Do you know anyone in real life who has held off weaning until 6 months?

[pgwithnumber3]

I don't. Are the guidelines a load of twaddle then?

I waited until 6 months and I put that mainly down to information received from Mumsnet but not one of my friends have done the same. All their DC were on 3 meals a day by 5/6 months.

I did but have no idea about my friends. Babies all of slightly different ages and I have to confess I wasn't paying much attention to what everyone else was doing.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only mother in the world who isn't endlessly comparing themselves and what they do with everyone else. I suspect I have some kind of gene lacking and my DS will turn out to be a sociopath

I want that gene SpiceMonster.

I waited until 6 months. Would have waited longer if I could.

Couldn't be bothered with all that pureeing nonsense and another meal to cook. Baby led weaning helped that but it's still something else to factor in to the day.

Me.. my dd didn't seem interested and we started at nearly 7 months.

me, however, I regret it, dd still doesnt like to eat chewy food - she's nearly ruddy 10!

Broccolispears, don't even begin to discuss weaning age with your friends. It's a minefield.

Just research and make your own decision for what you feel is best for you in light of everything you know.

I only recall when one friend weaned, she started her baby on slop just shy of 3 months, and droned on and on and on and on about it.

Babies eating stuff - it's hardly scintillating conversation is it?!

Broccoli - I suspect it's also known as being old

Started solids with both dses at 6.5 months. ds1 (1 yr) is still not 'on' 'meals', but eats bits of ours (BLW) and fruit, rice cakes etc. Both are still bf (3yo + 1yo).

sorry, ds2 is not 'on' 'meals'. ds1 certainly is

I waited with my 3. I have a couple of friends who also held off till 6 months. Most didnt though.

Me. Twice. Several friends who have done the same, but the majority were shovelling mush into tied down babies by 4 months. Because they were, of course, ready for it.

IMHO - I think generally babies are ready for solids before 6 months and if they could speak they would be thoroughly pissed off with the World Health Organisation who dictate this nonsense and change their mind routinely depending on the weather....

When my DD1 (now nearly 8) was a baby we were told to start her on solids at four months - and she actually started refusing feeds from me because she was ready for the tattie soup and steak and chips

Last year when I had DD2, we were advised to wait til 6 months, but our HV secretly said to us, 'just do what you feel she's ready for' cos she also thought 6 months was late. And around five months, when she started arsing around with the breastfeeds, I started her on solids and was just fine.

Conversely (and I am NOT saying there is necessarily a link here, just a thought) my fiend who had her first child last year, did as she was told, waited til her DD was 6months and struggled like mad to get the bairn to put weight on and eat enough. She felt that she was showing signs of being ready for solids before that but was worried her system wouldn't cope. She's still dinky now, but I don't think that is necessarily to do with waiting, I think that's just the way she is. But my point is, it was a lot harder for her to get going.

Bottom line - I'd let your baby dictate. (Although I can also understand the putting it off cos you can be arsed mashing food all the time! ) Good luck!

My DS is 6 months and has been satisfied by milk up until now. When I told the HV she looked at me as if I were mad and basically told me I'd have to get a move on!

With No 2, only me. As far as I know everybody else was still doing Annabel Karmel. DS was weaned at 4 months as per guidelines in 2003, and to be honest the HV hadn't really changed her advice by the time I got onto DD in 2006.

I certainly don't think waiting till 6 months did DD any harm. Her sleeping pattern was pretty much the same as DS's at a similar age and neither of them really started to eat proper meals until about 9 months. Both were on the ninety-somethingth centile. I put this down to their genes, not their diet.

I just don't understand all the rush to be honest.

I'm at 24 and a bit weeks, weaning not yet started.
Go me!

i waited till Callum was 24 weeks and we did blw so not much action really till 27 weeks. He is 13 months now and can feed himself well-blw rocks .

I just can't believe how many of the mums on bounty are willing to risk their 6-20 weekers by early weaning (but i agree with anarchyaunt, that i think they'd do it no matter what they were told and a few would do it to spite the fact that you offered them some advice)

I was the only one of my friends to wait till 26 weeks. Middle class area all NCT types well read etc. but all Karmelising their children from 4-5 months ish. The peer pressure to ween was awful frankly. I spent heaps of time on MN and Aitch's blog pre BLW kick off the back myself up. Also having a "wakeful" baby - albeit one that just wakes to feed then pops back to sleep, it realy was "Crack open the baby rice" everytime I saw someone- arggggghh. I had to learn to keep my mouth shut though as it was the most divisive issue ever. Interesting now our babies are 6-7 months that DS is eating alll sorts of exciting things and they are still having organic fruit purees stuffed into them. (He still doesn't sleep though ) Am following the Bounty wars with interest.

My weaning story is very old, all DCs now teenagers, apart from 11 yr old twins but it really illustrates the advantages of BLW from before it was official.
DC1 - BF and followed stupid Heinz wall chart and this 17 yr old is still underweight and fussy, gagged on lumps when chart said to introduce them at 7 months, overall hard work.
DC2, BF and weaned at about 4 months onto our food mushed, no problems until we went camping and I took packet dried food and jars for ease. DC3 refused these and ended up propped in a high chair sucking on french bread and fusilli, so happy.
Learning from this I didn't wean the twins until 6 months, supported by fab HV, this was 10 years ago(!) still did some puree but followed on much more quickly with proper food. These 3 DCs are taller, healthier and like all foods.

Case closed

Slickbird, your opinion is just that.
An opinion.
There are reasons behind the guidelines, it wasn't just something plucked out of the air.
Some babies are ready for weaning before 26 weeks. Though it is almost impossible to tell which ones. BLW is the only researched way to feed a baby before 26 weeks with any reassurance you are not going to cause untold damage.

I didn't wean til six months, same as most of my friends. not sure why anyone should feel in a hurry.

Yes, me, bf'd both dd's until they were 6months.

I know the reasoning behind the recommendations, but parents will always do what they want to do regardless of information that is available.

As long as it is not something stupid, like melting chocolate butttons and putting them in a 4 week old baby's bottle or weaning a baby who was 11 weeks old because they started to wake up at night time, then leave people who want to wean early to it.

I did.