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)

Thanks Hub2Dee thats pretty cool, I oticed there were red ! marks after every post after I accidentaly reported myself

It is annoying as I stuck to the rules 7 years ago and fed my son at about 5months and now that is bad for them makes me feel a bit like fgs! but now if I had a new baby I would not wean untill aftr 6 months like it advises as it is backed up by research. Even if I disagree with other people I would feel I was being tactless to tell them i thought it is too young

Can I just say the WHO guidelines were reported on the front page of the Guardian, as news, when DD1 was five months old. So that's five years ago.

Hmm. I'm a HV and advise 6 months. However, despite this I still find parents who can't wait that long for whatever reason. Often it's pressure from friends and family who weaned when the advice was different. My own Mum put loads of pressure on me to wean DS at 13 weeks - I think that if I hadn't been sure of myself I'd have caved in. It IS hard when you've got all that pressure.

so you say they should be able to sit unaided and have long their tongue thrust?

Well both of my weaned very comfortably at 4 months - no tongue thrust (or whatever you call it - can't be bothered to scroll back up and check). Both DS's were sitting unaided at 5 months.

They both loved their food right from the word 'go' - never had any problems with either of them.

Able to feed themselves food too, QoQ?

geekgrrl - i've just had 2 v similar difficult conversations recently. The first was with my sis who announced she was going to wean her prem baby at 12 weeks, I wimped out of that one and just muttered 'mmmmm' and didn't comment as I didn't want to start WW3. She knew I didn't agree by my total lack of enthusiasm.
With ds1 and his allergies I get a bit annoyed with people who seem to be in this competative 'my baby is so advanced that he's ready to be weaned at 4m' rubbish'. particulalry those shoving gluten into their LOs far too early. More recently (yesterday in fact), my cousin mentioned that they might start with baby rice for their dts (12 weeks), fortunately he asked me what I had done with my ds's so I could just say 'well, we waited till the recommended 6 months as we wanted to avoid any potential problems with x, y, z'. He was genuinely suprised and had thought the guidance was 3 months (from MIL I think)!! I found this strange in a very well read/informed, hands on father (mother was also present and was equally suprised). I would never have dreamed of being judgemental with them, but I do feel I have to mention somewhere in the conversation with (anyone other than my sis!) that the guidance hs changed etc., because some people just genuinely don't know and I'm afraid HVs in the main can't be relied upon to impart this imformation (as I've witnessed at several baby clinics)

able to feed themselves??? ermm no - DS2 is still a lazy little b*gger despite the fact he'll be 3 i n November (can you believe it ) I still find myself shovelling his dinner into his mouth because he's too lazy to do it himself LOL.

just remembered my uncle being very proud that his granddaughter was "eating" baby rice, squash, and sweet potato at 12 (!) weeks. He's ever so precious about his daughter and pointed this out knowing that my dd was still not eating much at 13 months.

Still, in his next breath he said that she was also having a lot of trouble with her at night because 'she just wouldn't settle'. hhhhmmmm, I wonder why.

how I managed to hold my tongue i just don't know.

"try spooning purees into a baby who can't sit up, still has a tongue thrust reflex, etc, etc."

Although I did wean DD at 4 months (4 years ago when the published stuff in allt he books and mags was 4 months) she could sit (unaided at 17 weeks) and we never experienced the toungue reflex. She ate her first spoonful down without spitting it back up or pushing it out again. If she had struggled I would have waited a little while and tried again later.

im having my first in a few weeks and my dh family all suffer with coeliacs and i will be not be weaning b4 six months even tho my mil has already started preaching re food i just say yes and let it go over my head

it says in a few books ive read not give gluten anyway before 12 months as well as nuts etc when allergies are present

at the mo they arte all dying to see whether my bf will be sucessful as neither my sil or my mil did

i would of thought they would be supportive but no the attitude i get from them is well we'll see you'll soon realise

they keep saying if i do bottle feed just make all the bottles in the morning even tho now the guidelines say you should make up as you go

ffs these guide lines would not be published if they were not for the best
sorry didnt mean to go on