Told to wean early but I don't want to

[toweanornottowean]

So I have just been for a vaccination appointment with our paediatrician (not in the UK). She said that as my son's weight has not increased enough since I last saw her 3 weeks ago we need to start weaning. She said to start with purées etc and he is 5 and a half months old.

I was planning to do baby led weaning so so not want to do purées at all. Also, I just don't think he is ready? He isn't sitting up on his own yet. She was also quite judgemental about me doing BLW.

I listened to a different doctor before when I was told to supplement with formula as my son wasn't gaining enough apparently when he was 6 weeks old. They also said he lost too much when he was first born (it was about 10%). As a result of supplementing with formula, my breastfeeding journey ended at 3 months, something I am still devastated about and feel now like I listened to the wrong advice. I really do not want to do that again.

My son was 4kg when born and weighs 7.95kg now.

So should I ignore the advice of my doctor, go back in two weeks and tell her that I decided against her advice? Or should I start weaning?

A couple of weeks won't make much difference so is up to you whether you do it or not. If you want to go down the blw route then that's also up to you. I did a mix of puree and finger foods and that's ok too

With the most respect, unless you have a medical degree, why on earth would you think you have more expertise than a paediatrician? Get a second opinion from someone else that's qualified if you disagree.

Babies can actually lose weight when starting to wean as the calories come from milk, not solids, but they fill up on solids and don't take enough. So I'm not sure it's a good reason to wean early (but I'm not a medical expert!) if he's already not taking enough milk.

That said, 5.5 months isn't really early, and not sitting unaided doesn't matter - some babies can't sit unaided till 8 or 9 months. As long as he has decent head control and can sit well with support.

Weaning 2 weeks early isn't going to make her lo pile on weight. Would he take any more milk as that's more likely to help with weight gain?

20 years ago the standard advice was to start weaning from 4 months and those babies were fine... I seem to remember DD sitting in her high chair happily eating things like baby breadsticks at about 5 months. No teeth, just hard gums...

It's your call, healthcare professionals aren't always exactly right but it sounds like maybe they are in this case if your DS is underweight.

When you said early I wasn't expecting the baby to be nearly six months old. I was advised by a paediatrician to wean at six weeks because of reflux. As it was my second reflux baby I felt confident ignoring him. However my baby was on 99th percentile for weight and thriving albeit throwing up a lot.
On your case I would take the advice.

The questions I would ask myself are ; is he content? Is he growing? Is he developing? It can be that a baby gets set back quite easily by eg a cold (!ie a temporary situation) or sometimes are growing nicely but one of the weights is incorrect and make it look as if he isn't growing properly when he is but on a different centile.However if he isn't thriving you may need to work on his calorie intake in which case if he isn't sitting up etc it would have to be mashed up a bit. In actual fact a lot of purées aren't very calorie rich and your baby may or may not take to the whole exercise! The one thing I would say is try not to get hung up on the idea of blw ( I'm a great proponent of this in general btw) just try to go along with what seems best at the time.
Many years ago my middle DC wasn't thriving and I was advised to wean early( in those days at 3 months rather than 4) . DC took to food very well and from photos one can see that it was what he needed.
Best of luck.

When I had my eldest they told us to wean at 12 weeks! Also, coincidentally(?) when mat pay stopped at that time. I have to say that it didn't do any harm to my eldest at all. I started her on home made vegetable purees with BF in addition. 5 1/2 months shouldn't cause any problems and may help your LO gain a bit of weight.

7.95kg? What centile is your baby on?
I don't understand why they are concerned..
I understand why your dubious to start weaning specially if you wanted to start at 6 months but I'm sure now will be fine, I did blw ( 6 children) and it was the best thing, just make sure you have a suitable high chair or bumbo seat so your baby is upright and start off with small amounts ( I'm sure you've read up on blw so know what food to give) dont be put off doing blw your baby your choice on how to feed your child.

I'd do what you feel comfortable with. As PPs have said, babies weight gain can level out a bit as they wean - sticks of veg don't have the same calories as milk after all!

If it helps then this article about baby led weaning is really useful: www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2013/09/13-baby-led-weaning-myths.html?m=1
It's quite long but point 6 about when a baby is ready is relevant for you.

Two weeks early isn't going to make a different either way really, so if you'd feel more comfortable waiting then just wait. They need to be able to sit supported for BLW though, not unsupported - unsupported sitting doesn't normally happen for a few more months.

