Extremely worried about WEANING.HELP!!

[timo]

I will start weaning very soon & Im so worried.
I have no idea how to start.
Any suggestions wot books I can buy?

You could try the Annabel Karmel books which have tell you what food can be given when and also have lots of recipe ideas. Also I believe there is a Gina Ford book on weaning. Both of these two usually provoke a strong reaction on Mumsnet - could you borrow them from someone or the library to see if you like them. I know when I had DS my HV gave me an NHS 0-5 years book that covered weaning. You'll find lots of info on here as well. Please don't worry! Easier said than done, I know.

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I had such a bad start. Mine had probs.Always grunting in pain,screaming pushing etc.Visited docs 13 times. Called c&g & told to chg 2 Omneo Comfort this was @ 10wks he is now diff baby.

Because he seemed 2 have probs digesting @ bowel movements I am worried about wot to give.
Iv just read that pear can cause bad wind. Shoul I avoid fruit? Give veg 4 1st few wks?
Thanx 4 comments. I do need to chill out. My husband says so all the time!!

BY THE WHAT IS DD1 DS1 DS ETC

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There's also an NCT book - Weaning and First Foods I think it's called that might help you.... Go to the library, there should be a 'Parent and Carer' section

I've just come on to look for some advice...SO fed up about all this 6 month exclusive bf stuff - no one seems to say the same thing. Asked HV - she said "well thats what the breast feeding mob will tell you" (So helpful, eh?), older generation horrified that I would keep a baby so long from solids, new books, articles & broadcasts all seem to go with the 6 months stuff. DS wildly interested in food from 4 months and trying to snaffle at everything in sight! He's now 5 months & has been on baby rice and apple/broccoli/pear/carrot puree for a couple of weeks & loves it....but what do I know?

am confused too. altho my paed says i cd probably leave it a bit longer. dd now 4 mths and has started to gnaw away at her hand til it goes all red. of course this makes a lot of 'interested parties' tell me to wean her asap.bt i'd hate to, what with allergies risk etc

I'm just reassuring myself that none of either family are particularly alleric-y...and we're all 70s farex kids! I suppose it takes some time to get the story straight when new advice comes out but it was particularly confusing, for instance, to pick up that Bounty Box thing stuffed with wee jars of food "from four months" but to have all the written advice within it saying without equivocation to wait until six! And no mention of made of exclusive bottle feeding - would this be different?

Best advice i can give is avoid banana & don't give too much carrots as these can cause/ make constipation much worse. All 3 of mine suffered from constipation when being weaned. I have been very careful with ds3, but he has still had it to some extent. Don't avoid fruit, but I would bananas. When constipation has struck things that are useful are
-making food runnier than usual to increase fluid intake, esp in babies who won't take water / oj
-apricots (also really easy & quick to prepare)
-fennel & babies seem to like the sweetness.

btw, I waned ds 1 & 2 at 4 months, but have held off till 6 months with ds3. I would also recommend holding off, not just for health reasons, but now I have to feed him, it's made a big impact on my day - more restriced about going out, everything takes so long, have to be organised etc etc. so inconvenient. but then I'm probably just scatty & lazy

Timo - I got some really useful advice on weaning from some health visiter booklets and there's lots of useful info on the net. Over 5 yrs ago, with ds1, I weaned from 4 months. Official advice is now to wean from 6 months, but after speaking to my h/v, started to wean ds2 from 4.5 mmonths.

According to h/v, the advice to wean from 6 months comes from the World Health Organisation (WHO), but that this doesn't take into account, different standards of food quality, accessability of different kitchen equipment ie fridges, washing detergent and so forth in the more developed countries such as the UK, so I was OK to start weaning from younger than 6 months. Kinda meakes sense I guess.

One word of caution: there's so much advice out there about weaning; it might be worthwhile, booking some time in with your health visitor with a list of questions (or someone else who's at a similar stage), nothing beats being able to talk things through; and finding one or two main sources of information and sticking to them. If you ask 10 different people, you can end up with 10 different responses leading to even more confusion. With weaning, I guess that there's some basic core principles which most people will follow ( again your h/v could be a good source of info). Once you're armed with the basics, then go out and get further info and use what makes the most sense to you and your baby. HTH

H/vs will trot out this line that the WHO advice to wait until six months for breastfed babies doesn't apply in the UK. They are wrong ? it does. I really don't get why they are so determined to undermine the official advice which is based on thorough research.
Food allergies are becoming really, really, common in this country so if your baby is breastfed the closer to six months you can leave it the better. I gave in to dh and weaned ds at 17 weeks (banana and baby rice were first foods, then other fruit and veg). He loves banana, still his favourite food, but he does have eczema which has been really bad at times (from his daddy) and I wish I had waited a bit longer.

