"Weaning party" at 3 1/2 months... WTF??????

[geordieminx]

Friend has been invited to a "weaning party" by her HV, its more of a meeting/chat but her baby is only 14 weeks old. Apparently the invite them early incase they deciede to start weaning at 4 months???

Why the fcuk are HV's doing this when it is clearly against every recommendation in the book.

Grrrrr

We have weaning parties at about 4m.

Categorically so they can advise you to wait until 6m. In my area if they had weaning parties at 6m most would rsvp with 'sorry we weaned 2 months ago'.

So by doing it just before the time when anyone who still thinks 16 weeks is the time to wean, they may manage to get a few of them to hold off a bit longer.

The word party does not mean the babies will get crisps jelly and ice cream! We got info on when and what to wean, and a terrible video of a baby having teeth out cos he'd been having pop from a bottle

my mil kept on and on about me starving ds1 with just bf so when I said 'oh we are going to a weaning party at 18 weeks' she said 'oh good so he will get a meal there then'
you can imagine her reaction when I carried on just bf till he was 25 weeks!

It all depends on when your baby was born as to how old yoru DC is when you go to the weaning party. My HV ran a weaning party every 12 weeks, so you'd usually get one before your DC was 3 mo, but in case you missed it (as I did first time round) then you'd definitely get one before 6 months.

No big deal, you can't expect HVs to tailor their information schedule to you every time.

blimey it really is a postcode lottery isnt it. Last check/visit I had was from the midwife when DD was 10 days old.

No 9/10mth check either due to them being short staffed. DD will next be seen at 2yrs old!

you mothers are powerful, magnificent beings who can make the most nutritious food for your children... why would you want to reject that? don't you know that the world health organization recommends breastfeeding for the first two years of life for infants???? why is anyone suggesting weaning prior to this age????
weaning at 3 months??!!
this idea is barbaric!

At the weaning talk I went to at 16 weeks (it was part of the new mums 6 week course to meet new mums, so some babies were 10 weeks and some were 4 months), the HV really, really strongly emphasised that most babies should wait till 6 months and if we thought we should start earlier for any reason that it would be best if we talked to them and got advice tailored for our babies. It was implied that that would include ways of putting off weaning and managing older generations trying to push you to do it earlier as well as practical advice if you really do need to go ahead. They also strongly emphasised items which should not be given before 6 months. They talked about timescales of development from purees to lumps for the 6 month weaner, and mentioned that it's a lot slower for the 4 monther and again to talk to them. But it was also well in time for people to have the information ready for 4 months weaning and to come back and ask questions thought of later, and we could go to a second weaning talk if we wanted it fresh in our heads nearer 6 months.