DS really is adamant he wants my banana. Should I let him?

[shineoncubiczirconia]

I've had one bite of it and he is insisting he steals it from me and clamps his mouth round it.

Shall I let him?

He can sit up unaided, no tongue thrust reflex and is picking up the banana and putting it in his own mouth.

He isn't 26 weeks yet. From 26 weeks with dd I let her just help herself to our dinner.

To banana or not to banana?

My DS is 21 weeks and grabbed a banana out of my hand yesterday, snapped a bit off in the process and sucked and gnawed at it and loved it, go for it OP.

And cralwing already? Wow!

Mine were both ready for blw before 26 weeks. With dd1 we followed the no gluten before 6 months rule. With dd2 I just decided if she's ready then she's ready and she shared all our family meals from the start (about 22 weeks I think)

aww, you're making me all hormonal now. can't wait for June! hoping it's a decent summer, I have images of long days in the garden with DS pratting about in his paddling pool, and DD feeds relentlessly. I suspect it'll be more peering out the window at the drizzle whilst DS tries to maim his sister, but live in hope.

enjoy the BLW :) remember to take LOTS of photos :o and maybe don't start weaning with lemons and raw onions?!

DOH weaning guidelines. First in the list of signs they've a readiness to wean is 'can sit up'. And what is showing interest in food? Because yes picking up food and trying to eat it is a sign as I said. Can you link to the info where it says that all guts mature at 17 weeks too?

I sat with my feet in a paddling pool, straw hat on, big glass of homemade lemonade and ice and did beggar all but bf till september.

Can't link but Google esphgan introduction of solids position statement. Also the BDA position paper.
It is only the nhs that uses the guideline about sitting up. The us don't mention it all and change their guidelines back to 4-6 months last year.

Seconding the "go for it" sentiment. Those DOH guidelines say "about six months". Five and a bit months is "about six months" imo. If he was less than 4mo and you were asking about giving him a sausage roll or a Milky Bar I'd be sitting on my hands to avoid hoiking of judgy-pants. But I think some banana at damn-near 6mo is fine.

P.S. My DD loved lemon as a baby too. She'd nick the lemon wedges out of everyone's (non-alcoholic) drinks at meals out. Strange child.

ALovelyBunch, I wasn't prepared for the crawling either. We have no fire guard. I've fashioned one out of stuff for now and am going to be adding fire guard to the list of things to buy under rice cakes and a mop. I'm wholly unprepared.

bruffin, as I'm doing blw I would NEVER give food until ds can sit but will google later. From everything I read when dd was little, I got the impression that gut maturation was assumed to happen somewhere between 17 and 26 weeks.

[[http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bda.uk.com%2Fpublications%2Fstatements%2FPositionStatementWeaning.pdf&rct=j&q=bda%20position%20statements&ei=VMM7T43TNMa4hAeLrNTpCQ&usg=AFQjCNFyia9KWSV0Tj7tH12lxn1Xn-gcEA bda position paper

bda

espghan

i think 17 weeks is the absolute youngest they should be.

DS was very interested in stealing my food early and as he cannot sit unaided we have started on purees. yesterday's banana was the first whole piece of food he has been allowed to sample. so as he gets older we will hopefully phase out the puree and just use the blw.

i think we totally forget about the baby proofing that has to happen when they begin to move!

Espghan "Exclusive or full breast-feeding for about 6 months
is a desirable goal. Complementary feeding should
not be introduced in any infant before 17 weeks,
and all infants should start complementary feeding
by 26 weeks." BDA is similar.

That's pretty much what we're doing.

Sitting up is more of a choking risk thing than a gut maturity thing - if you have to have your baby in a reclined position (or even worse, lying down) to feed them then they are too young.

Older than 4 months and capable of feeding himself - I don't see the problem. My ds was about 22/23 weeks I think when he first ate a banana.

As for guidelines changing all the time - I am 28 and was weaned at 4 months. I'm not sure that official guidelines were ever earlier than 4 months, but popular wisdom was "12 weeks or 12lbs" in the 60s/70s (?). The NHS changed their advice from 4 months to 4-6 months in 1994, and then to 6 months in 2003.

shineoncubiczirconia - I meant all sorts of guidelines not just the weaning ones. eg in 1993 it was no alcohol for 12 weeks then 2 units per day max. They'd only just changed froim eat loads of liver to avoid it for fear of vit A overdose. In between my 2 pregnancies there was suddenly an awareness of Folic acid deficiency.

Again ds1 had peanut butter on the list as ok at 6 months but with ds2 it was 12 months. Eggs at 9 months I seem to recall.

And I probably still have the booklet I was given saying introduce baby rice and mashed banana from 12 weeks

My mother was urging me to mash up rusks to put in a bottle of milk when ds1 was about 6 weeks old I bf him till 7 months which was fairly usual at the time - most people seemed to do it no more than 3 - 6 months. I only knew 2 people who bf till 12 months whereas many didn't do it at all.

I started weaning DS two weeks ago at 24 weeks. So he had two weeks of fruit and veg, basically. By the second day he was self-feeding potato wedges and chunks of banana. Today he sat happily in his highchair and eaten a sandwich, followed by a bowl of yoghurt and banana (pre-loaded spoon). Having seen how much weight he's packed on in the last two weeks (he was starting to slide down the centiles despite BFing every two hours...) I am confident I made the right decision. He was definitely ready!

I looked up some of the WHO recommendations some time ago and they actually talked about 180 days which is a little under 26 weeks! But am sure WHO, Nhs etc all say go ahead when they can put the food in, chew and swallow ... Sorry can't link at present but I did read it all carefully at the time as I started blw with dd at 24ish weeks