To start weaning 5 month old?

[Howtogoaboutthis]

My youngest had a hospital appointment today with a paediatrician for something unrelated To my surprise, they suggested I start weaning now. My baby has only just turned 5 months and cannot sit unaided yet, but can with support in a chair.

The reasoning, I think, is that he’s exclusively breastfed and huge, on the 98th centile. I waited until six months with my first. Did everything by the book, and he’s actually a terribly fussy eater now!

Im curious if anyone else has done this? I was under the impression it wasn’t so great for their gut.

Have they lost tongue reflux?

You can measure how long he is.
It is idiotic that they weight the baby and don't compare it to length.
My DD was "amazing" for being 40th centile although she was very long and you could count her ribbs on 1y appointment.
And I was given hard time for DS being 98th untill he was 2y and they calculated he is actually middle for his height.

I listened to weening advice with DS and he had tummy issues. Maybe not all babies will but he was hungry baby and ate everything offered. I scaled back after two months and took it slow.
DD was offered food at 6mo and was slow to accept anything and had no tummy issues.

Both now eat versitile diet and are interested in new food (they have changeing preferences but do eat fresh fruit, cooked vege, meat, beans etc.).

When I had mine it was recommended at 3 months

He was measured a month or so ago, but not today. Back then he was 50th for length and 90th for weight!

My first was born on the 6th centile and stayed on the 10th for years, even now he’s only on the 25th and slim, and I think 40th for height. He was formula fed.

My 3 youngest were all 90+ centile babies, I waited until 6 months as they weren't showing any interest, couldn't sit unaided, etc

I thought part of the reason for waiting is so that they aren't getting so full of food they can't digest that they don't take enough milk (that they can digest), maybe they suggested starting to wean as you don't need to worry about them not getting enough?

in France they recommend weaning to start a four months. I started weaning at 6 months with my two large children.

Soldiers of toast with peanut butter were always popular .Or marmite .

Nope the reason for waiting is most babies aren't physically ready before 6months. They should be able to sit unaided, transfer food to their mouth and have lost their tounge thrust reflex.

Obv there are outliers and those who need to wean early for medical reasons.

There are sadly far too many HCP who assume milk isn't "enough" for bigger babies

Breastmilk cannot make an infant pathologically overweight (by which I mean overweight in a way which is unhealthy, as opposed to an above average weight which is completely normal for that infant). It is the ideal food for which human infant energy homeostasis mechanisms have precisely evolved over millennia.

Suggesting that an infant consume something other than breastmilk for the purposes of slowing unhealthy weight gain is a nonsense. Always. There is in fact so, so much evidence that exclusive breastmilk during early infancy (and continuing to breastfeed beyond infancy) is protective against pathological obesity later in childhood.

There might be other reasons why early weaning is recommended, and there is also no exact age of weaning universal to all infants - but "excess" weight in a breastfed infant is not a reason for early weaning.

Sadly, whilst I hope there has been a misunderstanding, many paediatricians are woefully uninformed when it comes to breastfeeding.