14 Weeks old... Weaning too soon?

[Puddingpea11]

I have posted this on another thread similiar to this in baby club, and thought I'd post it here to:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12180052

Its seems that no one can make their mind up and there is a lot of confusion on here and with the WHO too. Guidelines are always going to change as someone new will hve a "breakthrough" another will dispute that "breakthrough" and so on and so fourth.

That article was almost immediately and widely dismissed by every health authority and organization worldwide when it was first released. Even the pediatric journal states it is nothing more than an opinion piece. There is no new research done, merely a different opinion and interpretation of the data found in original research and studies that resulted in current weaning guidelines.

Most of the writers involved in the published article have been sponsored by, or work for formula and baby food companies, so their impartiality is questioned.

The UK & US Pediatric authorities (I vaguely remember Canada, NZ and Australia speaking against it as well) have stated they are not changing the guidelines based on that article, nor do the WHO or UNICEF support it.

The media ran rampant with it at the time and blew things way out of proportion.

Ah I did not know that, only stubbled accross that today. It's all so bloody confusing...an a little stressful. I still think I will offer LO baby rice between 17 and 19 weeks to see if he is ready. I mean she is already fascinated in what we eat. If she's not ready then I'm gonna wait as long as she needs.

why try it at that age at all? Why not just wait??

Mainly because my LO eats very 2 hours, and to me, it would seem that the milk is not satisfying her. Don't get me wrong, I will speak to my HV first about it...if she is adamant that I don't need to do it then I will probably hold off...however I will make the decision in the end. It's recommended that we all should be breastfeeding, and should breastfeed for a minimum of 6 months...though I don't believe everyone does this. It's up to the parent how they decide they want to feed their child..formula or breast.
In regards to weaning, I am not talking about full on weaning, I'm talking about just baby rice, and no intention of dropping the milk feeds. And as above, as suggested in my nhs book, I will discuss this with my gp:HV first.Tbh I am still weeks away and things may change and I may choose to wait 6 months or even longer (I am still reading into everything). It's justwavery hard to listen to conflicting theories...after all my family members, myself and friends were, as a majority, weaned at 4 months and we have no allergies or gut problems- I no it doesn't mean LO won't get some.

Question aimed at all:

Just to swop it round for a minute...if, say, the guidelines change this year and they say weaning should start from 4 months. Would you start at 4 months or would you still wait until after 6 months? If you waited until after 6 months
and people started shaking their heads at you, how would that make you feel? Honest answers though please.
The fact of the matter is that the guidelines say that they RECOMMEND weaning at 6 months, but to talk to gp or HV If you wish to start at 4-6 months..some will say my question above is irrelevant. But back in 2003 guidelines changed, so it could still change ( health studies are forever changing).

I am aware that written words/discussions can be read the wrong way. So please note that my post is a friendly one and purely meant to offer a friendly debate.

 

[xxClaire_24xx]

I have posted this on another thread similiar to this in baby club, and thought I'd post it here to:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12180052

Its seems that no one can make their mind up and there is a lot of confusion on here and with the WHO too. Guidelines are always going to change as someone new will hve a "breakthrough" another will dispute that "breakthrough" and so on and so fourth.

That article was almost immediately and widely dismissed by every health authority and organization worldwide when it was first released. Even the pediatric journal states it is nothing more than an opinion piece. There is no new research done, merely a different opinion and interpretation of the data found in original research and studies that resulted in current weaning guidelines.

Most of the writers involved in the published article have been sponsored by, or work for formula and baby food companies, so their impartiality is questioned.

The UK & US Pediatric authorities (I vaguely remember Canada, NZ and Australia speaking against it as well) have stated they are not changing the guidelines based on that article, nor do the WHO or UNICEF support it.

The media ran rampant with it at the time and blew things way out of proportion.

Ah I did not know that, only stubbled accross that today. It's all so bloody confusing...an a little stressful. I still think I will offer LO baby rice between 17 and 19 weeks to see if he is ready. I mean she is already fascinated in what we eat. If she's not ready then I'm gonna wait as long as she needs.

why try it at that age at all? Why not just wait??

