Health visitor contradicting what I read online, who is right?

[mumtocuddlebundle]

Health visitor says after 6 months most nutrition should come from food. He should only be having milk feed in morning and last thing at night. All the snack bteastfeeds should stop.
But online it often says food between 6 and 12 months is just for fun and most nutrition should be from milk still.

Any idea which is right? I ask cos I am having flat refusal from my 25week old to take any solids.

The "food for fun" thing comes from research by Gill Rapley, who is a health visitor who was given funding to look into weaning. So I would go with her and not worry too much!

Well my ds certainly wasn't listening to the NHS. He was having four feeds a day until at least one.

I'd smile and nod, then ignore. I'm sure someone will come along with more brains than me in a minute to explain ur better.

It depends on where you're looking (online). Not all sites are accurate. At 6 months he'll only just have started the weaning process though, so he'll only just be use to having different textures in his mouth. I would slowly reduce the feeds and increase the food, there's no hurry. I would start to wean at 6 months though.

I'm going to go all out and say I'm pretty sure your HV is wrong! 6 months is a good time to start the weaning process which in my mind means starting to introduce new tastes and textures because a baby's palate is open to it and digestive system is mature enough for it.

The majority of nutrition should come from milk until 12 months, there is almost no way a 6 month old could consume enough calories from solid food to thrive - this is my opinion based on research I did when DS was small. Your milk is the best possible food for your baby and I would think he'd be positively starving with the few feeds your HV is suggesting! Your child could live on breast milk alone for the first 7 years or so if the 2 of you so wished, so how s/he thinks you need to cut down on feeds right now is beyond me, it really wouldn't matter if your baby didn't swallow a single mouthful of solid food for the next few months as long as he's getting all the milk he wants. I really wouldn't worry about the refusal at the moment, there's plenty of time yet

Your HV, IMO, is talking out of her arse hat.

Your HV is wrong wrong wrong.

Have a read of "Complementary Feeding" by Gabriel Palmer or " My child won't eat" by Carlos Gonzalez. Excellent book. The first one in particular says BM alone is fine till upto 12 months and even then only iron and zinc is not enough. Calorie wise BM is the best source for your baby at 6 months.

It amazes me how these HVs spout such rubbish. Have they not kept upto date with current research? Picked up a book about infant feeding?!

Mine told me to wean ds at 12 weeks, starting him on weetabix. This was pre-mumsnet, so I did as I was told. I was also told I couldn't overfeed him. I did a lot of cleaning and washing!

Thanks everyone. This is really interesting. Nicecupoftea, is there really some research to say they can survive on breastmilk til age 7? Fascinating! It's all reassuring stuff. I will try to relax on it.
Hv was also berating me for still rocking him to sleep at bedtime! I'm not quite sure why they think that's any of their business! I am sure plenty mums rock their six months old to sleep without doing any harm!!

Why do they talk such ROT?

OP, do you have a La Leche League group nearby? They can offer lots of support and accurate, up to date advice.

And yes, many, many mums still rock their six month olds to sleep.

That isn't the NHS message in Scotland at all. The weaning guide I was given is called Fun First Foods and says:

"You should aim to gradually increase the variety and amount of solid foods so that, by 12 months, food rather than milk is the main part of her
diet."

Surgeon, it isn't the advice given by the NHS in England either!

I am going to look up the la leche league to see what's in my area. We do have a breastfeeding group that I know of, but it's run by local health visitors, so not sure how good it is.
This is my second baby, so I am fairly confident in doing my own thing with rocking/ not rocking. I rocked my first baby to sleep a lot, but felt constantly guilty about it. This time I'm not letting them make me feel guilty!

Well, I should hope not! (But I always like to hedge my comments with disclaimers be sure I'm not talking outwith my own experience. )

Your baby is very smart. Breast milk tastes much nicer than puréed rice or carrots. And she/he is DEFINITELY smarter than your HV.

Just go on Bf happily and your baby will be ready in his /her own time.

My health visitor told me at DS's 8 month check-up (about 4 months ago) that DS should be getting most of his nutrition from milk until he was 12 months.

I was also told by my GP (no hv here) that food is fun until 1.

Having said that DD wasn't really interested in food after turning 1 until we started cutting feeds (formula by then) down.

May I suggest you just stop seeing your HV if they're going to spout utter bollocks at you?

i hate the way people refer to frequent bfs as 'snacking' so on that basis alone i think the HV is a plum.

only feeding morning and night at 6mo? I'm kind of scared that she's going about spouting this mad stuff to lots of people. :(

Sometimes I wonder if a lot of health visitors ( not all of them) secretly wish all babies were formula fed as it just makes their life's so much easier!

My HV said that they get everything from milk(either breast or formula) until they are about 1. So until then food is just getting them used to new textures etc

Right, it would appear I've got my facts mixed up a bit, it's that a child is likely to self-wean between 2.5 and 7 not that they can exist on breastmilk alone, but there are many benefits to feeding beyond the accepted time of 6 months, a year or whatever and it is perfectly acceptable to delay the introduction of solids for several months if you wish. There's certainly no worry if your baby doesn't take to them straight away. There's some interesting info about the nutrients from breastmilk here

there's a book I haven't got round to reading yet but have seen mentioned on here called 'the grapes of wrath' where I believe a woman keeps an old man alive in a survival situation with her breastmilk.

The thing I find difficult to get my head around is how so many people seem reluctant to believe breastmilk is best for baby, after 6 months at least - its the only food specifically intended for humans, why would it not be good enough or suddenly stop being of benefit after a certain time?

I just wish the information given by health professionals could be correct and consistent about breastfeeding; I imagine there's 100's of women out there listening to HV's like yours without the courage or knowledge to challenge the information given. Your baby is lucky you don't take it all as gospel - how lovely to be rocked to sleep! I'm afraid I never divulge information like that to HV's, I tend to just answer the 'how's he sleeping' questions with a vague "fine" - most advice surrounding sleep is personal opinion anyway, every baby is different

Thanks nicecupoftea yes I shouldn't have told the hv about the rocking. But he was clearly getting tired towards the end of her visit and was asking why I didn't go put him down in his cot- so I had to confess!

oh yes, at DD's 8-12 months check, HV told me that make sure she eats some food (we did BLW), like I was stopping her from eating or something. Apparently breastmilk is "just a drink" now....rightttt...I just nodded and smiled. Afterwards I felt bad that I didn't say anything though as she might be spouting that rubbish to other mothers too, and there was student HV there observing too. I haven't been since to the HV, although tomorrow we will be going as it's her 2yr check. I can't wait to see the HVs face when I tell her we are still breastfeeding

i think that's the problem. this thread has actually made me realise that HVs (and lots of other people) seem to not get the idea that you bf alongside food, it's not replacing it.

i went to a bf group with DS1 until he was about 15 months and remember one HV warning about allowing older babies and toddlers too many feeds. she likened this to us fancying a mars bar and not eating our dinner. i believe the [anger] look i gave her as i suggested milk was hardly equivalent to said mars bar did make her a bit embarrassed!