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Original poster

Early weaning

14 replies

minxi · 09/09/2003 08:24

I'm just wondering how early you started to wean - my mum keeps telling me she started us on half a teaspoon of baby rice at 6 weeks just before bed to get through the night - my DS is 9 weeks... is it too early to try yet ?

OP posts:
Tissy · 09/09/2003 08:35

Yes, I would say so. Babies don't need any food other than milk for the first 6 months. I believe that early introduction of solids is associated with a higher incidence of allergies and food intolerances, as the gut is too immature to cope properly with the variety.If I'm wrong on this someone will put me right.

I'm afraid that solids at night didn't help my baby to sleep any better- you either have a baby who sleeps at night, or you don't. A six week old baby will still need to feed at night, they have a lot of growing to do at this age!

doormat · 09/09/2003 09:01

Are you bottle feeding? If so ask health visitor if you can switch the formula ie instead of cow and gate premium to cow and gate plus for hungrier babies.
Agree with Tissy about the fact you have a baby that sleeps or doesnt.

morocco · 09/09/2003 12:07

oh - a heartfelt - save yourself the bother!
I don't plan on weaning my next one til at least a year (alright then 6 months). It all gets very messy and days out get that much more complicated once you start on food.
I beleive it doesn't make any difference to sleeping through the night either (sorry!) and the risk of allergies is also increased if you wean early.

LIZS · 09/09/2003 12:32

I really wouldn't bother either. Half a teaspoon is nothing and I bet most of it was pushed back out with the tongue so find it hard to believe it made that much difference. What was done a generation ago does not necessarily apply now and I suspect parent's memories get a little distorted as time passes, well meaning though I am sure it is meant.

You'd be gutted if he developed allergies later on and could never be sure why.

pidge · 09/09/2003 12:46

Totally agree with Morocco - what a hassle food is. Leave it as long as you can!! It's such a pain having to prepare it and take it with you when you're out and about.

And the recommendations for weaning have changed since your mum's day - she probably did what people thought was best then. The Department of Health (following the World Health Organisation) recommend exclusive breastfeeding, i.e. NO solids until 6 months. Have a look at doh\intpress.nsf\page\2003-0185?OpenDocument

By the way, does anyone know what the official opinion is on the best weaning age for bottle fed babies? Is it still 6 months?

Also totally concur with the others about the sleep. Half a teaspoon will make no difference. In fact even with a decent meal the evidence is wobbly on whether babies sleep better. Some parents find their babies do, others find no difference at all. My own dd started sleeping through the night (12 hours, no waking) at 5 months, and I'm sure if I'd just introduced food I might have attributed it to that, but she didn't get anything except milk until 6 months.

Sympathies on the nighttime feeds though - it is so painful, but it does pass!

pidge · 09/09/2003 13:08

Hmmm ... I work in IT and I STILL couldn't get that link to work

Here it is in text format:

"http://www.info.doh.gov.uk/doh/intpress.nsf/page/2003-0185?OpenDocument"

And here it is again (hopefully) with a working link:
Department of Health Recommendation

Eeek · 09/09/2003 13:17

the advice I had was the later you leave it the better prepared the baby is and therefore the easier you'll find the whole process - wait until your baby is "really ready". I was cross when I was told that but I have to say when ds was "really ready" it was pretty obvious despite my doubts and we had no problems.

aloha · 09/09/2003 13:35

It is too early. And I got all the same 'advice' from my MIL who meant well. I started ds on solids at four months-ish and it made no difference to his sleeping whatsoever, sadly. How could a teaspoon of mush make a difference anyway? Milk has more calories than baby rice! Also agree, food is a hassle.

Furball · 09/09/2003 14:35

OMG! I too had advice from my MIL!! But in my case she was right. DS was given baby rice at about 12/13 weeks. (weaning was at 16 weeks a few years back). He didn't sleep through the night though and still had a bottle at 4am until he was 13 months! But he was soooo much happier in himself. When I mentioned to a friend that I was a in a way a terrible mother for not listening to the 'guidelines' to wean at 16 weeks, she said the advice was to wean hers at 12 weeks and hers is only 2 years older. So advice is changing all the time, and I did what suited my DS. I agree that 9 weeks is abit too young for a few spoons of rice and it didn't work in my case to help DS to sleep through, even when he was on 3 decent meals a day.

dcolagirl · 09/09/2003 14:39

From a strictly personal point of view, ds was so hungry, he had a small amount of baby rice at 10 weeks, it was a natural step as he was having a massive amount of hungrier baby milk. dd howegver, was almost a lb heavier at birth (nearly 9lb!!) but wouldn't entertain the idea of solids until 17 weeks. I think we should be lead by the baby. They know when they need more.

dcolagirl · 09/09/2003 14:40

BTW, both of my kids slept 12 hours a night from 7 weeks - so the solids had no bearing on the sleep.

CAM · 10/09/2003 11:35

I was led by my 2 and they were ready for food at about 3 months. Not baby rice though, tasteless muck, pureed veg and fruit to start then very soon whatever we ate pureed. Organix or Hipp jars for travelling, I must say I found it all very easy feeding solids.

Ghosty · 10/09/2003 21:35

My mum did the same to me minxi (and then tried to persuade me to season DS food with marmite or salt when he was weaned ... 'How can you expect him to like such bland food' she said!)
I eventually started him on baby rice at 13 weeks. He was 10 pounds at birth and by 3 months was drinking 8 x 8oz bottles of hungry baby milk a day ... I wanted to cut down on his milk intake a little bit (as it really was far too much IMO) without him getting hungry. My doctor agreed with me so I took it very slowly.
I followed Gina Ford's weaning program (in her first book) but introduced new things every 4 or 5 days to make it a slow transition. By the time he was 16 weeks (the recommended time for weaning at that time) he was still on baby rice and veg purees but he had 2 meals a day ...

happyspider · 14/09/2003 10:05

I think the last advice is to wait until 6 months before starting weaning the baby as early weaning has been linked to obesity in children.
I'd rather wait than risk it...

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