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Weaning

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

Original poster

Please tell me NO health visitor in the land would advise/recommend this ?

101 replies

FoghornLeghorn · 04/06/2007 11:56

My BIL & his ex have a baby girl together - she is 2 weeks older than my DD2 which makes her 7 months old this week.
She has been weaned from as early as I can remember on baby rice - infact, I think my DD was little over a week old when this started. My DN is now and has been for some while eating foods that I personally wouldn't give to my children at such a young age - each to their own - they believe they know best.......

HOWEVER

........ I am now seriously concerned - BIL was here yesterday and he gave DN a bottle of milk, not formula, full fat cows milk. I asked him about this and he said she was no longer on formula, hasn't been for about 2 weeks, purely on full fat cows milk and food.
She isn't even 7 months old .
I think the look on my face sort of expressed how I felt as BIL asked what was wrong. It is their first child so I tried really hard not to do the whole I've got 2 children, I know best things but tried to explaint he reasons why babies aren't supposed to have full fat milk at that age, let alone have it solely, with no formula. I explained how much salt was in it and that too much salt can kill babies and has done so in the past.
He just brushed it aside - think I annoyed him - saying that his ex has okayed it with HV and she actualy recommended it.

I really don't want to but in but I don't think they realise the implications of this

OP posts:
beckybrastraps · 04/06/2007 17:04

My friend used to live abroad and her HV equivalent encouraged her to use cows milk from (I think) 8 months. Certainly before a year anyway.

suedonim · 04/06/2007 17:14

My oldest is now 32 and it was standard advice in the 70's to wean onto boiled cow's milk at six months.

Also, if you were f-feeding, as most were then, bottles were to be dispensed with by that age and a normal cup used instead. Ds1 was on 3 meals a day and cow's milk at six mths as were all the babies I knew. I wouldn't do it nowadays because modern research shows that it's better to continue with breast or formula but at the same time, none of the babies of my acquaintance came to any harm.

Aitch · 04/06/2007 17:26

my mum was obsessed by getting dd onto a cup, suedonim, i bet that's why.

Malaleche · 04/06/2007 21:48

Could i just say that it really annoys me when people say things along the lines of 'it didnt do any of the babies i know any harm' - how can you possibly know? There would have to be very vigorous follow-ups decades down the line to know if different weaning practises are harmful to health or not. Human beings are very resiliant and can survive, even appear to thrive, on a very crap diet but i'd like to point out that bfeeding gives long-term health benefits as well as short term ones. It's all there in the WHO's info...

Otter · 04/06/2007 21:50

who is for the world

not well fed british babies with sweet potato puree,rachels yoghurt and full fat milk

Malaleche · 04/06/2007 21:51

(not a dig at you personally suedonim, but at everyone who thinks giving baby rice to a three week old is fine, formula is as good as breastmilk, or that cow's milk is an ideal food for babies and young chidren, it's not).

Otter · 04/06/2007 21:53

its fine from 7-8 months really

Othersideofthechannel · 04/06/2007 21:55

Malaleche, I don't dispute no cows milk until 12 months but what's wrong with it for young children?

Malaleche · 04/06/2007 21:58

I'll go and find someone more eloquent than me that i can cut and paste onto here...

Othersideofthechannel · 04/06/2007 22:00

Thanks. DD (2.6) loves the stuff and has been drinking half a pint a day since she was 1!

Othersideofthechannel · 04/06/2007 22:00

I mean half a litre, so that's nearly a pint!

lisad123 · 04/06/2007 22:02

I work closely with HV and have never heard a HV recommend cows milk before 1 years old. Maybe she suggested it was ok to use a little bit of cows milk in solid foods when cooking (think I remember this advice when DD was about 8 months) and so she assummed ok to use as drink.
Goodluck

teafortwoandtwofortea · 04/06/2007 22:03

FoghornLeghorn - though I completely understand those on this thread who say they wouldn't interfere I think in this case I would.

