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?

That I will not do Aitch. We'll have to agree to differ.

no, we won't agree to differ. i will, however, bow out because you have just been rude to me on yet another thread... your 'victim' stance is extraordinary to me.

zookeeper are you a long time mumsnetter?

ok Aitch, as always you are 100% right and Iam 100% wrong.

If by that you mean that I haven't yet learned to stay quiet when someone says something I disagree with or patronises me then I suppose I am, zippi

look, if you didn't see the thread that has been deleted then you simply don't know what you are talking about. if you did see it and you thought i was being horrible then you are 100% wrong. i note that twiglett has left you some advice on the other thread. maye take that on board?

no just curious I got the impression you had been here years but then people are saying you are new

that's because people who disagree have learnt to shut up or leave like Cam

Again, please stop advising me Aitch. It's not your place.

[sigh] righto zookeeper.

thank you

Like VVV my interest in food is a personal one and although I don't have to deal with the scary stuff she does, like her I don't have the luxury of just doing "whatever" when it comes to feeding my children as I would run a very real risk of harming them.

That fear has got me reading and the reading has given me opinions.

Sadly, there is a faction on mumsnet who automatically assume that anyone who expresses an opinion is criticising their (the faction members') parenting skills.

I don't know where this defensiveness comes from but it's real problem on mumsnet because it kills discussion.

It's killed this one stone dead.

This thread started off in attack mode but there was starting to be a really good discussion about weaning research before the thread was sabotaged by some very angry people.

Sorry I wasted my breath now.

the thing i dont get about this is in child development everything is relative.

one child will walk at 9 months and another will start at 18 months, neither is wrong just relative to the child

so why when everything else in relation to development is accepted at different rates (because all children develope at different rates) do you insist that all children should start eating at 6 months???

surely if some kids sleep through earlier, get teeth earlier, walk earlier, talk earlier, sit up earlier than other babied then some babies should wean earlier?

it just seems illogical that so much space is given to every other developmental stage (dont worry ... kids do stuff at different ages - is often said) yet every child should start to eat at the same time??

don't be sorry wellemum i am still ploughing through your links.

I am wondering if perhaps we should have an allergies section for discussion like this because it does seem that a lot of those who are v interested have become so due to personal circumstance.

arrgh Kitty read the thread !

there is an allergies ection

theres 667 posts, i havent the time, thats just what i think

i stand corrected zippi.

thanks will go have a look.

Not at 6 months, Kitty, after 6 months. ie, Just milk is fine until 6 months of age. That's a different slant to the way you put it.

I absolutely agree that the "best" age to wean is going to be slightly different in each child. But we have no way of knowing how to judge that at the moment - despite a lot of attempts.

Just milk til 6 months is the current best guess. If anything, I suspect the recommended minimum age will increase, rather than decrease.

okay kitty, that's not really what is being said at all... if you read the thread then after 6 months is the safest time. do it before then and you incur more risk of allergy etc. you do not definitely make your child ill, precisely becasue all children are different and some will already be ready for solids, but you do potentially increase the risk because as a mother you cannot do an endoscopy to check how mature their gut is. however, plenty of children don't take to weaning at 6 months so your point is relevant in that respect.

and like wellie i can see the guideline age going up as well. i only hope that we have the sense not to get offended by that when the time comes, and to undermine new mums who might fervently feel that follwing a 9 month guideline is important. (which of course i think it will be, shoudl such an eventuality occur).

doesn't 6 months refer to exclusive breastfeeding rather than ff

so the same would be true of 9 months?

Yes, that's the acid test.

Can you read new advice that says you did something potentially risky with your child, and take it on the chin and support people doing the new way.

I hope I will do it when my time comes - as it inevitably will.

I'm saddened by the number of people posting on mumsnet who have to protect their parenting self-esteem by attacking new ideas.