Anyone wean before 6 months?

[FredFlintstonesSister]

I know the current NHS advice is to wait until 6 months before introducing solid foods but I'm considering beginning first tastes at 5 months. most of the evidence concerning negative effects of early weaning seems to focus on weaning before 17 weeks and HV claims that first tastes are just that - tastes - because DD will dribble it all back out again unless she's ready! Anyone have a positive experience weaning before 6 months?

This is an issue I am looking at at the moment I have a 19 week old ds who has lost his tongue thrust and is sitting up still needs someone behind him for when he lifts his leg and topples backwards but he is sitting up. He is also very interested in food though to my mind that's neither here nor there as most babies are interested in what adults do I think we just notice them watching more when we eat.
Our plan was to wait until he could sit up and start baby led weaning figuring it would be around the 6 month mark but now it's happened earlier do we stick with the original plan start, him on purée or start with finger foods now.
When my dd was little the advice was 4 months so we weaned then but it ha changed when her brothers came along so we waited until 6 months with them.
I get why people say well there is no harm in waiting but at the same time if he is ready and showing all the signs then what does it serve by making him wait?
I am speaking to the hv tomorrow and see what they reckon

My two are 19 and 20 - both had baby rice and mashed banana from about 10/12 weeks but continued bf till 7 months. Ds1 had small squares of peanut butter sandwiches, marmite sandwiches etc from about 6 months and was eating everything we do from 12 months. Ds2 was fussier. I realise this would seem outrageous now, but they're both perfectly healthy with no digestive issues.

I think 'government advice' is probably there to protect the most vulnerable babies - most would thrive if weaned much earlier.

I had two big babies and weaned at 17 weeks. I could not have waited until 6 months as they were solely breastfed and increasingly hungry.

Big study came out last year on the back of late weaning in the UK not reducing allergies (they are still increasing). My recollection is that in solely breast fed babies, earlier weaning was associated with reduced food allergies.

Belarus is a developed country

The reduced risk of gastrointestinal infection in the Belarus study was based on excellent quality research of nearly 3500 infants and produced a huge effect size. The finding is solid and applies to developed countries generally. The effect "only" appeared in Belarus because the other studies in developed countries didn't examine gastrointestinal infection rate. Cochrane reviews are conservative about their conclusions and recommendations, base their conclusions on rigorous research, and will say more research is needed if that is the case. Their conclusion is definite in this case - delaying solids to 6 months reduces risk of gastrointestinal infection in ebf babies.

Absolutely it only applies to ebf, not ff, babies. More research is needed on that population. However, given that bf has a protective effect on gastrointestinal infection compared to ff, the likely hypothesis is that ff babies could show an even larger risk of early weaning.

I started at 4 months, gave an egg yolk with a little salt daily, and slowly introduced other things. I think if they are not ready they won't take it, and you can just go at their pace.

I'm sorry, I was going on the definition here www.isi-web.org/component/content/article/5-root/root/81-developing which classifies Belarus as a developing country albeit one whose ranking has increased dramatically in the last few years.

I still don't believe it is clear cut enough in this country for people to make a decision solely based on this study although it can be taken into account. After all many children never get gastroenteritis regardless of how they are weaned. I would certainly never advise someone to start weaning before six months but equally do not recoil in horror if someone starts after 17 weeks.

Just to reiterate 'big babies' do not need weaning earlier. Not only do we know this empirically, it makes no logical sense either. If a baby is thriving, clearly the milk is doing a brilliant job. Especially when at the other end of the spectrum people say oh baby is small, clearly they need more. A baby's gut matures in the same way, big or small and a baby will be ready for solids when they are ready. As explained above, size, waking more or needing more milk are not signs. If a baby can sit, pick up food, chew and swallow it, they're likely ready.

If a baby is hungry they need calories and that is always going to be found in milk. Food is negligible at the start of weaning and they often take little so you need to offer more milk if necessary.

Also, saying they won't take it if they don't want it is misleading. Yes, the tongue thrust reflex serves a purpose but too many times I've seen the puree be scooped back up and pushed back in. I watched my SIL do it with my niece. She was lying on a beanbag at 12 wks while sil tipped food into her. Sadly, it had a v poor effect on her health and sil regrets it daily. Her 2nd was weaned at 26 weeks.

I think the guidelines are sensible. They use language like around 6 months or about 26weeks and explain the signs to look for and the red herrings to avoid. I weaned mine when they were ready and as they were biologically average, this was around 6 months. If planning on weaning early, it should be done on medical advice as sometimes it is necessary. But it shouldn't be done according to myths about big babies or developing countries or because somebody on the internet said it was fine.

I weaned mine when ready. They were massive babies but more importantly they were able to sit unaided from 4 months, lost they gag reflex and were able to grab food and put it in their mouth on their own.
But they were unusually early in developing all those. So far I haven't met any other babies in RL being so early to sit unaided. I am sure they exist but they are quite rare.

