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.

I've not said too much about it to my friend, I should really. I did say that they souldn't have rice in their bottles at all, she just said 'I know' or something like that. The worst thing is, she and her DH & DD1 live with her mum, and the mum is in the health prof and knows better

My DS loves his banana, apple and orange baby rice lumpy. Think he's hungry again as he's really munching on my arm!! And he looks as though his botton teeth are going to come through - lots of little white lumps under his gums

Regarding the previous posts:

From Merriam-Webster:

1 : the act or process of forming reasons and of drawing conclusions and applying them to a case in discussion

Can't really see what's wrong with that.

If anyone feels offended by any of my previous posts, please let me assure you that this wasn't my intention, but even after reading all of it again, I wouldn't rephrase any of it.

BTW: Find it very interesting to see that some of the most active posters here who vehemently discourage early weaning, find no problem at all in drinking during pregancy, i.e. putting babies at risk before they are even born. Double standards. Big time. And very, very disappointing - just see the other thread...

I can't really believe that consumption of alcohol is still belittled. There is obviously enough research that shows the damage that alcohol does to a human being. And - drinking in moderation, does that mean that drug consumption is then ok too, if it is done in moderation or smoking if it is done in moderation, during or after pregnancy.

I'd rather take the risk on the food side, but I'm very happy that we were both mature enough to consider smoking or drinking during pregnancy a no-go and give our baby the best possible start into this world.

bursting bug - whilst not advocating baby rice at 7 weeks, maybe your friend's DS is a sicky baby so needs so much milk because he throws up a lot, rather than vice versa? is he having milk nearly every hour through the night as well

Micha, there's something ever so slightly sanctimonious about a man lecturing women about what they can and can't do with their own bodies.

Where is the evidence that just a couple of drinks a week will harm a foetus? The advice not to drink at all is because of the lack of such evidence, not because it's been proved that that level of drinking causes any problems.

So, you don't believe the research that says weaning before a certain age may be harmful and you don't believe the research that says the odd drink in pregnancy won't harm your unborn baby but you're happy to believe the research into the effects of excessive alcohol on adults and take that to mean that an occasional drink in pregnancy will harm your unborn baby. Hmmmm. That sounds completely reasonably, Micah.

Oh Micha you're a man. (sound of penny dropping). This thread makes sooooooo much more sense to me now.

I have not read all of these threads but just wanted to add my twopennysworth. I have a friend who is herself in the medical profession and friendly with a couple of very eminent paediatricians. Their view is that weaning before 17 weeks can be harmful to the babies gut, but that weaning between 4-6 months as was previously advised is fine as long as the baby is receiving veg/fruit purees or baby rice and that weaning before 6 months can for many babies be preferable than waiting until 6 months. My friend said that the advice was changed to 6 months because many families in this country do not have access to quality food or were misinformed and were feeding babies unsuitable food before 6 months.

Windermere. did they say why starting solids before 6m would be preferable to waiting?

I think it was if the baby was showing signs before 6 months and you waited that you may then have problems when you do start and the weight gain may not be as it should. I can only talk from my own experience as I am not an expert (I weaned just before 5 months) my ds was consistently between the 75/90 centile and at 5 months he dropped to below 50 centile, as he had been showing signs that he was ready I weaned him and at 6 months he was back between 75/90. At the advice of the same friend I only weaned him on basic fruit/veg purees I found that once I weaned him he increased his milk intake and hardly needed any solids anyway.

dd1 had a bit of baby rice and pear at 4 months and so did dd2. I am talking a teaspoon if that, once a day for a couple of weeks until she moved on to other stuff. All those getting your knickers in a twist should remember we are not talking a full sunday lunch ffs.

I havent posted on the other thread but I have no problem with a couple of glasses a week during pregnancy. I dont see how that makes anyone a bad parent or negates any argument about early weaning.

Sorry to butt in again - but just wanted to remind you all that I'm collecting weaning anecdotes for a piece I'm doing. It would be really good to get a quote or two from anyone who has got rather stressed out by it all. Email me at [email protected] for more details. Thanks.

PS: I did a piece on drinking during pregnancy and the world's leading authority on fetal alcohol syndrome said it was complete rubbish that a couple of drinks a week would cause problems. Binge drinking does though - so don't go out on the lash

CarolinaMoon - it is easy to read something into a post. Who says I want to lecture? What would I get from that anyway?

