Bigger babies need weaning sooner. True or false?

[Kayzr]

DS2 was 10lb 5oz at birth so quite a big baby. We have 2 HVs here and one is very much do what you think and feel is right for your family. The other is wanting me to wean DS2(18 weeks this friday), she rang me last week to tell me this plus a load of mumbo jumbo about BLW being a fad and no one really does BLW. She said that as he was so big at birth he will need weaning early.

I'm in 2 minds over if she is right or not. DS1 was weaned about a week before he was 6 months. She said if he is still waking overnight he will need solids. But he can go a week of sleeping through and then a week of waking at 5. He has been doing that since he was about 6 weeks old.

So I'd really love some advice. My gut says don't wean yet but my head is thinking that if he needs food then I'm cruel for not weaning.

ARGHHH!!

is your baby showing any physical signs of readiness, regardless of weight or size or anything else?

loss of tongue thrust reflex

ability to pick up, chew and move food to the back of the mouth and swallow

able to sit unaided with good head control

being hungry/heavy and waking more in the night or earlier are not signs

the NHS leaflet on weaning states that night waking and wanting more milk are not signs of readiness for food

whether you do BLW or not, and the NHS recommends a mix of puree/mash and finger foods from around 26 weeks, you need to be sure your baby is physically ready for solids

nothing is more filling, safe and nutritrious for a young baby and 18 weeks is young, than milk , milk and more milk

False.

As usual your gut feeling is right. She's spouting nonsense no need to wean early at all.

Oh, and plenty of people really do do BLW.

A big [grrr] at your HV!

DS 2 was 10lb 5 oz, weaned (BLW) 6 months on the dot. He has just taken to it recently (7m) , he was a late sitter upper too. He is doing great - just about grown out of 9-12m clothes. IME they don't need early weaning. He doesn't sleep though (BFing/co-sleeping)

False

dd2 was 10lb6oz at birth and maintained her weigth centile until she was 2 and her height centile finally dropped to the 98th centile at 6 months. She slept through thte night at 4 months (7-7) and wasn't weaned until 6 month.

All 3 were 98 centile girls and all waited until 6 months and slept through (therefore clearly not starving on bm alone!)

It's a steaming pile of doo doo.

He can't sit up yet but can hold his head up. He keeps trying to steal our food but I'm not sure if he knows it is food as he will try and grab anything you are holding and shoves it in his mouth.

She drives me mad!!

My dd was average at birth, above the centile charts within weeks and stayed at 99th or above on bm alone for 7 months. Still on the 99th for weight and height at 23 months.

So sod your hv. And we did blw.

False - my DD1 was at the 99.7th centile at one point and was fine to wean at 6 months.

Milk more calorific than foodsbaby of thisage would be eating anyway, so she istalking shite on so many levels.
'Noone does BLW?' Er no, only most of the world feeds their babies what everyone else eats.

She;s a doofus.

he does not sound ready

he is 18 weeks old. your instinct is not to wean and as you cannot see inside his gut to see if it is mature, then going on what you feel and see , he does not sound ready

if he needs 'food' remember milk is his food and drink

False. And what lulu said.

I weaned my 9lb6-er at 16 weeks. He was drinking two bottles of milk at each feed (he's five now and people who were in my post-natal classes still stop me in the street and talk about it!), he was having infacol and was moving it round his mouth with his tongue. Within four weeks of weaning he would eat a whole cereal bowl full of pureed veg, so (on the advice of my HV and in line with my own instincts) I moved on to protein at 20 weeks - fish and cheese, then meat. He's fine, healthy, no allergies, no stomach probs at all. I waited for six months for wheat/gluten. But he was definitely ready. Follow your instincts - not the latest thinking. A few years ago 16 weeks was the norm, now it is six months, but whatever suits your child. If you have any doubts, then wait, they'll let you know if they are ready. My daughter was smaller and weaned a bit later, but before six months.

Instincts can't tell you when a baby is ready for solids, they can only tell you that a baby is hungry. It's a small gripe but one with large implications.