Mainly because my LO eats very 2 hours, and to me, it would seem that the milk is not satisfying her. Don't get me wrong, I will speak to my HV first about it...if she is adamant that I don't need to do it then I will probably hold off...however I will make the decision in the end. It's recommended that we all should be breastfeeding, and should breastfeed for a minimum of 6 months...though I don't believe everyone does this. It's up to the parent how they decide they want to feed their child..formula or breast.
In regards to weaning, I am not talking about full on weaning, I'm talking about just baby rice, and no intention of dropping the milk feeds. And as above, as suggested in my nhs book, I will discuss this with my gp:HV first.Tbh I am still weeks away and things may change and I may choose to wait 6 months or even longer (I am still reading into everything). It's justwavery hard to listen to conflicting theories...after all my family members, myself and friends were, as a majority, weaned at 4 months and we have no allergies or gut problems- I no it doesn't mean LO won't get some.

Question aimed at all:

Just to swop it round for a minute...if, say, the guidelines change this year and they say weaning should start from 4 months. Would you start at 4 months or would you still wait until after 6 months? If you waited until after 6 months
and people started shaking their heads at you, how would that make you feel? Honest answers though please.
The fact of the matter is that the guidelines say that they RECOMMEND weaning at 6 months, but to talk to gp or HV If you wish to start at 4-6 months..some will say my question above is irrelevant. But back in 2003 guidelines changed, so it could still change ( health studies are forever changing).

I am aware that written words/discussions can be read the wrong way. So please note that my post is a friendly one and purely meant to offer a friendly debate.

ive asked this the ones who have waited will all say the guidelines wont change and they would wait even if they do

I started weaning Mia at 4 month that was the guideline 6 year ago and then she was 5 month the guidelines changed to 6 month I was told to stop giving mia solid and start again in 4 weeks, I told my health visitor in a nice way NO!!!!! x

 

[hivechild]

I have posted this on another thread similiar to this in baby club, and thought I'd post it here to:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12180052

Its seems that no one can make their mind up and there is a lot of confusion on here and with the WHO too. Guidelines are always going to change as someone new will hve a "breakthrough" another will dispute that "breakthrough" and so on and so fourth.

That article was almost immediately and widely dismissed by every health authority and organization worldwide when it was first released. Even the pediatric journal states it is nothing more than an opinion piece. There is no new research done, merely a different opinion and interpretation of the data found in original research and studies that resulted in current weaning guidelines.

Most of the writers involved in the published article have been sponsored by, or work for formula and baby food companies, so their impartiality is questioned.

The UK & US Pediatric authorities (I vaguely remember Canada, NZ and Australia speaking against it as well) have stated they are not changing the guidelines based on that article, nor do the WHO or UNICEF support it.

The media ran rampant with it at the time and blew things way out of proportion.

Ah I did not know that, only stubbled accross that today. It's all so bloody confusing...an a little stressful. I still think I will offer LO baby rice between 17 and 19 weeks to see if he is ready. I mean she is already fascinated in what we eat. If she's not ready then I'm gonna wait as long as she needs.

why try it at that age at all? Why not just wait??

Mainly because my LO eats very 2 hours, and to me, it would seem that the milk is not satisfying her. Don't get me wrong, I will speak to my HV first about it...if she is adamant that I don't need to do it then I will probably hold off...however I will make the decision in the end. It's recommended that we all should be breastfeeding, and should breastfeed for a minimum of 6 months...though I don't believe everyone does this. It's up to the parent how they decide they want to feed their child..formula or breast.
In regards to weaning, I am not talking about full on weaning, I'm talking about just baby rice, and no intention of dropping the milk feeds. And as above, as suggested in my nhs book, I will discuss this with my gp:HV first.Tbh I am still weeks away and things may change and I may choose to wait 6 months or even longer (I am still reading into everything). It's justwavery hard to listen to conflicting theories...after all my family members, myself and friends were, as a majority, weaned at 4 months and we have no allergies or gut problems- I no it doesn't mean LO won't get some.

Question aimed at all:

Just to swop it round for a minute...if, say, the guidelines change this year and they say weaning should start from 4 months. Would you start at 4 months or would you still wait until after 6 months? If you waited until after 6 months
and people started shaking their heads at you, how would that make you feel? Honest answers though please.
The fact of the matter is that the guidelines say that they RECOMMEND weaning at 6 months, but to talk to gp or HV If you wish to start at 4-6 months..some will say my question above is irrelevant. But back in 2003 guidelines changed, so it could still change ( health studies are forever changing).

I am aware that written words/discussions can be read the wrong way. So please note that my post is a friendly one and purely meant to offer a friendly debate.

