early weaning.
- Forums
- Baby recipes
- early weaning.
3/4/08 23:01
3/4/08 21:35
Current advise is to wait until 6 months - as you have written. Many will argue that you know baby best and encourage you to wean early.
Some paedeatricians advise parents to wean early based on their investigations - that is why you are advised to speak to you health visitor before you start weaning.
Babies go through various growth spurts, they increase their food intake for a few days and then once their appetite is met they tail off back to normal again - maybe jsut taking in more milk than they had preivously.
Hand chomping, putting everything in their mouths isn't necessairly a sign of wanting to be weaned - your baby could be teething. Babies also learn about their world via their mouths, they explore textures and tastes and that' show they begin the learning process about things around them. It's normal.
Being interested in food is also not another sign, your baby will be interested in the remote control, or your mobile phone - not becuase your baby wants to change the channel or make a phone call - simply becuase your baby learns by mimicking what you do. Another developmental thing and way of learning about their surroundings.
Speak to your health visitor - please don't take advice from a parenting website as we don't know your baby, we don't know your baby's weight in proportion to height / build or anything. We know nothing about your family history, illnesses etc. Your health visitor will take all these factors into account and advice you.
3/4/08 21:31
Well, every few years or so they shift the goal posts on this one! At various times the advice has been 3 months, 2 months, 4 months and now they're saying 6 months. However, they also say that some babies may need to be weaned earlier than this (most of them from what I've seen!) so they say that you should wait until 4 months/17 weeks as the minimum. I don't know all the medical ins and outs but basically their bodies (kidneys, liver, etc) can't process food properly before then. In some cases you may want to start earlier than this but I would definitely recommend a chat with your HV if you're planning to start earlier than 4 months. It could be that LO is just having a growth spurt and needs a bit more milk for a week or two or that switching to hungry baby milk (if you haven't already) could delay weaning for a while.I weaned DD1 at 17 weeks as that was the norm for the time but with DD2 (7 months) I intended trying to wait til as near to 6 months as possible but she was obviously showing signs of being ready for a bit more than just milk and her weight was starting to drop a little so the HV agreed that it would be a good time to start her - she was 18 weeks.
HTH!
3/4/08 21:13
hi everyone! im a first timer, and just wondered if someone could explain to me the risks of weaning before 6 months please.
my lo is 15 weeks, she is 15lb, so fairly big for her age. she is combination fed, up until last week she was sleeping 11-7 and was having a feed every 4 hrs ish. the last week or so she has started waking for night feeds and downing 8oz every 2 half-3 hours. she has been very interested in our food for a while now. and has given herself a big blister on her hand from chomping it so much. just dont think im going to be able to hold her out that long. when is reasonable ?and are the risks long term?
sorry for the essay
irnbru- thanks for your reply, 4 or so months sounds alot more managable than 6 months! and now, looking at the other posts on here that seems to be what most people have done.
itsnearlymybirthday - i dont know if you misunderstood what i was saying, but i found your reply a little patronising.
as i said, I think i would struggle to hold my lo out to 6 months.I wasnt saying I was going to give her solids anytime soon, and was asking how risky it is to start before 6 months not before 4 months.
I have spoken to my health visitor, but as im sure alot of people find,she states nhs and fsa guidelines which are not always realistic. I work in health care myself and we are often instructed to quote very over cautious guidlines, which are to stop us being taken to court more than anything else. So i was looking for friendly advice and opinions from other, more experienced mums, so i can make a well rounded , informed decision, which i thought was the point of these forums