As the law stands at the moment if you wrote a letter to their GP (or if you don't know who that is, their local primary care trust)saying who you are, what your concerns are and requesting that they look at the situation, this is what would happen: Their HVor GP would be informed and they would follow up the concern by visiting the family and probably in this case educating them. They may tell tell them it's because they received a letter or they may be discreet. They will not tell them who wrote the letter if you have not given permission to do so and if they ever request the medical notes your letter would be removed before they were permitted to see them.

In these circumstances, a number of people (friends/family) must know what they're doing and may have concerns too - your BIL would be unlikely to guess it was you if that would concern you. My fear is for this little girl - if they're ignoring advice now, what will happen in the future? If their HV is alerted now that this family need a bit extra looking after, it may help her care in the future and prevent harm.

A difficult situation, good luck in your decision making.

Otter · 04/06/2007 22:03

i am not saying it is currently the hv's bag

however it was not long back....

it may not be 'ideal'

it is not however 'harmful'

Ceolas · 04/06/2007 22:05

I haven't read into it really, but I don't understand why cow's milk is harmful to a baby under a year.

Surely formula milk is cow's milk?

Heathcliffscathy · 04/06/2007 22:05

i maintain, and i know this is boring, that emotional stuff is much more important. so cows milk/vs her feeling that she is not loved...no contest.

it is not a disaster imo. not fantastic but not a disaster.

Otter · 04/06/2007 22:06

well said sophable more eloquent than me

lisad123 · 04/06/2007 22:09

But surely theres medical reasons why they dont recommend cows milk until a year? So yes does sound harmful to me.

winniepoo · 04/06/2007 22:13

THis is what people did prior to formula and the human race survived so i'd try not to worry. If you reported them to social services I don't think they'd bother even to investigate. They are wrong you are right but it's their choice you can't force them to feed her formula. Which compared to bm is not as good but nobody worries or judges about that.

edam · 04/06/2007 22:15

I think if I were in your shoes, I'd approach my HV and see if she knows their HV. So their HV can have a chat and see if they have misunderstood the advice. Cows' milk is fine in food, but not as the main drink for the reasons already given. The iron/salt issue is important if the poor baby isn't getting any breast or formula milk. (And if they are this clueless, God alone knows how much salt they are putting in the baby's food, for instance.)

(Ceolas, formula is based on cows' milk but it's not the same - it's processed to make it suitable for babies.)

edam · 04/06/2007 22:18

Winnie, in the days before formula, the mortality rate for babies who were not fed their own or another woman's milk was quite high, IIRC.

Otter · 04/06/2007 22:21

she is already 7 months

the girl is fine please leave her parents alone

Malaleche · 04/06/2007 22:25

Ok, have found loads of references to not giving cows milk as a drink to under ones due to its mineral and protein balance. As to giving it to young children there's a number of reasons I dont give it to mine. I've seen the DCs of many friends become obsessed with milk, needing bottles all night long and refusing other foods in favour of more milk. It's mucus-producing so when a child has a cold it is snottier and more likely to get ear infections. I didnt like it as a child and still dont as an adult (yeah, bad reason for not giving it to mine, I know). We have hayfever , mild food allergies and eczema in the family. I prefer to give them cheese and yoghurt. There are plenty of far better sources of calcium etc than milk. The Milk Marketing Board have their own interests at heart. I'm sure lots of people here will disagree with me.

winniepoo · 04/06/2007 22:32

edam prior to formula all babies morbidity and mortality was much worse!

Aitch · 04/06/2007 22:41

much as i think that the HV is more likely to have said 'use milk in cooking' and the message has been misconstrued, everyone does seem to be assuming that the mother wouldn't care about using cows milk...

fair enough the father responds with 'well we've been told it's okay' but if she's just made a mistake then she might be upset at not being told.

sophable's point, that emotional sustenance is as if not more important than giving a baby milk or not, isn't really hugely relevant. who's to say that the mother isn't completely capable of providing both but that she's just got the wrong end of the stick wrt the HV advice?

i don't think it would be even remotely appropriate to mention it to the family, but if your HV does know her HV then that may be a poiit of access. the bottom line is that cows milk proteins should be modified before being given to babies, and the guideline is for a year. it's easy to pick something up wrongly from an HV, i think the mother should at least be given the opportunity to change the milk if she might want to.

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