baby book suggesting to wean before 6 months - is this allowed?

[MamaChris]

DP and I were reading "Rough Guide to Babies", and under the Weaning section, there's a heading "When's the right time to start". I quote:

"Advice on this can be confusing. In 2003, the Dept of Health issued the following statement, bringing its policy into line with the WHO: 'Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first 6 months of an infant's life...' Before that, the information given for many years was to give the first solid food sometime between 4 and 6 months."

All correct so far. But then:

"As with much official advice, the DoH's edict is 'ideal world' advice... Moreover, some authorities believe these recommendations are sensible for the developing world, where education and hygiene make exclusive breastfeeding possibly the safest choice for a baby, but not necessary for a country like the UK... In practice, most parents start to introduce solids at some point between 4 and 6 months."

There follows an example of when ex bf is bad - when the mother has HIV!

Interspersed through the subsequent text are phrases like "it's unwise to wait longer than 6 months", "if your baby has started to wake up, demanding food night after night, you may well decide that this little stomach is ready for something more substantial".

It's carefully worded, factually correct, and avoids presenting the complete reasoning behind 6 months. The underlying message is don't listen to the current advice, introduce food earlier. Now DP is saying "but the book says that's why ds (4mo) is waking up so often - it says he needs it for iron - why should we wait till 6mo?"

How do they get away with printing advice inconsistent with DoH guidelines?

I loved that book! At the time of going to press it was probably correct. When I had DD1 (now 4.3) guidance was 4-6 months.

Hmm. First edition published May 2006. So 3 years after advice changed.

Because they are guidelines, its not the law. I thought the first section was worded well. Don't know anything about HIV and breastfeeding but the other stuff seems aimed at people who live in reality.

I think book is trying to hedge its bets and play to all audiences.

Current advice is 6 months. They based that on the best evidence available and for good reason. They didn't just stick their fingers in the air and decide to change the figure!!

The stuff on HIV and bf is correct, AFAIK, it's just an unusual example to use in a weaning section, IMO.

The arguments presented seem very one sided - focused on the problems with starting beyond 6 months, and nothing on the risks of starting before.

there are many other cues taht your baby is physically ready for solid food:

sitting up

loss of tongue thrust reflex

able to pick up a piece of food, get it to his mouth, chew and swallow

babies have enough iron stores to last around 6 months, they do start to deplete, but don;t suddenly vanish at 6 months

there is iron in breastmilk and formula.

the most filling , nutritious and safe food you can give a baby is milk.

he is probably waking due to a growth spurt, the most satisfying thing he can have is more milk.

your baby does not actually need food until around 6 months.... food is for fun until you are one anyway! weaning is not about replacing milk feeds, in the early stages nor filling tummies,but introducing new tastes and textures.

go slowly and at your baby's pace, remembering that if there are allergies in your family, later weaning can be better

Having a baby of 11lb7oz gives me a different timeline anyway he was 3 months old when he was born .

And even the HIV example isn't true - in situations where formula feeding is unwise, or if the mum really wants to bf, then exclusive breastfeeding is the safest thing. The WHO now recommend 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding, and then rapid weaning, for women with HIV who aren't in first world countries. The rate of HIV transfer is much higher when the baby is mix fed than exclusively bf.

The iron thing is crap. Theres a recent paper showing that babies absorb plenty of iron from breastmilk, so their stores are not depleting at all

Scramble, I'm sure you're joking, but you aren't suggesting that big babies need to be weaned earlier, are you? As unless your gestation was in fact a year (in which case I look forward to the DM article on you!), it's just not the case that a larger baby is any more developmentally ready for food than a smaller baby.

What happens to all the children (including mine) who were weaned much earlier, following the advice around at the time?

My understanding is that, on average, children weaned earlier are more likely to have allergies. But we can only follow whatever guidelines exist at the time. I had asthma/diary allergy as a child, so I want to be cautious with my ds and wait till 6 months. I was surprised how biased towards earlier weaning the book I read appeared, given current advice.

There is apparently evidence that states that early weaning CAN lead to allergies and kindney problems. I know lots of people that weaned at 4 months and not so many that waited til 6. I got to 5.5m when I weaned ds and hv told me I should have done it earlier as ds was/is a big baby.
Like someone else said, they are guidlines and every baby is different.
I wouldn't worry too much about what you decide to do as in a years time these guidelines would have changed again probably along with how we put them to sleep and that we shouldn't use a dummy

Do people slavishly stick to these guidelines? Does instinct or experience come into it at all?

Curious as the rules seem to have changed such a lot since mine were babies...surely children havent changed that much,?

the book is trying to appeal to all readers. many many books do this. they don't want to 'offend' anyone.

imo, put food infront of the baby, if she picks it up and eats it then that's ok. if she can't sit up, pick it up, put it in her mouth, she doesn't need it yet. milk is fine.

I wish I'd followed my instincts and weaned earlier. But I read everywhere to wait till 6 months and I was a 1st time mum and didn't know a thing but I personally have made a promise to myself that I will follow my insticts whether it agrees with guidlines or not. No one knows my baby like I do. I will be doing things alot differently with dc2, I won't even read a book on it all.
MamaChris, I've found that if you think he's ready, he's ready and if you think he isn't, he isn't.

It is a gut maturity thing. The gut will mature any time between 4 and 6 months. Without x-ray vision it is impossible to tell if your baby's gut is mature. Therefore waiting until six months is the safest option.

We don't need x-ray vision though as nature is clever - when a baby is ready for food, s/he will demonstrate the signs that lulu listed, thus saving us from relying on "instinct" or "intuition" or some other notion.

As lulumama said, babies do not need anything but milk until six months. I don't think I am disagreeing with her. The developmental stages she mentions tend to be at around six months rather than four.

My post wasn't aimed at you constance, although it did read like that, sorry.

I knew we were agreeing with each other really!

MamaChris... Baby Led Weaning... that's the way to go

"hv told me I should have done it earlier as ds was/is a big baby" Once more, with feeling... Size of baby has nothing to do with readiness of internal organs to digest solid food.

I felt that at about4.5 months MY baby was ready as he always seemed to be hungry. He could sit up, he was showing interest in my food, his tongue action had changed, he could get things into his mouth and he was taking 6oz of milk every 2.5hrs.
I waited and waited because I was afraid of kidney problems developing from early weaning and in the end, decided to go along with my feelings after speaking to hv.

This part is not to be taken as advice.
I scrapped the instructions on how to start weaning and how to introduce and I let him have as much as he wanted and he ate loads, no tip of a teaspoon for him.

Ds1 was big (10lb 5oz) and didn't want food until 7 months. If they are big we are told to wean early.... if they are small, we are told to wean early....

i weaned at 4 months as he was having around 8 8oz bottles a day..just baby rice..and the hv said..just give him a tip of a spood. He had about 7 spoonfulls then had a baby rice high and fell asleep for 6 hours solid. I cried with joy.. i say let your baby tell you( within reason obv)