Could all the good of breastfeeding be outdone by giving a 7 week old rusk in a bottle of formula?

[imdreamingofawhiteKITTYmas]

Sorry just have to share this, saw friends 7 week old today, doing reakky well she is BFing but giving her a bottle of formula at night. Today she said she was having half a rusk in it as well.

Now I know HVs and MWs don't recommend it now but I was still when she said it. I said you aren't supposed to now and she asked why and I said I think theres a risk of choking didn't go into the allergies thing and basically you are grinding up a sugary biscuit into your babies milk.

Think it's another one of these things that people don't believe a baby can survive on just milk for 6 months.

got me there tiktok

am a busy lady I like to cut to the chase

Well, flippin well don't - nothing makes me madder than this. What is the point of posting and moving on and clarifying if people come on and contribute without having read the subsequent posts? Do people do this at parties - bust in on a coversation without listening first? Charming

Especially if they throw in an insult with it, such as 'you're all mad'

If you're too busy to read more than the OP, then I suggest not very politely you might like to decide you are too busy to post...what do you think??

Is it just me or is everyone a little more irritable on MN this week?

People are getting very fired up over little things IM(very)HO as I don't want to get shot for saying the 'wrong' thing.

Loads of people only read a few posts tiktok (as you know), but it doesn't usually lead to such a vehement response!

Wisteria, but Enid read the OP only and responded with 'fecking hell!' and then told everyone they were mad!!

Is that not somewhat more 'irritable' and 'vehement' than I was ?

And with far less justification.....

lol

It's just you, yes that's irritable Wisteria,.....

Ooh, sorry, did you mean that.....oh, yes...I understand

PMSL at crossed wires here - it's like spaghetti junction!

I thought Enid's response to the OP was fairly well balanced and not offensive at all but I suppose it's how you read it, why shouldn't you be able to say what you think - she obviously had read some of the posts but she may have been saying 'you're all mad' because of the somewhat extreme posts, not in reference to whether it's going to undo the harm!

I think it was the 'nothing makes me madder than this' comment tik that gave rise to the usage of vehement and irritable, cos I can think of a million things that make me madder than that ? Oh and the inference that if you can't be bothered to read 82 posts then you shouldn't post yourself.......

The fact remains and you can't deny it that 'research' is often flawed and is occasionally reversed so yes, it's great to learn more but what is sensible and scientific today may be the opposite in 10 years time.

Yes - and how does that affect the decisions you make for your baby?

Do you just disregard information for which there's very solid evidence (as there is in the case of early weaning) which comes from a range of reliable sources and on which there appears to be a very good consensus among health professionals on the strength that it 'might' be overturned years down the line?

In any case - what you need to remember is that most of the recommendations previously made to mothers - such as putting babies to sleep on their fronts,breastfeeding every four hours and weaning at 6 weeks weren't made on the basis of research evidence in the first place!

"For instance 'swaddling'; I was told under no circumstances to ever swaddle my child as they get too hot and 'research' had shown it was a probable contributory factor to SIDS."

Right - and would you have been quite so happy to have disregarded those recommendations had they be adopted by the NHS, the American Academy of Paediatrics and the World Health Organisation - and had been repeated to you by every health visitor and midwife you'd spoken to?

Sabire the point I am trying (obviously somewhat unsuccessfully) to make is that whilst new research is released every other day/ week/ month etc, sometimes you have to go with your natural reaction.

When I had my children, the anti-swaddling was a recommendation by midwives, HP's, HV's, GP's etc and I found out recently 9thanks to MN) that it has now been comletely reversed. thus all the people who advised me to swaddle when mine were tiny were right and the HP's were wrong, if you follow the latest advice. I just wished now I had listened a bit more to my Mum and generations of experienced Mums instead of the latest guidelines and I may have had a more comfortable baby!!

Early weaning is (at present) thought to be a bad idea (I'm not suggesting that I know best buy any means) and when I have my next one I shall look at all the evidence again, but will have no compunction in mashing a bit of fruit or rusk earlier than 17 weeks if I feel it is necessary.

