what are the risks involved with weaning before 6 months ? is it just allergies?

[robinredbreast]

dd is 5 months nearly and im constanlty being told to wean her now,what reasons can i gove to as why i want to wait
can it also cause bowels problems if so what sort

you don't need to give reasons. just tell them you aren't weaning yet. whatever you say to 'them' they will say along the lines of..'well it never did me/you/us any harm.'

The World Health Organisation and UNICEF recommend not weaning until 6 months:

www.who.int/features/qa/57/en/index.html

Plus on a purely selfish note, in my experience it can bugger up their sleeping (DS has gone from sleeping 12 hours thru the night to waking every bloody 2 hours) plus it's a right old faff to sterilise, puree and remember to take food out with you when you go out for the day!

im getting really pissed off with being told to wean her early

Robin, have you asked them why you should start weaning your DD at this age?

My Dr told me that people used to be advised to wean at 4 months but that medical advice has changed now to 6 months. I think that is why so many older people (ie my mother!) think babies should be weaned early.

I think it increases the risk of heart disease in later life if you wean before 6 months.

can increase risk of gut problems later in life , like IBD

you cannot harm her by waiting

yeah my bloody mother saying to me today you want to get her oin three meals a day by now and mil buying dd a fucking milkybar advent calender she is not 6 months till the day after boxing day ffs ive bloddy well told them im not doing it till 6 months dd is gaining weight fine and sleeping well just wanted some facts to say to them why

and as if im gonna give dd a milky bar advent calender,dont think would do to well as a first food ffs

oh dear

you eat the calendar, and ignore , ignore , ignore

What is it with people thinking white chocolate is Better For Babies?

Just take no notice at all. My ex MIL was always on at me in a similar vein - 'I had mine on mashed potato at 12 weeks and it didn't do them any harm' - er, no. I'm sure the fact that ex and his sister had asthma and gut problems was entirely unrelated.

Tell them to leave the decisions to you and stop undermining your parenting that you are following WHO gudelines. And be safe in the knowledge that you are right and they are wrong.

zeb....I'll confess - I didn't wait until 6 months to wean DS3....but I don't puree, and I certainly don't sterilise (and that includes bottles now he's sticking random toys off the floor into his mouth LOL) - BLW all the way (BUT I did it with the knowledge that I could be creating problems for him later.......however I was getting fed up of having food nearly grabbed out of my hand and him screaming hysterically at DS1 and DS2's dinners LOL).

Isnt it always the ones WITHOUT children or those whos children have all left home that know so much better than us mums

QoQ, I must admit I was too sacred to do BLW but DS (28 weeks) has today enjoyed sucking on a slice of melon and a ricecake and decorating my kitchen with a yoghurt so I feel that purees may become a thing of the past!

well we did offer a few little bits on a spoon - mashed not pureed LOL) (in conjunction with the food that he was feeding himself..but he made it pretty clear he wasn't interested so we've stopped)

BUT I do have a question - I should probably start another thread for this but anyhow - how do they go from waving spoon round in the air, chewing it, sucking it and throwing it on the floor......to actually trying to get food onto it and into their mouth - when does the "connection" come????

I can't remember how or when it happened, but Ds just started sticking a spoon in his food, then transferring some into his mouth, and this gradually grew into eating most of his food with it. I just threw some cutlery on the table with his food, and I think he copied us.
At 17 months he's using a fork competently, childrens chopstick with enthusiasm, but rather less ability, and spoons pudding rather neatly. We are just introducing a knife now

We went and got LO weighed today, and she hadn't put on anything in a week so the HV told us to wean. LO is 17 weeks tomorrow!!