He's going to eat such tiny amounts of not very calorie dense food that it's unlikely to make a difference in the short run... I'm not normally one for advising going against medical advice, but early weaning seems to still get recommended for all sorts of things that there's no evidence it should be used for. And as a sufferers of IBS I would query all the assertions that babies weaned at three or four months were all fine.

Good luck whatever you decide to do OP :) we did BLW and would always recommend it where it's suitable - while she was feeding herself was the only change I ever got to eat myself!

He sounds about the right age for gentle weaning. Give it a try and see how he takes to it. Mine loved it and really thrived.

What's wrong with puree?

I think it was 5.5 months we started blw with DS, though he was sitting independently. Can you start blw with high calorie foods like sticks of avocado? I think some posters forget how different health systems in other countries can be and how much advice can differ! Even in similar developed countries advice can differ (e.g. Sweden says no spinach until over 1 due to the nitrate content, whereas in the UK it's seen as beneficial for the iron content! And in France they've barely heard of blw so it seems "hippy").

I am honestly usually so pro medical advice, but being in a different country I do question things from time to time as the advice is really quite different from the Uk.

I have heard mums being told to give their babies water and tea from birth, for example.

As my son has doubled his birth weight before 6 months I def wouldn't say he isn't thriving, hence my questioning.

I might start to give him some finger foods, and stick to BLW if possible.

Thank you for the advice, I do appreciate it!!

And yes, I get I was being treated as a hippy for suggesting BLW...

In this country, doctors aren't used to having conversations regarding treatments or advice. Their word is the final word and any questioning (no matter how politely), is not appreciated...

Your son weighs 2kg more than my nearly 7 month old I really wouldn't worry. Sounds like he's doing fine weight wise

I think you should listen to your doctor. You definitely shouldn’t delay weaning past 6 months, greater risk of allergies and babies do need to start trying different texture and flavours by then. It’s only a matter of weeks. I don’t understand the fuss about purées?

Could you do BLW with mashed potato, sweet potato, carrot etc, with lots of butter mixed in? That'd be calorific and good for dairy intake.

Don't give him butter it will just go straight through him quickly. Everything they eat for the first few months comes straight out in their nappies.

My LO was first given raw carrot and cucumber sticks when she was weaned at 5 months. She was also given mashed vegetables e.g. peas, avocado.

One of my SILs a children's nurse was surprised that my LO ate raw carrot sticks at 7 months.

Weaning two weeks early isn't a big deal. The time limits are arbitrary and actually should be weight/growth chart dependent like what your pediatrician is going on.

Btw unfortunately you were probably told how to supplement formula incorrectly as I mix feed and am still doing so at 10 months.

I think if you want to do blw then you can do thin fingers of soft toast with butter, (unsalted proper butter is best) or mix it in with lumpy mash potato, carrot, sweet potato, as a PP has said butter is high in calories so will be good for calories.

Using cream cheese is a good one as well, (check what age you can give it to them though as things may have changed )
Mashed or fingers of avocado is good as that's high in fat.

Our DS was only 5lb14 born, and has always been a little baby, toddler. I have kept him on a high healthy fat diet.

Medical professionals are really not always correct, but I would get more advice, if you disagree with your paediatrician, I'm pretty sure weaning 2 weeks early will be absolutely fine.

Good luck 💐💐

I don't know why you're hesitant to try purées, it's not one or the other. You can do a mixture of BLW and purée.

You should try reading Anna Karmel's weaning book, she recommends baby's to have their first tastes around 5M's, it would coincide with what the paediatrician is suggesting even without the weight issue.

I started weaning my daughter from 4 1/2 months, she was having small tastes of purées here and there. At 5M I started introducing 1 meal a day, gradually built up until 6M. She has 3 meals,1 fruit & 1 wafer snack and x4 8oz bottles a day. She's in the 98th percentile for weight.

At the initial stage, you're not replacing any milk meals,.you're adding additional calories by giving them 'extra' food as it were.

I don't see anything wrong with it, provided, they're able to successfully swallow.

Can I just say, someone has suggested you give them raw veg like carrot sticks... That's a definite No-No. You should steam them until you can easily squish them in your finger. Baby will choke on raw veg, especially if they take a big chunk off.

Good idea @Bourbonbiccy, cream cheese/cheese spread is pasteurized and ok, soft cheese is not. So babies can have Philadelphia but not brie, feta etc.