is 15 weeks too early to start weaning??

[needsomesleepplease]

Ds showing all the signs he is ready but we are going on holiday next week and was hoping to wait till we came home but now not sure what to do!!!

needsomesleepplease - I can understand you not liking the tone of this thread. Don't let that distract you from the question you asked.

The best thing you can do is to refer to the official advice and information. Whether you choose to follow it or not is entirely up to you, but it is important to be aware of all the potential risks and benefits before you make your decision.

Food Standards Agency weaning advice

Your health visitor really should be reported, the advice she is giving is against the guidelines she is expected to follow.

yes, apologies - I scanned your responses, and didn't digest them properly before posting my response. DD was attempting to climb onto my laptop at the time

anyway, it's not that there are different opinions - anything before 17 weeks if a very bad idea, and anything other than fruit/veg before 26 weeks is also a bad idea. thems the facts

(now calm down - you posted on MN about early weaning, exacly what kind of response did you expect to get )

Ridiculously early, yes, you are months away from sensible weaning. Child is practically a newborn.

Hi needsomesleep,

I appreciate it is not very nice to ask a question in good faith and get an aggressive response.

I believe babies go through growth spurts at about 3 months so this may be what is happening.

Perhaps you could phone your GP and have a chat?

S/he will be familiar with you and your baby and can offer more customised advice.

xxx

"Babies under four months (17 weeks) should not be given solid foods.

Some people think that starting solid foods before six months will help a baby sleep, but there is no evidence to support this."

this is from the link on the post below if that helps?

Out of interest, what would you do if your baby got to 6 months without showing any of the signs? My niece is disabled, although not diagnosed until a year old, so didn't sit up and grab things until recently (she is nearly 3). It wasn't as obvious when she was tiny that there was anything wrong. Similarly my cousin's DD didn't sit up until 1 year, nothing wrong with her, she just didn't! Would you just wait until 6 months and then wean regardless?

Sorry for the hijack OP, genuinely curious!

Babyignoramus - I would try offering at 6mo, but if they didn't seem ready I wouldn't push it and wait a couple more weeks. I believe the actual guideline is "the middle of the first year" so some babies may be ready later than 6mo. If they aren't attempting to eat though after a few weeks I would probably check with a dr that there isn't something wrong.

But how many people really do wait till 6 months until they wean? Breastfeeding a baby at that age is just soooooooooo draining, it's awful.

I speak from experience, DS2 is 5.5 months old and I am frankly going mad with BF, I just cannot keep up with demand.

Sorry for hijack

Littleweepickle I was like that with DS1 - I breastfed on demand, was tired, and everyone was putting pressure on me to wean so I gave him some solids at 5.5 months. I wish I had waited. 2 more weeks is nothing in the grand scheme of things, but I could have harmed him, however slightly, by starting him on solids earlier than he needed them. He was ok, but he might not have been. Breastfeeding a bigger baby is tiring, but to be honest weaning does not change that - it takes many months for their food intake to be at a level where it affects the amount they breastfeed, in my experience!

just wanted to add,my HV told me i could wean from 16weeks so long as i avoided certain things (gluten,eggs etc)

i did wean my first at that age as the HV told me to and i didnt know any different,
my second wasn't interested until 6 months and my third was just before 6 months,

Oh, and OP - obviously you can wean when you want. As long as you are making an informed choice. If you wean before 26 weeks it may harm your baby. (Not will harm him, but may). You need to read up on the risks and decide if it is a risk you are willing to take.

The strong reactions are because most parents try to avoid unneccesary risk to their babies - and weaning before 26 weeks is an unneccesary risk. However, as his mother it is a risk only you can make a decision about.

Unless your DS has a need for food then I would'nt wean so early for many reasons.

1. It could be harmful and 2. Because it is a big faff in a child so young

My DS was weaned at 14 weeks (through medical advice, this was 2006) because he was weaned so young I was instructed to give him only baby rice to start with, he is now 3YO and is the fussiest child I have ever met and this has been put down to (by other heath visitors) the fcat that it was what he was fed from a young age and bland tastes is what he was used to so anything other than porridge or toast tends to be a hit or a miss with him.

My friend is now weaning her 13WO because if my DS can be weaned at that age then why not , I listened to medical advise based on the fact he was cutting down on his milk intake but was screaming with hunger, I now wish I ahd persevered with the milk and waited a while I might have a child who would eat decent food then.

Speaking as an early weaner (20 weeks), I strongly feel that 15 weeks is way way too early. Even 17 weeks is really pushing the boundaries. What's the rush?

I rush to add that between 20 weeks and 26 weeks, dd was only given baby rice and yoghurt, so not "real" food. She just liked being fed by a spoon so I gave her the most easily digestible food-stuff I could think of. All fruit and veg purees were introduced at 26 weeks and meat at 8 months.

my dd was weaned at 15 weeks as she began refusing milk, this was upon the hospital top paed advice...... who said so long as you dont over feed with meals AND too much milk then its fine. If your child was going to have an allergy i was told they would have it whatever age you weaned them. My dd is 7.5 and i am just wondering if i have missed something and in fact the infants body has changed since then. Back then the advice was to start weaning at 4 months..... i am confused..... i will wean my nxt baby when I think its ready. My dd who was weaned at 15 weeks is neither obese or an allergy sufferer..... she eats a good balanced healthy diet and eats anything you give her from salmon to curry, salad, fruit, occasional junk (but 'good'food is preferable to her!!!!!)

