergies, become obese etc.. To my mum saying I had baby rice at 12 weeks and didn't do me any harm, to hv yesterday saying if I think my ds is hungry at 18 weeks its ok to start then. It's so confusing? Can anyone clarify things for me....

its advised to start at 6 months and the very earliest you should start is 17 weeks

Official advice is approx 6 mths, once the baby can sit up and put things in his/her mouth.

Anything followed by the phrase 'it didn't do you any harm' is always utter claptrap!

The guidelines always used to be 4 months (I weaned daughter now 15 at 4 months), then changed to 6 months but now they are saying that leaving it till 6 months may cause iron deficiency later on so looks like they may be going back to 4 months at earliest again. I would judge it by your baby, if you think he is getting hungry (feeding more frequently, taking more at each feed and waking more through the night for feeds) then think about weaning. My son is 10 months and I weaned at 4.5months but mainly because he doesn't like milk and I was having trouble getting him to take bottles, so started babyrice as way of getting more formula down. My daughter and many other older children who were weaned before 6 months are perfectly healthy so follow your own instincts :-))

If he's hungry then try giving him more milk, it could just be a growth spurt. 18 weeks is pretty young. If you want a second opinion then you could ask to see a paediatrician who will talk you through it a bit more so you can make a more informed decision.

Buffy, they are not going back! Don't believe all you read in the papers.

Official advice is to wean at around 6 months (which obviously can mean before), not to do it after 6 months. You really need to watch your baby for signs that they are ready. From the NHS website...

Try giving solid foods when your baby:
can sit up,
wants to chew and is putting toys and other objects in their mouth, and
reaches and grabs accurately.

www.nhs.uk/conditions/Babies-weaning/Pages/Introduction.aspx

It was easy with my youngest, he grabbed food, stuffed it in his mouth and ate it. Not so easy with my oldest but that was when the guidelines were 17 weeks anyway so perhaps was too soon anyway.

Maybe you should tell the HV that then lol :-)

If your child is sitting up, has lost the tongue thrust reflex, can pick up and put things in their mouth then it's probably fine. This will happen around 6 months but some babies will be earlier than others.

Night waking and frequent feeding aren't signs. Neither are watching you eat or making chewing motions when you do. And weight and sleep are irrelevant (trying to get all the red herrings out of the way in one go).

Introducing solids isn't about satisfying hunger it's about introducing an experience they are developmentally ready for. If a baby is hungry it needs calories from milk.

Seriously,

People get far too worked up about this. Babies should be weaned when they are ready for it. I am sure that there is a very tiny subset of babies whose digestive tract will be damaged by early weaning and have allergies etc. However, you don't have to make a decision based on a risk to a tiny subset versus the practicality of a hungry baby being more contented.

The human race is the most successful of all the animal species. We did not get there by being weak and unable to tolerate any variation from a theoretical optimum point (which changes all the time, anyway).

I don't think people get worked up about weaning as an act, rather the lack of consistent good information and understanding.

The guidelines are just that but very clear about the signs to look for. They are encouraging you to look at your baby, to see the real situation as it pertains to you.

But then you have 6 different hcps saying different things, people schlepping across the Internet saying 'you wean once they're drinking x ounces or waking at night again', somebody else saying 'I did this and it was just fine' and other people saying over and over again 'rules rules rules, what about individual babies, what about the rules changing all the time?'

And the delicious irony is that the guidelines are just guidelines, lay out the facts as we know them and encourage you too look at your baby. They actually say 'follow your child's lead'. The do this, do that, well I did this and so should you actually comes from outside the perfectly good information available to you in the guidelines. The frothing and foaming and arguing often relies on these strange and inaccurate accusations about the good information that's available to all and should be understood by HVs too and yet sadly isn't.

i weaned my oldest 2dds@3months which was20yrs ago
i weaned my youngest dd@4months&shes now2 7
all3 are absolutely fine

have just been checking Swedish baby-rearing advice, and though they mention the 6 months recommendation, they also say that you can start giving tasters from 4 months, so basically the kind of advice that was prevalent when my dcs were babies.

fwiw even the guidelines of signs are only helpful for the majority of children: mine learnt to sit very late (due to weak back) but this did not affect their ability to chomp their way through a boeuf bourgignonne

Could they sit up with some support though? It's to avoid a choking risk that bit of the guidelines. I'd imagine if they were managing boeuf in any form they were probably physiologically able to hold themselves up with support?

totally with you LadyInTheRadiat0r, I mourned just popping him on the boob and off we go days. Although BLW a plum keeps him entertained while I stack the dishwasher without assistance (:

We started at 19 weeks. He is 14 months now. Was the right decision for us. He is fine.

[cgrin]

I like penelope leach's phrase "mixed feeding". She implies it's a chance to learn a bit about tastes and textures beyond milk, but is in addition to not instead of milk. DS had some tastes at 4.5 months, but only started replacing his lunch bottle with food at 6 months. He's 14 months now and still has a full bottle before his breakfast (sometimes no solids at breakfast) and before bed. He's fine, will eat almost anything (lemons and olives today!) and no allergies. Was FF, stopped sterilising at 6 months.

THe world health organization say 6 months, but if for medical reasons it is before, then not before 20 weeks. Nowhere actually says 17 weeks anymore.

And the my child is fine argument is worthless because obviously not all children will have a problem. In fact, most won't. But some will.

I weaned both of mine at 22 weeks because of reflux. I felt very guilty the first time round. But was fine with it the second. So honestly, I have used the 20 week minimum. At 6 months I will start with wheat and protein etc.

There is absolutely no benefit to weaning before 6 months. It has no impact on sleep. Which is, if we all admitted it, why most people who wean early want to do it.

But for a small number of babies it could be detrimental. And there is absolutely no way of knowing which category your baby fits into. And, as there is no benefit to it, why take the risk that your baby is the one in a million or whatever it is that develpos bowel problem or allergies?

I think your baby will tell you if they are really ready-weaned dd really early and she snatched the food of the spoon-ds refused and tried a few weeks later.

A baby doesn't know if its gut is ready for anything but milk either. Be on the safe side - wait til 6 months. There is no possible benefit for going early, apart for ver rare medical conditions.

My DD2 is 24 weeks and would love to be having some food. In fact there is a small chance she's already sampled lamb rogan josh having thrust her hand into a plate of it and shoved her hand in her mouth.

But we're going to wait just another couple of weeks. I read somewhere (probably here!) that once a baby is 6 months old, they can chew, regardless of whether or not they have teeth. Certainly seemed to be the case with DD1, who has never had pureed anything. Don't know if this is actually the case, but why muck about with blenders if you don't have to?

HVs are bonkers.