Why is everyone weaning their babies early?

[catnaps1995]

Everyone I know seems to be weaning their babies before 6 months. I was just wondering why really?
Nhs and my health visitor both say to wait until 6 months as weaning any earlier could be bad for your baby but everyone else I know has already got their baby on baby porridge or purées.
I am desperate to wean my 5 month old. She seems like she really wants my food when I eat around her and I feel guilty when I say no. She also still has acid reflux. It doesn't help that my partner thinks we should wean her and is throwing little hints at me about how she wants food and seems ready.
I just wondered why people do it earlier than advised. I thought maybe it's in the hope that they sleep longer? Cause it can't be for ease because weaning is more work than breastfeeding!
Also could people reiterate reason why you are supposed to wait 6 months so I can repeat them to my partner?
Thank you

For a number of reasons;

• excited by the next stage
• feel their child is old enough
• mistaken normal developmental behaviour eg grabbing food as a sign they are ready for food
• mistaken belief it will improve baby’s sleep - it normally does the opposite.

So that their stomachs are developed enough to handle the foods being given.
There is a thought that a lot of peoples stomach problems who are in 30s/40s etc are due to being weaned at 4 months and had an immature gut etc, at the time, so have grown up with problems.
Weaning is about replacing milk with solid food but a baby needs to be able to get the nutrients from that food. Try to early and they won't get the best.

You said you're "desperate" to wean your baby. Other parents are also desperate, so they just do it.

Incidentally, babies stare at people whatever they're doing and try to grab everything. So the fact she watches you eat doesnt mean anything. My daughter watched me cut my partners hair the other day and wanted to grab the scissors, doesn't mean she is ready to become a hairdresser.

The developmental signs that baby is ready for weaning are being able to sit, being able to swallow solids(as opposed to tongue thrusting food back out) and baby being able to coordinate bringing food to their mouth with their hand. Some babies are ready slightly early than 6 months (ie: a few weeks before not months). There isnt a magic leap that happens the night before being 6 month and the morning of that means they're ready. The nearer to 6 months the better however as theres no need to faff with puree.

PP's above have explained it very well.

Parents usually come to me saying things like:
They're chewing their fists
They're watching me eat
They're wanting more breast/formula milk
They're waking in the night for milk when they used to sleep through.

These are all normal baby behaviours, not signs that your baby is ready for solid food. As your baby grows they will need more milk, because they're getting bigger and more active and need the extra calories.

Breast milk or first infant formula provides everything your baby needs until they reach 6 months of age. After this they need extra nutrition from solid foods.

Signs your baby is ready:

stay in a sitting position, holding their head steady

coordinate their eyes, hands and mouth
so they can look at their food, pick it up
and put it in their mouth

swallow food (rather than spit it back
out)

There is no reason to wean earlier than 6 months unless you have been advised to by your child's paediatrician, GP or HV. It's very rare that professionals will advise that though. In the last 2 years I can only think god 3 babies out of a caseload of about 6000 that have been given the advice to wean at 5 months and those babies had very specific health needs.

*of not god!

I weaned mine at five months as I was returning to work. Six months is a guideline not a law. My first baby was over 10lbs born at 37 weeks he was eating real food starting at four months.

I weaned all mine at five months as I read a heap of research and discovered there is some evidence waiting until six months can result in higher levels of deficiencies and that the 6 months guideline was not devised based on any particularly compelling evidence.

I will try and find links for you.

I started out all determined to wait until 6 months but at 5 months we just knew ds was ready. He was constantly trying to grab at our food, he just really wanted it! Loads of other signs too. I thought 'no, we'll wait another month because of what the books say' but as the days wore on he just wanted it more and more so we decided to sod the books and listen to our individual baby!

At 5 months and 1 week old he had a tiny bit of banana mushed up with some breast milk and let me tell you he loved it! We gave him small amounts daily thereafter and gradually built up from there.

Ds is a happy and healthy 17 month old now. He came to no harm and is a great eater! Remember a guideline is just that - try to think of it as around 6 months rather than 6 months and not a day earlier.

(The guideline could change to 5 or 4 months again in another 10 years anyway. Who knows!)