My goodness me.............all this talk about harming and following guidelines is scary. I have faith in my judgement and i have lots of friends with children and maybe one or two have waited till 6 months and simply because their baby was happy on milk (whether breast or bottle is irrelevant!) Admittedly its messy going but my dd took to it straight away! she progressed on to lumpy stuff and safe finger foods at 7 months!

Parental instinct is all well and good, but it does not trump all scientific fact and research. It has been proved that early weaning may be harmful. Fact. It has been proven that babies much under 6 months do not usually have the ability to digest solid food properly. Fact.
If you wean early, your baby may well be completely fine. But only in the same way that if your child runs out into the road without looking, they may be fine. Or they may be hit by a bus. If your kid runs out 10 times and neevr gets hit by a bus, it doesn't mean that its a good idea and your experience shows that you won't get hit by a bus.

Ignore the guidelines if you want, its your baby. But don't dismiss sensible, backed up research. We learn more all the time, but of course you can do as you want. Put your baby down to sleep on its front, smoke while pregnant, all things that used to be routine but we now know different. Why listen to some guidelines and not others?

My dps mother fed her boys mashed potato at 7 weeks ! 7 years ago 4 months for weaning was the proven medical advice so who knows hey!

'7 years ago 4 months for weaning was the proven medical advice so who knows hey! 'it wasn't, actually, I did some reading 13 years ago and on the strength of what I found out, weaned my dd at 6 months.

15 years ago the advice was for babies to sleep on their fronts. That was before it was discovered that it put them at the risk of cot death.

10 years ago nobody thought twice about smoking in the same room as a baby - that was before it was discovered that it put them at risk of asthma.

When I was a child, no one wore seatbelts, never mind put babies in car seats. That was before it was discovered that belts and seats helped prevent you dying in a car crash.

When I was a child people put butter on burns. That was before it was discovered that cold water prevents further damage and scarring.

Medical knowledge advances. it is now known that early weaning in SOME (not all) babies can trigger digestive problems and allergies. You can't tell by looking which type of baby you have - so the safe thing to do is assume that your baby is one of those that might be damaged and wait til you know it's safe - that is around 6 months.

Agree, seeker - before 1993 (I think) people didn't take folic acid when pregnant. The change in advice then has saved huge numbers of babies from death or disability.

OP - I remember dd going through a hideous growth spurt at 16 weeks. It settled down, and she was just fine on milk alone until 26 weeks - despite HV suggesting that she was so big I wouldn't manage. She stayed on 99.6th centile on breastmilk alone - only dropped off after she was weaned.

so why did the hospital help me wean my dd at 15 weeks if it could harm her an why are the government letting baby food companies market baby food that states 'from 4 months'. I agree with the folic acid and sleeping babies on their back though! I am not disagreeing with anyone just questioning the advice.

'so why did the hospital help me wean my dd at 15 weeks if it could harm her an why are the government letting baby food companies market baby food that states 'from 4 months'.'

Because hospital staff very often know bugger all about infant nutrition, and because big business gets away with all sorts - its all down to £££££. Our government appears to care more abut placating companies and protecting their profits, than protecting babies.

I see from a previous post that a 'top paed' advised you to wean early but not to overdo it with too much milk. Well I'm sorry but a 15 weeks old baby need nothing other than milk and you cannot 'overdo it' with milk at that age. A top paed who advised that is truly demonstrating ignorance.

My daughter did not feed for 72 hours and never ever got on with milk.... breast or bottle. I was at my wits end and my baby was starving!! She was losing weight and i finally took her in! I WOULD HAVE BEEN DELIGHTED TO HAVE CONTINUED TO FEED ONLY MILK!!!!

You can question the advice all you like ,but since I'm guessing you are neither a medical professional or a scientific researcher, what makes you think you have an opinion worth anything?

If a baby doesn't feed on milk, they obviously have a major problem, stuffing them full of inappropriate food is not the answer.

Medical and scientific knowledge advances, we learn more and we do better. If you want to pick and choose advice from random time periods, why not do as though Victorians did and give them gin and cows milk at birth. No? Well, it was fine then, wasn't it.......

waut wait wait
I weaned DS at around 14 weeks as HV said it would be ok...wish I hadnt it was hard work, stressful and he is the fussiest eater now.
DD1+DD2 I waited until 6mths and they both went on to finger foods and fed themselves and are both willing to eat pretty much anything. It was less stress and more enjoyable and I will be doing the same with DD3 who is 13wks.

my dd struggles to keep the volume of milk down she needed to satisfy her hunger and suffered from silent reflux. But thank you for stating that i do not have an opinion worth anything. I am a good mum and my dd is happy and healthy and well fed. her food was not inappropriate and introduced gradually with medical supervision...... she would hae starved if not weaned..... would that have been better???? My dd eats anything and is not fussy at all!!!!