those of you who (like me) get worked up about early weaning...

[geekgrrl]

do you manage to hold back when friends/acquaintances talk about weaning their little babies?

I think I just managed to offend one of the mums at the school gate who wanted to tell me all about what her 4 month old is eating and whether she could now give her from frais. She's an NCT antenatal teacher too FFS so can't even claim ignorance.

I don't get upset about many things at all - I'm totally laid back really. But this topic really sets me off.

How do you cope with people in real life wanting to discuss this with you (but aren't open to the idea of waiting until later IYKWIM)?????

(I'm not after another weaning fight thread btw - I'm specifically asking how other people who feel that the WHO guidelines are correct handle this kind of situation)

I like hunkermunker's method!

This issue bothers me I must say. If someone has read the evidence and then decides to go ahead, that's their business. But most early weaners are doing so in ignorance and that is a worry.

I also have no patience with the "it's only guidelines and I know better" school. Yes, it is only guidelines but the guidelines are objective, evidence-based and well-informed, which is more than can be said for early weaning.

If asked, I will say something along the lines of "I'm sticking to the WHO advice because it makes a lot of sense". Beyond that, I tend to just say mmmm a lot because I think people are very rarely truly asking for advice. Much more usually they're just rationalising their own decision and have no intention of listening to any alternative ideas.

"If asked, I will say something along the lines of "I'm sticking to the WHO advice because it makes a lot of sense". "

So I take it you MMR'ed without a second thought then.......as that's what WHO advise......

I think each to there own the guidelines are there, everyone knows its 6months so if they choose to wean before then thats there decision and theres not much you can do. The thing i find though...they give these guidelines but they dont stress why. If every mother knew why not to wean before 6months no one would. A whole generation was weaned at 4months and I dont see loads of incredibly ill people walking about but now that we know there are risks of allergys and gut problems it makes sence not to take that risk. I dont think its fair to be so against weaning before 6months because for those mothers who did for there own reasons (every baby's different) are going to be made to feel guilty and thats not fair. I do find weaning before 4months a big worrying though but if the kids have grown up to be healthy it just goes to show that every baby IS different.

Advise on what to say when pressed for opinion...if they have already started to wean then they will proberbly continue. So just advise them to only feed very very small amounts of baby rice mixed with bm or fm once a day untill the baby is 6months as there tummys cant cope with digesting foods. Then hopefully not too much damage will be done. My ds was 9lb 10 at birth and continued to gain rapidly on bm alone untill he was 7months i tried to give him baby rice when he was nearly 6months as hes big and id heard people saying theyd weaned a little early as there babys were big, but i just gave up he clearly wasnt ready for it didnt need it, i just found it so much hassle.

no, QoQ.

I read the original research relating to MMR (including Wakefield's), I weighed the relative risks.... and then I MMR'd my daughter.

If you had a similar approach, yet came to a different conclusion, that is your right.

It's all guesswork; no-one has a hotline to the truth; but there are plenty of vested interests out there. If I didn't have the training to read the scientific literature at source, I would still prefer to trust the WHO, whose vested interest, insofar as they have one, is in promoting good health at population level.

aww hunker you have taken the plunge into the green stringy black bit nappies (so strange after the lovely yellow ones)

I don't even mention weaning people find me strange anyway nevermind the fact I didn't wean the DDs at 4 months!

QoQ, I MMRd once DS1 had stopped having temperature spikes of 41 degrees every couple of weeks. He was 20mo when he had it. DS2 will also have it.

Am I therefore OK not to wean till 6m and to tell other people why I've decided to do that?

Oh, I remember you asked me what I'd do if DS2 showed the "signs" of needing to be weaned before 6m - I asked what the signs were and you never answered me!

He's had another nibble of banana today, but he's been settled and happy on just bmilk, so I'll leave it till he can properly sit unaided, I think. He's nearly there, but it'll be much easier when he can.

SK - has DD2 had anything yet? I'm not looking forward to DS2's nappies changing - I love the bmilk ones

hunker - she's been having the dreaded purees for a week now and this morning she grabeed by toast and it was in the mouth fast so I thought why not? She's only having 3 cubes of veg/fruit puree a day I think it's more about new tastes and them learning to swallow than anything else. Don't think anyone believes she hasn't had any food so far, she is huge.