What astounds me though, is that allergies and digestive problems are on the increase and yet we are still being told to keep our houses spotlessly clean, bleach and dettox is being ruthlessly advertised and we are all told that early weaning is the cause , funny then how these problems appear to be on the increase in children who (presumably) for the most part are being weaned later......

Nut allergies are also far more common now since we were all told to stop giving children peanut butter and eating nuts during pregnancy......

and apologies for my atrocious grammar, spelling and copious typos......

wisteria I like the cut of your jib

there is a big difference between talking about early weaning and the pros and cons thereof... and giving rusk in a bottle to a 7 week old

that is not early weaning, that is attempting to stuff a baby so full , they sleep longer

it is a totally different arena to the weaning at 17 weeks or 26 weeks issue , IMO

What camilla said.

"funny then how these problems appear to be on the increase in children who (presumably) for the most part are being weaned later......"

Evidence for same, please.

Yes and I agree with it not being possibly the best idea to add solids to bottles (have said that about 5 times now I think), I am responding to the advice following side of this row'heated debate' ...........and Mums being given a little more credit for intuition!

I must've missed out on the "my baby's gut is now mature enough for solid food" instinct

Just that according to people in the health care industry who work extensively with children (very close friends) they are noticing more and more children lately being diagnosed with intolerances/ allergies to foods and they are children born within the window of time when the advice guidelines have been increased.

I just think we need to look more into GM modified foods, pollution and overuse of cleaning chemicals before we rush to strike parents down for introducing solids a few weeks earlier......

From what I've read, the weaning age hasn't got any earlier. It just keeps getting later, as more evidence suggest that the body isn't yet ready for food. Doubt very much they're going to say 'oh we were wrong, body is ready form 5 weeks, go on feed your children'.

Exactly what I thought. Just because the advice guidelines have been increased doesn't mean that babies aren't being weaned ridiculously early still - and they are.

MN is one of the only places you'll find the 6m guidelines stuck to by many people - barely anybody I know in RL "made it" to six months with their children (I put made it in "" because I don't think it's about "making it" as such).

In fact, the Infant Feeding Survey 2005 (I think - will check) demonstrated this quite neatly.

And, actually, more children were weaned a lot later before formula and baby food became such big business. Now people can say "but the jars say from 4m, so why shouldn't I give them to my baby?".

i don;t think that early weaning alone is the reason for all allergies and intolerances, but if there is a distinct possibility that it has an effect, even in conjunction with other factors, i am going to avoid it.

i am all for a mother's instinct, but you cannot see inside your baby's gut

also, re mothers being given credit for using their own intuition..what intuition tells you that a rusk in a bottle is a good thing? seriously? it takes a baby many months to gestate, why a few short weeks later, would they be ready for food? am not being argumentative, this is just so far beyond what i personally understand..

possibly not - all I know is my dcs are fine and maybe it's only an issue if you are predisposed to digestive/ allergy problems?

I'm going now as this thread is going round in circles but I will repeat my mantra - we are all different Mums with different techniques and I wouldn't change that for the world!

Just as I would not seek to tell you that you are wrong or say that I am right but personally I would rather listen to a bunch of Mums with experience, than a research doc any day!!

I wouldn't, Wisteria - I've heard the bollocks some mums spout though. Just because you've given birth and dragged a kid up to a passable age doesn't mean you've done the best thing for them.

Hunker , naturally I would choose the Mums I listen to rather carefully

What a sad, sad thread. Is it not blindingly obvious that putting rusk in a baby's bottle at a few weeks old is not a good idea and gosh, yes might even be dangerous? Even if our grandmothers may have done it?

As a nation we seem to spend more time fannying about worrying about offending parents than we do about protecting children. If my friend was doing this then I would have to say something and I would also much rather someone told me that something I was doing was dangerous. It would give me the chance to find out more for myself and make a decision from there. Not giving people the chance to do this is patronising and it lets children down very badly.

Instead of having a discussion about how research is always showing new things and therefore we might as well stick at parenting practice c1972, wouldn't it be more useful for this ACTUAL baby if we could think of how to help the OP raise the subject with her friend?

So basically what you're saying is that anything goes when it comes to parenting choices? That nothing we do will harm our babies as long as we feel 'intuitively' that it's ok? And as long as everyone else is doing it too?