Please reassure me that I am doing the right thing not weaning until 6mths

[pudding25]

DD is 5mth 1wk. She is mix fed. I will start weaning her at 6mth.

i was out with a friend this evening (yes, I got out the house!) who's DS is 3 wks younger than my dd. She has started weaning him already. She was hoping he would sleep through. He has not. DD has been sleeping through for 6 wks. Her DS is also mix fed.

Anyway, we were chatting and she said that she had taken her 5yr old to a specialist about some allergies and the specialist said that all the stuff about not weaning until 6mths to prevent allergies was rubbish and could not be backed up. He told her that the recomendations to wait until 6mths were based on the third world but had to be issued worldwide, and were to do with cleanliness etc and they were just to encourage those in 3rd world to bf for as long as possible but were not relevant to 1st world countries.

She also said that babies must have food by 6mths.

So I have been on mn for a while now and read all the info about why I should wait until 6mths. It seems to make sense. But why do I keep hearing professionals say that it is rubbish.

Also, her hv told her to start weaning when she mentioned about him waking during the night (her bf counsellor told her to use more formula if anything before considering weaning).

Please reassure me that it is not just for 3rd wolrd reasons and that I am doing the best thing for dd waitng until 6mths, not something detrimental.

'...her bf counsellor told her to use more formula if anything before considering weaning...' ['shock]

ilovemydog, I agree, this is an odd thing for the breastfeeding counsellor to say, but loads of people call themselves breastfeeding counsellors, sadly, and they have had very litte training ... however, if a mother was already using formula and did not want to breastfeed more, then this suggestion would make sense.

tiktok and ilovemydog -yes, she was already mix feeding and is getting to the end of bf for various reasons. I think that is why the bf counsellor said to give more formula before food as the baby only needs milk at the moment. I know who her bf counsellor is and she is very good and helped lots of people I know with big bf problems that had been overlooked.

DD can hold her head up well. She has good hand to mouth control. She can only sit up with support. I have put a teeny bit of banana on my finger and a teeny bit of pureed apple (from my friend) on my finger and she lapped it up. But I still think I should wait. I would prefer her to be taking lots of milk at the moment and not fill herself up on mush.

I am worried (yes, worry about pretty much everything ) that when we do go onto solids, that she will not take enough milk if she is eating food too. She has a small appetite (does not get that from me!).

I know that worry thing - seems to be a girl thing - men don't worry much do they?

My DH is so laid back about most things-probably for the best as if he was a worrier like me, we would drive each other mad!