Breastfeeding and under pressure to wean!

[DinosaursArentMakeBelieve]

Hi,
My LO is just over 3 months old. A very big boy weighing c.8kg as of 3 weeks ago.

He's exclusively breastfed and is thriving BUT...
I'm under a bit of pressure from family to wean him... he eats a lot - which I don't mind at all, and has started teething too. he does get really bad wind and has started to show discomfort too prior to passing wind. He has a dirty nappy once every 2-4 days on average but lots and lots of wet nappies!

My family (none of which have experience of breastfeeding) have suggested weaning with rusks/ baby rice etc

NHS guidelines say 6 months and I guess I just need advice or reassurance?
It used to be 3 months, then 4 and now 6 so my family members are suggesting it's an arbitrary date rather than guidelines and also that now LO is teething, it's time to start solids...

I'm a first time mum so could do with others thoughts on this - happy to receive comments on either side of the fence!

My DS is 4.5 months and 98th centile (about 9.5kg). Also has 2 teeth. He'll start BLW around 6 months (DD was 24 weeks). He doesn't need anything else but milk on demand at this stage!

I had the same. Family pressuring me to wean. I ignored them and gave DS his first solids at 6 months.
He has been teething since 3.5 months and now at nearly 8 months he's got 6 teeth through. I am still breastfeeding him.

Your baby. Your way of doing things. Just go with your instincts as you'll know your LO better than anyone.
Xx

When starting to wean babies often get constipated or struggle a bit as things firm up and to be honest weaning even blw is a pain in the arse compared to just milk.

You and baby are happy and the NHS and WHO guide are very clear about no food before 6 months so just keep boobing.

Baby rice is poly filler not baby filler.

And tell them you are aiming for 2 years of bf!!

Mushy stuff and freezing baby food is old fashioned and a totally unnecessary faff!

Just ensure there's not too much salt and give baby exactly what you're eating.
No need to whizz, purée, mash or reach for the jars and sachets just give baby what you are eating.

My lo's 20 weeks.
Watches us eating
Has good hand eye coordination
Chews on her fist and anything else she can get her hands on.
Reaches for things
Can sit unaided for about 20 seconds... so she's not ready.
She can't sit unaided properly. She basically balances and she's 6 weeks off reaching the NHS advised.

MIL wants me to pour purees down her throat.
Smile and wave and get a boob out.

Three months is FAR too young for anything other than breast milk. Sorry, but your family members are seriously ignorant and misinformed. Tell them you are in charge, are going to continue to nurse, and that this discussion is closed.

The guidelines aren't 6 months in many other European countries because the WHO guidelines were introduced with developing countries without safe drinking water in mind. Many children given breast milk only until 6 months will be lower in iron and vitamin D than they should be. As to the allergies a large study ( with controls) a couple of years ago found that introducing egg, peanuts, sesame, gluten from 3 months regularly reduced allergies by a significant amount, Google it if you don't believe me, I read about it in New Scientist, and make your own mind up. Doesn't mean you have to give up breast milk or feed horrible jars.

Read the WHO guidelines and decide for yourself

I think 3 months is too young to be trying food with, I have 4 DCs and they have all wanted weaning at different times, the guidelines changed constantly whilst I was having my children so in the end I went for child led weaning, four months was the youngest and I had one who hated solid food and we were still struggling to wean her at 8 months. Whether you wean or not however you can breastfeed as long as you like, I fed DS until he was 4 and the others until they were 3. Whichever age I weaned them at though I spoke to my Health Visitor first to ensure that I would not be doing any harm. If you have concerns regarding your DS I would suggest going to your HV clinic and getting some advice, they won't mind and would rather give you advice first hand than having you listen to well meaning friends who don't have the same level of training and awareness.

Hope all goes well and good luck

Why do people keep calling it "boobing", what a weird term.

No the guidelines aren't changing back but they do already encompass the 4-6 month idea as they state "Wean as close to 6 months as you can but no earlier than 17 weeks"

The developing countries with no clean water thing is a massive red herring and a bit of a myth. There are CLEAR risks for introducing anything other than breastmilk or formula before 17 weeks, and less clear possible risks for introducing them at some point between 17 and 26 weeks. The way this was explained to me once is that all babies become ready for solids at different ages but we can't look inside them to check. At 17 weeks no babies will be ready, by 26 weeks all babies will be ready but there's no way to reliably tell between those points, so it's safest to wait if you can.

