Whilst the WHO says 6 months....

[alittlebitshy]

... why are so many hv's still saying 16 weeks?

I have a friend whose dd1 is the same age as my dd, and she has a 3 month old dd2. I was asking her yesterday what she was going to do re weaning this time and i was gobsmacked when she said that the hvs are deffo still saying 16 weeks. Esp considering that this tinme she has manged to exclusively breast feed.

I was wondering what you all thought, and what you would say if this came up in conversation... cos i know that when you have a small baby sometimes the word of the Hv is comforting....

hmm... just my musings :)

I am really confused by all of this. I have read the kellymom site info, the NCT leaflet (posted in a different thread), and followed these MN threads with interest.

One of our local HVs is a qualified nurse, has last year completed her post-grad qualification and is no stick-in-the-mud who trots out the same line year in, year out ... however, she swears blind that it is OK to wean from 17 weeks. I have challenged her about this, but she sticks to her guns, and says the Dept of Health has recently modified its advice to wean at 6mths. The other HV I have talked to is also young and keeps up to date with developments, but she says that weaning at 4-6mths affords you a greater window of opportunity for encouraging your baby to accept a wider range of tastes.

Don't know what to think! Am going to have a look at the Dept of Health advice on the web, will report back if I have time.

Sorry but I hate that link as it has NO information for parents who have bottle fed, is it not reffering to bottle feeding for a reason or are we to assume when they say breast they also mean bottle or are we to assume that if you have bottle fed then you might as well wean.

I have just re read that link and have to say that it is of no help at all to any parents who have bottle fed infact the main aim of that link is not supporting delayed weaning generally but encouraging breast feeding which does nothing but confuse parents all over again.

Some reliable info for parents who have changed to bottle feeding please.

Flutterbee, the link states that "Although some of the reasons listed here assume that your baby is breastfed or fed breastmilk only, experts recommend that solids be delayed for formula fed babies also". Seems pretty straightforward.

Have to say that my HV and all in her practice have all said "the latest guidlelines say you shouldn't start weaning before 6 months". This is different to the advice given in the Red Book which says 4 months at the earliest. No wonder there is confusion.

I attempted to try weaning about a week prior to him being 6 months, but I took his cues and he wasn't interested. He was 10 months before he took the slightest bit of interest in food if I'm being honest, and 12/13 months before he wanted 3 meals a day.

Flutterbee - I have always bottlefed DS - 8 weeks of EBM and the rest formula. In my experience/opinion, same seems to apply - he wasn't ready for food any earlier than his body told him/me regardless of how he was fed.

Looked more closely at literature given by HV. It states "Many babies are happy with breast formula milk for longer [than 18 weeks] but weaning should be encouraged by 6 months of age.

Weaning your baby does not need to be rushed into at exactly 18 weeks but again, should be encouraged by 6 months." (My use of bold text)

Then did a trawl on google. All the following websites state that 6mths is the optimal age from which to start weaning.

\link{http://www.breastfeeding.nhs.uk/pdfs/FINAL_QA.pdf\NHS Breastfeeding leaflet}

\link{http://www.sndri.gcal.ac.uk/mims/Weaning.pdf\leaflet from scientific body which advises gov}

DoH leaflet (published August 2005) which states solids should not be introduced before 20wks - \link{http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/11/70/83/04117083.pdf\Weaning}

The website \link{www.eatwell.gov.uk\Eatwell} also states "Current advice is to continue exclusive breastfeeding for six months. The longer you can breastfeed, the greater the benefits.

If you choose not to breastfeed, infant formula is the only alternative to breast milk."

Am really disappointed that our HVs are handing out literature which conflicts with loads of other reliable sources. Will query this. In the meantime, looks like DS is stuck with boobjuice for a bit longer.