Weaning at just over 4 months

[Pickles31]

Hi, my health visitor said it’s best to start weaning at 6 months as that’s what the government recommends which is what I’m going to do but I just wondered why some baby foods like Ella’s kitchen etc do baby pouches from 4 months?

Because for some babies the advice is different for medical reasons.

Babies guts aren't ready at 4 months.

6 months is plenty of time to wean

Because there's no law on the age they can put on the packaging. Of course they want to make an extra 2 month's of money out of it! I'd leave it as long as you can as it's messy and time consuming.

Dd was weaned at 17 weeks (the advised age at the time) but in hindsight I should have waited longer as she wasn't really ready. DS was 23 weeks roughly and more ready than dd was

I think it's just that they are for babies who have been told by HV or doctors to wean early under certain circumstances.

It's very stupid though and gives people the wrong idea!

It's so they can sell more baby food primarily, plays there's a lot of pressure from some elements of older generations to wean at 12 weeks/ 4months because that's what they did.

However, some babies are weaned at 4 months under the advice and guidance of medical professionals.

The government guidance is 6 months and its best to try and get as close to that as possible but obviously a few days/week before that is unlikely to cause much harm.

I tried at 4 months and it gave DD a terrible tummy. I’d hold off!

Anything past 17 weeks is safe. I did 4 months with reflux DD1. Waited till 6 months with DC2. There is now research that suggests waiting until 6 months actually increases the risk of allergies.

From my own personal experience, weaning earlier was more successful.

The current fashion for late weaning at 6 months may well soon change, OP. There is recent research that suggests babies are more likely to develop food allergies if you leave the weaning late.
Current theory is that babies are being exposed to allergens via their skin, before their gut can identify them as harmless foodstuffs. This is setting up immune responses, and triggering allergic reactions when the food is belatedly offered to the gut.
It’s most obvious in babies with eczema, as their broken skin allows even greater antigen exposure. Immunologists are advising such babies should be weaned at 4 months, and they are considering extending that advice to all babies.
My own generation weaned very much earlier (I weaned both my DDs at 2 months), and we had a massively lower incidence of food allergies.
Peanut allergy was absolutely unheard of, and kids got peanut butter sandwiches from the minute they could chew them!

There had been rumours of the weaning age changing since my dd was a baby but it never has!

There's no evidence of harm weaning from 17 weeks/4 months. 6 months is a guideline.

Thanks everyone @babdoc thanks that’s really helpful to know yes my husband has eczema and a nut allergy, my little boy has eczema at they mo and the only thing they works on him is aveeno emollient. We wer naughty and did try him with a Ella’s kitchen pouch today of sweet potato and he really liked it and didn’t spit any out, we only did it to try tho, il tell my husband about what u have said tho too x

Hubby also has asthma

Why would you start with a pouch of food?

I was told to wean eldest DD early. At 15 weeks HVs were getting antsy at her weight loss. I was breast feeding her and giving her top ups. She was still losing weight. At 16 weeks I was told to wean her but really really slowly. I was told to stay away from jars though. I gave her a teaspoon of pureed sweet potato and a teaspoon of mashed banana a day for 2 weeks. Her weight picked up. She was still feeding like crazy. I was advised to keep doing this until weight slowed down then up her solids again.
She is now 11. No allergies or anything.
She was clearly needing food.

A lot of people startweaning because they were excited for that stage rather than wait for signs!

DD2 was weaned at 6 months, DD3 wasn't anywhere bear ready so she was 7.5 months.

Seriously though, put down the pouches for a while. The last thing your baby needs is to have processed food being the first thing it eats!
Also, only give your baby what you are prepared to eat! Try those pouches and jars, they are vile and they all smell and taste the same!

What babdoc says. I’ve weaned at 17 weeks with dc2 because dc1 has a food allergy.

The advice I received (in Canada) from our paediatrician was to start introducing allergens in small quantities (no meals larger than 3 tablespoons) at 4 months. She said the latest research suggests that can help prevent the onset of allergies and that 6 months is on the later side to start. She advised checking off tree nuts, peanuts, egg, shellfish, soy, dairy, and wheat all before 6 months if possible, and to give our daughter a variety of vegetable and meat flavours to try. In practice, we started my daughter on solids closer to 5 months, but she really took to them and now at 20 months doesn’t seem any the worse for wear for having started “early” vs the UK advice!

I weaned them onto egg, peanut butter, and dairy. Look up the EAT and LEAP studies especially if you have a baby with eczema.

It really isn't advised to delay weaning past 6 months.

EAT study introduced foods early alongside breastfeeding. 6 month guide won't change unless they replicate results with non breastfed babies too

Weaning at 4 months is typically under medical advice. The food stating 4months+ is just marketing, there's no law or rules around how they advertise it. I'd be following the guidelines of our health service personally. Google start 4 life.

It's not "naughty" to offer food at 4 months, it's just not what the guidance advises. As a parent you can decide whether to follow the NHS advice or not.

Baby food manufacturers want to make money, and they will sell their products to whatever age baby they are allowed to advertise to. That doesn't mean you should start to offer solids at 4 months, or that their pouches/jars are the best thing to offer.

Fresh food prepared at home is going to be more nutritious than pouches/jars, and also have a more normal range of tastes and flavours. If you're keen to start offering solids then it's not very difficult to prepare small amounts of fresh food for your baby. Pouches/jars etc should be a once in a while in an emergency type situation, not a staple of their diet, imo.

As an aside on the eczema, salcura junior outbreak worked wonders for ds. Better than anything else we tried.

Baby food labelling in Europe has to follow the EU rules (rather than WHO/UK/NHS recommendations). Here is the opinion of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA):

"On the basis of present knowledge, the Panel concludes that the introduction of complementary food into the diet of healthy term infants in the EU between the age of 4 and 6 months is safe and does not pose a risk for adverse health effects (both in the short-term, including infections and retarded or excessive weight gain, and possible long-term effects such as allergy and obesity)."

www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/1423

Weaning at 4-6 months (inclusive--ie weaning at 6 months) is fine. People should avoid weaning earlier or later than this unless there is a medical reason why. But if we are talking 4mo versus 6mo, there is no clear evidence either way and it largely comes down to parental preference.

Look at the advice and research from Scandinavian countries. (Although I doubt they would be using Ella’s pouches.)