If you wean at 3 months do you spend 3 months shovelling purees into a baby who can't sit up? Seems like a complete nightmare. I do mostly BLW but do like to also spoonfed occasionally things like yoghurt, veg soups etc

my dd1 is very interested in my driving.
she is really keen to sit in the driving seat and to know what the gear stick is for.
I think this means that she is ready for driving.
I mean, I know she's ony 3, but 17 is just a guideline, right?
so anyway I have sent off for her provisional licence

at harpischordcarrier

I remember someone saying how clever their DS was as he was eating rusks at 8 weeks old, yes clever getting rusks shoved down his little throat. Here early weaning and being a hungry baby not content on milk is seen as your child being advanced.

hunker - you will love this the other day at toddler group DD2 did an explosive nappy and I had to completely change her, a few other mums were watching me and said "oh whats wrong with her has she diarrhoea, her poos way funny" I was like no thats normal BF baby poo they couldn't believe it, I'm the only one there who BFs, I feel like an oddity sometimes although everyone is always asking me all about it, they are amazed a baby as big and healthy as DD2 is on breastmilk only (well she was).

when HV said, 'oh we have a weaning group for babies just your dd's age. (16 weeks)' i said, [insert smug emoticon] "I am waiting for her tongue thrust to disappear before I start to wean.'

her reply: oh, you sound like you have everything under control then.

Me [preen] but thinking: why do I wanna try to shove gunk down a baby's gullet and just end up with more mess to clean up?

Nothing clever about weaning early. The polar opposite if you're talking about rusks at 8 weeks

I've had that "WTF is WRONG with him?!" when people see the contents of DS2's nappy too (Lake Windysmear, Lake Shittykaka, poonami, etc). And when he does a poo with that surprising exploding bubbles sound people who haven't bfed look very surprised indeed!

I just can't imagine why anyone would want to try spooning purees into a baby who can't sit up, still has a tongue thrust reflex, etc, etc.

(Hub, it wasn't that scary, was it? Hmm, must refine my picnicking etiquette skills then )

Harpsi - I think DS2 might also be ready to drive, but he looked at a lorry with interest earlier, so I'm getting him an HGV licence, I think.

at competitive baby driving. dd1 gets very excited when aeroplanes go over, should I start organising her pilots' licence?

Generally, DH does dd1's nappies while I do dd2's and he's hugely nostalgic about those bf nappies, "They're lovely, you can wear them on your head" was, I think, his exact phrase. Wouldn't go this far but I'm very glad that I'll still be on Yellow Poo Planet come Christmas.

Got this off of smanutrition.co.uk of all places , could why you are not meant to, not that I would believe SMA

"Your Healthcare Professional will be able to advise when weaning would be best for your baby. It is important that you don't wean your baby too early (before 17 weeks), because your baby's digestive system and kidneys will be too immature to cope with solid food. "

www.healthpromotionagency.org.uk/Resources/nutrition/pdfs/Weaning%20made%20easy.pdf

This pdf explains all

think I did something wrong there is a big red ! mark on the right hand side of my last post. Sorry mumsnet if you are not meant to post how to get pdf files.

PMSL Harpsi & Hunker.

I feel that there isnt anything endearing or milestoneworthy about seeing a baby who can barely hold their head up, let alone sit up having purees shoved in their mouth. That is just MY opinion.

I dont get what all the rush/hurry and competitiveness is wrt to weaning. Its all a bit "my DS was walking at 12 months" "well mine was walking at 9 months AND climbing onto his tricycle and pedalling around our lounge". IMO.

So, going back to the OP, I just nod my head and smile if the subject comes up. God forbid anyone should actually ask me something about it

JennyLee, that's a really good leaflet, thanks for posting it. The red mark is next to every post, it's so that offensive posts can be reported easily.
at the driving and flying. I think I should have booked my babies into a software development course - they always showed great interest in the computer at around 3 months.

jennylee - if you scroll down all the way to the bottom right of this page, there's a couple of lines of instructions telling people how to post links so they appear hyperlinked, like your pdf for exaple

(There are no limits at all on what you can and can't link to, from a technical perspective).

Woops, LOL. I copy pasted your link, but it should be expressed with the http bit at the beginning, which gives link

Hub, didn't want to boast...

I think I recently upset a friend the other day about early weaning.
We were chatting at work and a childless friend was asking why you shouldn't feed peanuts etc so we got onto weaning and I mentioned un-developed gut before six months.
My friend with a baby got a bit upset, I think she weaned at four months. I didn't mean to upset her, I weaned at five months so it's not as if I'm 'whiter than white'.
Each to their own, it isn't my business to say when other people should wean their child. Same goes with not eating nuts in pregnancy, not giving babies honey under a year old - just because I chose to follow most of the guildlines to the letter, doesn't mean that I can lecture others who didn't.

(Useful stuff for veggies in that doc btw)