Has anyone weaned before 6 months?

[whyIsARavenLikeAWritingDesk]

As title suggests?
I have been having trouble getting any Mille into my 18 week DD, it is a daily battle and she refuses anything after taking half oz!
My HV isn't any help she says not to worry and she'll grow out of it, this has now been going on for 7 weeks!
Basically I want to know if anyone has weaned their baby this young? I know to speak to HV first but thinking MN might have some advise!
I'm in tears everyday because she just won't eat

I started weaning at 14 weeks but that was the 90s and times/advice have changed. I was advised to start weaning DD by my Doctor who probably thought I was being a bit slow about things. However, DS was really hungry and we never looked back. He's 6'3" now. Both are healthy adults ... raised on Annabel Karmel pureed, delicious combinations!

I started dd on baby rice at 13 weeks, think I started ds2 on it sooner cause he was a chunker and ds1 was around the same. They are all good eaters with no allergies

I started to wean my 2 at 12 weeks in the 90's. Started with a little baby rice mixed with formula then pureed fruit. I don't know how anyone lasts till 6 months.

I started weaning at 16 weeks on the dot (hungry baby, GP took one look at me - I was losing weight and hair and not keeping up w demand despite eating double what I'd normally have). If the child was born at term and is development normally, the gut will be matured enough for simple fruit or veg purees/oat porridge w EBM/similar. As one of the PP said, I also avoided meat until 6 months old (and salt/sugar for much longer). If constipation was an issue, I just added 1tsp of flaxseed oil once a day mixed with a purée. But tbh, the constipation was nowhere near as bad on solids as it was on formula which I had tried to supplement. Steamer/blender device really helped with the purées (can't remember the brand I had, but similar thing to BabyCook). Please talk to GP and good luck!!!

When dd1 was born. Guide lines on weaning was 4 months. My dd just wasn't ready then. She was a good weight and sleeping through 7-7 without a feed and wasn't finishing a 9oz bottle. My hv was very pushy for me to wean her. It was very stressful for both off us. I sometimes even think that's why till this day she won't eat bananas. I remember I few stressful accounts of trying to force feed her pureed banana and formula milk. My hv was very patronising and assumed I was doing it all wrong. After a few attempts I just left it and carried on with bottle feeding untill I thought she was ready. My hv told me it was important to wean her at 4 months because she needed to be able to handle lumps at 6 months, otherwise it would delay her speech. It didn't her speech was very advanced.
Fast forward 10 years later I had dd 2 and the official guide lines had changed to 6 months. Absolutely no solids until 6 months. Dd2 was very different to dd1. She had really bad reflux and by 4 months she finishing 9oz bottles and still wanted more then bringing most of it back. She was hungry and wasn't keeping either breasts milk or formula down. Tried the hungry baby stuff. She was same but now with constipation and tummy ache.
So I weaned her at 16 weeks. She took to solids like a duck to water. Reflux and constipation settled. She wasn't hungry every hour and was much more happier.
Think our generation was was weaned at 6 weeks!
You know your own baby op. I'd say go with your instincts.

Never gave her gluten, sugar or any other nasties until she was a bit older though.
Was mainly just fruit and veg,

DS was weaned from about 14 weeks iirc - baby rice and home cooked pureed veg. He also used to like those pasta jars when he was at the childminder's (even though they looked vile to me). This was back in the days when the guidance was different - he is healthy and growing rapidly at 16, nearly 6' already.

Why is sitting unaided so important?
I've never heard that before

Sitting unaided just means not slumping forwards or sideways in a high chair, which is for safety reasons I'd imagine.

Those who started weaning at 12/13/14 weeks, what made you wait till then and not start sooner than that? 6 weeks or younger was fairly common in previous generations.

