Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Weaning

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

Original poster

11wk baby and am already getting "have you started them on baby rice" question

36 replies

alex8 · 17/05/2007 13:59

I am already bored of explaining the reasons I am waiting till 6 months and I still have over 3 months of it to go! If I have to say well milk has more calories than fruit veg and rice again I'll scream. Maybe I'll get some leaflets printed instead.

OP posts:
Iklboo · 17/05/2007 14:01

Tell them "Not yet, but I did stick a Big Mac in the blender for them t'other day"

Pixiefish · 17/05/2007 14:01

Grrrrrrrr.... and the thing is if you didn't 'know' and understand why it's so bad then you could be under pressure

jetjets · 17/05/2007 14:02

Message withdrawn

DUSTIN · 17/05/2007 14:03

I know what you mean, I had this all the time mainly from friends of my mums. They kept telling me that because my baby was a big baby when he was born I was starving him by not weaning early!!!!

Original poster
alex8 · 17/05/2007 14:04

ha ha at chocolate and big macs.

The thing I find odd is that people with babies who are sleeping through are starting early. Why?

OP posts:
MissGolightly · 17/05/2007 14:05

I just said "no" and left it at that. IMO the more you argue the more they argue back. As the saying goes, "Never apologise, never explain". Worked for me!

jetjets · 17/05/2007 14:13

Message withdrawn

MrsBadger · 17/05/2007 14:16

If it's MIL etc who don't have babies of their own, then lie - say you tried it and she didn't like it so you're waiting a bit.
If it's baby-mates, keep going with the reasons in the hopes they get the message too...

AitchTwoOh · 17/05/2007 14:25

my mum first said the immortal line 'look at that child watching you eating, she's staaaaaarving', at 12 weeks or so. you'll learn to tune it out...

Original poster
alex8 · 17/05/2007 16:10

I may try the non arguing route but am not very good at being quiet. I do say that I was ill informed with my first child and started early and it did not help his weight gain or with sleeping through the night.(He had done 12-6 for a fab fortnight and then started waking so crap hv said its a sign and I sleep deprived moron obeyed). Poor boy developed excema (luckily short lived.)

jetjets you sound like my friend who says they are all lying!

I am getting very excited at doing blw though. I woudl start that early if only my baby knew he had hands yet! (JOKE!)

It doesn't help that some days my baby feeds all the time and looks like the size of a 6 month old!

OP posts:
tiktok · 17/05/2007 17:22

See the thread 'untitled' in this folder.....

cupcakes · 17/05/2007 17:27

dd2 is 5 months and I'm waiting till 6 months to start. Feel awkward when I try explaining that to other mums with only slightly older babies who started weaning at 4 months.

hayes · 17/05/2007 17:29

i think what confuses people is that the guidlines and goal posts keep moving. Do what YOU think is best for YOUR baby and you can't go far wrong.

AitchTwoOh · 17/05/2007 17:36

seems to me, hayes, that the fact that the trend is to leave it til later (3 then 4, now 6 months etc) is very relevant. the guidelines aren't exactly hopping about all over the place...

tiktok · 17/05/2007 17:38

hayes - the guidelines don't keep changing. They moved from 4-6 mths, to 6 mths - hardly earth-shattering.

They were 4-6 mths for about 15 years, IIRC.

tiktok · 17/05/2007 17:39

Telling people they won't go far wrong if they do what they think is best is no guarentee....sorry.

They have to have information.

whomovedmychocolate · 17/05/2007 17:42

I think my response was 'baby rice, no. When my baby starts on solids it will be FOOD.'

My DD is on the 98th percentile, the world and his wife asked me by nine weeks if I was weaning her because she apparently looked 'unsettled'.

Yeah a baby with colic will look that way. Easily cured I'm sure by shovelling solids in

So much more fun when they can pick up the food for themselves anyway.

Trinityrhino · 17/05/2007 17:53

i got a look from a vague friend of mine the other day as if i had offered her a turd.

actually all i had said was "no, not till 6 months" when she said "oh, shes 3 and a half months, food soon"

cupcakes · 17/05/2007 20:04

I foolishly made a joke of it by saying I was putting it off as long as possible to save myself the trouble of weaning. I think people now think I'm starving her.
She hasn't slept through for the past three nights and I just know soon someone will tell me I have to wean her.

AitchTwoOh · 17/05/2007 20:08

in all seriousness though, cupcakes, that is a very good reason not to wean early. blah blah blah blw is a laugh etc but giving them solids is a right pain in the arse compared to easy-peasy milk. i genuinely don't understand why anyone would start a day earlier than they had to... (well other than on medical advice i mean).

cupcakes · 17/05/2007 20:12

well, it's an excellent reason for me. It's ds's birthday the day before she is six months old and I want her to still be exclusively bf so that we can have his 5 hour marathon zoo party without worrying about what she's eating.

LazyLine · 17/05/2007 20:16

You should get yourself a t-shirt.

Or MNshop should sell them.

bitzermaloney · 17/05/2007 20:27

What I found worked for me with people who suggested weaning early was perfecting a polite titter, as though I hadn't actually realised they were serious. Even made my supremely bossy MIL go quiet and look confused for a while.

Vmama · 26/05/2007 18:39

ha i like that idea might try it myself as am sick of unhelpful comments about how hungry he is every time he so much as whimpers

also sick of being told to give him the bottle (he's bf) so i knoe he's getting enough -i already know that by the way he's putting on weight and the fact that he rarely cries.

i suppose its confusing for generations who weaned zat 4mnths as they don't want to b told they may have done something 'wrong'

oldwomanwholivedinashoe · 26/05/2007 18:46

I htink older people ask this because they were told to wean with baby rice at 12 wk. I weaned both of mine at 6mths but Id be rich if I had a pound for every time prior to that I had the same comment as OP!!
My 'friend' weaned her baby at 11 wks and I was quite shocked as it seems most people wait till 6mths now.
Best thing about waiting till 6mths is you can forget that 'sick on a spoon stage'!