It's not rocket science - "it may cause harm to wean early, it does no harm to leave it till 6m" - WHY do people still want to shovel baby rice in at 12 weeks (or earlier)?

[hunkermunker]

I have come up with some ideas as to why people wean early:

they have competitive baby syndrome and are annoyed someone else's baby rolled first, so they want to get theirs onto steak and chips via baby rice and one fruit or veg a week for months

Well, an idea. Any more?

I think we all do things different ways, and we do what is right for our children.

No child or parent are the same. So I don't think there is any 'correct way' to do things.

Main priority is to make sure our children are happy and healthy.

Jhsmum...actually, no if there is very profound research that says, over and over again, that early weaning will cuase problems later, things like Crohns etall, then surely it's not a matter of every mom knows whats best for their child...that is a ridiculous statement.
I mean, there are people who truely believe that corporal punishment for their children is the way to go and that think that beating a child possibly with a belt is just fine and afterall, it's their child and they know them best...surely you would, in that case not say, oh well, they know their child best....

sorry i spoke - i'll leave now.

by the way, I agree wiht you on your last statement..."Main priority is to make sure our children are happy and healthy. "
Thing is, that is actually teh issue with this one, isn't it...IF you feed your child before their gut is ready, then they have a high chance of not staying happy and healthy...
my aunt has crohn's desease and at the moment it looks like she may well end up with a stoma , and teh chances are that it won't be reversed...she is not even 50 years old...not nice...

I bf ds through the night until he was 16 mths, he was not "ready" for solids at 4 mths even though he fed 2 hrly round the clock and ran me ragged feeding.
6 mths was not much better, his weight gain was fab - his activity level high nd he slept well between feeds

I let him choose, he made it obvious when he was ready - by 6 mths he was happy with breakfast, other meals took a lot longer. I was happy knew he'd get there.
He was a big lad too, he has always been on the 99.6 centile and aged 13 he still is...

DD different, by 6 mths she was very eager and took to it well.

Bu that's parenting, my right is not your wrong, your right is not my wrong.

it's our choices we make as parents

to answer tinkerbelle's point of ages ago - iirc formula milk is modified to avoid some of the allergenic properties of cow's milk.
but yes, the rise of milk allergies may not be unconnected to the wide use of formula milk.
I was told by a bfc that until a few years ago some formula contained peanut oil. that has really stuck with me, and I wonder what role that played in increased peanut allergies

wrt the formula milk, i think that the question 'should i introduce formula to my hungry baby who i just simply cannot bf any more than i am doing (for whatever reason, be it endurance or capability or inclination)' is SUCH an interesting one.
i think jack newman bfing guru, for example, has proposed that starting solids may be preferable to starting formula in a bf baby over say, 4 months. it's something twinklemegan looked at as i recall.

i guess it's one of those interesting questions that will only ever begin to be answered as an aside to another piece of research. that's why i found the South African HIV research interesting, as it appeared to suggest (from what i understand not having read the paper but from the abstract and welliemum's analysis) that in fact formula plus BF is preferable to introducing solids earlier. as someone who knocked my pan in mix feeding for months with people telling me how good formula is, i have been somewhat heartened by that revelation.

harpsichordcarrier - aha, that makes sense - thanks you (re formula) nasty smelly stuff that it is. Wouldn't even feed it to my cat. Fancy putting peanut oil in it.

Actually I think babies these days probably take in more detergents via polish, washing powders, those bloody air fresheners that squirt etc. than toxic foods! I solve this problem by not cleaning very much and only using 1950s type detergents very sparingly.

I come out in a rash if I have strawberries which aren't organic and I thought I was being daft until I discovered that there is a chemical they use only on berries which is also in shake and vac - which also brings me out in a rash. That's not an allergy though - the stuff is toxic, most people would react if exposed to enough of it. (sorry very off topic)

interesting, not to say insulting x-post tinkerbell.

would you feed formula to your cat if it was starving?

Haven't the time to read the whole thread. Its massive!! In answer to the OP, one of the reasons that some of my post natal group friends weaned before six months, I think, was because they were going back to work. They wanted to do it themselves and get their LOs established on solids before they went to nursery etc. I don't know the reason for one of them giving baby rice at 10 weeks, though Hunger, I think, but as we all know, more milk would have been a better alternative.

Tinkerbell - are you being norty again?

bristols, i think that's a good point. hopefully the 9 months mat leave will help with that very real pressure.

Norks - Moi????

No I genuinely do believe we get as much toxic crap from household chemicals as the food we eat.

AitchTwoOh - Sorry, don't mean to be insulting, if a parent chooses formula, that is their choice, I just wouldn't because it smells to me, very funny.

Oh and the cat makes his own arrangements generally, he's always killing something or other. We only put down biscuits so the neighbours don't think we hate him.

Aitch, I hope it will. I'm very fortunate in that I'm having a year of maternity leave. I have to say that I have really enjoyed the weaning stage. And I love preparing and cooking all of DSs food. I wouldn't have missed it for the world so I can kind of understand the actions of my friends. Although, I don't necessarily agree with it.

Oh and my DD is on the 98th percentile and she's like a little limpet, always attached to my boobs. My best friend saw me the other day and didn't recognise me without the extra head sticking out my jumper (DD was asleep in the pram)

So I can relate to those who say 'enough, have some formula you leechy little monkey'

oh gawd... oh yes, i made a choice, that's right. forgot about that... stupid, stupid me.

Sorry for shortening your name. A terrible habit of mine in RL too. Hope you don't think me too familiar!

Aitch - yes you did make a choice, in your situation you made a decision that instead of banging your head against a brick wall you would use formula.

Personally I came very close to it several times when I'd fed non-stop for about three days and couldn't see straight.

are you talking to me, Bris? i like aitch. in fact, were it not for the fact that the name had already been taken i'd just have been Aitch by preference. it's what i call myself in my head, iykwim?

Aitch(!), yes I was talking to you. Glad we got that sorted

NO I DID NOT MAKE A CHOICE. i can't get into this, i am supposed to be doing something else, but before you go insulting many MNers who are still sensitive on this point (and there will be many) i must ask you to accept the fact that not everyone gets to make a choice about giving formula.

Okay you didn't. Some women can't breastfeed, I get that. Go do your thing, please don't be hurt, I didn't mean to upset you

good, then, that you get it. there are plenty of people who struggled beyond all normal endurance to get as much BM as they could muster into their babies while supplementing with FF. i know, because i've spoken to enough of them on here. and i was one of them.