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!!!

Oh, and the guidelines haven't changed in the 13 years since I weaned my dd. it was 6 months then and it's 6 months now. The only thing that has changed is that more research has made waiting to 6 months an even stronger recommendation.

lulu - you are antgonising people unnecessarily with your insistance on textspeak. You've been asked not to use it because it makes the discussion harder to follow. I'm not bothered about spelling and punctuation but textspeak on a forum which does not use it is plain rude....it's like continuing to shout in a room when everyone else is speaking quietly!

Every Child Matters is relevant to nursery as well - it's the standard for social, educational and health care for all children, birth to 19. You are getting confused - the EYFS is the educational aspect of it.

Ofsted will want to ensure your nursery has a healthy eating ethos and will ask your management about it. At some point, someone will ask about what you do with the weanlings. Lets hope your excuse 'I only do what management tell me to' is enough, and management back you up.

You are using your NN status to defend yourself, and it doesn't work - your nursery is working with outdated guidance, they don't seem concerned to update you and you are happy to persist in what you are doing with other people's children as far as I can see - the very fact you thought guidance changed frequently is a give away...it does not.

And as for being judgemental....read your posts and see how you come across!

Open minded or closed minded?

Accepting of others or judgemental?

Calm and interested in debate or shouty and aggressive?

if you look at the food standards website you will find it says
If you want to introduce solid foods before six months, make sure you check with your health visitor or GP first. And don?t give any solid foods to your baby before he or she is four months old (17 weeks).
I havent done anything to put any child at risk! always had professional advice, my hvs are aware of what im doing and like i said 1 is happy 1 isnt! I have weaned i dont know how many babies some at 6mths, 1 at 3mths for medical reasons, you should respect all children are different and all ppl are different to, some women struggle with milk supply but dont want use formula, wudnt it b best wean on solids rather than starve?!
You carry on with your judgement ive never endangered a child and i dont make judgements like you, i wish needsomesleep luck n wud say dont give solids til 17weeks at least but make sure your hv is aware, if however all this gossip on ere has left u in doubt leave it either way it what suits u n ur child.
ooooppps txt talk again lol

It's not gossip ffs - it's fact!

And a woman who struggled with bf and chose to put a baby on solids instead of formula would, in my opinion, be a very silly woman indeed.

And how, precisely, is telling your health visitor what you're doing going to make a difference? Can a HV magically seal an immature gut?

Perhaps a boat, that one!?

apologies, I assumed introduced a spoon meant with something on it

lulu, clearly all this is new to you, despite your job, so I'll explain.

The guidance in the UK is that exclusive breastfeeding is recommended until 6 mths. Bf continues after this, with no upper limit given, alongside solids. Solids to be intro'd at 6 mths for bf and ff babies. If parents are insistent on giving solids before this age then they need to know that 17 weeks is the very earliest they can do it safely.

This is not the same as saying '17 weeks is ok'.

Solids of the amount you are giving - one spoon of baby rice a day - will make no significant difference to your baby's calorie intake. Early solids, in fact, may well reduce the net intake of calories from milk, which is another reason why early solids are not recommended.

Again, what you do with your own kid is your own business. But other people's children - that's different. I commented before that part of a NN's role is to encourage and model healthy parenting at the nursery (so just 'cos a parent smacks, or swears, or gives Coca Cola, or whatever, does not mean you would do the same). Am I right?

Definite movement. Yes, a boat perhaps.

WTF is introducing a spoon. Just a spoon? Darling this is Jerry the spoon, Jerry the spoon this is Floella, shake hands.

you said earlier that you weaned your baby at 3 months and 3 weeks. that is earlier than 4 months WHICH ISN'T RECOMMENDED.

please stop doing this. follow the government guidelines.

you have responsibilities here.

My baby boy is nearly 15 wks and he has been on baby rice since 8 wks old. He is not disporportionally big, but he is hungry. I weaned my daughter at 17 wks, she is now 2yrs 7mths and very very healthy and active, and very slim!!!!

How can we say not to feed our "individual and unique" babies when they are starving hungry, when only a decade ago the government advice was to wean at 4 mths, and just 5 yrs before that (our generation this is) the advice from experts was to wean at 12 wks!!!!

Our babies are not text book, they are all different, and i think there is alot to be said for "mothers instinct", which is a powerful tool, and its only doubted when you go on websites that tell you are doing harm to your baby by doing what you feel is best.

My 15 wk old is a happy content baby, still needs a feed in the night (so you can see i am not feeding him rice to make him sleep through) whereas before his little amount of rice he was a crying miserable baby.

