Everyone is telling me to start weaning my 3 1/2 month old...should I?

[Cherrybaby]

My husband and I had a row last night over whether when to wean our baby girl. His family are all very keen on starting weaning early - his sister has a baby roughly around the same age, and started weaning him at 3 months. I know they keep pestering him about it when Im not there.

Also, he says that he has mothers meetings() with the women at work when they all talk babies, and they all started weaning their babies at 3 months or around then, and nothing "happened" to them.

When did you all start weaning your babies, and is the six month mark too late?

All comments welcome!

again the chip on the shoulder comment is true

Name calling is aggressive, it undermines the point you wish to make.

You've been banging on and on about how people can't respect your point of view but I've seen NO respect from you for theirs.

This thread isn't pretty, it's really not.

fkin hell I'm in court on trial why cant people just get over shit and get on with their lives ffs????? Everyone has to question someone else's life, yeh I strongly disagree with ppl doing that and will happily say so, even if others dont agree!

No, you don't need to explain anything Kazzi, but if you don't answer our questions we're entitled to think you're misguided.

demanding I explain myself!

Yes, and everyone else will carry on disagreeing with you. So there's no need to call them names just because they disagree with you.

It all depends on whether you yourself think 3 and a half months is too early to wean your baby onto solids. Nobody knows your baby better than you do.
My eldest two now aged 8 and 10 both had large appetites as babies and were constantly drinking their milk, on the advice of my health visitor I gave them baby rice mixed with formula milk at around 12 weeks who agreed that they were a healthy enough weight and were showing signs that they were ready for it. Both are now a healthy weight a few years on.
My daughter now aged 4 was underweight as a baby and there was concern at one point that she wasn't putting on enough weight, for me to put her on solids at 12 weeks would have been irresponsible as her organs wouldn't have been ready to deal with solid food, she was about 5 months old when she went onto solids, she is also a healthy weight now.

I would speak to a health professional about it, many health visitors have years of experience in giving advice on weaning and prefer to treat each baby as an individual rather than saying "6 months is absolutely right for every baby", but its most important to trust your own instincts, I know what it was like to have know it all in laws (u should see how their kids turned out as adults!) so I find telling them to piss off usually gets the message across loud and clear, you can go with the polite approach.....but I find being straight to the point works best :D good luck xxxxx

That was my original post.....friendly as you can see, the reaction was blown all out of proportion because people can't accept something a little different, thats their problem not mine.

Oh ok.

I'm sorry, I didn't realise I was only supposed to read your first post and ignore the rest of them.

I've stated in a number of posts that people are entitled to different opinions and I respect that so obviously your only reading what u wanna read! I've never undermined anyones posts on here or said theyre advice was wrong, I've only responded to the crap that people have aimed at me.....which you appear to have turned a blind eye to!

Actually if someone gives advice that is wrong then I think it is right to question it.

well u obviously aint reading the whole convos then are ya! So ur basically saying everyone can make a judgement of me and something I did for my children which has in no way harmed them and their judgements are ok but christ if I dare to reply with a different opinion all hell breaks loose!

No one is judging you. We all do what we think is best with the information we have at that time. The information however has changed now.

the advice isnt wrong, it was right when I had my children and thats all I was pointing out.....is that ok with you or are you gonna demand I explain myself further?

yeh so theres no reason for people to fkin lynch mob me and demand I explain this that and the other then is there! I never ONCE said anyones advice on this page was wrong so I really cant understand why everyone has such a bee in their bonnet!

I doubt very much whether anybody wants you to explain yourself further

To the OP - I wouldn't wean your baby at 3.5 months if I were you. The guidelines are there for good reason and I think it's safer to stick to them, in the main. Plus milk has more calories than most "first foods" so if a baby needs more sustenance, it needs more milk.

I sympathise though, it's very difficult trying to decide what is right, especially when you are under pressure from family members.

You have repeatedly stated that your own children were fine being weaned at 12 weeks. Great. However that doesnt mean that other peoples children will be nor does it mean that they wont develop problems in later life because of it. That's not attacking you, simply stating a fact.

Oh look Greensleeves has to jump on the bandwagon as well just to get a little bitchy comment in! Grow Up! No need for the aggression aimed at me

I stated numerous times AGAIN that I wasnt advising this for everyone else, just it was right for MY children!

You have stated several times parents should trust their own instincts and that your kids were fine. I disagree with you and have stated why. That's not attacking.

Eh?

I don't see any aggression from anyone other than your good self.

Is it OK with you if people address advice to the OP, or must we all go through you, because this has turned into one of your threads?

Greensleeves....if your more interested in the OP then why are u wasting time making petty little remarks aimed at me? Surely the OP would appreciate your advice more than you having silly little playground digs at me?

Hercules.....on numerous occasions I have been asked to explain the same thing, despite explaining it the best I can it doesnt seem to ne good enough amongst a certain few of you.

Not one of you was adult enough to say "ok thats how you did it, we do things differently now but we accept that way worked for you" no people just kept going on and on asking the same question over again!

The reason for that Kazzi is that there are an awful lot of parents who read mumsnet and there may well be someone who reads your posts and thinks well kazzis kids are fine so health visitor says it fine so I'll wean at 12 weeks too.

I can't speak for the OP, but if I had started this thread I would prefer not to have it hijacked by somebody raving angrily and repetitively about herself, which is what you are doing.

which is what I pointed out - you seem to be labouring under the misapprehension that people want you to explain yourself, over and over again - and I don't think that they do.

I would hazard that the reason people are not saying "OK, that worked for your children" is because the best current medical evidence suggests that it was not the right thing to do, and that children who were weaned at this early stage stand a greater chance of problems in later life.

so while having no desire to make you feel bad, people are understandably reluctant to say that weaning your children at 12 weeks was the right thing to do.

Rsmum how does a couple of spoonfuls of pureed carrot make a baby fuller? Milk is higher in fat and calories than any food you would begin to wean your baby on.
my 2 weren't weaned til 6 months and it made not a blind bit of difference to how long they slept, ds' reflux or their general wellbeing because he wasn't given meals he was given tastes of food, surely what weaning is all about?

Fair point Hercules but I did state quite clearly that I did this 8 and 10 years ago, and I did state quite clearly that I'm not telling anyone else it is the right thing to do and have continuosly told people if they are unsure to seek the advice of a health professional rather than listen to people online saying do this and dont do that.

Yes, but when people have pointed out that Health Visitors can be woefully underinformed on the latest guidance regarding weaning you've just rubbished that by saying that's a media invention.

That's not very helpful, IMO.

It sucks massively that HV spout poor guidance on weaning and it sucks even more that people then try to deny it.

In answer to OP (not involving in current argument way too tired!) Gave Dd1 first foods just before 5 months as she would not drink milk. Not breast not any kind of formula. Was getting v stressed about it as she was only taking in less than half what she was meant to have. HV and doc told me to wean her and she took to it straight away. Dd2 started also around 5 months but didn't like it much so was more like 6mo when properly started. Wish I'd waited even longer with dd2 as she has severe excema - not due to weaning as developed at 7ish weeks. They have now established various allergies and put her on special formula. If I'd waited longer until after our appointment with dietician then she would've had a chance to have only special formula and given her skin a chance to heal a bit. Main advice is just to nod and say 'yes thanks I'll bear that in mind' to "helpful hints" by others. Have it all the time from parents/in laws/ random strangers about dd2 s skin and it hurt at first but have become a pro at zoning it all out. Hold off til nearer 6 months IMO. By the way my dds are coming up for 1 and 2 so all this is recent for me..