Feeling guilty for weaning DS at 5 months!

[Fourleaf]

I started weaning DS a week ago at 5 months - just baby rice and some limited fruit and veg mashed/pureed. He loves his food so far and hasn't had any problems (beyond being a bit bunged up at first). I read a bit about it first and spoke to NCT friends etc and thought it was fine. However, after reading the (pretty strongly worded) mumsnet advice and some other stuff on weaning online I'm feeling terrible! Am I wrong to be weaning this early, putting my DS at risk of health problems in later life? He is a large boy for his age, can sit up with minimal assistance, grab at food (although we are spoon feeding), is fascinated by food etc... any thoughts? I could just stop I suppose but he seems to be getting used to it already!

Stop feeling guilty. I felt crap for doing the same after reading on mn- I think that if you go with your instinct, your son will be fine.
Enjoy him!

it isn't something i would do personally.
if I did, then i would be BLW to ensure he is able to feed himself- that's a good indicator that his is ready for solids IMO

there are good reasons why you;re advised to wait until 6 months. but it's up to you really!

I weaned my DS at 19 weeks, I told my HV and she agreed, My son was drinking huge amounts of milk in a day and IMO was ready to be weaned. We didn't push it and started very slowly with a tiny bit of baby rice each day, then worked our way up to veg and fruit. You have to go with what your instincts tell you. If your HV says its ok (and she should know) then I think its fine. I wouldn't have started any earlier than this though.
P.S. My DS is now 2.6 years old and is perfectly healthy with a VERY healthy interest in food

Don't listen to people!!!!

You need to do what is right for your baby. I weaned my DS at 17 weeks. He was on hungry baby milk and wanted bottles every 2 hours. My HV's advice was to distract him each time.

I got myself a good book and took it really slowly with baby rice then veg and fruit purees. Once he was 6 months I moved onto meat and wheat etc. He was so easy to wean and took to it really well. He was definately ready for it.

I don't like the thought of waiting until 6 months, then getting them onto lumps within a month of starting. Seems quite rushed to me.

You are doing nothing wrong. Nearly all of my friends started before 6 months. I can only think of a couple that didn't and one in particular had real problems with it.

I started all my 3 on solids at around 5 months. Tried to wait till 6 months but they all seemed ready. Now teenagers and nearly 10, they are all fine; not an allergy between them (except hay fever and that didn't start till age 7). I can't see that it disadvantaged them at all.

If you had started your baby on solids at a ridiculously early stage - at weeks rather than months, you might have something to feel guilty about. A friend of mine was given solids at 4 days old. As an adult she has multiple food intolerances.

Hi Fourleaf.

Firstly, of course you've read 'pretty strongly-worded' posts decrying weaning before six months - this is Mumsnet.

This is an interesting article outlining the reasoning for the six month recommendation.

If you read through, you'll see that a flexible approach was recommended in 1994, with children being weaned between four and six months depending on several factors, but it was thought that too many women were weaning before this, and that exclusive breastfeeding until six months would not do any harm.

(There are other factors too - have a read).

I weaned DS at four and a half months, and will play it by ear with the next one.

My friend is a paediatrician (and MNer), and says she is often shocked by the poor advice meted out with great (over-)confidence on breastfeeding/weaning threads.

I really enjoyed weaning - hope you do too.

As an mother of an older child (teenager) I can confirm that it was OK to wean at 5 months! I know, I know, I sound like your old nan who says, 'but it was alright in my day!'

But really, DD who is 14, was actually well on her way to solids before she was 12 weeks! Shoot me down!!

She is a perfect shape, has a healthy appetite and has shown no problems throughout her life so far!

If it's right for you, that it is right. It's nothing to do with anyone else!

This is interesting as well
it also confirms that a lot of the advice on the weaning boards is nonsense.
Especially the myth that gets recycled that the gut is ready between 4 and 6 months and as nobody can see inside a babies tummy then it's better to wait until 6 months

"The available data suggest that both renal
function and gastrointestinal function are sufficiently
mature to metabolise nutrients from complementary
foods by the age of 4 months (12). With respect to
gastrointestinal function, it is known that exposure
to solids and the transition from a high-fat to a
high-carbohydrate diet is associated with hormonal
responses (eg, insulin, adrenal hormones) that result
in adaptation of digestive functions to the nature of the
ingested foods, by increasing the maturation rate of
some enzymatic functions and/or activities (13,14).
Thus, to a large degree gastrointestinal maturation is
driven by the foods ingested."

forgot to say that the USA revised it's guidelines last month to 4-6 months.

when weaned ds who is nearly 7 my hv had me starting at 4 months because he was ebf nd was concerned that he was not getting enough nutrients! she also suggested vitamin drops this was the time when the 6 month weaning had begun to be mooted.

He is slim as a snake and has no allergies what so ever.

I posted on another thread recently that queried this as my hv this time seemed to infer toward 17 / 18 weeks if they are ready and said that opinion is shifting again.

