Getting a bit fed up of people making rude comments about waiting til 6 months to wean - anyone else had this?

[chequersandroastedchestnuts]

I'm not weaning DD til 6 months and if anyone asks why I just say it's because I have asthma and want to be on the safe side. I really try not to get into discussions about early weaning.

Anyway, I'm finding that friends who wean early can be really rude about waiting til 6 months - it's 'ridiculous' apparently, will set you up for a fussy eater etc etc.

I just find it really rude when I'm keeping my mouth shut over practices like weaning onto rusks at 12 weeks that I have to put up with listening to this kind of stuff.

Each to their own and all that but if I can keep my mouth shut on someone else's weaning decisions why can't they do the same for me? It seems to be socially acceptable to knock 6 month weaning in a way it wouldn't be to kock other things.

Sorry, just letting off a bit of steam, but has anyone else had this?

Once or twice.

"How rude!" usually works or

"No, it really doesnt - i've taken the time to research my facts rather than listen to old wives' tales". with look on your face

Thanks QV, or maybe just keep my distance I think.

No-one has been rude, but it is regarded as being decidedly odd practice to actually be following WHO guidelines. DS is 24 wks so nearly there. No-one in RL has heard of BLW either so I do feel a bit isolated on this one.

just say you're following NHS guidelines but thanks for offering their thoughts. Yes I had this a bit. People get very threatened if you don't do things the way they did, but the advice has changed. Are you going to do BLW?

Be antisocial, like me. I am rubbish at getting together with other mums, and only really hang out with 2. Both weaned from 6 months (their babies are a bit older than mine). I have never faced any criticism of my bf-ing or decision to wait to BLW. Actually rather disappointed. I've been spoiling for a fight for months now, but nobody will bring it on. Grrrr.

Not sure teapot - I'd like to do a bit of both, although I know that's not strictly BLW then.

Yes, people seem to think you're a complete freak if you follow the guidelines, like it makes you some kind of a nutter. It's getting me down a bit

To be fair, no one has been rude about my decision per se. It's just that when weaning comes up people seem quite happy to rubbish the whole 6 month thing, I don't see why they can't just talk about their choices without crapping on other people's.

Yep. DD isn't even 3 months and I'm getting things like 'you'll be weaning soon won't you.'

Er no!

becaues they feel threatened. try to ignore them and follow what feels right for you

Nearly everyone I know does wait until 6 months so yu are unlucky not to have had more support.

btw we sort of did a mix too, for a couple of weeks anyway, that is i gave some mashed stuff till i got my confidence up, but never spoon fed her, i did load spoon for her but she was always in charge of feeding herself.

anyway, good luck and trust your instincts.

Oh yes. It was very, very dull.

I pulled the ol' allergies thing as well to try to avoid a long boring conversation. I discovered that if I even suggested I was waiting because current guidelines suggested it, I would find myself having to go "mmm yes, yes of course you had a very hungry boy" blah, blah etc to avoid mortal offence.

Some people are very touchy if you did things a different way from them. Especially my aunt.

Really bamboo? The only people I knew round here who had waited were fellow mumsnetters!

Even the hvs suggest that you won't last past 17 weeks.

you know, i must be lucky, as no-one has even mentioned it to me this time around, except my mum, who said "I saw an article about this so called baby led weaning. It sounds like your kind of thing"

mind you I don't have many friends with babies and have avoided hvs like the plague

It's really embarassing when the super-hungry-baby thing comes up as my DD is and always has been a notriously huge eater, and it's a bit of a standing joke as even now at 16 weeks she still normally only goes 1-2 hours between feeds.

I try to look understanding/empathetic though

Hi everybody!
When my boy was 4 1/2 months, he was hungrier, and my milk (breastfeed), drying out, a few trips to the doctor, and they keep trying to keep me just breastfeeding my hungry baby, with whatever milk I had, not caring he was starving! Neither formula, so I went to a private peadeatrician, and told me to given a couple of spoons os baby rice a day, for a week, and gradually introduce with my milk, better than formula, so I did until he was 6 months, and my milk dry out( after an awfull mastitis). It did work great, so I'll suggest to stick whatever feels right for your baby, you know if he is hungry, not all the babys are the same, like us, and in the NHS (to don't complicate their lives too much in considering individual cases, how should be, at least a good medical advise), they just open the 'book', and tell everyone the same.
There are lost of research showing that babys around that age, are more than ready to start a progressive weaning ( not a bowl of boil rice!!!) AT the NHS, they say to me to starve me boy until the sixth month, then, from them, given them everything on earth.

good lord yes, nearly everyone in my baby group had started weaning at 4 months and myself and one other mum were the only ones "waiting" till 6 months. As if there is a starter gun, ready steady WEAN!! and the competitive mother race begins

I decided to follow the guidelines because of my husband's allergies and my dsd (ds' half sister) has asthma so i just said we had been medically advised to wait.

Me and the other mum clung to each other like we were on the last liferaft in a sharky sea and we're great friends now. She also BF till over 18 months, so she is my hero . But yes, the comments were a pain. I just said "i'm doing what i believe to be the best thing for ds" and tried to leave it at that. And by the way, early weaning appears to make no difference to sleeping through, as many claimed. My ds never woke looking for food. Good luck!!

Pinner, thanks for that.

This really isn't a debate about when to wean though - I'm just looking for support from others who have waited 6 months and I really hope this thread doesn't turn into anything other than that.

THanks for your input though

Toomuchmonth, I just wish there was someone else in my group who was waiting but I don't think there is

I was just posting my experience, which is releate to the case, and making a point.
At the end of the day, that's what mumsnet is for, sorry , I didn't get that you try to run this into a military-estae debate style, (you can try a think tank org.for that!) Well, with that attitude doesn't surprise me you have to come to the net to get support, things get better&easier when we relax a bit, like I do, so I'm leaving "your thread"

Pinner, I've seen too many early weaning/later weaning bun fights on here and I'm just explaining that I don't want this to become one - I'm not trying to undermine your contribution.

"doesn't surprise me you have to come to the net to get support"

I'm sorry you felt you had to be so personal and rudge as I'm fairly certain I wasn't rude to you. It doesn't reflect very well on you I'm afraid.

rude

Pinner4, the OP has started a thread about people who tell her how wrong she is to wait til 6 months to wean and you've come onto the thread and basically rubbished her decision to wait to wean!!!

Don't think she was rubbishing but sorry she had to be so personal.

My friends acted like I was practically starving DD when I waited to 6 months. As it is, she's the least fussy eater and feeds herself better than my friends' children. Pinner, relax, there's no need to turn a perfectly inocuous thread into a bunfight.