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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

my MIL told me today that she gave DH solids at SIX WEEKS

61 replies

harmonicacarrier · 21/05/2006 21:56

SIX FREAKING WEEKS
my jaw hit the floor
"and it hasn't done him any harm"
nono that's right apart from the raging eczema all his life and the lousy digestion
"it depends on the individual child. I couldn't have waited any longer."
how do you even give a six week old baby solids??
it has made me very cross actually

OP posts:
Katymac · 21/05/2006 21:58

In the same way that babies were carried in their mothers arms in the front of cars - it was normal then

Original poster
harmonicacarrier · 21/05/2006 22:00

I know, but surely Katymac. it was never advised to give solids at six weeks??
my mum never did, I know that.

OP posts:
jamiesam · 21/05/2006 22:01

That's alright, elderly couple at supermarket, obviously concerned that ds1 looked like he was starving, told me they were giving their little boy sugared water from pretty much day 1. He was a big hungry boy you see!

'Things' were very different, not so long ago really. And it must be very hard as a mum to admit that what you did (weaning at 6 weeks) could have caused your child's health problems. Actually, we'd all talk about it endlessly on MN, but you know what I mean.

PinkTulips · 21/05/2006 22:01

much more recently my aunt gave her ds baby rice in his milk at 9 weeks on the recommendation of her SIL and, get this, her HV Shock. and that was only 10 years ago

Katymac · 21/05/2006 22:01

They were advised to give baby rice in the bottle at 8 weeks in 1970

PinkTulips · 21/05/2006 22:02

lol jamiesam, my mom was costantly convinced my bf dd was starving to death and i should be giving her bottles of glucose water to top her up

sugarfree · 21/05/2006 22:03

My Mil told me to put baby rice in Ds1's late bottle "to make him go through the night.
He was less than 3 weeks old.Shock

moondog · 21/05/2006 22:03

barking,the lot of 'em

gigglinggoblin · 21/05/2006 22:04

my brother got dropped on his head when my mum carried him in the car, so they decided it was safer to leave him on the parcel shelf instead.

its a wonder any of us survived

IvortheEngine · 21/05/2006 22:04

That's not unusual, is it? I know of someone who was given solids at approx 6 weeks and it's less than 10 years ago. I thought it was crackers, but there you go. And, yes, the child did have food allergies.

Marne · 21/05/2006 22:04

My mum wanted to give dd2 an easter egg when she was 5 weeks Shock, she said that she gave us little bits of food when we were tiny!

No way was i going to let her any where near dd2 with an easter egg, no wonder i have eczema!

Original poster
harmonicacarrier · 21/05/2006 22:05

yes, I suppose. I suppose I am biased because my mum has always been very scathing about the cereal in a bottle thing. And her eldest child is fifty years old.
and it probably would be easier for me to take if MIL wasn't so sneery about the bf. and openly hostile about me waiting till six months.

OP posts:
Orlando · 21/05/2006 22:06

The HV told my stepmother to give my brother solids at 6 weeks too...

and what did she recommend for his first food?

Scrambled egg.

wierdy wierdy wierd.

expatinscotland · 21/05/2006 22:07

they gave me baby rice at 4 weeks, per the paediatrician's advice. this was 1971.

i never had eczema or lousy digestion.

i wouldn't do it to my own, but just in 2003 when dd1 was born the advice was to wean at 16 weeks.

dd2 will be 6 calendar months on 10 june and is making all kinds of signs she wants to wean.

just for the hell of it, i defrosted some frozen EBM until it was sort of slushy and fed it to her.

She liked that!

Original poster
harmonicacarrier · 21/05/2006 22:07

lol at leaving the baby on the parcel shelf.
there are definitely advantages to coming from a family where no-one listens to medical advice ever - my mum smokes like a chimney but ploughed her own furrow where babies were concerned.... which meant doing what her mother and grandmother did.
which is what I do to.
god what a rebel eh - doing what my mother did Grin

OP posts:
morningpaper · 21/05/2006 22:08

Partly the effects of the war I think

There was such a desire to see kids that weren't skinny, to show you were giving them proper food

My Grandma always said that fat children were celebrated and everyone fed their kids as much sugar and fat as possible to fatten them up

Starvation/malnutrition were still very real problems

Mercy · 21/05/2006 22:08

harmonica, I can;t believe yhou are surprised. It was standard practice then.

I was started on solids at about 2 months old - not fully . I have no allergies. My younger brother was too - he does have allergies. There is no family history of this though

Original poster
harmonicacarrier · 21/05/2006 22:09

I am surprised actually - I just can't imagine how you give a six week old baby solids. I mean with the head wobbling about and all that.
my mum would go mental at the idea.

OP posts:
Orlando · 21/05/2006 22:10

Dd1 was born in 1995 and the advice then was to wean at 12 weeks. What do they say now?

(am totally ashamed to admit that I can't remember when I weaned dd3 in 2001)

kiskidee · 21/05/2006 22:15

some of these stories are amazing. i don't have much stories of wierd weaning but I do remember my mum putting cereal in my db's bottle 30 yrs ago. i can't tell how old he was though. i also know she made a comment once that she almost killed me by giving me oatmeal when i was too young. it made me wary of when to wean my dd.

jamiesam · 21/05/2006 22:16

In 2001/2 for ds1, advice to wean at 4mths

In 2003 for ds2, advive not to wean before 6mths.

Still laughing at gigglinggoblin's brother on parcel shelf Grin

hunkermonkee · 21/05/2006 22:18

HC, someone I know was advised to put that thickenery stuff (what's it called - begins with F I think) into her baby's bottle on the postnatal ward about 30 years ago. Helped them sleep better, apparently Angry

suejonez · 21/05/2006 22:20

gigglinggoblin's, didn't your brother roll off the parcel shelf? Just trying to visualise it!

bubble99 · 21/05/2006 22:20

Fairex, munker. My mum was a devotee in the 60's. I, very gently, tuned out to most of her advice when I had DS1.

bubble99 · 21/05/2006 22:20

Or possibly Farex? Baby rice, I suspect.

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