Did anyone wean before 4 months?

[thymes2]

Hello! This is my first post.
My baby is 14 weeks old and mainly breastfed. Because she seems to struggle to get full I give her at least one bottle of formula per day (usually at night time so she'll sleep for a longer time. She seems very interested in our meals and I'm thinking of weaning her early. I'd like to hear about peoples experiences of weaning before the recommended 6 months and any advice.

If we start weaning at 6 months, we can skip babyfood (homemade or shop bought) altogether! The only babyfood DS2 has had is grissini. That's lots less money for companies. Particularly if you remember that lots of babies started on jar food move on to "toddler" meals, and then onto children's food, like nuggets and so on.

DS2 watches me eat, he smacks his lips to say he wants some, and I give him some. Done. He's 9+ months now.

Totally agree NQC. Ds has had some baby porridge and a bit of baby rice. The rest has been home stuff.

Question - if I make some mush apple and pear and put it in a jar in my cupboard, it won't last several weeks, so why would I want to feed some that does to ds?! Yuck.

Message withdrawn

Well, quite. I tend to say, "I wouldn't eat food that was in a jar for months, why would my kids?"

(That being said, the one bought baby food that DS1 was mad for was apple puree, but it was in little metal cups, so not exposed to light, at least. Oh, and not marketed as baby food, just as baby dessert.)

I'd never give my ds4 jar food. That said I gave my 1st baby jar food without questioning it because I thought that's what you did. I believed the manufacturers knew exactly how to tailor food for a baby's needs and I didn't. That was 4 baby's ago.

Out of interest does anyone know why asthma rates are rising and we are weaning later?

Not trying to be cagey - just interested Also do not want women to put it all on their mothers. There are other factors

Over cleanliness, double glazing and central heating I believe. And more pollution.

Bottlefeeding, too, surely?

And the effect of the recent move to waiting until 6 months isn't going to be seen for some time.

btw, the 6 month weaning advice is, I think, only applicable to purely breastfed babies. The benefits of late weaning for formula fed infants are less conclusive.

Agree with Soupy, plus less time spent outdoors/more indoors where the air is drier.

No, I think it applies to both. Surely if formula is the closest approximation to breastmilk we've got, then if breastmilk is the best food for babies under six months, then formula is the next best?

I don't think the benefits of exclusive bottlefeeding are as strong, though.

No NQC because no matter how good formula milk is, it is not as "good" for the infant gut as breastmilk. It is, after all, modified cows milk and therefore just as "alien" as carrot and lacking the antibodies and healthy bacteria etc that breastmilk has.

I thought I'd read it somewhere - presumably as part of something I did for the NCT. I could (of course!) be mistaken.

Sure. But it's less allergenic than most foods, surely?

And all the "avoid pureeing" arguments apply, obviously.

Yes, the pureeing thing applies but I'm sure I remember that the health benefits of delaying to 6 months were less conclusive for formula fed infants. That's not to say there weren't any or that delaying was harmul.

Actually, I wouldn't have thought it was necessarily less allergic than most foods as dairy/lactose intolerance is fairly common. Carrot allergy (for example) isn't. I don't know - my memory isn't as good as it used to be

The only mentions I can find say that there are no risks involved in delaying weaning to 6 months for formula fed infants. Nothing mentions any health benefits for formula fed infants. It wold seem that all the research was done wrt breastfed infants and very little has been conducted wrt formula fed infants in this respect.

There you go Ladies, next time you feel guilty about what you gave your child to eat, drink and when, stick the kids in the garden, make mud pies with them and let the house get really dirty. That way you are looking after their health but just as importantly their emotional well-being. Breastfeeding amongst our parents generation was few and far between. We were weaned early but asthma rates are higher now than when we were kids. Get the kids outside and forget the bleach.

But breastfeeding rates in the UK are still very low and not many mums bf exclusively to 6 months. It will take a long time to get the message through. You can tell that from the posts on this thread.
YOu cant look at rates of asthma now, you have to wait until people are actually bf exclusively till 6 months.

Agree about the other factors too.

I really don't want to get caught up in any arguements, I can speak from both sides, I just picked this info off the WHO website....

"Breastfeeding is an unequalled way of providing ideal food for the healthy growth and development of infants; it is also an integral part of the reproductive process with important implications for the health of mothers. A recent review of evidence has shown that, on a population basis, exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months is the optimal way of feeding infants."

"To enable mothers to establish and sustain exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months, WHO and UNICEF recommend:

Initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour of life

Exclusive breastfeeding ? that is the infant only receives breastmilk without any additional food or drink, not even water

Breastfeeding on demand ? that is as often as the child wants, day and night

No use of bottles, teats or pacifiers"

Are all these "rules" undertaken when BF exclusively for 6mths?

This debate is very interesting to me as I have 3 children the youngest of whom is 16wks, and on the advice of my HV I have attempted to give a little baby rice this week.

DD1 I BF for 6wks then formula until giving solids at 4mths. DD2 I purely formula fed until she would eat any kind of food at 9mths - she was an incredibly sick baby, I had no milk myself, tried to BF, wanted so very much to, but I had no milk come in what so ever . Suffered severe PND. This time I am totally BF DD3 and thoroughly enjoy every minute of it!

I notice (as HV told me) the WHO advice is stated as a guideline, not a rule as such. Yes I understand it is based on research, I have just downloaded and read the report.

I read that the report found infants who are BF for 6mths appear to have significantly reduced risk of one or more episodes of gastrointestinal infection. The report states they found "No significant reduction in the risk of asthma or exzema". It also advises, with regard to exclusive BF for 6mths, that infants should be "managed individually so that insufficient growth or other adverse outcomes are not ignored and appropriate interventions are provided"

I do understand that whenever a new medical report comes out the most sensational bits are headlined, and we all want to do the best possible for our children, but looking at the source of the news is usually much more informative.

Hope this helps clarify a few things.

Happy disputing .

Just out of interest what reasons did your hv give for giving rice at 16 weeks?

The midwife/hv organisation webpage advises mvs and hvs against this. I'll hunt the link.

Hi hercules, DD3 is waking more often and feeding a lot more when she had previously been quite content, she is often upset after feeds (not wind) and seems still hungry.

here

I spoke to my health trust when my hv was gobsmacked that dd wasnt on solids at 5 months and they said that hv's have to attend lectures etc to get uptodate info so it depends on the hv as to how uptodate they are.

If your baby is hungry just feed them more often.

rice is less filling than milk anyway....

My ds3 wasn't on solids 'til at least 10 months. I know another baby who didn't start 'til 14 months. We've lost touch with our bodies and it's sad we have to read what others have written and change depending on the prevailing research (done by MEN, Doctors and baby food/milk manufacturers).