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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

When to wean?

25 replies

fells · 19/11/2005 22:07

Hi everyone! What are the advantages of early weaning? My dd is 16 weeks and breastfed. I don't really feel as if she is ready to be weaned yet but many of my post-natal friends started weaning their babies at 16 / 17 weeks. What are the advantages of waiting until she is closer to 6 months? Does the fact she is small (10.5 pounds ish) make any difference?

OP posts:

starlover · 19/11/2005 22:08

there are no advantages of weaning early.
wait until she is 6 months, espeically if you don't think she needs it yet!

waiting until 6 months gives the gut more time to mature and able to accept other foods

troublesmummy · 19/11/2005 22:13

My parents and practically everyone is trying to talk me in to weaning ds. He is 21 weeks, and imo is still not ready to be weaned. He is perfectly happy with his bottles, so i'm going to leave him until he tells me otherwise. He doesn't finish all his bottles, still sleeps through and is happy most the time. And he's a pretty big baby. About 18 lb now, so i don't think size has that much to do with it.

Take your time and enjoy your dd being a baby. And enjoy the greeny/yellow pooh! My friends daughter is on solids and has human pooh. Not nice! Best to put that off as long as possible i say.

jellyjelly · 19/11/2005 22:13

I say wait as well till at least she is telling you she needs it. Your breast milk is obviously so good she doesnt need anything else.

Who cares about keeping up with the friends!

ButtonMoon · 19/11/2005 22:14

save yourself the hassle..I weaned my DD at 16 weeks and it is so much harder than just getting your boob out!! World Health Org recommends not before 26 weeks....then it should be loads easier as baby will try to feed themselves anyhow...i'm going to try to get a bit nearer to then this time with DS but I know I'll hve lots of pressure from family around the 4 month mark...same family who tell me to give bottles as it will make him sleep through the night and stop his wind...hmmmm! Just let your baby guide you..when they start to seem hungry after emptying both btreasts per feed then it may suggest that you start weaning...but for now I would just enjoy the freedom that bf gives you.

bobbybob · 19/11/2005 22:14

The main advantage is that you get to talk to your post natal friends about puree.

hunkermunker · 20/11/2005 23:58

No advantage to early weaning (other than, as Bobbybob says, scintillating convos re purees). MANY advantages to weaning from 6 months though - no need to fanny about pureeing, lots more finger food, they can eat a far wider range of food, etc, etc, in fact, it's as if the human body was designed not to be weaned before 6 months

Size nothing to do with weaning readiness either - look for things like being able to sit unaided, losing the tongue thrust reflex (though that might go earlier than sitting up) and being able to pick a piece of food up (steamed carrot batons and rice cakes work well, IME) and put it to her mouth.

foundintranslation · 21/11/2005 06:40

I've got the opposite q - how long can I leave it? ds is 6mo now. He feeds a lot (but he always has really), can't sit alone yet. The plan is to do baby-led/finger food.

GREATauntymandy · 21/11/2005 06:44

no baby needs it before 6 months. they do get hungry around 3 months so you just need to feed more then they settle down again

bobbybob · 21/11/2005 07:51

After a false start where we gave ds banana and avocado with amazing results (they cross react with his latex allergy that we didn't suss he had until he was 2) he was on breastmilk only until around 8 months and then on breastmilk, baby rice and kumera until a year.

Original poster

fells · 21/11/2005 11:28

So if you wait until 6 months can you completely by-pass pureed food and go straight onto finger food? OR is it best to still offer puree to start but just move more quickly through the same stages as you would do if weaning earlier?

OP posts:

tiktok · 21/11/2005 11:29

No need for purees - one of the conveniences of not bothering to wean before about 6 mths

GREATauntymandy · 21/11/2005 12:03

I did use purees but more mashed than pureed then progressed

vkone · 21/11/2005 12:19

Tho my son was more bootle than breastfed, I went along with this to some degree

UNICEF Baby Led Weaning

My son intiated weaning by picking a bread crust off my plate and sucking on it and tho I did do some pureeing, most ended up being thrown away as he wanted finger foods instead. DS is now 22 mths and eats what we eat and has a good and varied diet so do hang in there.

I would add that going down the puree route is both boring and frustrating (for both of you) as well as very messy and inconvinient!

helsi · 21/11/2005 12:22

well only 3 years ago we were told to wait until I think 4 months. Now its 6 months. Things change all the time and my child is perfectly healthy. Does it mean then that over the last 3 years children gut develoment has suddenly slowed down?

do what you feel is right.

