weaning

[babylonian]

i want to start weaning my 4 month dd and have read everywhere about baby rice, excuse my ignorance but where can i buy baby rice from...is it in the baby section of the supermarket? does it come as dry rice or a powder form that is mixed with milk/water??? and any suggestions as to brand? i feel that this question is probably the most stupid to be aired on mumsnet .

so for 80 or so years they got it wrong?

You only need to read some of the threads on breast and bottle feeding to see how poor the system is in this country. Even now when the government has eventually taken on the WHO advice they are still not training health professionals properly nor providing women with adequate support. Breastfeeding figures in this country are appalling.

No, the WHO have been saying that for over 10 years. But, yes, this country have got it wrong for a good few years now. SUrely, that doesnt come as a huge surprise?

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Please find it then. I am tbh rather shocked that you feel you know more than the WHO and countless medical organisations.

I will be interested to see the research that proves solids before this time is correct.

I give up. You are basing your research on a few people. The research I am talking about is accepted as correct. It's not my opinion but the accepted opinion on weaning. It's like saying my gran smoked 10 fags a day and lived to be a 100. SO what? it proves nothing.

is the who an american company?

The WHO is not an american company!
IT is the World Health Organisation...

even the organisation for health visitors agrees with my "opinion".

wheres the support? i was pregnant for 9 months and my dd is now 4mths! did it slip by me or they just forgot to tell me, to let me know an important part of my dd's life?

That's a point I made before and lots of others have before. I complained to my trust at the lack of training my hv had. The support and knowledge sadly isnt there. I was told that unless the hvs had attended seminars on it or researched it themselves they wouldnt know.

No, the WHO is the World Health Organization. It's true that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends 6 months, but then again so does the UN, the British Medical Association, the Australian Academy of Pediatrics, and every Russian grandmother, so it's not some wild American concept.

I have no idea what would make you think babies were weaned early for thousands of years. Clean, suitable baby foods are quite recent most places and even 6 months is ptobably much earlier than the historical norm.

our local baby health professionals are fully aware of the DOH 6 month recommendation for weaning, but still think they know better, and that there are development advantages in starting weaning by 5 months!

It will take a long time for it to be acceptable.

i find this site interesting and above all informative, i apologise if any offence has been taken by me trying to gather information.

I've been thinking of this as DS is coming up to 4 months and a big baby (16.3lbs at 14 weeks). I would really like to wait till six months before weaning. But I have also read that bigger babies may require weaning earlier, does anyone else agree with that?

This is my check list for weaning then,
should be around six months.
Dribbling (maybe a sign, maybe teething)
Stuffing fist in mouth (again, same as above)
Interest in food (could be just watching you!)
Able to hold up own head
Able to grasp objects
And able to sit up.

Is there anything else I should know about?!!

if you flip this thread and read the posts there are some really interesting links....

Read my earlier links. There is information about "signs" being myths and that big babies dont need earlier weaning. There is simply no advantage to early weaning. Milk is adequate for around the first 6 months. Lots of babies can go longer.

sorry! Lazy mumsnetter!

Thank you Hercules, you are quite right. That is really helpful. I will competely ignore all that I have read.

Waiting until 6 months has been accepted practice in Canada for longer (although in the 70s, I know my sister was given cereal at 2 days, on medical advice!). All the Canadians I know seem to wait until 6 months with no problem. I think part of this is just a question of what you expect. If you think 4-month-olds are ready for solids, you'll see lots of signs.

mears said in a previous thread that a lot of it is confidence.

I certainly wish I'd had the confidence (or reassurance) to ignore the health visitors who told me I needed to start DS1 on solids at 16 months.

Now, with a fat happy DS2 still on breastmilk at 5 months, I keep feeling tempted to drop into clinic and get into a loud argument with them, if they try to hassle me to start solids. Just for the sake of all the mums there who are giving in.

(I don't know if my clinic's health visitors are still pushing solids at 4 months. Certainly many local ones are.)

16 months !!!!!!

My hv's face was a picture when she asked me what I was feeding dd at 5 months as she was nicely putting on weight
"breastmilk"
Oh, that's amazing you're still feeding
I fed ds until he was 4
OMG, he must have had teeth
Yes
Did he bite you?
Yes, when he was 8 months
So, what are you feeding dd
breastmilk
No, what solids
I'm not
She's a big baby, she should be on 3 meals a day now
I'm following WHO and gov advice
What's that thenI
told her
I've never heard of that. I dont think that's true. our leaflets say 4 months
Well, they are outdated
It's very unusual to still be feeding now
no, it's not. world average is 4 years
DD needs solids as she is big baby
you already said her weight was fine

Needless to say she was the head hv and I complained to my trust to be told they should know but only if they find out themselves.