Why do I feel like a leper because I'm determined to hold out until 6 months to wean DS?

[ChairmumMiaow]

It seems like everywhere I go that there are babies of a similar age (DS currently 19 weeks) everyone is weaning already. Its all pureed this and pureed that, and I can't join in the conversation because DS is still all boob boob boob! The one holdout is waiting till 5 months.

I've carefully not said anything about their decisions to wean before 6 months (often at around 4) once they've made their choice, although I have tried to offer my point of view when it was being initially discussed. We're also doing Baby Led Weaning when the time comes, so won't care about the purees!

Does anyone else feel like this around their baby 'friends'? Its not even as if I want to wean him - we co-sleep after his first longest sleep in his bedside cot, so I don't really care how often he wakes up, but I'm starting to have dreams about weaning him!

Help!

am also happy with my choices...

the op doesn't say anything about comments though. and do people really look at you when you don't give solids? surely their babies aren't eating somethines too?

Caz10 - it was quite odd, I thought I'd met a MNer, but she had heard about it through another site. She is an avid reader of the BLW blog though, so we had a chat about that.

I also wonder what they all think of me. We're 24 weeks now and holding out to 6m

I planned a water birth at home (didn't happen as was induced for post-dates)
I have used cloth nappies since she was 24h old and wash her bum with flannels soaked in chamomile tea
I breastfeed - she has had NOTHING else
I don't have any form of routine
I plan to dabble with BLW

I am obviously an odd ball

I sympathise with OP, I feel like I'm being a bit of a stickler for holding out another month until DS is 6 months, but I want him to have the best relationship with food that he can do. Also I can't be bothered with pureeing so we're going to do BLW. I'm learning to do the whole "this is what I've decided to do" way of handling it, rather than criticise the annabel karmel route. You do have to learn to bite your tongue with early weaners though, as they've made their decision. The situation I find hard is when an early weaner is telling another mother (not yet weaning) how they should wean early or prescribe how, that's when I just have to speak up!

I just get really annoyed that people don't do their research well enough when they decide to wean early. It's such an important part of being a parent, taking charge of their health and diet - I think once you've read enough I think everyone would wait until 6 months no matter what anyone says

It's not that I ever felt real pressure to wean, its that I feel left out of the group, and am fed up of all the comments. Nobody ever suggests I wean, but they spend the whole meetup discussing what they have pureed for their babies this week and how much better their babies are sleeping / behaving now they're getting the magic solids. Then of course they ask me how DS is sleeping with that look in their eye!

I've always been a bit different as I'm the breastfeeding (only one still exclusive) cloth nappy using (2 of us out of 7) sling wearing, co-sleeping (2 out of 7 - different other) routine-shunning (with an apparently 'snacky' baby) hippy mother (self-applied label as I never planned to do it like this)

I guess I just feel sorry for myself as these are the people I see where it ok to just talk baby, and I do genuinely like them, I just wish they were a little more like-minded!

Yup, know what you mean OP

It hacks me off because babies differ, my ds1 could never have waited until 6mths unless I was prepared to make him miserable so I started at 4mths, yet ds2 is 20wks and the only baby I know 4-6mths RL at the moment who isn't on solids (I think this is due to him being bf for nearly 4 mths and then the ff is taking longer for digestion so might be the reason why I have no signs of being ready which is fine.

Like I say it hacks me off, my reply at the moment is a standard he is showing no signs, in the hope they will leave me alone, there is no way I would be so blunt to announce something like, oh my understanding was if you exclusively bf they don't need anything else until 6mths, to their faces or well actually I understand why it is better to wait until 6mths etc etc. I do feel a bit alone when this subject comes up, but hey ho that's life I guess!