What age did everyone start weaning?

[Cjo99]

My DD is 16 weeks old & from she was 14 weeks I have been giving her a few little spoonfuls of puréed pouches of fruit etc (picture included) 2 friends of mines have said they started weaning around the same time as me but others have said I'll upset her tummy. She seems fine & enjoys it. Just looking some stories from other people? (by a 'few spoonfuls' I literally mean 5 or 6 very small spoonfuls)

Obviously not lying down in a bouncy chair. She is sitting up on her own. And she is 4 months old. The majority of people I know started weaning at the same age as my DD and all their babies & kids are perfectly healthy? I guess it's all down to what you feel is right...😂😂

Namesgonenow
Shock horror My babies and my friends babies all started weaning about 14 weeks it was normal back then.
As i said the EAT study half the group were introduced complimentary foods at 12 weeks, they would have allowed it if there was any evidence of harm.

Research programme Food allergy and intolerance research --
Study duration January 2008 to August 2015
Project code FS231063 (T07051)
Planned completion August 2015
Conducted by Kings College, London
Background
The EAT Study was commissioned to investigate when is the best time to introduce allergenic foods into the infant diet in order to minimise the risk of development of later allergic disease, including food allergy.

Whilst it is widely accepted that breast milk is best for feeding babies, it is currently unclear whether excluding allergenic foods from the diet before six months of age, is the best way to prevent the development of food allergy and other allergic diseases such as eczema and asthma.

The results from this study will be extremely important in helping to answer the question of whether regular consumption of allergenic foods alongside continued breastfeeding in early life could be a preventative strategy for food allergy.

Research Approach
The key objective of this randomised controlled intervention study was to investigate whether the early introduction of six allergenic foods (milk, peanut, sesame, fish, egg, wheat) into the infant weaning diet, alongside continued breastfeeding, reduced the number of children developing food allergies and other allergic diseases (such as eczema) in childhood.

"The EAT study recruited 1,303 mothers and their infants onto the study. All mothers on the study were to breastfed exclusively until their infants were three months of age at which point they were randomly split randomly into two groups.

One group (the Standard Introduction Group) followed standard UK government advice and were asked to exclusively breastfeed for around six months, after which introduction of allergenic foods was a matter of parental choice.

The second group (the Early Introduction Group) was asked to introduce six allergenic foods from the age of three months alongside continued breastfeeding with the help of a dietician and support from the study team."

Yeah, I actually followed the science instead of what huns suggested though

@00100001 thanks, I worried it had to be done in a certain time frame or they won't want to do it. He isn't doing that, so I'll wait a bit longer. Thank you

25 weeks for us. 26 weeks is the advice and I wanted to get as close to that as possible. DS was very interested in what we were eating coming up to the 25 week mark so that’s why we tried it then.

I would worry a 14 week old wouldn’t be developed enough to digest solid food easily and would try again after 17 weeks to be safe. Also a mashed banana or avocado is an easy alternative to pouches without the added expense and easily transported when out.

@TeddyIsaHe what would you suggest? Genuine question.

@Cjo99 I'm impressed she is completely sitting up unaided!

I'd speak to a HV or GP if I were you. Then you have the medical opinion and know what to do for the best.

I do feel that it is very very early. Is there a particular reason you feel you need to do it now?

@stargirl1701 I doubt your early weaning caused your asthma. And as far as I'm aware, early weaning is supposed to REDUCE the chances of allergies? But you're right though about 8 weeks being too early, still a newborn at that ageHope you're doing okay

@Someone1987 Anything you eat! If you want to stick with purées for the time being, smush up some dinner with your fork. Veg and fruit purées, Dd loved smushed you avocado at that age.

Now he’s a bit older try him on some finger foods: strips of omelette, banana (leave a bit of the skin on for grip) toast to dunk in purée. Things like that.

Just watch out for salt content, choking hazards (nuts, grapes, blueberries etc) and honey.

@babydogandi I know, she is very strong! She is almost standing unaided aswell!😂😂 Well, as I said I haven't substituted any bottles. It was actually my HV said to me that obviously they can't recommend feeding her anything before 6 months but she personally started at 16 weeks (my DD is taking 7oz of milk every 2 hours, I was told this is too much lol) so thought I'd let her have tastes of things because I enjoy it and she seems to love the carrots every other day

Op have you at least done a baby first aid course so you know what to do in the event of choking?

8 weeks DD1 and 9 weeks DD2. That was normal 30 years ago.
Both DDs are now fit healthy intelligent graduates of normal weight, with no food allergies.
In those days we offered small tastes of whatever we were eating - usually smooth slop like mashed potato, or yogurt.
There is some evidence that waiting later than 4 months increases the risk of food allergies, according to British immunologists. Certainly I had never seen or heard of a case of peanut allergy when I was a junior doctor in those days. It’s relatively common now in the UK, but not in countries that still wean early.

@Cjo99 if he very cautious doing it this early. There are lots of studies about saying that before 5 months actually increases risks of allergies etc hence why so many people have allergies today!

I'd reassess in a couple of weeks time to be honest.

*id be

@TeddyisaHe ah thank you. I feel very naive , first time mum and no one to ask for what they did. Great ideas there, thank you.

Every baby is different

Well presumably your baby is a human baby, yes? In which case, yes they're all slightly different, but weaning before 17 weeks at the absolute earliest has been shown time and time again by robust scientific studies to be harmful. There's some evidence to suggest weaning somewhere between 17 and 26 weeks can help reduce the incidence of allergies, but before then is plain stupid.

You are putting your baby at risk of choking, taking insufficient milk, and making her likely to be overweight in childhood and later life. She's not a toy, she's a baby, and whilst weaning can be fun for a first time parent it's not fair on your DD to put her at risk for your own amusement.

6 months (5 corrected) as advised by my health visitor. I don’t really get why people are in a rush to do it earlier.

@TeddyIsaHe Yes I have done a course on first aid which included what to do in the case of a baby choking

6 months maybe even a few weeks later actually.
I thought there were studied correlating IBS with early weaning?

Babdoc please don't peddle such shite, just because your DDs have escaped your recklessness unscathed doesn't mean everyone should just ignore the scientific evidence. If you can link to a study suggesting weaning pre-17 weeks is a good thing I'm a purple giraffe.

And FYI, 30 years ago the guidance was not to wean earlier than 17 weeks. Some uneducated parents did wean earlier then, as they do now, but it's never been the official guidance.

@Someone1987 :)

@HavelockVetinari wow. Never have I compared my daughter to a toy. She is taking the exact same amount of milk. Taking a few tastes of smooth food isn't putting her off. And as I've said like 5 times, I'm not substituting any bottles. Also, I'm obviously not the only one who started weaning early😂 Just wanted to hear some friendly stories of when people started weaning, jc...

@Someone1987 Good luck!

I tried at 5 months, DS wasn't ready and tried again at 6 months when I noticed more signs and he was definetly ready

How long can she sit up for unaided OP?