Can we knock this "My child was weaned at X weeks and is perfectly healthy" thing on the head? It's not a good argument.

[welliemum]

I've just been reading about early life influences on adult disease risk - for example, the way birth weight and early growth affect someone's risk of having heart disease decades later.

The experts in this field all seem to agree on one thing: that early nutrition and growth have a significant impact on health in later life. However, because this sort of thing is so hard to study, no-one really knows how it all works, what's good, what's bad, who's the most at risk.

Very frustrating for someone like me who isn't involved in the research but just wants to know what to do with my own children to give them the best start in life.

That's why I enjoy discussing this sort of thing on MN, trying to sort out the clear evidence from the myths. But we can't use our own young children as examples.

I weaned my 2 at a particular age (doesn't matter what). They're now 3 and nearly 2 and very healthy.

So can I congratulate myself because the weaning age I chose was obviously the right one? Absolutely not. I could have got it hideously wrong, and only the next 60 years or so will tell.

We have to take the long view on this sort of thing.

Rant over!

Some people also say that bfing can help prevent type one, as well.

FF mothers are more likely to develop diabetes

See this study

NM, are there any long-term studies on that then? (I mean re the less healthy food choices) Unhealthy eating in childhood or adulthood is also related to other factors surely?

No it was pure specuation It is nearly impossible to separate the different facors. Often (but not always)in these studies you are compring: poor nutrition in pregnancy+low birth weight+ formula feeding+early weaning vs good nurition in pregnancy + good birth weight + breast feeding so lots of facors come into play.

The best studies control for social and economic factors, naughtymummy, but you are right that you can get a build up of factors in the same child.

There is convincing evidence that good early nutrition (which means breastfeeding alone for the first months - no formula or solids) can redress the health inequalities that arise from poverty and deprivation. You can't do a randomised controlled trial on it, though.

My ds2 is 5 months and I am going to wean him at 6 months like I did ds1 although the little blighter took a bite of my banana when I wasn't looking today (I was holding him in one hand and banana in the other he leaned forward,grabbed and voila), swallowed it and when I realised and moved my hand away he pulled my hand back trying to get at it again! Although I don't intend weaning him for another month it was quite amusing. I had another banana this afternoon and he was sitting in his bouncy chair eyes following it trying to lean forward.

Ledodgy, I wouldn't worry about it. Are you planning on doing BLW? 'Cause it sounds like your DS is!

The idea of BLW is that if they can do it they're ready. If you can hold off as much as possible though till six months it gets easier.

I wouldn't worry Ledodgy DD self weaned at 5.5 months she grabbed her brothers' 3rd (chocolate) birthday cake off my plate

X post Tinkers

Right, I have managed to do some interweb research today
and it turns out I am having humble pie for tea..

I really didn't think anyone would just go ahead and wean
their child early on the advice of a few Mums on an online forum
but that's exactly what I found on this thread.
(I googled 'weaning at 4 months')

Crikey Moses. Welliemum, you are right, I was wrong.
With regard to infant feeding saying 'we did it and it was fine' is an irrelevant and misleading argument
and should indeed be knocked on the head.

Thank you for the pointers, tiktok. This is my first weaning thread and the learning curve has been steep and rewarding.
I now understand that even though babies might be ready between 4-6 months, the safe and sensible thing is to wait until 6 months.

One final question: Is there agreement on whether one can see the signs of readiness?
Interestingly, I found two industry-sponsored sites (Hipp, Heinz) that listed signs that your baby is ready.
I suppose that is not a coincidence?

I got to the third page and I don't think
she managed to find the link.

Good to see you are back, daddyj

No one really needs to be bothered about 'signs of readiness' - and of course manufacturers with product to sell will try to make it into some great checklist thing you have to go through, many of which are not 'signs of readiness' but 'signs of being about 4 mths old', such as watching you eat, waking up at a different time, mouthing, sucking fists, needing more milk.....

If you start offering your baby good quality, fresh food around about the time he is six months old, without fretting about whether or not he eats any or all of it, and just let him enjoy the experience (or not - some babies are not interested yet), you are 'doing baby led weaning' - of which there is tons on mumsnet including the famous blog by Aitch. Babies then go at their own pace, which is safe for them, and a lot of fun, too. You could look at some great clips of this on youtube as well, if you search baby led weaning.

I am in Scotland and the guidelines when i weaned dd2 who is 20 months was 6 months.

I haven't heard that anythings changed.

DaddyJ, I like the idea of when they're doing it themself they're telling you they're ready. My BF MW and HV say that babies vote with their feet.

If they can sit up unsupported, pick things up and put them in their mouth, don't push it back out with their tongue, don't move it around spitting it out but actually swallow it, then they're ready.

I haven't read all that thread, I know NM well enough to be too scared to! Have a look at the more recent one

Starlight, this myth (that Wales is about to change, or Scotland never changed, or that SomewhereElseOrOther has changed their guidelines or that 'the experts' are now saying they were wrong to go with 6 mths) appears from time to time here.

It's always untrue - national guidelines take forever to change because of all the consultation that takes place, and I can tell you no one is even consulting on this one. It will be 6 mths for the UK for a long time now. Any new research that's emerged since the guidance in the UK changed (in 2003) has only confirmed it, really, although there are some papers which have refined it a bit (speculating on who might be the exceptions to the 6 mth guidance, for instance).

I suspect the myths start with HVs myself,but then I do blame them a lot

I've never been on NetMums.

I think I prefer it here

So..basically don't worry about readiness before 6 months
though if your dc is literally grabbing the food off your fork
it should be ok to start a bit earlier?

It has been an illuminating thread - no, it has been my pleasure coming back, tiktok,
as I have finally understood why the missus insisted that we follow the 6 month guidelines.

I never pushed the issue (for the reasons mentioned by seeker) but I still always wondered why.
Not anymore

I never understood that either DaddyJ. Short of feeding your under 6 month old baby alone how can you stop thenm grabbing? (and then made to feel 'bad' about not eating with your older dc etc)

Tiktok and others, do you work in this field or are you keen amateurs (in the true sense of the word, I mean)

DaddyJ and Mercy, it's best to wait till six months because it's easier, but if they're making a genuine play for your food (as I said before) then don't try to stop them as long as it's not nuts or something else that's really not a good idea

I'm a keen amateur with BLW, I didn't have any support at home (although most HVs and MWs around here are all for it, probably because the HV and MW that run the BFing group I used to go to trained them and are all for it) so I had to research it for myself, but I'm also the type to need to understand it for myself.

A baby who has the dexterity to lean over, pincer-grip your food off your fork and get it into his mouth accurately enough to chew and swallow more than the merest lucky smidgin, is unlikely to be far off 6 mths anyway....and most babies will be somewhat older than this before they can manage that sequence of tasks efficiently.

Plenty of babies of under six months might splat a hand onto your plate and pick something up and then get hand to mouth - most simply won't manage to get much inside, though.

My five month old did a good job then. I think I may have to move over to the G&T threads.