DD1 was 21 weeks and DD2 18 weeks, advised by the pead. at 16 [shocked]! I tried at 18 because I was going to see the pead. again and I wanted to prove to her that DD2 wasn't ready and still had her gag reflex how wrong was I! she gobbled all her carrot puree and was very upset it was just a taster

None of mine ever spat the food or sucked the spoon. The babies who do that are probably not ready yet.

I'm 33 and still have a gag reflex. You'd be fucked without one.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=pJj2NGCm-JQ This is the reflex in action. Nothing to do with gagging, the baby just pushes the food straight back out.

The UN Development Report classes Belarus as high development - not the 1st class category, but at the top of the 2nd class (of 4). Child health is generally good - Belarus's infant mortality rate is comparable to the UK's (and better than the US's).

But anyway… I don't recoil in horror either at someone weaning after 17 weeks, but I do think it should be an informed choice. A pp claimed that "no studies show dangers of weaning from 4 months as opposed to six months" and that's just not true. There is a risk involved, and parents should know about it before deciding when to wean.

Definitely some things to think about. I'm leaning more towards waiting now, because like all new mothers I am terrified of doing something to harm my DD. I don't think it's as simple as some people are making out - the official advice has changed several times and people who followed that advice in the past would be considered "wrong" now. Thanks for the link - good to see some real science for a change and not just people reiterating government advice. Incidentally, the WHO recommends BF until 2 years old but how many of us actually do?

Incidentally, my DD was sitting unaided at 18 weeks and crawling at 5.5 months, and we started with cucumber sticks at 5.5 months but true weaning at over 6 months. It was a long, long time before she was interested in food.

She was BF to just over 2 years - we would have carried on a bit longer but it made my work travel difficult and she was content enough to stop at that stage.

their thrust reflex! not gag!

no more posting without 2 cups of coffee

My gag reflex is so strong that I have problems holding things in my teeth and with toothpaste's foam! Gag reflex never goes away!

The NHS signs for readiness to wean make sense. I find from talking to friends and relatives that many HV are using old fashioned weaning signs such as size of baby and chewing of fists as being ready for solids.
All mine chewed their fists from I few weeks old and my three boys were all on high centiles.
My biggest baby was born at just over 9lb at 37 weeks, according to what the my sisters health visitor told her I should have started weaning him at about 2 months old.
My SIL weaned her DD at 17 weeks, she is just over 1years old now and is still eating fully puréed food. She spits out any lumps anyone tries to sneak past her.

Apologies for my incoherent post, DS2 was up coughing half the night.

I waited 6 months with DD1, 5.5 with DD2 simply because I was returning to work fulltime at 6 months sharp and I wanted to have the baby rice phase finished and be onto first tastes.
DD1 was a bottle refusnik so my return to work was incredibly stressful. It worked for us, by and large by starting at 5.5 months DD2 had worked her way up to in the region of half a tablespoon of baby rice and formula a day for two weeks before hitting the milestone 6 months.

Do what works but I would follow the advice about wheat and other foods which might spark an allergic reaction. I know someone who started with a soft boiled egg on the advice of her mother "who weaned us all on boiled eggs". Her child already had severe eczema. The result was fairly predictable.

I began with a spoon of fruit or veg purée at 18 weeks, after every day time breastfeed. You would not believe what an amazing effect it had on my baby's reflux and vomiting! He could sit up at 16 weeks I think.
By about 20 weeks we were giving him things to hold and eat, by five months he was having three very tiny meals a day.

I can't hold anything in my teeth either and hate toothpaste foam. My gag reflex is too keen by half.

Official advice has changed v little recently. It's been 6 months for about 11 years and for many years before that was 4-6 months. Not a massive change.

And yes I bf dd until she was nearing 4 and 2.9yo ds is still bf. Definitely not the norm though.

I was totally determined to wait till 6 months, but was really conflicted when baby seemed to have all the signs of readiness at 5 months. We waited for a couple of weeks until we were sure the tongue thrust had gone away, and would have waited some more if he wasn't so persistent in snatching food off plates / out of mouths. I didn't want his first proper food to be pizza! The majority of people I know seem to wean their babies around 4 months. Many slightly before.

I weaned DR at 18 weeks after she grabbed a sandwich crust off OH and ate it, plus my HV friend gave her a bread roll when we were out for lunch and a fair amount disappeared. She had already been diagnosed as lactose intolerant. She's now 7, is a total veg monster and outgrew the intolerance aged 4.

My DD has already licked an apple I was eating uninvited but at least it was something healthy! Interesting to hear different experiences. She is already showing many ( maybe all) of the signs the NHS site lists, but is not yet 6 months. Does this mean she's ready? Or do I need to wait until 6 months exactly incase her digestive system is not up to it? Somewhat confusing. She also refuses to take a bottle which is very frustrating as I can express fairly easily. I am beginning to feel very stressed out and claustrophobic being the only person who can feed my daughter. I haven't been away from her for more than an hour since she was born (and one of those times was an emergency dentist appointment!).

In in Australia and the advice is between 4 and 6 months. They say just go with what your baby wants. My baby is almost 7 months and we started around 5/5 and a half months.

They also say don't be overly cautious in what you give them - eggs, dairy etc are all fine.