Did anyone NOT wait til 6 months to wean their baby??

[CharlotteACavatica]

Are all the babies that were weaned years ago at 4 months now doomed to digestive problems? I had my 4th child a few weeks ago and of course ive been given all kinds of information re weaning at 6 months, but i was given all this info with my first and second child only it was to wean at 4 months, im sure this has been brought up many many times on here, but im curious really, my first 2 children were weaned at 15 and 16 weeks, and they got on really well with it, LOVED all the new tastes and thrived incredibly, they've certainly never had any problems and they are 10 and almost 8, surely human physiology doesnt change??

Well, 10 and 8 years ago, the guidelines were 4-6 months. 15 and 16 weeks are not 4-6 months. Pedantry over.

The thing is with weaning effects, is that they are a lifelong thing. You cannot say until well into adulthood how weaning may have affected a child/adult so it's impossible to make clear statements, certainly not with a test sample of two.

And no human physiology doesn't change really but our understanding of it does. That is why guidelines change.

There's no point worrying about what is done. Parenting is so much more than weaning. But you can take on board the reasons and research behind current guidelines and make appropriate decisions based upon them.

4 months was the recommended weaning age, but then people tended to wean earlier than that, 3 months etc.

Now they say 6 months (because six months is definitely safe) so hopefully people with a tendency towards early weaning will at least wait til 4 or 5 months.

Ok so this is obviously a sensitive subject! I am 'aware' of quite a few mums that still wean their babies at 4 months, is it really very bad for them? I can see the benefits of waiting for 6 months, but small amounts of pureed fruit/veg if carefully prepared cant be very damaging can it? My first child would never ever have managed a wait until 6 months, he was a very big and VERY hungry boy, and he would guzzle 10/11oz of hungry baby milk every 2 hours (sometimes he wouldnt wait that long). How do parents manage to wait 6 months if they have a very very hungry baby?

It's not necessarily that 4 months is bad - most babies' digestive systems will be mature enough to handle food at 4 months, but all will by 6 months. So it's just safer to wait til as close to 6 months as possible.

What Missus says. No harm in waiting, potential harm in giving solids early. And it's much, much easier to wean a 6 month old on normal food than it is to faff about with purees. For me obviously, this is no comment on anybody else.

And my dd was v v v hungry. She never went longer than 2hrs and was bfed, so nobody else to feed her for me. The fact remains that milk is the most calorific, nutritious and whole food they can have. How a bit of mushed up veg is going to satisfy hunger more than a high calorie milk, I've never understood.

And yes it's sensitive, it involves our precious offspring don't you know?

Lol ok SOH, true enough - was genuinely curious, thats all

Human physiology doesn't change, our level of understanding of it too. I prefer to trust the most up-to-date research. Babies used to be operated on without anesthetic because they weren't thought to feel pain

That said I did give both my DC (now 2 1/2 and 10 months) sticks of food to play with from about 24 weeks.

To be precise the current guidelines are to wean 'at around six months and certainly no earlier than 17 weeks'.

Remembered quote, will link the real thing in a mo.

I introduced mine to a few purees at around 4 months - I think you should go with what your baby wants. If they are ready then go for it, if not then wait. Guidlines are just that, guidelines. I hate how mothers are constantly being told different things every minute, so much so that we lose confidence in ourselves and don't trust our instincts.

12 weeks here and no problems whatsoever.

All three of mine were weaned back in the Olden Days, when 16 weeks was the standard recommendation, and are all strapping lads with perfectly healthy digestive systems. And none of their contemporaries whose mums I know seem to have any digestive problems either, despite us all having followed the same guidelines.

Read this 2008 ESPGHAN paper
The business about the gut not being ready appear to be completely wrong

"The available data suggest that both renal
function and gastrointestinal function are sufficiently
mature to metabolise nutrients from complementary
foods by the age of 4 months (12). With respect to
gastrointestinal function, it is known that exposure
to solids and the transition from a high-fat to a
high-carbohydrate diet is associated with hormonal
responses (eg, insulin, adrenal hormones) that result
in adaptation of digestive functions to the nature of the
ingested foods, by increasing the maturation rate of
some enzymatic functions and/or activities (13,14).
Thus, to a large degree gastrointestinal maturation is
driven by the foods ingested."

Also the advice in USA has just changed back to 4-6 months because there has been an increase in allergies since the 6months + guidelines and in many other countries including france, germany and italy also have guidelines of 4-6 months