And the guidelines changed from 4-6 months to around 6 months in 2003.

But I think if your baby is mouthing, moving things around their mouth, drinking a lot, then you, as the baby's mother, should feel confident to make the decision. Guidelines are only that, not hard-and-fast rules, and I think this over-prescriptive approach to parenting and how to do it 'right' undermines the natural parenting instinct. And that is, in my opinion, far more damaging than giving a bit of pureed carrot at five months.

drinking more milk is not a sign of readiness for solids, it says so clearly in the NHS guidelines for weaning

the physical development of the baby hopefully mirrors their internal development, so if the are showing the physical signs of readiness posted earlier in teh thread, you can be confident they are probably ready

a bit of pureed carrot probably won;t do any harm, but early weaning can sometimes cause issues later in life for some people.

also pureed carrot before a baby is ready for food won;t do any good, so why bother?

of course, parents are quite entiteld to make their own decisions and go with the guidelines or not, but i think it is important to make an informed decision based on correct information, rather than instinct or 'it did not do me any harm' etc

Lulu, as always, I agree. Anecdotal evidence and 'instinct' are no substitute for a knowledge of the reasons behind the guidelines and an educated decision.

Of course all babies are different, guidelines are just that and nobody has ever said otherwise.

And natural parenting instinct is my bag. I'm a lentil weaver extraordinaire.

As I said, it's just important to remember that readiness for weaning is not an instinctive thing, it's a knowledge thing.

The point is not about pureed carrot, it as about the importance of following your own instincts when it comes to your own child. So yes, the pureed carrot might not do your child any good. But neither does blindly following guidelines to raise your child, for fear of being told you are 'doing it wrong' if you deviate.

wonderingwondering - the OP said "My gut says don't wean yet..."

wonderingwondering Could you please explain and illustrate your point.

I'm not clear what you are saying.

i do believe in following your instincts for lots of childrearing things

for instance, if my maternal spider senses are tingling re a bout of illness, i will get the children checked out again and again

but however good my instincts are, i cannot see inside my baby's gut to see if it is physically mature enough to digest food other than milk

i have not said anyhting about blindly following guidelines, but knowing what the signs of readiness truly are, and making an informed decision

if the informed decision is to wean at 4 months or 5 months or 9 months based on what you know and have looked into then fine, but blindly following instinct is surely no better?

if the pureed carrot is not going to do any good but it might potentially cause some harm, what is the point of giving it?

SoH I cross posted. My point is not that people should not find out the facts - but blindly following NHS or HV guidance on any issue is no substitute for your own parental instinct. I work at a pretty senior level in central government and I've seen the way these guidelines are formed. And I'd trust my informed judgement about how to raise my child over the opinion of the Dept of Health every time. My point is that others may not have the confidence to challenge or question guidelines which are promoted s the only way to do things, and I think that undermines the role of parents.

Nobody said blindly follow guidelines, nobody said parent in fear, nobody is being remotely prescriptive. They are merely pointing out, as the OP concurs, that big hungry baby doesn't mean early weaning. I'm afraid one piece of anecdotal 'evidence' does not change this fact.

How does instinct tell you that a baby's gut has sealed? It doesn't. You can recognise that your baby is hungry and needs more calories and you can rightly assume that there are more calories in milk than any solids a sub 6 month old is capable of consuming.

Instincts are so important but they must not be confused with knowledge and research.

Again, how does parental instinct tell you what is occuring in your baby's gut?

SoH, parental instinct does not tell you what is happening in your baby's gut. Nor do NHS guidelines, or WHO guidance.

My point is simply that instinct is a valuable tool, which risks being undermined by very detailed and prescriptive guidance on everything from how much to drink and what to eat in pregnancy, to how and where you ought to have your baby, to how to feed, raise, educate your child.

And instinct and knowledge/being informed are not mutually exclusive - it is not a question of the 'it never did me any harm' school but reading around subjects - whether it be breast/formula feeding, vaccinations, education. Then reaching a decision based on a parent's knowledge of their own child and the level of risk and the consequences they are prepared to accept.