can't believe i forgot to share this with you - overheard at baby clinic last week.....

[Tutter]

first time mum asking about weaning

she was a couple of weeks into it with her 5.5mo

hv said something along the lines of "you should get started with some other types of food [other than fruit purees] as you've started quite late"

the mum said "but isn't the advice to wait til 6 months?"

"yes, officially, but most start at around 17 weeks, so you're quite l;ate"

have image of mum scuttlin out to buy pork chops...

poor woman was prob first time mum too

We really need a bangs head against brick wall smiley, don't we?
Lisa X

God they are fucking idiots.
In my job (NHS) we would be considered guilty of professional misconduct going against Min. of Health's advice and guidelines.)

Similar happened to me...Asked for HV's opinion on the health benefits of exclusive bf versus getting a few extra calories into my slow weight gaining, mild eczema suffering 5 month old by topping up with formula. I understand that they don't want to be pinned down, but was told that it's 'only' the WHO that encourage exclusive bf for six months, and really gave the impression that waiting 'til six months was a bit extreme. They were taken aback when I said that one of the reasons I wanted to continue bf was that my sicky baby might benefit more from breast milk as it's digested quicker than formula....they hadn't heard of this and looked at me as thought I was mad! As a first time Mum I was left more confused than ever so am continuing exclusive bf until I'm convinced DD is ready for weaning... thats on another thread.

sorry that's quite muddled...we got onto weaning too...i'm having a puddled day and shouldn't be posting!!

Oh dear Cyber.
Another fucking idiot on the loose.
What a surprise!

Some health visitors are utterly wonderful

Some are fantastic. However, one here told me to feed DS (nearly 11 months) about 4 yogurts a day as he had dropped a curve. If I did that he would only eat yogurt

If you actually read the WHO advice it says actually says not before 4 months and not after 6 months.

from thw WHO publication 'guiding principles for complementary feeding of the Breastfed Child
"DURATION OF EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING AND AGE
OF INTRODUCTION OF COMPLEMENTARY FOODS
A. Guideline:
Practice exclusive breastfeeding from birth to 6 months of age, and introduce complementary
foods at 6 months of age (180 days) while continuing to breastfeed.

B. Scientific rationale: In May, 2001 the 54th World Health Assembly urged Member States to
promote exclusive breastfeeding for six months as a global public health recommendation
(World Health Assembly, 2001). This recommendation followed a report by a WHO Expert
Consultation on the Optimal Duration of Exclusive Breastfeeding (WHO, 2001), which considered
the results of a systematic review of the evidence (Kramer and Kakuma, 2002) and concluded
that exclusive breastfeeding for six months confers several benefits on the infant and the
mother. Chief among these is the protective effect against infant gastrointestinal infections,
which is observed not only in developing country settings but also in industrialized countries
(Kramer et al., 2001). There is some evidence that motor development is enhanced by exclusive
breastfeeding for six months (Dewey et al., 2001), but more research is needed to confirm this.
For the mother, exclusive breastfeeding for six months prolongs the duration of lactational
amenorrhea and accelerates weight loss (Dewey et al., 2001). A longer duration of amenorrhea
is generally considered an advantage, and for overweight women, weight loss is also beneficial.
Lisa x

Here's the link to the whole thing as well, it's quite interesting
www.who.int/nutrition/publications/guiding_principles_compfeeding_breastfed.pdf

christywhisty I think that is what it said up until a few years ago.

I think now it is phrased in such a way that it says not introduce anything (including formula) until after 6m.

had excellent moment in M+S t'other day with 6mth old ds (he has been BLW and yoghurt eating of his own volition for about a mth, nothing serious just robbing mine or his sisters food crumbs)

This ladys 8 mth old girl was being spoon fed some mush and kept trying to grab the spoon and food was everywhere,
There was ds 2 sat on my knee eating my ham and cheese sandwich very daintily, while also carefully dipping his fingers in my choc topped cappuccino...
this woman looked agog and saikd how come he doesn't choke...
I said Cos he always has though food has lumps! So he chews it
She says but he has no teeth
I saw nope
but man his gums are good enough...

piffle - can I just ask - do you just give him bits of what you give the others and spoon feed him aswell? ds3 5 1/2 months and grabs at everything - have tried giving him toast which he sucks then throws but not sure how to give whole meals to him or whether to give him some puree and then finger food?

I had a great HV gem this morning. Was advised that I should give DS vitamin drops as he still has breast milk, whereas formula is 'enriched with vitamins and iron' so you don't need the drops.

Because obviously breast milk is entirely free of vitamins and iron (not sure what she thinks is in it actually)

I went to a bf workshop when was pg with ds3 and was told that breastmilk is not free! ROFL

I've been told the "bf babies need drops" - that was a whole room full of HV's.

and my HV this week was pressing me to hurry up start weaning ds (25 weeks on Friday) as "there is a window" - apparently if he doesn't start getting solids the day he turns 6m he'll be bf for the rest of his life! And since I'm starting late, apparently I'll have to "move things along" - start with puree, then mush the next week, then maybe finger foods by the end of the month.

sigh.

like the idea of the head-bang-brick-wall emoticon.

I exclusively bf ds until he was just shy of 6 months and then went down the blw route (he's now 17mo). When he was about 5 mo went to see hv and she was really shocked that I hadn't already started him on solids. I mentioned the WHO guidelines to her she very patiently explained that the WHO covers the whole world, whereas we live in England shaking her head pityingly as she did so. And then just to finish it off she told me I had bf for long enough and it was now time to switch to formula. I just laughed and walked out

This is from their current website

infant nutrition

if you read the section complementory feeding it actually says

"Complementroy feeding should started when baby can no longer get enough energy or nutrients from breastmilk alone. For most babies this is between 4 and 6 months"

it's says babys should be at least 4 months

and if you read the it also states that after 6 months breastfeeding does not provde adequate iron.

Fair enough. I can't seem to get onto the WHO site tonight as server seems so slow - which is why I admitted I hadn't actually checked my facts recently

ooh christywisty - thats really interesting to know - my hv said something along those lines.

How did they figure out that breastmilk costs then Fangs?

lmao

There was a huge group of us - she asked us what the benefits of bf were (targeting me and another non-first timer) and I said 'It's free' and she said 'No, it's not - you have to eat much more healthily which costs more'

At which point I thought I was going to spontaneously combust.

Why didn't you say something?
Oooh,I would have just loved to be there.

I'm sorry , christy , i'm going to argue with you again! that document is a draft of a booklet which has been adapted to the local needs of east africa,india and syria , it says clearly on the cover that it's not an official publication - all the other official documentation is firm about exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months.
this is the link to all of itwww.who.int/child-adolescent-health/publications/NUTRITION/WHO_FCH_CAH_00.6.htm
and this is one to the policy documents
www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/NUTRITION/infant.htm
sorry to be argumentative, but i'm a bit anal about research
Lisa X