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!!!

Theme? Feme? Feem? Oh I'm no artist, clearly.

im for real thank u, gud to see u all take things so personally n av a gud bitch at eachother all ppl want is abit of advice, ive got 15 years experience in working with babies its all ive ever done, yes medical advice has changed n this means ppl can make an informed choice its gud to get ur child used 2 new tastes new experiences etc, all children r different its that simple! i av 2 hvs telling me opposite things lol, thats the way it goes, ppl come on ere 4 help n advice, i get 2hrs sleep a day cos of ebf n its hard i see no harm in a spoonful of baby rice a day

Sorry, lulu....I am puzzled, and I still don't know if you are trolling or not!

What you do with your own children is up to you, but if you are for real, and putting the early weaning thing into practice as a nursery nurse, then of course you are behaving very unprofessionally

You're not doing your NN colleagues any favours at all.

my eyes! my eyes!

we only put early weaning into practice if thats the parents wishes n ull b surprised at how many ppl wean at 4mths old, im far from unprofessional,all nursery nurses cater to parents wishes we dont make decisions 4 the parents, nor can we offer a child anything that they avnt ad b4! due to allergies opinionatedmummy is right lil evidence showing that early weaning causes allergies it just brings to light that ur child is allergic to something, but u wud however discover this at a later point if u were to wean later, it makes no diff'. My health visitors r aware of what im doing 1 agrees n 1 doesnt yet they wrk in same clinic! my child doesnt feed any less has full benefits of bm he has a spoonful of baby rice every morn n wud prob av more if i gave it him!

lulu - no textspeak, please... it's Mumsnet and we don't do it. I thank you

Nothing you say makes me think you are being anything other than unprofessional when you wean the babies in your care early. What these parents do at home is one thing - they cannot insist you do it in the nursery, just as they cannot insist on you doing other unhealthy or undesirable things just 'cos it's done at home.

Allergies has very little to do with it, for most babies, you are right. The guidance is related to supporting appropriate nutrition, and early weaning, for most babies, is not appropriate.

how is it unprofessional to do something 4 a child at their parents request? go in any nursery in the uk n u will find a baby younger than 6mths being fed solids! its unprofessional to question parents n management dont allow us to do that unless the child appears to b in danger

so hang on, luluxx, can I just check I have interpreted this right:

your son is 3months and 3wks
he was wanting to feed a lot so you started giving him a teaspoon of rice in the morning, despite being well under any semblance of the recommended weaning age
and depsite this he is still wanting to feed as much as ever

so the rice has not helped his sleeping (which it seems was your primary motivation for giving it)

So if you tried it and it hasn't worked, why would you advise others to do the same?

(NB Tiktok is right - you may have noticed that on MN we don't use much textspeak, and it's good to use things like punctuation and capital letters, and also to press 'return' occasionally. It just makes it easier for other people to underdstand you )

(asking you again not to do the textspeak )

I can understand your dilemma. But part of you role is to encourage healthy parenting, yes? So if a parent brought a big bottle of Diet Coke in for the baby to slurp at all day, you'd question it, I think? Or if they told you, 'just slap his hands when he does something naughty' you wouldn't do it, would you? Or 'we take away his dinner if he starts playing with it, and we let him go hungry until tea time'....etc etc.

You have a choice when parents want to do something that goes against health guidance.

Of course if you think (for some reason) that babies of just over three months need solids, you will disagree. I think it's unprofessional not to follow national guidance with other people's children.

my brother was weaned at 4 months. he got a blocked intestine, it got infected, he had several metres removed and nearly died. as a direct result of early weaning.

they also think that was a contributing cause to his autism.

i wouldn't risk it.

i waited til 6 months, exclusively bf, they were hungry babies and i just fed them more often. they were fine.

lulu Does your baby really feed for 22 hours a day?

Right first of all i was on my phone and we dont all have time to sit typing, ill write as i wish.
Secondly, put on solids not to get him sleep but 2 fill him up because of constant feeding. At times ive fed him every half hour which when bf is very hard going.
Thirdly i have spoke to his doctor who said he cant recommend it himself because of guidelines set out but he did the same thing with his child!
My son is 4mths i introduced him to a spoon at 3mths n 3weeks n have now introduced a spoonful of baby rice at breakfast time.
My friend was adviced by a doctor to put her son on solids at 4 months due to her child bringing up so much milk after feeds!!
Guidelines change so often it will be interesting to see what this debate looks like in a years time!
My greatgrandparents were bought up solely on powdered milk n they were fine, they r guidelines not the law!
My intention is to get my son slowly used to the concept of food, a spoon, moving food frm the frnt of your tongue to the back, all things we can do but take for granted! I dont ever plan to have a full nights sleep lol and im fine with that!
HVs now advice weaning at 6mths, they also think its perfectly fine to have your child eating 3 meals a day a week later?!?!? i think this is too much, my son prob wont have a full meal til hes 5 or 6mths old, but he will be familiar with food, and a spoon and bowl and will also be able to use them!

My mother was a nursery nurse with 50 years experience when she retired. She would never have done something she considered harmful to a child because of the parents' wishes, and would think it the height of unprofessional conduct to do so.

Guidelines do not 'change so often'.

UK official advice was '4-6 months' for over 20 years. Then, in 2003, it changed to '6 months' in line with WHO evidence-based recommendations.

Not a huge change and certainly not indicative of guidance changing frequently.

You are a nursery nurse who can't write or spell properly and we should take your advice? Over and above medical professionals? I think not......

This nonsense that guidelines change all the time and will be the opposite next week is utter rubbish. We learn more all the time, the guidelines have only ever gone in one direction as we understand more about how it works, and its been 6 months for seeral years now with no change. Its not that difficult to understand really.

You, like all parents, can make your own decisions, but you are unqualified to advise others.

nothing about your posts is impressing me with your professionalism

Didn't children get weaned onto food later than now earlier in the 20th century?

My mum has a book called the Motherhood Book about pregnancy and bringing up your baby/child written in the 1940s I think and I'm sure it mentioned later weaning.

An important part of professionalism is keeping up-to-date with current research and developments, and understanding why and how they affect your work.

If you are a nursery nurse you should be familiar with Every Child Matters? Maybe see what that has to say about weaning.

Okay in her 50 years experience she def wud av weaned a 4mth old, and i simply do what management n ofsted tell me.
i dont care about sitting carefully spelling etc etc this aint no exam.
i dont expect ppl to take my advice i simply offered my opinion.
Its bin 6mths 4 6years n b4 that was 4-6mths.
It does help to keep up to date, nurserys dnt use every child matters no more that went out bout a year n half ago its foundation stage now set by early years

Whats the point of commenting if you don't care if people can understand you?
Perhaps you should try Bebo or some teenage forum, us grown ups tend to appreciate punctuation and actual words.

ofsted say to wean at less than 4 months?? Really?

why who said less than a 4month old?! you grown ups need to get a life im going spend some quality time with my son, well u sit n appreciate punctuation!

"i simply do what management n ofsted tell me."
and you weaned at less than 4 months

i introduced a spoon n av started to introduce baby rice now hes 4mths actually. Some children ive wrked with have required weaning early. U ppl r far 2 judgemental i dnt knw how u sleep at night

I am quite happy to be judgemental about anyone doing something that is potentially damaging to a baby. Unless, of course there is some underlying health reason, such as severe reflux when the benefits outweigh the risks,