I always thought this was the case with the sitting unaided as everything I've read has said about strong head control, I know babies at 8 months that aren't sitting on their own which also confused me

@AssassinatedBeauty. I didn't do it any sooner because I wanted to wait until the official guide line of 6 months but dd didn't
If you read my post above it will explain why.
My dfreinds ds had sp so therefore never sat unaided. He wasn't diagnosed until he was around 18 months (maybe even a bit later)
So the the theory of waiting until they can sit unaided wouldn't have worked there

Mine were weaned 20 years ago at about 12 weeks l think. That was ok then.they didn't have loads l think just a,few spoons a,day. I don't think it did them any harm but they still drank lots of milk they were on bottles then as l was back at work. I don't think food will help the milk refusal.

But I've tried everything I can think of, this is a last resort! It's not to help the refusal of milk either is so she's getting something!
Dietician has said she wants DD daughter to be taking 150ml per kg a day but on a good day I only get 100ml into her and that's a struggle

Can you go back to the dietician and ask her what you're supposed to do if you can't get the milk into your DD? They might have had experience of this kind of thing before and be able to advise you. I think you need specialist advice tailored to your particular situation.

My DC1 is 14. Everyone weaned well before 6 months then. Baby rice from 3 months...that was the advice.
DC2 is 10. The advice had changed by the time he was born. I tried to hold out a bit longer but didn't make it much past 4 months.
Who knows what impact it has had? They are both strong, healthy DCs....

As I said in my pp. I was told I was wrong NOT to wean my dd at 4 months i knew in my heart she wasn't ready
Was told I was wrong TO wean dd2 at 4 months. But knew in my heart she was ready. Make it clear to the health professionals what YOU think baby needs.
I know, you know. Mothers always know. They just don't know that they know

"My DC1 is 14. Everyone weaned well before 6 months then. Baby rice from 3 months...that was the advice."

My dd is 21. No they didn't, No it wasn't.

Yes at 3 months. Does something magical happen overnight at the turn of 6 months? Nope. Are some children ready earlier? Yes. Are some ready later? Yes. Are there hundreds of thousands of adults totally fecked up as they were weaned earlier than six months? No.

I do wish I had had the X ray vision some people have that means they can tell whether their baby is one of the ones with the well developed guts..........

Is there a reason that solids aren't given from say 2 weeks, or around then? Why wait till 6/10/12 weeks? What's the factor that makes 6/10/12 weeks the point to introduce solids and not any sooner than that? (Assuming that the NHS guidelines and the rationale behind them are irrelevant and wrong, and that the mother will just know).

My elder DC are 17 and 19 and I was definitely advised to wean them from 4 months. My youngest is 12 and the advice had changed to 6 months by then. However I had the same HV as with the older two who was happy to leave me to it. He had a tongue tie so had always been a problem to get sufficient milk into, but had no problem with and really only started to thrive once we introduced solids at about 18 weeks.

Ds1 (16) was weaned at 12 weeks. He was a hungry baby and I just went with what felt instinctively right. He's now a strapping 6'1 lad and still growing. Ds2 I waited a bit longer, I think he was about 4/5 month mark. Again I just went with what I felt was right for ds at the time.

Yes on advice of paediatrician after struggling with both BM and formula for 5 months. Not sure how much she digested as a lot seemed to 'pass through' but it did mean at 6 months we had got through a lot of the playing with it and the minute amounts you give at the beginning and could go for more quantity. Wouldn't have done it at all without the go-ahead from the hospital and she had the signs of readiness at 5 months as well.

Every mother in the animal kingdom "knows" when to introduce solids. I've never seen cats, dogs or any other reproducing animal reading nhs guide lines or consulting mn we're all programmed with natural maternal instincts. Humans have just learned not to trust them.
Guide lines are just that a guide. Every baby is different and develops different and has different needs.

Has anyone weaned there babies early or late and found it was a big mistake? Or caused problems later in life?

So weaning at 2 weeks or 4 weeks or whatever could be right for some babies, if the mother (father?) feels it's the right thing to do? No risks for doing so, as long as you follow your instincts. I wonder what the point is of the NHS advice, when they should just tell people to go with their instincts and not worry about it.