Feel guiity for starting at five months

[Stefka]

I had planned to wait until 6 months then after a couple of weeks of DS waking up around 16 times a night I got desperate and in a sleep deprived haze decided to try a bit of baby rice at tea time. It helped him to sleep and he gobbled it up so I started giving him a few spoons of fruit/veg at breakfast and tea time all of which he seems to have really enjoyed eating.

He's going to be six months on Sunday so I thought I should start to learn more about weaning and looking through the threads on here has made me feel awful for starting early.

I know it is too late now but I feel like crap. I wish I had waited now. If you are tempted to start early then try to ride it out because I feel really bad for doing so.

Please don't feel guilty Stefka. I remember you and I (under a diff name then!) had a really horrible time with bf and look how far we have come! I started weaning at 23/24 weeks as I trusted my instinct as a mother for the first time since ds was born. I always said that if he wasn't keen I would stop for a couple of weeks, but he loved it. His appetite for boob has improved and he is thriving 4 weeks in.
So I am a guilt free zone - I have given him the best start I can and feel bloody proud of it!

tatt - unimpressive reference, sorry!

It's not about normal, routine, moving onto solids...it's about the intro of gluten (and only gluten) to babies at risk of coeliac disease.

if you cared to look, tiktok, you'd find others e.g. pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/121/1/183

and I don't intend to waste any more time on the ignorant

[rolls up sleeves]

Another limited-scope paper. They look at five studies regarding introduction of complemetary foods (ie solids):

1. Looked at babies already at risk of atopic disease. At 1yo they found atopic disease and food allergies were less in babies weaned at 6m rather than 3m. By age 5 the difference had evened out

1. Looked at babies at no particular risk of atopic disease. Those who had tried more than 4 foods by 4mo had more atopic dermatitis between 2 and 4yo than those who had tried none. This still held true 10y later.

1. Looked at premature babies at no particular risk of atopic disease.

At 1yo, those who'd tried 4 or more foods by 17wks had more atopic dermatitis than those who'd tried less than 4. Introducing solids before 10wks also increased incidence of atopic dermatitis.

1. Looked at babies who had at least one parent with atopic dermatitis and documented what they were fed when. Introducing solids 'late' (6-8m) did not decrease the risk of inherited atopic disease.

1. Looked at babies at no particular risk of atopic disease. could find no evidence that delaying introduction of foods beyond 6m had an effect on atopic disease.

So how does this support early weaning?

Why is everyone so tied up with rules and regulations?

All this advice is suggested guidleines not hard rules.

Guilty because of weaning at 5 months - turn it on it's head and be delighted with yourself for lasting until then.

Thanks for the implied compliment, Starlight

tatt, you're hopelessly out of your depth here, admit it. Why not say, 'oops, sorry, when I said the 'latest research seems to be suggesting it is better to wean before 6 mths esp if you are breastfeeding' I was mistaken, as a closer look at the research reveals nothing of the sort.'

There's no shame in admitting an over-hasty mistake.

What does make you look, um, 'ignorant', is quoting research which you may not have fully read, or if you have read it, you have not understood it well....oh, and chucking an insult at people who (politely and good humouredly) point out the limitations of your reference.

Now go away and do some reading, why doncha? ;)

this is a more contraversial paper

They admit they have no evidence though - all they do is review current practice and speculate about the results of a few studies currently in progress.

Stefka - please don't feel guilty. I weaned DS at 5 months too - he's a very active baby, never sits still and when he was drinking 45oz in a single 12 hour period and still seemed to be hungry, I gave him some carrot and sweet potato and he yummed it up.

he wasn't going through a growth spurt - rode that one out when he was downing 7oz every 2 hours during the day!!

He's not had dairy, gluten or anything else like that, and I waited until 20 weeks..

(sure I'll get slated for this - don't want to start an argument, just trying to make the OP feel better

Stefka, guilt is a pretty useless emotion unless you use it to do something good, so I back up what Starlight says, if you want to feel something, feel angry you didn't have enough support and information and try and help others be more aware.

However, by early weaning most don't mean at nearly 6 months,(I had a friend that weaned at about 8w eeks ) so try not to worry, chances are your baby was perfectly ready for weaning, the reasons they say wait til 6 months is because by then practically all babies are ready, it is impossible to guge which baby is going to be ready exactly when, we cannot se inside their gut so the advice is to wait until 6 months when it is almost guaranteed not to have any adverse affect on baby.

There is also something to do with iron stores depleting suggesting not to wait longer than around 6 months but again, that will change for each individual child and as far as I'm aware is different for formula and breastfeeding.

Tatt, there really is no point arguing a point you can't back up.

My dh (now 40ish!!) was weaned at 6 weeks..I know this cause my mil told me frequently when mine were at weaning age.He has not suffered as a result of this.
My friends teenage mum daughter once turned up with her baby who my friend was going to mind for the day. Baby was 3 months old and daughter had a pork pie with her.
My friend "what's that for?"
Daughter "it's her dinner"
My friend "you can't give a 3 month old baby pork pie"
Daughter "well she ate it yesterday".
I once overheard a mum telling hv she was weaning her baby at 3 months and he'd had porkchops for lunch!
My point. All mums make decisions we worry about and weaning guidelines have changed greatly over the years but babies are robust little things and a couple of weeks here or there are hardly going to matter imo.

A couple of weeks, no, hopefully not, but a few months yes.

