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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

We're finding that the mums who wait til 6 months often have problems with weaning...

76 replies

Ceolas · 29/03/2008 22:16

Said HV to me.

DD3 is 7 months. Eats nothing. Plays with (and sometimes licks or chews) lots of foods. Spits anything on a spoon in your face.

Apparently it's all part of a conspiracy theory. They used to say 4 months but then lots of people started at 2 or 3. If they say 6, most people will wait a bit longer.

OP posts:
Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:17

lol and

babyinarms · 29/03/2008 22:18

too!

princessosyth · 29/03/2008 22:18

I read this somewhere recently. Sorry can't remember where exactly!

Bewilderbeast · 29/03/2008 22:19

hmm, maybe mumsnet should start a book of healthvisitorballs (in the style of colemanballs of course). God I wish the NHS would invest some money in training health visitors

Piffle · 29/03/2008 22:20

we were lucky then in this house... All 3 weaned at 6 mths... Sorry ds2 at 5.5 mths as he crawled over table and nabbed big sisters rice krispies- but pretty baby led IMO!
no ishoos here with weaning they all eat like hungry horses...
yet another hv talking for no reason...

Original poster
Ceolas · 29/03/2008 22:22

And...

There is a theory that by waiting til 6 months you can effectively go straight onto stage 2 weaning.

But you'd never be able to get enough into them that way. They'd be starving!

OP posts:
Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:26

is that what the hv said? yikes.

i wonder if there is some truth in it though, in the sense that it's a self-fulfilling prophecy? so if you wean at 4 months the baby isn't really capable of spoon refusing, or certainly not as easily as at 6? if they're telling people to do stage 1 weaning and the baby developmentally is at stage 2 already and would be fine with finger food, then no wonder the poor kids are getting narked about it.

Thomcat · 29/03/2008 22:29

Well is started my 6 month old last week and she's having as much breast milk as ever during the day but now not waking in the night and having half a weetabix for breakfast, veggies and fruit for lunch and tea, no problems at all and she's soooooo into food she's having a great time and is all mad arms and legs all over the place as I sit her in her high chair and she's know I'm about to chuck a load of food in front of her.

constancereader · 29/03/2008 22:31

My hv told me to "be careful waiting, or I'll miss the window of opportunity".

Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:33

i got told that as well, constance. and no, teecee, you've made a mistake. you do not have a 6-month-old, oh no... that wasn't six months ago, it was 6 weeks, surely?

Thomcat · 29/03/2008 22:34

LOL Aitch! Tell me about it!

constancereader · 29/03/2008 22:36

The worrying thing is that if I hadn't come on here first I would have believed her. Cheers for your blog!

Monkeybird · 29/03/2008 22:40

It's such bollox... mine is 7.5 months and only really started eating in last couple of weeks. Loves it. In fact, we're having problems with not enough milk but that may be other reasons. He's just taken off lately and loves: jars (I know, but we're lazy sometimes) of lumpy baby food AND bread, toast (his favourite), pasta, ripe pears (whole, skin off), steamed courgettes (whole), bananas, yoghurt, rice cakes, cheerios and raspberries. The latter two we have to help him with a bit as his pincer grip is a bit rubbish. We're gonna brave a few more chewy things next week since he seems to have just got the chewing/gumming thing and so far has hardly done any gagging/choking.

Far less, I might add, than the older two who were fully 'pureed' till well beyond 8 months and then gagged on anything remotely thick, slightly lumpy or mixed textured.

I heart BLW!

Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:40

oooh you are most welcome, thanks.

Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:41

that to constance, obv.

orangehead · 29/03/2008 22:41

Waited till 6 months we mine and no probs

Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:42

monkey, my dd didn't have any sort of pincer grip until at least 8 months, i think that 7.5 months would be really early, wouldn't it?

sushistar · 29/03/2008 22:44

ahh, a speech therapist (who i know socially, not seeing professionally) said that in the deprived northern city where she works 'they've changed the advice to wean at 6 months to 4 months' because they were finding 'the babies who were left till 6 months would only take sweet foods and refused savory'. Apparently at 4 months babies havn't developed the ability to taste properly so will take anything, but by 6 months they have developed a preference for the sweet taste of breastmilk so will only take sweet things.

Please tell me it's all a load of rubbish. Exclusively bf ds is 4 months on Wed, and i am intending to wean at 6 months, but i did feel very undermined.

Monkeybird · 29/03/2008 22:44

oh yeah, I meant to put a there since I was just so impressed that he could eat cheerios and raspberries (I wouldn't have dreamed of putting them near the others for fear of trips to A&E etc) so was joking at his expense. Burble burble burble, where's the wine...?

Original poster
Ceolas · 29/03/2008 22:44

TC

We are operating a 24hr breastaurant here!

OP posts:
Monkeybird · 29/03/2008 22:45

oh sushi, just read 'courgettes' and stay with it...

happynappies · 29/03/2008 22:47

sushistar I exclusively bf my dd to 6 months on the dot, and she took to savoury foods just fine. Don't worry - trust your instincts. Good luck

minimenace · 29/03/2008 22:48

My HV said exactly the same thing to me a couple of weeks ago. Apparently they have been issued new guidelines which backtrack to encouraging weaning prior to 6 months due to many mums that wait encountering difficulties.

too late for me but my 6 month old is having no problems filling his own tummy. Oh and the mess is such lovely fun, I'm really looking forward to trying him with spaghetti

Aitch · 29/03/2008 22:51

fucks sake, what bollocks. how DARE some random HVs change the weaning advice from the WHO based on evidence and research cos they think they've perceived an issue with sweet and savoury.
the fact is that a lot of babies can't express a preference at 4 months (not all, deffo, but lots) and so can't refuse anything. that doesn't mean they prefer savoury, just that they're not capable of avoiding a spoon with the same determination that they can at 6 months.
gotta tell you, btw, we get A LOT of women coming onto the BLW site at about 9 or 10 months when their previously happily spoon-fed babies suddenly hate the spoon and want to feed themselves. it seems perfectly normal for a lot of kids (and we do want them to grow up and be independent, don't we?). i'd be VERY interested to know if weaning at 4 months in a 'deprived northern city' (that pisses me off for starters) has solved the problem of spoon strikes. gggrrrrrr.

sushistar · 29/03/2008 22:51

Do any of you know if any specific PCTs have changed their official line to recommend weaning at 4 months? That in particular got to me since i've already had to explain many times to her / others that i'm intending to exclusively bf for 6 months and that's the currend advice - they all think ds will be 'too hungry' or at least 'should have access to water' in a bottle! So when she trotted out this story about them 'recommendiung 4 months where i work' i just felt a bit undermined you know?