NotQuiteCockney · 21/11/2005 12:25

Um, the six month thing has been around a lot longer than three years. It used to be 4-6 months in the UK. But the WHO has been saying to wait until 6 months, for years.

And in the 20s, it was normal to wait until 9 months.

I think the new, weird recommendation is early weaning.

And yes, you can avoid purees entirely if you wait until 6 months. I offered purees, but DS2 really preferred finger foods. It cerainly is a lot less work.

GREATauntymandy · 21/11/2005 12:38

my son is 3 at Christmas and we were adviced 6 months then

hunkermunker · 21/11/2005 14:00

HVs are still "advising" four months - because they're largely a shower of ill-informed tossfaced old lemon-suckers.

Frayedknot · 21/11/2005 14:08

Agree many HV's are still "suggesting" - directly or not - weaning at 16 weeks. DS is only 20 months but I felt quite pressured into weaning at 16 weeks by HV team and peers, who were all doing the same.

It wasn;t till I joined Mumsnet that I realised that this was actually probably not the best interest of either ds or me. Apart from anything else it's such a bloomin' faff!

Racers · 21/11/2005 14:10

LOL Hunker!

hunkermunker · 21/11/2005 14:11

And loads of them do it with their bulldog chewing a wasp face set firmly onto a "don't be ridiculous, no baby can get past ten days without a rusk" expression.

sweetkitty · 21/11/2005 14:43

Don't they recommend giving baby rice before the cord is cut as well ?

fells I was in exactly the same position as you, people cannot believe that a baby can survive on breastmilk alone until 6 months, it's as if you are a bad mother depriving them of food and they are starving hungry! Most of my postnatal group were weaning at 14-15 weeks as their babies were big and hungry and milk wasn't enough anymore (bemused emoticon) like a few spoonfuls of baby rice would make a difference.

I weaned DD at a week off of 6 months she's been great with it, hated purees and anything from a jar, went straight onto finger food quite happily. She was small as well.

Keep feeding her your doing fine and ignore everyone else!!!

tiktok · 21/11/2005 14:58

helsi - we have known for yonks babies need nothing more than breastmilk for about 6 mths. The guidance in the UK was 4-6 months (not '4 mths' and not '16 weeks') but this was out of step with long-standing international norms, which we adopted in 2003.

Things don't change all the time, but knowledge does get added to.

It's impossible to predict which babies will be affected in what way, but as no baby really needs anything else, the hassle factor is enough to make it worth while waiting

Original poster

fells · 23/11/2005 20:20

I started this thread a few days ago - thanks everyone for all your advice. Now I need some more! After waking up only once a night (a 'night' being 7.30ish to 7.30ish) dd has been waking up twice a night for the last few days. I wouldn't mind too much it's just that it takes me ages to get back to sleep after feeding her each time. I feel like I felt in the first few weeks after having her.

Am I to assume that the reason for her waking up is because she is hungry and I should therefore start weaning her She is nearly 17 weeks) or could it be a phase she is going through which will pass in a week or so? Will my milk adjust to satisfy her increasing hunger? Is there any mileage in giving her a formula feed at bedtime?

OP posts:

mum2evie · 24/11/2005 00:30

hi there my dd is 16 wks and i am also surrounded by others who suggest food is the way to go, but i can't be sure it is, she has had a few of the growth spurts ( as they do) and being breastfeed she just takes more from me, i mean ok i'm sat longer feeding, but i don't mind if it means less faf in the kitchen. i'm going to carry on letting her lead me with her feeds, luckly the feed and demand for milk is working well and i seem to be able to produce just what she needs. Good luck i'm sure what ever happens it will be just fine

sazhig · 24/11/2005 01:27

Fells - if she is hungry then starting her on solids will not fill her up as solid food has less calories than milk. If anything it may make the problem worse.

16 weeks is a classic growth spurt for babies (and tends to be quite a big one, hence the confusion and the reason many mums start solids at this time). I am sure after a week or 2 she will settle down again. Babies do tend to change their routine regularly, and it does come as a bit of a shock when they do - all perfectly normal! Your milk will adjust to her needs and there is no need to give forumla at bedtime at all. In fact it may have a detrimental effect on your supply as I understand that the night time is the best time for milk production.

Are you cosleeping with your LO? I couldn't really get on with it full time with my ds but found that when he was teething or having a spurt it was far easier to have him in with us after a night feed as he settled better and so we got more sleep that way.

FYI the signs of being ready for solids also include:being able to sit unaided, losing the tongue thrust, showing an interest in food (ie picking it up & putting it in the mouth). Some babies show these signs before 26 weeks, and some after.

HTH

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