Weaning and the WHO advice

[Utka]

We weaned dd1 (now 3) at 16 weeks. However she's always suffered with eczema, and I'm therefore keen to avoid this with dd2 and perhaps extend to 6 months before stopping exclusively b/f, as per the recent new advice from the WHO.

The jump from 4 to 6 months seems a big one though. Anyone got any advice on how to do this successfully?

i've just started ds on baby rice on thursday and he's 16 weeks, and was exclusively b/f before that....

I've not really got any advice, dd1 was bottlefed, weaned at 19 weeks and has ezcema/possibly asthma. Ds is now 18 weeks, breastfed and I plan on weaning him at 6 months.

The people I know who have waited have just offered more milk and some have even put up with their baby starting to wake in the night after previously sleeping through.

Watch this space is all I can say

My dd2 is now 6 months, and has been exclusively bfed. I'm planning to start weaning next week. I weaned the others at 4 months, following advice at the time.

I haven't had any problems delaying weaning till 6 months -- dd2 has consistently slept through the night from the 10.30pm feed until 6am from quite early on (bless her), and this didn't change in the 4-6 month time. I also didn't have the impression that she was feeding more frequently or for longer.

I'm hoping that weaning will actually be easier at 6 months than 4, since we've bypassed all the restrictions on what younger babies can have, like wheat, milk etc. Also she can sit up slightly more firmly in a highchair, and has definitely started to be interested in what we're up to at mealtimes.

Will report back next week, but I'm definitely a supporter of waiting till 6 months.

I exclusively bf dd till 7 months. Getting abit of food down her now.. she is almost 8 months. She is not a big eater though, and it seems that bigger babies are more keen to eat than she has been.
My advice is that you make sure you are eating healthy food, vege, fruit, carbohydrates to ensure you have an adequate milk supply. And feed your dd regularly which will keep up milk supply.
The jump may seem like a lot but you are looking at it from the start and not the finish so it seems more daunting. If babies were hungry and malnourished then WHO would not provide this recommendation which is not new advice. So just go for it!!!

My advice is to wait and see how you and your baby feel nearer the time. IME a baby's interest in solids is nothing much to do with their weight - both mine have been below average weight and both extremely keen on solids. With Ds2 I had no particular date in mind for starting solids, and ended up doing it at 20/21 weeks. As it happened (though I didn't know it at the time, and it wasn't the reason I started solids) his weight gain had ground to a halt in the last few weeks of exclusive bf. Now at 6.5 months he is eating huge quantities of food and is thriving - still getting breastmilk for his drinks. I think for me it would have been extremely difficult to get to 6 months (I would have become very sleep deprived) and, I venture to say, not actually the best thing for ds2 either. They are all individuals - some will be ready and eager some time before 6 months, and others not for some time after.

I exclusively breastfed my dd to 6 months and was very motivated by the fact that I have pretty bad eczema, asthma, rhinitis, nut allergies etc and was keen to do everything I could to reduce the risk of dd getting this.

On the sleep front - I found that dd's sleep regressed round about the 4 month mark, she started waking 3 times a night rather than once, but then at 5 1/2 months she suddenly started going through 12 hours every night and has done ever since. If I'd been introducing food at that stage like 95% of my contemporaries I would have been convinced that it was the solids that sorted her sleep out, as it was I know that babies sleep can do weird and wonderful things without any obvious external reason.

Weaning is a really personal decision - the WHO make their recommendation based on the best scientific evidence they have, but ultimately the most important thing is that you're happy, and the baby is happy.

A few decades ago weaning onto solids was recommended at NINE months, not six. So six really isn't extreme.

Neither of mine shoed any interest in anything other than milk and I never looked for signs to be honest, neither slept through the night until almost a year, never thought for a minute food would help and it didn't in my case.
Neither of mine have any eczema asthma both were breastfed exclusively til over 6 mths, I am sure that it is not always the case that early weaning will cause it, but if you have a predisposition to such conditions worthwhile waiting.
2 months is really short in a babies life really