If health professionals change their minds regualrly how are we 'mere mortals' meant to keep up?

Now have ds who is 17 weeks - will wean when she is ready - if you are not FORCING a baby to eat and it feels right than go with it.

On a personal note that will get me crucified - I think blw is just a fancy term for weaning full stop. baby wants to try a food then let baby try it isn't bloody rocket scinece mums have been doing it for years - and I don't see what all the fuss is about letting a child try something that is safe for them to try. It is a nice easy way to wean whether you have gone to puree route or not - do not beat yourself up!

Guidelines in Australia still vary from '4-6 months' to '6 months' depending on place.

I suspect everyone jumps the gun a bit (I was so impatient to start introducing mine to real food, it was great fun, and I'm sure I'm not alone), and so they changed it to 6 months to ensure most people got to at least 4. When they say 4 people were weaning at 3. This is my theory.

I think it's partly that tortoiseshell and partly and experiment to prevent allergies which hasn't worked and actually made things worse eat study

They don't change the guidelines all the time. I suspect that tortoise has a good point though!

Have you done the "banana test" - put a piece of banana in front of him (Actually I think a boiled/steamed carrot stick would probably be easier to hold) and if he picks it up, gets it to his mouth and swallows a piece, then he is ready.

If not, then just stop - no harm done. If he is ready, then carry on. But don't feel guilty for something you did before you had all the facts!

Another here who started very very gently at 5 months, with no probs. DS at almost 3 loves his food and is healthy, strong and sturdy with an especially deep love of fruit, and no intolerances. Had a bit of a reaction to citrus when introduced after he turned 1, but he seems to have grown out of that completely.

the point is the so called "fgacts" oln the weaning boards are not "facts" at all, a lot of it is recycled inaccurate information ie re the gut maturation

I weaned DD at 5 1/2 months and remember feeling really guilty after I'd read various online threads that I hadn't waited. We did it gently and despite protests of family went the blw route (although drew the line at yoghurt with fingers). She's now 2, loves food, has no allergies or health problems we know of and is a lovely weight. With no 2 I will wean when I think he/she is ready (within reason) and not go strictly by the calendar.

I weaned DS at 5 months guilt free!!

He was extra hungry and took the first spoonful as if 'phew, at last'! No problems, no allergies (despite his DH having loads) and it was very gently and slowly done.

DD is 4 months and seems very content with my milk so far and I will be using my own common sense if she becomes unsettled whenever that is.

Look, if your DC took the solids happily and comfortably then he was ready.

What is the fear anyway, apart from allergies?

Im a 70's baby and was apparently fed from 3 months, probably less with the guilty expression on my mothers face. Im fine if not a wee bit shocked with the stupidity of this knowledge .

Thanks for all the replies - really helpful and interesting. We have done a version of the 'banana test' and he's definitely very into it! I think for him we have done the right thing to be slowly introducing solids and I am no longer feeling guilty

In light of all the evidence sited above, I don't really understand why the Mumsnet 'official' advice page (which prompted my guilt, rather than advice on threads etc) here is so unequivocal. Surely the least that can be said is that there are varying views on this issue? Anyway, thanks again for helping me to trust my instinct...

It's doesn't look like it's based on anything other than the posts on the weaning board. It's quotes posters as if they were experts!

There will be many other things for you to feel bad about in the future. My dd started weaning at 4 months. This was the advice given to me by the paed at the hosptial she saw. She was born in Oman and was, and is very thin. No health problems just a boney bint.

Please don't feel guilty it sounds as if your ds is ready and having a lovely time learning to eat!

I weaned dd at 4.5 months and ds at 5 months. Both were ready, both enjoyed it. Ds is a HUGE baby and was downing 37 oz of formula a day,at 4 months when I was still bf he was feeding hourly he was more than ready.

It sounds like you've made an informed decision and it's your choice remember not some zealot on the weaning board .

And fwiw you can do puree or finger foods or a mixture of both which is what most people seem to do. BLW just another cringe inducing term IMO for what people have been doing for years.

At last a sensible thread about weaning!

I think if you are doing it already, and he's keen the I'd carry on in a low-key way, avoiding gluten / meat etc until he's over 6 months.

FWIW I weaned both my DDs at 5 months which was considered late for DD1 (when the advice was 4 months) and early for DD2, but it was a considered decision in both cases and seemed to be the right thing for them.

Like Bramshot says, I think avoid gluten/meat etc
The official advice pages, guidelines, many posts are mostly going to be aimed at people coming up to weaning and looking into it. If you've already done it - you've already done it.
I'm certain I was weaned way before 6 months. Most people/children around at the moment were, as I think the 6 months thing has only been around 5 or 6 years.
Talk to your health visiter if you're worried.

Thank you for this thread... it has just rid me of any guilt I had about weaning dd at 5months 1 week!!