Early weaning - how to offer advice without causing a riot?

[FlabbyTumSquashyBum]

Sorry to post a link to another site again but this has really bothered me. This is my birthboard on another site and some of the babies aren't even 3 months yet. I want to offer advice, mainly because others reading the thread might assume early weaning is ok because everyone else is doing it, but I want to do it in a way that won't cause a weaning war. What do you think is the best approach to take?

Oh and pmsl at the one who liked watching her lo like custard off her lips "but not for my own entertainment". Eh?

Yes, I know, chocolate buttons.

had quick chat with DH around this subject
bearing in mind that he is not someone who spends a lot of time reading about this sort of thing,

he said weaning is recommended for 6 months or so as the baby's tummy is not ready and does not have the right chemicals to digest food

i said about choc buttons/rice/rusk/custard etc being given to very young babies, he was horrified.

when i said about the opposition to any comments about why early weaning is bad, he said, those other forums must have something to sell, do they sell baby rice and food?

no shit sherlock!!

so it is apparent that this is about commercial gain at the expense of babies health

CHOCOLATE BUTTONS??

Call me a hormonal horror, or patronise me, but if anyone even put a crumb of chocolate on my three month old baby's lip I'd be LIVID. Even if it was G&B gently produced yum stuff. If a rusk is inappropriate for such a little thing surely a chocolate button is just horrible for her / him.

Seriously, of course it is incredibly wrong to give a 3 mth old baby chocolate.
Presumably, this is the same person who will put cola in a bottle. (yes, I have seen tis once)

baby rice at 10 weeks

just remember how much mimi loved her boob then

You can tell them the reasons til you're blue in the face. They want to wean early so they will. Any attempt to discourage will be seen as an attack.

Opps just reported every pro early weaning post as a violation, as promoting weaning before the 6 month guidelines

lulu, same here. DP doesn't know much but he knows the gist of what I told him when I told him how DS would be fed and when
He saw the choc buttons post and was disgusted.

How the hell do they say that the chocolate buttons poster gives valuable information?!?!?!? just crazy. if they stand by that poster there is no hope for them. you've just got to hope that the lurkers can at least question the posters' opinions if they stand by chocolate buttons at 3 months.

Why don't they recognise the risks? Why why why? Information given to mums needs to be more consistent, hvs need to tell people what the dangers of early weaning are rather than making out that it's just 'not advisable'. And people need to stop thinking it's 'cute' to give their babies a taste of chocolate / ice cream / custard'.

And damn the baby food companies for being allowed to put 'from 4 months' on their jars!

Y'all know me

Can I just say that DS2 is now 22 weeks and I have yet to be given any weaning information whatsoever from my health professionals - if they are assuming that by DC4 I know what I'm doing, then they'd be wrong, because my previous 3 DCs were weaned when the advice was still 4-6 months.

Jars still say 4mths, huge numbers of people still wean early and happily recommend it, HV/GPs aren't providing enough information and a thread on here that I searched to find out what the new research was all about had a link (to FSA? guidelines) that did say "weaning recommended from 6 mths" but it also stated "wean from 4 months on advice of HV/GP" which is not at all the same thing as saying "do not wean before 6 mths".

So whilst the enlightened of MN know the current status, it's rather unfair to assume that all early weaners are chasing milestones/stupid/selfish/cruel etc. Except the 11 week baby-rice feeders and anything to do with chocolate buttons, they do deserve all your vitriol.

Exactly Duchess, if you walked down the baby aisle at asda say, you would see all of the jars stating 4-6 months. Without proper hv advice, you would think that was the real guidelines.

There does seem to be 2 different early weaning catergories though, under 17 weeks, and 17 weeks plus. I am very shocked that people think it's ok to wean a baby at 11 weeks and even less (which is happening quite a bit at you-know-where) They can't even say they are following the lower guidelines ( I know there are no 'lower' guidelines, you know what I mean!).

And yes, I saw the chocolate button thread too, but she's not actually weaning yet, is she?

someone once posted the guidelines the hvs are given on here, though, and they are ridiculous. along the lines of 'you must recommend 6 mos but definitely recommend no weaning before 17 weeks' thus creating a big stupid grey area in the middle. (and hvs aren't, let's face it, v bright so don't cope well with grey areas).

I'm astounded at the reactions on here. I would call them over reactions to be honest. It feels like you've all been sold something ..namely.. the belief that chocolate buttons are more dangerous than formaldehyde, artifical sweetener, 2-phenoxyethanol and aluminium.

Yes, it's the old vaccine card. But I'm astounded by this time and time again. How can people think that pureed carrot at three months is SO BAD for the immune system and not worry about this other stuff at eight weeks.

As you were. Just had to say my bit.

Chocolate at 3 months is very serious. Babies do not have any of the enzymes needed to digest them plus it has ingredients in it which the body could see as foreign intruders needing to be fought off (esp as before 17 weeks there is no doubt this will pass through the blood stream after being ingested by the open gut) creating an allergy.

DD is nearly 24 wks and I get her weighed every fortnight. Apart from being told to wean her at 4mths by the hv (to make her put on more weight...ignored her), i have not been given any advice on weaning.

Choc buttons and custard And I felt bad for giving dd a few sucks on a piece of raw pepper the other day!

I'm not saying it's great to give babies chocolate, or Weetabix, I'm really not. I'm just wondering how you can be so very angry about this and so totally unconcerned about the other. It doesn't make sense to me.

I appreciate that you know your stuff about weaning btw.

I personally would be saddened to hear they had fed their babies pureed carrots too. But the baby would find it easier to digest and it is not likely to cause any allergies.

FWIW, DS2 is 28 weeks and had his first piece of chocolate the other day. (Nestle too ~ not bought by me though) He has also had a chip.

I think it's the inference that they are being nice to their babies by giving them chocolate, because it's nice, but totally ignoring what they could be doing to their insides. We say 'a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips' this could be much much worse.

the thing is there are NO benefits to giving your baby chocolate apart from entertainment, and a hell of a lot of downsides.

whereas with vaccinations, depending on how you feel about them, there is a benefit to the child.

so chocolate is horrifying because it's completely gratuitous and harmful.

Ok, I didn't read properly, sorry.

With early weaning there is a host of information and scientific study that show it can affect your baby adversely. It can not only cause allergies, IBS, Crohns, Coliecs etc but is a factor in obesity, and can hinder iron absorbtion. These are all very serious and can lead to fatality.

Feeding your child before this point has no known benefits(unless your child is seriously FTT and has a problem with their milk) yet vaccines do.

it's not really "depending on how we feel"

it's how it is, and what they do to children -- doesn't make any difference how you feel

I mean, all the parents of damaged kids were pro-vax once or they wouldn't have been damaged

it's just -- how some many are just not interested in finding out despite the epidemic of immune problems

it saddens me -- I feel sorry for the kids

sorry bluesky - I don't want to get into an argument about vax here on a weaning thread.

Depending on what evidence you find compelling, might have been more accurate.

but my point remains that chocolate has no benefits whatsoever for a 3 month old, proven or unproven.

No I quite understand, carry on with your chat

But don't dismiss the other thing please..