DM informs me she started weaning at 6 weeks...

[TeacupTempest]

I am hoping she is misremembering and is mistaken but she seems fairly sure. I am adopted and apparently I arrived with some packets of baby rice that foster mum had been giving me.

Obviously I am relatively ok...but I do have bad psoriasis and did have asthma so...

Can a 6 week old even swallow food?

She is now feeling bad but obviously she was only doing what she thought was right at the time.

Can't help feeling a little shocked though!

I was on 'solids' at 8 weeks as my mum had retained placenta and was still bleeding very very heavily (she got given meds to stop the bleeding but they stopped her milk too). I refused formula in a bottle so had 2 bowls of formula and baby rice sweetened with apple juice or 'Baby' Ribena until I was old enough for rusks to be added to my diet at 3 or 4m. I drank bottles of baby Ribena and apple juice all day instead of milk. This was on HV advice of course .

Funnily enough I have asthma, psoriasis, hay fever and allergies. I also have an incredibly sweet tooth and am rather overweight . There is no one else in my family (aside from my children [& DH & in-laws but obv. not genetically related!]) to have asthma.

The midwife told my MIL to put baby rice into DH's bottle on day 3, as 'he's a big baby, you'll never feed him'.

My aunt's midwife told her to feed her baby on condensed milk as it was no different from breast milk.

Different times.

Your Mum shouldn't feel guilty, she was just doing what she thought was right at the time. We are so lucky now that we have all this evidence based information right at our fingertips aren't we .

Yes, Mum Mum told me this too. Apparently it was what you did in the 60's.

That used to be the advice. I think it changed to 3 months in the mid 70s, so depending on your age she was probably doing what she thought was best.

Born in '82 here and there's photographic evidence of me aged 10 weeks with chocolate pudding all over my face - DM had to give up BF me at 6 weeks due to a low supply and I get the impression that the HV encouraged her to get me onto solids asap. No asthma but I did have a few bad chest infections in my teens, and I get psoraisis on my scalp when I'm run down.

Fast forward 30 years, and I'm EBF my 9wk old DD and can't wait to wean her. She seems to be a bit of a high need baby (constantly feeding) so I might have some fun, but she seems really interested when we're eating (often have to eat over her head while BF her on sofa), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for sometime in September...

I've just started looking into weaning - LO is 13 weeks old. My mum told me that she started me on baby rice at 14 weeks, but I think I'm going to wait until LO is 4 months before I give him any.

But 6 weeks? That is so young! Mind you, I did read a story from one lady who had carrot juice from 4 weeks as she refused both breast and formula.

Yep - and in 20 years time when our kids are asking us what we did, I'm guessing things will have changed again.... it'll probably be - "What - you exclusively BF til 6 months - how cruel is that, it stunts development/causes too fast development causes obesity/lack of nutrients for bones/skin/teeth/blood supply/bowel whatever....." Stuff changes.....

My mum dug out the M&S "From Conception to 3" Book she had when she had me - under breastfeeding, it says that from 3 or 4 months (can't remember which), EBF babies will need a vitamin supplement because they won't be getting enough nutrients from breast milk.

How times change...

My mil did similar because dh was a big baby and it did him no harm apparently. Well apart from the fact he has asthma and lots of allergies which is apparently unconnected.

Things were different, there is no need to feel bad about doing what was considered right at the time. My mum has learned a lot about bf through me and sees now that she could have fed us but she doesn't feel bad, she knows she didn't have the right information back then.

Actually my mum was weaned earlier than 6 weeks! Her mum didn't produce milk at all but my mum turned out to be allergic to cows milk formula. There not being any allergen free formulas at the time she was fed on whole goats milk and vegetable broth!

My mum added chocolate baby rice to my milk at 6 weeks - was quite normal at the time. Have no health problems but am a chocoholic!