Weaning at 4 months opinions

[alakhx]

Has anyone weaned there child at 4 months
Before anyone comes at me I just want opinions and if anyone says it's wrong the food I've been looking at is 4-6 months so if you couldn't give at 4 month it wouldn't say

why would the NHS say that you can give your baby, baby rice, if it is not recommended? That makes no sense to me.

Because lots of people think that's the type of food babies should eat. Even if the website said in big bold writing don't give your child baby rice it has no nutritional value and is not going to fill them up the people who wanted to feed it to their children would do so anyway.

This is perfectly demonstrated by the fact it says to wait until 6 months to start weaning but lots of parents think they know better and ignore the very clear advice.

Babies are perfectly fine being weaned at 4 months. This is UK guidelines, around the world, children are being given puree earlier and are doing fine.

The guideline is literally so people don't push it and start at 2 or 3 months.

@Beees right, so the nhs puts information on there website that they don't agree with but do so because they think that's what people are going to do anyway?

Gotcha.

Just from my perspective, I'm not planning on weaning my baby for a couple of weeks, he will then be 6 months. I was looking at information on the nhs website, I hadn't even heard of baby rice before having my baby and so I know nothing of its nutritional content.

After reading that on the nhs website, I thought it was the recommended thing. Given the source of the information.

Lip smacking and chewing hands is more of a sign of teething tbh id be getting teething granules rather than giving food.

For me it's just peace of mind, there is evidence babies weaned early can have digestive problems and the two people I know weaned early (brother and bil) do have gut issues probably co incidence but if baby grew up to have tummy problems I'd always wonder if it was because I didn't follow the guidelines. I'm a classic over thinker though lol.

And pp are right guidance used to be earlier and most people were fine so hopefully your dd will be in that group

@Beees

Weaned both mine at 4 months but they are 18 and 13 so it was a while ago and that was the advice.

Are you sure that was the advice at the time? My colleague had her child in 2003 and the advice was 6 months then as that's how old they were when she weaned. I think the advice has been 6 months for almost 20 years now.

Yeah I've seen in here people saying it changed in 2003, my daughter was born 2004. Health visitor was very pro weaning at 4 months. Maybe like a lot of things it changed in 2003 but took a lot longer for the change to become integrated. I def don't remember being told to wait til 6 months. With my second I just did the same as my first

either way I don't care my child my choice

What other "my child my choice" decisions will you be making that aren't in the best interests of your child?

Why woud you go against medical advice just because is suits you?

just because it suits you

@RampantIvy

either way I don't care my child my choice

What other "my child my choice" decisions will you be making that aren't in the best interests of your child?

Why woud you go against medical advice just because is suits you?

What terrible outcome is going to happen? Four months is the minimum age. Not specifically recommended, but harm is unlikely at that age if you're giving sensible foods and still doing majority milk

@meloonhead

Babies are perfectly fine being weaned at 4 months. This is UK guidelines, around the world, children are being given puree earlier and are doing fine.

The guideline is literally so people don't push it and start at 2 or 3 months.

Literally! These are UK guidelines. Many people that live here but aren't originally from here still do things how it's advised back home because that's where they're from. Again, it's like the UK guidelines of giving your baby water at 6 months. Many countries give water to their babies from when they're a couple months old. Just because the UK advises something different doesn't mean people are wrong or think they 'know better'

@Rumples I read that bit on the nhs webpage as just pointing out that baby rice, and the other things it mentions, are also food and so the advice to wait until around 6 months applies to them too, not that they recommend them, if that makes sense? I mean, it also mentions baby rice added to milk which most definitely isn't recommended. They're trying to address these people who think of that as a thickener, or something to fill baby's tummy, or something other than food so therefore falls outside the guidance for introducing solids. There are so many people, for example, who say they're going to wait until 6 months but are just giving tastes from 4 months etc.

It does highlight though that the information on there isn't particularly clear if you read it as recommending baby rice.

Absolutely. Both my children were around 10lbs at birth and no way by four months were they satisfied with just breast milk. So I started with the usual - bananas. I didn't give my first anything I didn't make (sweet potato was the base for a lot of his foods) but my daughter had jars. I never heated them up either - such a faff when out and about and they'll eat what they are used to.
A recommendation is just that - every baby is different and if your is ready then go ahead.

We used to wean much earlier. My daughter started having puréed food at 3 months and never looked back. It settled her and she slept through the night and was happy during the day.