There is no evidence for the harm of early weaning either.

oliveoil - Agree 100%.

Maybe we all have a different understanding about the definition of weaning. What I'm referring to is "feeding the baby" mostly from other sources than breastmilk, i.e. even feeding your baby mostly on formula milk would qualify as "weaning".

Nobody ever suggested or encouraged feeding a baby of 4 months mostly on solids. We are talking about a feed a day or every other day.

Yes, I accept that the recommendations say that a baby in general doesn't need anything else from breastmilk for the first 6 months. But as with all things that is a generalisation which is true for an average baby. It doesn't exclude that there are exceptions, i.e. faster developing babies.

Still - much the same way a good percentage of mothers don't see any harm in moderate drinking during pregnancy, I don't see any harm in "casual early weaning".

my dd now approaching 21 wks, was hungry form the second she was born. takne bottle of fromula fine straightaway but been very colicky and windy. and still hungry. asked HV for advice about the milk - told cant change yet. increase amount of milk. fine.
eventually at about 10 wks i get told, when asked again, that i can now change milk. we thought she needed to feel fuller from her feeds. so i did. satisfied for while then needed more again, increased milk again. hv said try whatever i want such as gripe water to help wind but try everything else before trying baby rice. at least we thought that a little tiny bit of rice would fill her up a bit more, be less colicky and last bit longer between feeds. paediatrician said then at 13.5 wks was ok to start her on baby rice, but only rice products, so we did. although hv wasnt impressed on phone when few wks later asked for more advice and told her we started rice at this age. after all she told me in first place to try everything else first which i did.
anyway dd loves food. much happier and lasting bit longer and working out well. still only on two small meals a day - bfast and mid afternoon dinner/tea of fruit or veg.
also started ds on solids at 14 wks 4 yrs ago. hasnt done him any harm and i dont worry about what i've done to cause his eczema or whatever. just treat it at the time. he needed it at that time to put on weight for heart op. but he is now the way he is. he's SN anyway from brain ops too and being in hospital for so long and thats just him now. we've always been strict about what he eats.
besides, i was so unsettled as tiny baby that i was given 1 tspn of baby rice a day at 5 wks old! never done me any harm 28 yrs on!

Read most of the thread as it is a very very long one, but just wondered why the leaflet I was given says to start anywhere from 4 months and also why most of the books start from 4 months if the advice should be a strict 6 months then surely the info provided by the hv should say this. This would lead me to believe that the advice I was given ie dont start before 4 months and dont leave it as late as 6 months is probably the most sensible...

Aargh!

my other point is that a baby like mine who's very hungry ; you cant just give her milk for 6 whole mths! we've endless crying, screaming, wind, colic etc...i'd feel quite depressed and down if this carried on for the 6 mths.

and my hv told me 'the reasons why its reocmcend to start solids at 6 mths is because the increased numbers of obesity! for goodness sake. what is she on about. surely thats rubbish. we're talking a tiny teaspoon of baby rice to start with for about week or so. they get obese from starting that earlier than 'normal'!

sorry everyone just had to get that of my chest.

sorry, cant spell recommended in a hurry!

forgot to add the word can't in the last sentence.

Charlie95, your HV is talking rubbish, its not to do with obesity, its becasue on average it takes 6 months for a babies gut to develop to cope with solid foods and less liklihood of developing allergies.

Of course 6 months isn't a magic number, some babies will be ready just before, some just after. All info given out by health professionals should say 6 months, any that still say 4 months are out of date.

JulieF - In one of my posts on this thread I quote the WHO report that gave the basis for the introduction of solids at 6mths guideline. You will notice that it in no way suggests an increase in allergies if you introduce solids before that time. If there are allergies present in your family history you should avoid certain foods, but with regard to the introduction of solids before 6mths this has nothing to do with allergies.

hi i started to wean my baby boy at 12 weeks because he weighed 16lb 6oz and milk wasnt enough. He started on baby rice for about a month then i started on 1/2 a jar of veg and milk at lunch and moved the rice to before bed and added some fruit puree. Iv been doing this for about 2 weeks so far and now he has milk and rusk for breakfast. He is still waking up sometimes but hes now 18 weeks and weighs 20lb! do you know anyone else with a big baby. Hes not fat hes as long as he is heavy hes very solid.

Link to the Government's new weaning leaflet - all HVs should be giving out this one now