Weaning at a certain weight, anybody heard of this?

[ibroughtcake]

I will be the first to admit that DS has put on weight at a rate of knots, he was 8lb 4ozs when born and is now 15lbs 11ozs at 10 weeks.

When I took him to get weighed this week the hv started talking about weaning dates and how not to do it too early etc. I told her I wasn't planning on weaning until 6mts the same as DD, but she then said 'oh I don't think you should wait that long because he is so heavy already'. She went on to say that usually she doesn't advise until 6mths, but with DS because he is a big baby that I should start earlier maybe around 4 1/2 months?

She said that one of the signs they look for when thinking of weaning is that the baby has doubled their birth weight, which DS nearly has. I then got to thinking do they say 6 months because they have developed enough by then to handle solids or is it 6 mths because they are of a weight then to need solids.

Does anybody know anything about this at all, or has not fed solids until 6 mths even with a heavy baby.

TIA

Weight has nothing to do with gut maturity. Your HV should not be advising contrary to the WHO guidelines, I have heard this about weight before but I think its crap.

Thanks for the replies, starlight DS is breastfed too (we must make gold top )

Where do they get this stuff from then?

Claire Verity

You had grass, soil and food on your plate, Starlight? Is that some kind of organic diet thingy?

cake, this is very old fashioned indeed - I mean very. It's at least 30 years since this sort of thing was discredited.

Weight has little to do with the ability of the body to metabolise foods other than milk.

Do ask her where her information is from, and why it is different from the guidance given worldwide, as well as the UK.

If she says, 'it's what I was taught' then you know what to think of her

Starlight, breastfed babies typically grow faster than formula feds for the first six months or so, and then there is a gap which gets greater and greater.

Charts are not based on ff babies, but on babies whose feeding is not differentiated. In practice, many of them will have been at least partially ff.

Standard charts do not differ from the newer WHO charts, at least not much - the faster growth rate of bf babies is shown but it's not until after the first 6 months that you'd notice any real difference.

my ds was over 20lbs when he was weaned at 5 1/2 months. He doubled his birth weight (7lb 13oz) very quickly and if you I'd gone by old advice (did they not say 14weeks or 14lbs whichever came soonest?!) he would have been weaned at about 12 weeks.

7 years ago when DS1 was a baby there wasn't a 6 month guideline, most people weaned at 4 months. I was told then that once DS had reached 16 lb he could start on solids - he was about 14 weeks at the time but I held on until 4 months and it wasn't difficult. I don't think it was that unusual back then. Nobody mentioned doubling birth weight which is just as well as DS1 doubled his birth weight by 8 weeks which is a little early.

DS2 was born in 2003 after the new guidelines came in and I didn't wean him until he was 6 months and he was (still is) a heavy chap. He was a better sleeper and feeder than DS1 and it wasn't a problem. I didn't take much notice of the HV that time around - just did my own thing. She was a lovely lady but the extent of my conversations with her revolved around her telling me how gorgeous my boys are (I know that ). I tended to work things out for myself.(Different HV to DS1 by the way - we moved before DS2 was born).

I don't think weight has much to do with it. My boys were very different weights and still managed to survive perfectly well on breast milk for the time they were exclusively fed.

I think it's developmental. I mean, you wouldn't decide when to start them at school based on their weight, would you?

I wonder what other useless (possibly harmful) information the HV is giving out - you would be helping other mothers if you sent a written complaint to the HV manager. You can find out who that is by phoning the Primary Care Trust HQ.

When my DC's were babies, they ar 10 and 12 doubling the birthweight was part of the guidelines.
The rules keep changing, who is to say which are really right. I suspect in 10 or 20 years time people will be looking back and be shocked at the 6 month guideline, because things will have changed again.

dd was 10lb6oz at birth she continued on the 98th centile for weight & height until she was nearly 2. she was bf until 4 months and then mixed until 6 months (couldn't express enough bf when I returned to work. I didn't begin weaning until 6 months and she never really ate food until she was 10 months. My younger 2 were also nearly as big and fully bf until the 6 mth mark.

BTW they all went without milk for 12 hours at night from a very young age too.

my dd was/is a big baby, well over 20lbs at 6 months and she was only 6.12lbs when she was born i breastfed her exclusively til she was 6.5 months when she started solids, so yes it is possible! also i think the reccomendation for 6 months is because their gut is not mature enough to handle food until then, whatever their weight. hth