@ukborn

Absolutely. Both my children were around 10lbs at birth and no way by four months were they satisfied with just breast milk. So I started with the usual - bananas. I didn't give my first anything I didn't make (sweet potato was the base for a lot of his foods) but my daughter had jars. I never heated them up either - such a faff when out and about and they'll eat what they are used to. A recommendation is just that - every baby is different and if your is ready then go ahead.

It’s not good to perpetuate the myth that breast milk is unable to sustain & satiate babies. 5 & 6 month old babies are much heavier than 10lbs & they thrive on breast milk alone. I exclusively fed twins until they were 7 months. Breast milk is is designed perfectly to feed our young no matter their size.

There are a lot of people who seem to think their baby is too hungry for breast milk and it’s absolutely not true

[quote SpamIAm]@Rumples I read that bit on the nhs webpage as just pointing out that baby rice, and the other things it mentions, are also food and so the advice to wait until around 6 months applies to them too, not that they recommend them, if that makes sense? I mean, it also mentions baby rice added to milk which most definitely isn't recommended. They're trying to address these people who think of that as a thickener, or something to fill baby's tummy, or something other than food so therefore falls outside the guidance for introducing solids. There are so many people, for example, who say they're going to wait until 6 months but are just giving tastes from 4 months etc.

It does highlight though that the information on there isn't particularly clear if you read it as recommending baby rice. [/quote]
You're right; that's exactly what it means. It's just highlighting the fact that all foods are classed as solids, no matter what they are, including thickening up milk with baby rice or whatever. Some parents may think this doesn't count as 'solids'. It's reminding parents that these foods are solids and should wait until 6 months too. It is not recommending these specific foods as weaning foods, but acknowledging that some parents use them.

Baby rice has no nutritional value whatsoever.

@Daydreamsinsantafe, absolutely! My 9 and 10lb babies all continued on that centile on breast milk alone. How do people think their babies have become so big and chubby in the first place? On milk of course, because it is calorie and nutritionally dense, unlike many foods introduced for early weaning.

There are a lot of people who seem to think their baby is too hungry for breast milk and it’s absolutely not true

You are right. Breast milk adapts to the baby's needs.
Exclusively giving formula is also fine for the first 6 months.

I'm in the 'it only says 4 months +' for marketing purposes camp. Medical advice is not to wean until 6 months unless for specific medical reasons. I had two big babies and everyone kept pressurising me to wean them early because they 'must need more than milk', 'it will help them sleep better' blah, blah, blah. I stubbornly waited until six months (almost seven months with DS1 because he had norovirus at six months and the HV advised me to wait a few weeks after he recovered) and they both took to weaning no problem at all. They are now 4 and 7 and I have one fussy eater and one who will eat anything. Weaning did not make any difference to their sleeping by the way, in fact they were probably a bit less settled because they were more likely to get wind once they were having things other than milk.

PS - for context my babies were just under 10lb and 11lb at birth. They followed their lines for weight and height on a diet of milk despite not being weaned until 6 months +. They continue to get most of their calories from milk until they reach one year anyway.

@SpamIAm @Somethingsnappy

Thanks both! I'll stay away from the baby rice when I start weaning in a few weeks!

Yes I weaned at 4 months both dc started with rusk or the baby porridge you make with their milk not jars.

@TheAverageUser

General medical consensus seems to be 6 months. I'm sure there's examples of it being fine before then (post 4 months) but I waited as I didn't see the point in going against the advise.

It used to be 3/4 months going back years ago tho when you could make bottles up for the day aswell an store in fridge.

@romdowa

I'm living in Ireland and our health service says you can wean from 17 weeks onwards if they show signs of being ready. We've cmpa and reflux here too so I'm thinking of weaning before the 6 months.

Nope Irish advice is to wean at 6m same as England.

@Somethingsnappy @RampantIvy
It’s something I hear often, along with other mistruths, and it’s concerning. It’s terrible that people think so little of breast milk. Perhaps it explains the depressing stats for BF in the UK.

@meloonhead

Babies are perfectly fine being weaned at 4 months. This is UK guidelines, around the world, children are being given puree earlier and are doing fine.

The guideline is literally so people don't push it and start at 2 or 3 months.

The world health organisation says 6 months.

I just never understood the rush, neither of mine could sit up until at least six months or coordinate hand and mouth etc and I always understood that milk was more filling and calorific . I never saw any thing that suggested babies benefited from being weaned earlier than six months but did see studies that indicated early weaning can lead to digestive issues later in life.
Science changes and there may be things that change but I used the information available to me at the time to make my decision, as we all will do. I don't really know anyone who has a baby in recent years that weaned much before six months.