What age did you wean - be honest!

[Rhian82]

So yes, I know the official advice is six months and that we all think waiting till then is best, but in honesty, how old were your kids when they first tasted solid food?

I don't think I know anyone in RL that waited till six months!

You probably won't get many people on this thread admitting to Heinz jars at 6 weeks.

Ooh someone asked where I (the OP) had got to - sorry, life carried me away, didn't expect the thread to grow so much!

DS is 21 weeks and is just coming out of a big growth spurt - but it seemed to last forever so we were toying with the idea of weaning. I know the official advice, but I don't think I know anyone who actually waited that long, so I was intrigued by how many people actually followed it on here. We're pretty sure now that DS isn't quite ready yet, but I think if he seems to want food from now on, we'll give it him, and then make sure we introduce it from 6 months if he hasn't made a grab by then.

(Am intrigued by all the people saying babies grabbed some food from them, I never eat that close to DS!)

DH was weaned at 8 weeks as the GP told his mum her breastmilk wasn't nourishing him enough which gave him eczema but no food allergy or gut problems thankfully.

Ooh, and those who say they wish they'd waited longer - why?

DD1 and DD2 were both 12wks exactly.

DD3 was 7mths

DS1 and DS2 were both about 6mths

DD was 16 weeks - She was so ready and grabbing food from out plates and eating it

DS 14 weeks on advise of GP and HV there is no way he was ready and I seriously regret it.

I regret it with DS as he is the fussiest eater in the world and I am convinced it is to do with this.
With DC3 I am going for BLW.

3 and a half months and never looked back
Best to go with what is right for your own child.

DD1 4mnths
DD2 tried at 5mnths but she refused to eat until about 7mnths
DS 5mnths because he was and still is a hungry little bugger! He was swiping food from the DDs!

15 weeks. the advice at the time was 16 weeks, but he seemed ready for it at 15. dc2 was the same. dc3 was given tastes from the same age, but refused toeat anything till six and a half months. does that count as waiting tll six months?

DS1 28 weeks
DS2 25 weeks (he was genuinely starving poor love and was on 3 meals a day within 3 days...)

waiting til 6 months sounds mad to me, but hey my youngest is 9 yrs old now. Seems like things change every 10 seconds, re. advice. Best advice i can give, however, is to follow the needs of your own individual baby.

4 months with DS and spent the whole time scraping baby rice off his cheeks because he had no idea what to do with it. About 7 months with DD because we were going camping and I couldn't be doing with it 'til we got back. Straight to finger food. Hurrah.

6 months + 2 days, then BLW.
only know one other person in RL who waited till 6 months, though

ds1: 15/16 wks.
ds2: 24/25 wks.

1 day short of 6 months

disenchanted, you say ,
Im not argueing, lol, I just find it odd that people wouls stick to something so vigourously because its the latest advice rather tham looking and listening to their child.

Every baby walks, talks, sits up, at different times but we are supposed to feed them bang on the 26 week mark?

i absolutely agree! which is why i try to say aim for 26 weeks or around 26 weeks

parents need to know what the signs of readiness are, and what they aren;t.

night waking and more frequent milk feeds are not signs!!

advice does not change all the time, it is just incorrect advice is trotted out frequently,. i think weaning recommendations have changed a handful of times, and later weaning was usually the norm

there is no benefit to early weaning, and possibility of some harm, so waiting is on balance, usually best.

in terms of volume, milk is more filling and calorific than some spoonfuls of puree/finger foods

My hv said to me on thursday, that night waking was a sign.

To which I said, he is messing around so much in the day with his feeding, that he is making up for it in the quiet of the night. This seemed to be new news to her, but she then agreed!

Since he has started on food this week, he has started sleeping through, but also his first 2 teeth have come through, so must be feeling better.

Divvy, that's what happened with us. DS night wakings reduced the week we started weaning, but we also moved him to his own room and his bottom teeth came through. The teething is much more likely to have an impact on sleeping imho.

Maybe this is where these sort of myths come from?

Trouble is there is always so much going inside a baby at this age, its going to be really difficult to put a finger on it!

DS1 14 weeks. pressurised by HV and didn't know any better (guidlelines were 16 weeks and definately before 6months at the time...or so i thought )

DD fooled into thinking it would help so baby rice at 19 weeks. lasted a few days as she just screamed and it didn't stop her waking at night, then she helped herself to some mashed potato at 23 weeks and we sort of BLW'd from then

DS2 is 19 weeks today and I can't imagine him having anything other than milk for a long time yet. Will be 100% BLW this time round.

The advice at the time was 16 weeks , both were started at 14 weeks .

There are aged 8 & 6yrs now.

DD - 14/15 week (16 week guideline time)

DS - 25 weeks with some swiped food here and there (he spent a lot of time in the sling, and would launch himself on chips and fruit

Official NHS guidelines changed to six months in summer 2003 when I was pregnant with DS1 which was good timing for me! Much easier to fend off all those encouraging early stuffing.

DS1 was given his first solids intermittently shortly after 26 weeks at a time that suited me. He didn't really start eating until he was 7.5 months. He was a very chunky milk monster and quite happy with his boob, thank you.

DS2 was harder to fob off with spoons, blocks and boob at mealtimes so I gave him the odd broccoli tree or similar from around 23 weeks, I think. He was (is) small and lean but equally didn't actually get much in until he was 7.5 months. They both enjoyed painting themselves in the early weeks and months.