My hv hasnt a clue and had never even heard of the 6 month recommendation. Sorry but I would not rely on hvs as many are not at all up to date and the who advice has been around for years and does NOT only apply to 3rd world countries!

btw the 6 months is for exclusive breastfeeding I believe and there is no benefits if bottlefeeding in waiting.

Hear what your saying but not all h/v are crap or am I just lucky that most of the ones I've come across are OK - although 1 did tell me that ds should be sleeping through at 6 wks and that certainly never happened!! The point I was trying to make is that I think its important to get a sense of some of the basics first and getting that can be difficult - so much conflicting info out there. Re: 6 month weaning - agree that in an ideal world, I would like to have waited - so much easier when you're BFing - good quality food for baby, no sterilising bottles, preparing food in advance etc and I hear what you're saying about health developments and new research etc. However, the reality for me is that I couldn't. Am going back to work shortly and couldn't bear the idea of the nursery doing the weaning for ds - they offer mixed food so no single food portions, would they be able to recognise his 'discomfort cry and body language?' if the food didn't agree with him, etc. I wanted to give him a good start first, which I think I'm giving him. Now on 3 solids a day, formula milk and water during the day and BF late evening and early morning. Don't think that mothers who choose to feed their lo earlier than 6 months should be made to feel bad about it.

Timo - Don't want to hi-jack your thread - sorry, got a bit indignant in my last posting. Oneofeach suggested using the NHS 0-5 book and I too found that really useful. Echo the comments about Annabel Karmel - some useful stuff and good recipe ideas. You can also find AK on the BBC website, HTH

Thanx all.
Iv just ordered AK book so see wot thats like.I feel Im not going to rush weaning him.Im going to leave it as long as I can.Though my ds is 16 1b @ 12wks& eats hands regurlarly but thats all. He does not wake in night,doesnt get hungry between feeds.He has just started drying bott of 7 0z but only on some feeds.
I will c how it goes.I will just make sure I am all ready & I know wot Im doing.
Thanx 4 all comments.xx

I came across this site the other day, which gives the clearest explanation I've come across of how early introduction of solids can cause allergies and other problems. I'd never really understood what the problem was until I looked at their diagram of how the cells in the gut wall close up at about six months.

Well, I know that Gina Ford causes all sorts of battles here on MN ... and I have to say that although DS was a GF baby, I have not made DD into a GF baby ...
BUT ... her weaning advice is excellent IMO! I followed the weaning bit in her book with DS and it worked a treat, but he was on all of her routines anyway.
When I came to introducing a bit of solids to DD I looked at AK and didn't like it. I went back to GF and have started DD on that ...
DD has been on solids since 17 weeks (she is 20 weeks now) ... We did a week of baby rice ... then I introduced pear and after 3 days gave her carrot for 3 days and then sweet potato. She has just had 3 days of green beans and now is trying out some courgette today. She loves it all (although a couple of days of apple she didn't like so I stopped that) ... I have not compromised the Breastfeeding as she has the solids at the end of the feed ...
Easy to follow ... and a very gently approach for the baby ...
Good luck Timo ... don't worry about it ... it is fun, really!

Ah thanku.I actually ordered GF's weaning book @ the same time 2 look @.
My baby is roughly turning in2 a GF baby.A few things r diff but its great.He is ready 4 a little routine now.
He is a diff baby in the past few days.Things r gettin slighty easier now (touch wood)

To Miriamr
My HV is rubbish.Im sure they r not all.They r both useless.

I am 34 and weaning My ds was frightening as I have read so many books, listened to so many friends who had babies years before me. I would vote for Annabel Karmel/Gina ford. In other words boil anything orange and you are laughing. Carrot swede, squash, turnip, parsnip Anything really. Boil it long enough and it is sloppy! and nice enough for baby to eat

Timo, I will probably be weaning soon. ds is 20 weeks(but 3.5 weeks early). I too am worried about different advice, let me know how you get on!!

Oh, don't worry. Wean as late as possible (ie six months plus) and you won't have to worry about not giving wheat etc and you can offer almost normal food from day one. And keep giving plenty of milk - that can be their main food until they are one or more. Banana is great! Mashes up a treat, you don't have to cook it and babies tend to love it.
But Timo, you really don't even have to think about this now. 12 weeks is FAR too early to think about solids, esp when your baby is sleeping through and thriving on milk. Chewing on hands is emphatically not a sign that a baby needs solids - it's just what they do. Put it all out of your mind and enjoy your wonderful dream baby (sleeping through at 12 weeks...what bliss that would have been!).