One example:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.newscientist.com/article/dn28366-should-babies-be-given-solids-earlier-to-prevent-food-allergies/amp/

30 years ago, when I had my babies, we all weaned much earlier.
I weaned at 2 months, and it was rare to delay beyond 4 months.
There is now some interesting research from immunologists suggesting that the modern trend for late weaning (at 6 months) may be the cause of the huge rise in food allergies in children, especially peanut.
The theory is that, if you offer foods early, the baby’s gut will identify them as harmless foodstuffs and not mount an allergic reaction.
If you leave it too late, by 6 months the baby is more likely to have encountered these allergens via their skin instead, and become allergic. It’s a particular risk for babies with eczema, who have broken skin and therefore easier access for allergens.
Countries that wean by 4 months have hardly any peanut allergy. I recall a London based paediatric immunologist being stunned when he discussed it with overseas colleagues at a conference and found they’d never seen a case, whereas he had several at every clinic.
The other advantage to early weaning is not so potentially life saving, but it’s thought there is a “window” for introducing new foods to babies. The longer you leave it, and the fewer flavours they experience, the more picky and difficult they will be about trying new foods as toddlers (or indeed adults).
As a retired doctor I’ve seen fashions in infant feeding change several times. I’d urge you to be open minded and not a slave to guidelines that may actually be harmful. I think the NHS was considering changing the advice to 4 months in any case.

I've got 5 children and weaned them at different ages depends on the child. I started my son at 4 months even the health visitor and doctor encouraged it for him as he was so hungry and didn't drop any milk feeds when food was introduced. My daughter had reflux and wasn't interested in food even at 6 months she would only have a spoonful. 6 months is a guild line and not all babies fall into it. Do what is right for your child.

Here in Ireland you can wean from 17 weeks. I did this was all 3 of mine. All are great eaters and have zero allergies thank God. Each to their own I guess.

Thank you everyone. Will wait till 6 months. Think I may also be excited about the next stage but she only has like 3 weeks left

When my baby (now 40) was four months old, the advice then was to gently start weaning. It seems strange now that so many are against it but it was common then to introduce solids at four to five months. I have to say mine took to it like a duck to water and thrived, he ate well but they are all different. A mother is (generally) the best judge of when to try.

The key thing to remember is that a bit of carrot has nothing on breastmilk calorie wise

Thinking they’ll sleep better is definitely one I’ve heard a lot. Bollocks in my experience!

And you’re right. Weaning is an awful lot more hassle than breastfeeding. I hated it for the first couple of weeks. She got eczema out of the blue and I wanted to get it cleared up before weaning so she was just over 6 months. She didn’t seem bothered and it was messy and effort and stressful and crap. Within 6 weeks we were pretty much doing blw as she didn’t want to be spoon fed and was happiest gnawing on a heel of bread or cucumber sticks etc. Now a few months on it’s still messy and gaggy at times but I love it.

There’s a big expectation that weaning is a fun positive experience and I was disappointed it wasn’t but it’s lovely now.

Just a note that she’s never cut down on breastfeeds despite having 3 decent meals a day. The baby loves milk. So don’t expect that will happen automatically.

If you're breast feeding weaning could mean you could be away from your baby a bit longer.
I went white water kayaking a few weeks ago when my baby was 5 months old. I was a bit worried about leaving him for a few hours but he was happy because he had a rusk to keep him going.
Unless you have a reason to be away from your baby for more than a few hours I would probably wait until 6 months, although if your partner is keen to start I think it would be Okay just to offer the odd little thing slightly earlier. Your baby isn't going to drastically change in a couple if weeks.

I weaned from 19 weeks I think, DS had stopped tongue thrusting and could sit up well himself. Also my DSis works with a paediatrician who has a specialism in allergies and they are adamant that the main allergens should be introduced before 6 months. I gave DS everything except peanuts before 6 months and he eats anything and everything, has no allergies and has never had any skin problems.

The 6 month thing is a guideline, not a rule.

I weaned both of my DS at 16 weeks on medical advice. Both had reflux and didn't have much milk.

Looking back now, eldest DS probably had CMPA. He was refusing formula feeds and as soon as we weaned, he absolutely flourished. He pinched a crust of toast from me, put it in his mouth and chewed it at five months so we introduced finger foods then.

My DS were already sleeping through before then so I wasn't bothered about that. I really wouldn't wean early if this was all you were doing it for. Every baby is different. Do what you think is best. The weaning police won't arrest you if you start early.

I weaned at 4 months on paediatric advice. Her reflux was so improved over night she became a different child (happy/content). I breast fed for 9 months.

Babies are each different with different needs.

Prem twins didn't sit until 8.5 months but they needed weaning before that. In Ireland they used to advise wean it from 4 months.

I've learned not to judge. Babies are very resilient and advice is constantly changing.

For every “my baby was weaned at four months and has no allergies” you have one like mine who wasn’t really that interested in food in comparison to anything else, even though I didn’t stop him playing with anything he reached out and took from my plate before six months that wasn’t a choking hazard. He almost certainly didn’t ingest any food before six months that I’m aware of, wouldn’t countenance a spoon so I did BLW by default, allergens introduced at some point but I forget when, and he also has no allergies or sensitivities or fussiness around food, self regulates his intake, happy to try all sorts of things. And his father has asthma, eczema, and several severe food allergies. So your mileage may vary, I was fairly relaxed about the whole thing