Hands Up Who Weaned before 6 months

[BibBabBob]

How many people wean before the 6 months deadline. I've just started my DS on solids after four weeks of horrendous feeding frenzies day and night. I deliberated over the decision for a long time and think I made the right decision though I know there are billions of arguments against it. I wonder how many mums out there have done the same and feel they got it right.

NQC quite true. I came home in tears over this. Was not supported despite the fact that DD was happy and healthy.

I stopped bf at 3 months with DS1 and was reduced to a sobbing wreck by a condemnatory HV on more than one occasion. She even put leaflets about bf giving the baby immunity etc through my door after I had stopped. Then with DS2 I tried to carry on, got to 4.5 months, and nearly had him taken off me because a different HV decided his weight loss meant I was deliberately starving him. I was interrogated by a doctor I had never met before and "summoned" to see a paediatrician. It turned out he was seriously ill with an infection contracted in the hospital when he was born. I had been telling the HV about his cough and other symptoms since birth but she NEVER responded to anything that wasn't feeding-related. Anyway my point is that there is a mafia waiting to pounce on mothers on both sides of the bf/bottle/weaning debate, and it is a pity. There is more than one good way to bring up a healthy child, and mums usually know their own children!!

I wish I'd known about MN at the time - without any resources to tell me otherwise, I thought that my HV knew what she was talking about. It wasn't that she bullied me - she just told me that babies should start weaning at 16 weeks, and what else can you do if the one person who ought to know these things doesn't? I know now that WHO have advised 6 months for the last ten years, but at the time I didn't. The HV, all the weaning books and all the NHS advice leaflets said 4 months; I didn't expect that I would need to look elsewhere for better advice.

And I think that's half the problem now - if HVs are still pushing 16 weeks, how is the average new mother meant to know any different? When my dd was 16 weeks old the last thing I wanted to do was search the internet to prove my HV wrong!

in Oct 2003 I had alot of pressure to wean my DD. She was slightly low on the centile charts (as BF babies tend to be) & I was continuely told, you can start weaning her now. I asked how giving her rice would make her gain weight. The HV looked at me blankly. Everyone else in my baby group was weaning from 16 weeks.

The reason I didn't wean at this age was because I took responsibility for her & researched all I could. I found out the WHO recommendation was 6mths & didn't fell comfortable giving food to a wee baby who couldn't hold her her head up.

IMO you don't buy a new gadget & not read the instructions on how to use it. As my baby was more precious than anything, I wanted to be prepared.

In response to the original post, structuring DD's bf made a massive difference to us & helped to make it to the 24 week recommendation.

The reason weaning is recommended later is due to the increase in excema/allergies etc. Babies guts are just not developed enough to deal with anything other than milk until 6mths.

Re: the HV & the pressure problem. My HVs have been great at gently telling mothers that they should try to wait for 6 months before giving their babies solids, but they've been failing dismally to persuade because their information as to the signs that a baby is ready for weaning is rubbish: no longer sleeping through the night, chewing their fists, interested in food. Which meant that at four months, when DS was doing all of the above in spades, I would have assumed that he was ready for solids if I hadn't already genned up (thanks in large part to MN!) And my pressure to wean early came from my family, who were convinced that my poor DS was being starved and that if I'd just whip out the bsby rice (or even a bottle of formula!) then he'd start sleeping through the night. Haven't yet broken to them that we start baby-led weaning on Friday... lol

Mojo - quite right, you don't bring home the gadget and not read up on how to use it - I read up on everything I could do prior to birth and shortly after. But when every book, every leaflet, every HV and every pamphlet that you come across says 16 weeks, there is no real reason to question. I read nothing that suggested this was wrong, and I had no reason to believe that it was. I didn't have broadband internet access at the time, and lets face it, 90% of what you read on the internet isn't to be trusted. I now know that 90% of what your HV tells you is likely to be wrong too, but I didn't at the time. I honestly believed that my HV knew what she was talking about, and was acting in the best interests of my baby.

I weaned at 5.5 months. But it was tiny amounts of puree. Ds was eating 'proper food' at 6 to 6.5 months. I just gave him more milk feeds and tried to hold off. It didnt feel right for us to wean any earlier. I am not against it though.

One thing I have never understood - Government recommend exclusive breast feeding for 6 months - how do all people do this? Maternity leave isnt long enough for a start! (I bottle fed)

People don't do it, MF1T - I wrote to my MP about it too (because I'm like that) and he said they give women a year's maternity leave (they live in cloud cuckoo land - somewhere women don't put roofs over heads and food on tables, obv), so it should be fine.

I went back to work part time when DS was 7mo and expressed all the milk he had while I was there (he wasn't eating much by then). So it's possible, but hard work.

I must say that I admire anyone who manages this, it must be tough.
Its something that puzzles me! The Government sure do live in cuckoo land on this subject!
Good for you writing to your MP.

Weaned onto baby rice at 20 weeks, vegetables after that.

Meat and dairy at 24 weeks

Baby is now 25 weeks. Today, while I was looking away, she grabbed a BBQ chicken wrap from my plate and stuffed it into her mouth.

Loves it so far

mf1t, the funny thing is, as long as you're not working outside the home, it really isn't hard. Offering a boob is much less work than bottlefeeding or giving purees. And by 6 months, the baby is old enough to skip purees altogether. DS2 never really ate purees, although I made a few, for him to refuse. And he never had jar food. (He's had rice cakes and bread sticks, though.)

Mine were both big babies and managed to hold them both off until around 21-22 weeks and was still made to feel guilty by HV! Theey are now 2yrs 4months and 11 months are healthy and thriving and great eaters!

I weaned at 17 weeks as he was a big baby. He is now over 16lb at 17 weeks. He is always putting things in his mouth and seemed to be really interested in food. He loves pureed carrot.
One thing everyone seems to have in common is that fact that the advise is so varied.
Why do I feel guilty about weaning early even though he seems to enjoy it?

Weaned all three of mine at 4 months. First two, that was the advice at the time and 3rd, I couldn't hold him out til 6 months no way! Weaned him the same as the others. They are all fine. No regrets at all.