My HV also suggests you can wean at 17 wks and i dont think she needs "bringing up to date", she just realises that babies are human beings!!! We are a generation of babies being weaned at 12 wks, and i dont know about you, but i am a fit and healthy 28 yr old with no allergies or illnesses. Was my mum wrong to wean me at 10 wks??!!??!!

Basically, i would say follow your instincts and do what is best for YOUR baby, not everyone elses!!!!

x

8 weeks!! Leaving aside any rights or wrongs of that how on earth do you get an 8 week old to take anything from a spoon? We found it nearly impossible to get 2.5ml of Calpol into a 12 week old after his vaccinations.

How would you manage to get enough baby rice into an 8 week old (IMO, basically a newborn) to have any effect on his appetite?

Very easily as he was hungry, and knew exactly what to do!!! He started on 1 tsp mixed with his formula after his normal 3pm bottle, and he is now having 3 tsps. I am going to introduce "breakfast" porridge next week when his high chair arrives.

If a baby wants food, it will take it off a spoon, my son has proved this!!!

Lazydaisy this is the second old thread you have bumped on this with an identical post.

You won't find much agreement or support on MN.

No baby is ready for, or needs, or is able to digest adequately, anything other than milk at 8 weeks. That includes your baby.

Why is there so much difficulty in understanding that sometimes, new knowledge and research means we have to accept that the way things used to be done was not the best way?

sheesh

But what possible difference could 1tsp of baby rice have made to anything? If he was having 20oz or so of formula (sorry, don't know what is normal at that age), then that is less than 1% of his daily volume intake in baby rice. How could that make a difference?

Sorry but I don't accept your argument that 'if a baby wants food, it will take it off a spoon, my son has proved this!!!'

If you put chocolate milkshake laced with Baileys in a bottle they'd most likely drink that too. Doesn't mean they need it, or that its good for them.

I don't believe in sticking rigidly to 26 weeks to wean. Some may be ready a little earlier an some a bit later. But I do believe you should watch you baby for true signs of readiness (ability to sit unaided and hold head up, to reach out for food/pincer grip, loss of tongue thrust reflex, and so on) which a baby of 8 weeks old simply cannot have.

If your 8 wek old baby is hungry it is because they need the calories and nutrition in milk.

QueenOfFlammingEverything, i just wanted to offer a "different" opinion to all the ususal ones you see on here, its all very monotonous on here, but as i said earlier, WE are all ok.....

And FM, 1 tsp of baby rice to a small tummy is enough to fill it!!! Just enough to make a hungry baby content!!!! I would never suggest shovelling in 10 tsps to such a young baby!!!!

Why would you want to fill the tummy of an 8 week old baby with anything other than milk though?

What does rice offer your baby that they need? Whats wrong with leting them fill up on the milk that they are designed to have? The milk that has the right fats, minerals, and other nutrients to support their growth and development?

Sorry if you find it 'monotonous' that MN is supportive of exclusive milk feeding until 6 months - as is accepted to be best for nearly every baby.

8 weeks!

It just seems so...arrogant.

Babies bodies are not minature versions of adults bodies. They are not mini versions of us who simply haven't learnt to walk and talk yet.

The nine months they spend inside us only gives time for them to develop the bare minimum abilities to survive outside. The months (and years) after birth are then spent developing the abilities that will take them beyond mere survival to independent adulthood.

So, a baby that is only 2 or 3 months old simply does not have the physical equipment to take effective nutrition from anything apart from milk.

The aim of 26 weeks for weaning needn't be set in stone for parents, as we all know that babies develop at slightly different rates. A couple of weeks here or there probably won't make much difference.

However, weaning 3 months early is like expecting a 2.5year old to be ready for school. Sure, some parents would give it a go (some parents seem willing to give anything a go) - but not to be recommended for everyone.

I dont know why you all feel the need to critisise me and the way i bring up my family. It works well for me, and i was just offering my own experiences and opinions, like everyone else on here does. I have no intention of giving my baby "real food" until he is much older, but the rice ligns his tummy which is what he, as an individual, needs.

I have not critisised anyone elses views or opinions, and beleive we are all good mothers trying to do the best for our babies.

I have friends who have been sunburnt, and who don't have skin cancer - am I right to advise people that they don't need to use sunblock?

I have seen people drive their children around without using car seats, and they haven't had an accident - am I right to advise people that they don't need to use car seats?

By pointing out the dangers of weaning too early, we are not trying to criticise your personal choices - just trying to help other readers understand the risks you have chosen to take.

lazydaisybaby I have to laugh at 'as an individual'. Physiologically, at 8 weeks, your baby is not an individual.

Unless he has specific difficulties, his digestive system is just like that of all the other 8 week babies - not sufficiently
developed for solid food.

Unless you have installed a little window, you have no idea what the rice is doing in his tummy.