how long did it take for your LO to get used to taking food from a spoon and some of it actually going down?

[lizandlulu]

i have been giving my 18 week old rusk mixed with milk for a couple of weeks now, but she doesnt seem to actually swallow very much at all. she pushes most of it back out, or blows raspberries with it. how long does it take for her to get the jist of what shes ment to do with it?

sorry wrong thread!!

My hv said (descretly) that if we needed to give him solids, give it him. If she thought that strongly about the 17 week thing, she would have said don't do it, but she didn't, so just goes to show as I said, guidelines are guidelines, not rules!

And for the record, he is the most content happy baby ever, and every one comments on him. I had to stop bf at 11 weeks due to his hunger. Breast is best according to 'guidelines' but people still use formula!!

Sometimes I think HVs know there's no telling some people.

No it's just hv's know all babies are different! I had a big baby at birth and between 9 and 13 weeks he put on 2lb 12oz but yet always screaming for more milk, which is why she said hopefully we could get him to 17 weeks, but if he needs food, he needs food. Since the few teaspoons of rice, he us so much happier.
My mum retired as a mw after 40 years 4 years ago, and she says the same. Yes she had to advise by law the current 'guidelines' but all babies are different and develop quicker or slower to each other. Some babies are fed rice at 6 weeks due to them being sick all the time to help keep milk down, where are the guidelines there?
At the end of the day, the lady asked a question and all people have done is fire guidelines in her face and not actually really answered her question.
Common sense is what's needed.

common sense is taking guidelines seriously, given that they are developed using massive cohorts by proper clinicians, and ignoring what random guideline-ignorers have to say on the internet.

Lemming springs to mind lol!

to the OP. the advice that Klou is giving you is wrong-headed. her 'instinct' (and yours and mine) is based almost exclusively on the culture in which she (and you and i) exist. women do very different things all over the world based on maternal instinct, some of them dangerous and counter-intuitive to us. for example, in some areas in India, doctors are struggling to persuade mothers to introduce solid food before two years of age, because their 'instinct' (their culture) has instructed them that anything before two is incorrect and dangerous.

this is one best left to the medics, and afaia the WHO has been advising six months as the weaning age for about a decade now. of course you will still meet HVs like Klou's mum, who mouth the guidelines while simultaneously undermining them (even to her own daughter, which brings us immediately back to instinct/culture again) but they are on the wane.

Indeed, when my DD had reflux she had infant gaviscon to keep down her feeds rather than rice. I believe thats the actual guideline.

Well, when the guidelines change (again) that you shouldn't feed before 7, 8 or 9 months, whenever it is, you can look at your child and think, well he/she turned out ok :)

Guidelines are based on extensive research, clinical information, scientific evidence. That's why they change - to keep up with the latest, evidence-based facts about the best things for babies. Personally I am delighted that the guidelines change - it shows that the NHS is on top of the very latest science about what's best.

Anecdotal evidence about individual babies is meaningless. I could equally say "well my DD was weaned at exactly 6 months and she's fine, therefore that's definitely the right thing to do". But I don't say that - I point to the extensive medical information based on thousands and thousands of babies.

The guidelines do not say "you must wean at exactly 6 months". The guidelines say "around 6 months your baby will probably be ready for food". They are flexible and allow parents some discretion. However, 13 weeks is by no means "around 6 months". But 22 weeks, say, or 28 weeks, would be.

BTW, DD2 (6 months) and I are taking part in a clinical study (this one) run by a London hospital about the current government guidelines to do with allergies. It involves 5,000 babies. The guidelines might change as a result of this study. Or they might not. Because it will enrich the evidence-base of the guidelines and help to ensure that weaning does not cause any allergies which could be prevented.

(Best not mention that my son has been in his own room since 3 weeks old cos his Moses basket was too small for him and kept smacking the sides, hated being swaddled and no room in our room for a cot cos its against guidelines!!!!!) But that's a whole other discussion.
Anyway it is up to you and I how we bring our babies up. I am not telling you you should be feeding before 6 months the same way you should not tell me. I would rather listen to old school professionals thank you very much!

And FTR a few teaspoons of rice is hardly 'weaning'! (That starts Saturday when he's 17 weeks )

Nobody on here has said the guidelines are a set in stone 6 months exaclty. What we have all done is point the OP to information so that she can make her own informed decision. Not a single one of use here would consider ourselves qualified to tell a woman we have never met what to do with her baby but what we can all do is help people to make an informed decision rather than one based on anecdotal evidence. The information on the NHS website is great, is tells you that the signs your baby is ready to wean are the ability to sit unaided, the ability to put food in his own mouth and chew it and the loss of the tongue thrust reflex. The guidelines suggest around 6 months because this is when all of those skills come together for most babies. Some will be sitting and grabbing at things earlier in which case there is not harm in letting them have a play with a piece of banana, others will not be sitting until later.

Yes, guidelines change sometimes and not all MWs or HVs change with them, they do not always get the correct training because the funding is not available. If your mother was a MW 40 years ago she probably also told women to bf by feeding for a max of 100 mins each side every 4 hours. We know without question that this is wrong and most women will not be able to sustain a supply of milk on this schedule. If one thing can be wrong then why can't something else. Also, and I'm sure your mum was a good MW, but she was a MW and therefore has nothing to do with weaning and will not have had continuing weaning training since babies will pass out of her care well before weaning age. She should not be presenting herself as a weaning expert any more than I as a bf peer supporter should be presenting myself as a MW.

Of course baby rice is weaning. As I said earlier in the thread anything that is not milk (apart from medications) is the introduction of a solid. Rice is a solid however sloppy you make it. KLou as you say, we shouldn't be telling each other how to bring up our children so please keep to actual information.

Putting your own baby in his own room at 3 weeks old isn't going to mean he'll definitely die of cot death. Weaning at 13 weeks doesn't mean your baby is going to suffer from terrible gut troubles. In fact in both cases individual children may well be fine. However, in both situations the risks of something negative happening are increased. Parenting is full of weighing up risks and taking an informed decision yourself. But it's important that people are aware of all the information and evidence before taking their own decision.

There are plenty of "old school" guidelines which are no longer used because they are no longer supported by the best evidence. These days we don't drink and drive, we wear seat belts, we have cars with airbags, we put children in specially designed child car seats, because all these things have been scientifically shown to make driving a car safer. But if you want to have a bottle of wine before getting in the car, drive with no seatbelt because it's uncomfortable, put your child in the back seat loose because they whinge in the car seat, and disable your airbag, because that's what plenty of people did in the 1970s and plenty of them are still alive, then that's your choice.

(Sorry OP - have rather hijacked your thread! Good luck with whatever you decide to do )

weaning: starts with a tiny bit of baby rice to get them used to taking food off a spoon, build up to a teaspoon then after a few weeks it is a few teaspoons.

the problem with old school professionals is they're not always up to date or on the ball and only know your baby as much as how/what you are telling them (or not telling them) and what the scales say the baby weighs. it's up to you to do the research into the pros and cons and decide whether it's worth starting something early when it's against guidelines based on studies involving thousands of babies. you may know your baby best but scientists know the effects of what you do as your baby grows up.

well thank you all i dont think i have ever started a thread and got so many responses!

i have decided to still keep giving her 'something' from a spoon, but have changed from the rusks to baby rice. the gluten made me stop and think.

she has actually took more form a spoon in the last 2 days so she seems to be getting the hang of it, but i wont push her, if she shows no interest then i stop and just let her play with the spoon