What if I wean late?

[sunnysunchild]

What might happen then?

DD is 23 weeks on friday and Im in absolutely no hurry to break out the baby rice. She is EBF, no bottles at all. I think I want to keep her a baby forever

I'm getting pressure from my mum and other friends to get her started on the purees etc, to help her sleep etc etc. Her sleep is not a problem really..

I know the guidelines etc..

But what happens if I don't wean her at 6 months? Am I missing something? Whats wrong with still EBF for a bit longer?

Genuinely interested.... not looking to start any bunfights!

Thanks!

Generally it becomes harder for the baby to get sufficient nutrients from bm alone after 6 months (obviously it is not an exact cut off) so complementary foods become necessary, there is also some suggestion in studies that if you not started feeding reasonably solid food by 10 months that it can be a problem (ie if they haven't learnt to chew by quite young, they can struggle to learn to chew) It's also meat/fish/eggs etc. that are the important ones that meet the deficiencies, so if you are planning on weaning in a way which delays these via a progression, then it would be best to start early.

This report has lots of guiding principles backed up with rationales and reasons why. Like most things, you're unlikely to have a problem whatever you do (by weaning early, or by weaning late, or whatever) particularly anything serious. But the best current evidence is that across the population, the best result is by starting complementary foods at around 6 months, when the baby shows the indicated steps.

FredFredGeorge - Thank you for that... I was finding it really hard to find evidence of what might happen if I weaned later... Most info Ive read seems to be regarding the dangers of early weaning.... In our case, obviously I don't want to harm her development, so I suppose I'll be leaving it as long as I can, but not too long!

She's not sitting up unsupported yet, and really I don't feel like starting any foods anytime soon... A couple more weeks and will see where we are.... Thanks :)