Funnily enough the best guidelines we have for signs of readiness match very closely to the signs of ability to cope with baby led weaning.

• Can move items with their hands to their mouths

• Have lost tongue thrust reflex

• Can sit upright with support (unaided isn't necessary but they must be able to sit for some time and not slump over or need reclined support)

Nothing to do with weight, sleep, watching you eat etc etc.

I would suggest that a useful marker is also when they become absolutely obsessed with food to the point that they will crawl (despite not being able to crawl) implausible distances to reach it and/or snatch it directly out of your hands DS was like this and so I weaned him before 6 months but if I had a baby who wasn't bothered then I'd wait. I can't think of many compelling reasons to do it early, especially when the main one seems to be "It looks fun".

Hopefully these responses have helped you OP as they've helped me!

Oh, I see. I was just going off what other mum's told me ScarletSienna and ratpally. Clearly wasn't given the best advice.

Thanks SpaceDinosaur, some good advice.

Wiggly the WHO differentiate their advice for developed/undeveloped countries when relevant. Their summation for all populations is that 6months of bm or formula is just right for most babies.

The research into allergens is with children at a high risk of allergic reactions - it isn't clear what the longer term consequences might be nor whether it applies to the general population.
There is no huge evidence that weaning after 17weeks is a problem for most babies but it's a fallacy that breastmilk is nutritionally deficient from 4-6months

Thank you all for your replies!
Newmum17 I'm glad to see that it's not just me that's getting conflicting and confusing information.
Have read the WHO guidelines and will be referring family to them if they pipe up again.

Thanks again!

Definitely not just you! All the best

my understanding of the allergy thing is that it is best to introduce food while breastfeeding - so don't wean onto solids and formula at the same time

Look at the signs that your baby is ready for weaning. Much more reliable than the guidelines. Every baby is different and will naturally be ready at different times. I had to wean my dd1 at 17 weeks on the advice of my gp. Dd1 wasn't gaining weight and was a milk refuser. She was sitting with support, she had lost her tongue thrust reflex etc so we weaned and she thrived. With dd2, I'm watching for the signs rather than listening to parents or sticking religiously to guidelines. I'll know when she's ready.

It's not easy to weed out the sound advice, especially when your families are vocal! Good luck!

Go by the guidelines and your instincts both of mine have been weaned very sucessfully before at 4 months because they were ready not because anyone told me to.

Here are a couple of useful links on pros and cons of "early" (17-26 weeks) weaning:

scienceofmom.com/2015/05/14/starting-solids-4-months-6-months-or-somewhere-in-between/
scienceofmom.com/2016/07/18/the-eat-study-more-food-for-thought-on-earlier-introduction-of-solids-to-prevent-food-allergy/

I have actually read the report from the EAT study mentioned in the second link (I like reviewing underlying data to understand the basis for WHO/NHS recommendations) and I have decided the results were compelling enough for me to start weaning at 4+ months. Of course, it has been a personal decision but NHS/WHO recommendations change all the time so it is always useful to go back to the sources and get familiar with the actual (and the latest) research.

The amount of iron and vitamin D in breast milk must vary depending on the mother's stores though, thankfully they now advise mother's to supplement with vitamin D drops etc. But they didn't when mine were babies and they never had any formula, I later found out I am often low in vitamin D ( live in Scotland!), I doubt mine got optimum amounts of vitamin D.

Ok I've just checked that, iron is OK unless you were anaemic before pregnancy but Vitamin D levels in babies are affected by levels in the mother. I wasn't referring to macronutrients being deficient by the way, heck, my youngest breastfed until three, I am very pro breastfeeding just suspicious of rigid rules about introducing nutritious foods before 6 months.

Dc1 - successfully weaned at 4/5 months
Dc2 - successfully weaned at 6 months
Dc3 - successfully weaned at 9 months (he was not ready)

All different.

Good luck OP. It's hard with vocal family.