I'm unsure which is the lesser of two 'evils'...

[Skimty]

I'm really tired and about to go to bed so it probably isn't the best time to start this thread but after talking to a few mums recently I've been wondering..

At around 5 months would you advise someone to switch from BF to FF or to introduce solids? I'm exclusively BF to 26 weeks but DD is my second and I'm happy to wait it out but lots of the mums I speak to are struggling at this time. I know you can mix feed but my experience is that it leads (psycholgically) to a quicker weaning from BF.

I'm no expert at all and i'm genuinely curious, not trying to stir etc.

(BTW I don't think either FF or early weaning are 'evil'. I ended up doing both with DS when I was at the end of my tether! In vain may I add)

personally I would ff rather than give solids (although really with support they should just be able to bf)
Although...I did BLW from just over 23 weeks, so maybe a hypocrite! But when you ask like that....

Why do you feel you need to make a switch now? If you can keep up exclusively BF until your DD is 6 mths then all the better for her, then you could start with BLW but keep up with the BF until she is 1. Or longer. That is my personal opinion.

She is planning to, I think she's asking, if it has to be one or the other, which should it be.
And I've answered with my own opinion - useful!

That's what I'm planning on doing TBOM but There were two mums I was talking to with babies the same age. One was mix feeding moving to more bottles and the other had introduced solids and they were discussing the merits of each.

I pointed out that this is a massive sleep regression, growth spurt thing.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that a klot of the research on solids is linked ot giving up breastfeeding rather than introduction of solids as such but I'm probably completely wrong.

BTW I'm off to bed at 9.30 so please don't think I'm rude

X post SPB

That's so tricky because I don't have any experience of a baby who couldn't wait to 26 weeks. I know quite a few mothers who couldn't wait, but they all weaned at 17 weeks and were all quite up front that it was because they were excited about weaning, not through any specific signs. They were all ff anyway (I don't know many people who bf exclusively).

I think, if you really felt that your own milk wasn't enough, and you felt that you couldn't feed through the growth spurt and were at the end of your tether that a few bottles of formula with some breast milk would be more sensible that switching entirely if you didn't really want to.

I can only speak from my limited experience of dd1 who was mixed fed - I ended up weaning her when she was just over 6 months as all attempts to wean before that (2/3 limited attempts from 17 weeks on) cos she seemed to be hungry, looking for food etc were fruitless. Also made no difference at all to the bursts of sleep regression, hunger etc etc that got around 16/17 , 20 weeks and 26 weeks.

Also if you're happily bf then I'd stick to it as seems asking for trouble to introduce ff (in fact a couple of friends who tried to introduce it as were weaning off bf for various reasons found it more hassle than necessary as their babies were bottle resistant by this stage).

If pressed for my opinion, I think that to Introduce solids and keep breastfeeding is much better than to switch to formula feeding but no solids. You keep the benefits of breastfeeding for longer.

2 of mine were weaned before 5 months (advice in its day), but it was only didley amounts for so long; breastmilk was still the mainstay of their diet with all the goodness that may confer.

and I'd agree the other way round (as dd was ff by this late stage) - I'd not bother weaning until 26 weeks if I had another and ff it.