Good post VictorianSqualor

C&P'd this from a thread on netmums that explains it better than I could.

The guidelines for weaning changed to 6 months several years ago (not recently, last year etc as some people have been stating). As with all these guidelines there is a lot of research and science etc behind them yet all the accompanying research etc and so reasoning behind it isn't given out to everyone automatically. - but it is available, and it is given to the medical professionals as a matter of course (some don't read it, don't take notice of it etc but it is given to them). The actual results of the research and so the reasoning behind the recomendations have always said babies will be ready for weaning between 4 and 6 months BUT (huge but . . .) there is an actual physical change in their digestive system which makes it capable of digesting solid foods. Before this change has taken place solid foods can not easily or safely be digested and so if solids are given before it happens then the baby is open to problems (many of which appear only much later in life not in baby hood). This physical change occurs at some point after 4 months but before 6 months - and there is no way of telling when it happens in any baby. So because we can not look inside our babies and see if it has occurred yet, but it is known that it will have occurred by 6 months old and that all a baby actually needs nutrionally for the first 6 months is milk, the line was drawn at 6 months and the advice put out as do not wean before 6 months without medical advice and guidance as if weaning is done before 6 months old there is a real risk that this physical change has not yet occurred.

Stefka - life's too short to feel guilty. I agree that waiting till 6 months is the ideal, but every child is different. I think your reasons for doing it were right and if it has made a difference to their sleeping and, more importantly, your sleeping then I say don't worry.
I believe that your sleep deprivation can be far more detrimental to your child's well being than weaning them a few weeks "early".

My DD is almost the same age as yours, 6 months in a few days time, and she's been having taster foods and porridge for 3 weeks now. We've introduced these very gradually and if she turns her nose up at it then that's fine we don't force it on her. As someone said on another post "food is fun until they're one".
Good luck with the sleeping and happy chomping.

Stefka, my DS is 14, DD 10. DS was weaned at 3 1/2 months, slightly earlier than the then recommended 4 months because he stopped sleeping through the night and was hungry. I don't feel guilty - it was ok back then and I don't think my DCs have suffered. Sure, the guidelines are there for a reason but there will be babies who just can't wait til 6 months for something more substantial than milk. Not sure how I'd have got through the 2 1/2 months til DS was 6 months if he was a baby now. Stop feeling guilty and enjoy your contented baby. You're proving you're an intutitive Mum.

intuitive event

If he is scoffing it and enjoying it then he was probably ready for solids. My two were at 25 weeks and 28 weeks.
Any attempt at solids before that and they would just push it out of their mouths with their tongue.
You have nothing to be guilty about 5 months imo is far better than the 13 and 16 weeks that sil and bilsgf started their babies on solids last year.
Oh the comments they made about me 'only' giving my children milk!
You have to do what you think is right for your children. 6 months is a guideline and just as some children teeth or walk earlier than others, some will be ready for solids a bit earlier too.

Thanks. I guess it is done now. It's so hard sometimes to figure out what to do for the best as a new mum and sleep deprivation does not help you to make good decisions! I wish I had waited but it's too late now and he does really enjoy his food. He scrams if it doesn't come fast enough - especially if it is banana which is his fave so far. I am starting to let him do it himself now with finger food which is really nice - I hope to do more of this now he is six months. I really hope that I did not do him harm.

You haven't harmed your baby Stefka, relax and enjoy your baby. It is hard to know what to do for the best ( and it doesn't get any easier as they get older) and in anycase there's rarely simple right/wrong answer - as you'll see from lots of the posts on MNet! Wish MN had been around when mine were babies.

oh great reading this has thrown me into more of a quandry. DD (16 weeks) is waking up loads at night, seems hungry, very sicky in the day. I'm exhausted, can't express enough to keep her happy, have DS (3yo) to look after in the day and we are about to move to another continent. I'm on hte edge most of the time. DH stressed as well, trying to help but she just wants my boobs. Yesterday felt something has to give. Called HV and we talked in depth and she suggested weaning. Wanted to EBF for 6 months but not sure I can do it without breaking. So.... weaning? formula? or break down?

As a Health visitor I have recently read Gillian Harris's article in the times suggesting research shows babies veg intake before 6 months is an accurate predictor of veg consumption at 7 years! There is also no evidence that a bit of rice before 6 months causes allergies etc.We feel that a more relaxed approach is called for! Some babies are happy enough on milk alone and some don't seem to be! [ gillian harris is a lecturer at Birmingham University and a clinical psychologist at The Childrens Hospital dealing with eating disorders]

Oh - thrown into a complete spin now.

DS is 20 weeks. He's always been a good sleeper, but he's now started waking up a couple of times in the night to be fed, and I'm struggling to keep up with him in the day (he's bf, by the way) He's sitting up on my knee very happily, and he can even sit unsupported for a little while. I told the HV today, and she said it was time to start introducing a few solids - rice, and pureed veg and things. I was slightly confused because I was expecting to be told the 6 month thing again.

I thought I'd pop onto the weaning section to see what everyone else is doing, and I've come across a raging debate... Now I have no idea what to do. DS is obviously hungry, HV says wean, mumsnet says don't, instinct says he'd probably really like a little taste of things now and again (on account of the fact he keeps trying to steal my food)...

I'm totally confused, and feeling a little bit stressed! what on earth should I do??

Sanguine: re-read Jennings4's well informed post!

Jennings4 - please could you give some peer reviewed article links please ?