This isn't a knock at bottle feeding, but there seems to be an unrealistic expectation that 2 hours is frequent feeding from a baby at that age and that they SHOULD go longer. Ronan was always feeding (we BF), sometimes 2 hours, sometimes less, occasionally he'd go longer, but even when he started weaning he still wanted milk or was sat down for food on average every 2 hours, if not more frequently. To me, that's just normal.

Now that he's 15 months old, he STILL wants to eat all day. It's near 10am and since he woke up around 7am, he's BF'ed twice, had a full bowl of cereal, a half pint of blueberries, a slice of toast, and a couple handful of freeze dried yoghurt melts, and topped that off with about 3oz of goat's milk. He'll nap soon, and then be up and ready for lunch.

The kid grazes from morning 'til night, and eating smaller amounts frequently is a healthier way for humans to eat rather than going long stretches of time without food and then consuming a heap all in one sitting, so I'm not going to discourage him from wanting to eat just because he only ate a half hour, or hour or two before!

As for if they changed the weaning guidelines to 'from 4 months,' I would still wait. We BLW with Ronan, and would BLW with any future children and they don't eat until they're ready to eat, so whether that's 5 months, 6 months or even 7 or 8 months, we'll wean when our baby is capable of picking the food up and feeding themselves!

 

[Puddingpea11]

I started breastfeeding however had to stop due to illness or rather my milk dried up ...feel pretty bad about that. So obviously LO is formula fed now. When I mentioned about LO eating roughly every 2 hours, sometimes wanting more after and hour tge HV grumbled and told me to keep an eye on it. Tbh my HV is useless and if it weren't for my husband she would have helped to bring on pnd ( i had extreme baby blues at the time). Seriously last time I went she said " you know you only need to come once a month, or if you have a question". I was shocked because I was only a week early, and that was because I was concerned about her weight gain (she's a skinny little thing) and I didn't wnt to put her through weighing and waiting after her jabs the next week.

I need a HV that I can dot down with and properly talk to, instead of one that makes me feel like a hindrance. Plus I can't take advice from someone like that...she never has any answers anyway! Grrrr

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I wouldn't wean at 4 months and would be extremely surprised if we were told to do so.

Healthy babies develop the ability to self feed at the time they start to need the food, and that is not 4 months in the vast majority of cases.

ETA - my LO didn't eat solids until 7.5 months. That was when she was ready.

 

[hivechild]

I started breastfeeding however had to stop due to illness or rather my milk dried up ...feel pretty bad about that. So obviously LO is formula fed now. When I mentioned about LO eating roughly every 2 hours, sometimes wanting more after and hour tge HV grumbled and told me to keep an eye on it. Tbh my HV is useless and if it weren't for my husband she would have helped to bring on pnd ( i had extreme baby blues at the time). Seriously last time I went she said " you know you only need to come once a month, or if you have a question". I was shocked because I was only a week early, and that was because I was concerned about her weight gain (she's a skinny little thing) and I didn't wnt to put her through weighing and waiting after her jabs the next week.

I need a HV that I can dot down with and properly talk to, instead of one that makes me feel like a hindrance. Plus I can't take advice from someone like that...she never has any answers anyway! Grrrr

That's what I meant about there being an unrealistic expectation that babies should go long stretches between feeds! Your HV needs a smack if you ask me.

Honestly, if you're feeding your LO on demand, whether bottle or breast, it shouldn't matter how little or how often she's feeding, so long as she's feeding well, is maintaining weight/growth and you're seeing enough wet and dirty nappies. The rest will sort itself out. A baby at that age won't eat/drink more than it needs. They regulate what they eat far better than we do as adults because they don't eat for emotional reasons the way we can. Trust your LO!

 

[Puddingpea11]

LO started on the 50th centile ann is ever so slowly falling to the 25th. I am pretty sure she has just had a growth spurt as she was downing 6-7 ounces each sitting. So I thought "great" she's gonna be back up on that 50th line but no such luck.

DH and I are slim so we assume this is why she is, but I do worry that she should be bigger and that maybe the milk isn't rich enough for her.

I'm going to try and speak to one of the other HVs as I have no faith in mine. I need some proper answers, not grunts or dismissals.

Thanks for replying to me though...is most appreciated.

 

[hivechild]

At her age, there is no solid food that ounce for once is as nutritional or calorie dense as milk (breastmilk or formula) is for her. Baby rice and purees are essentially empty calories that will just make her feel full where she might otherwise be getting the much required nutrition and calories that only milk can provide for her. That's why until the age of one, milk should still remain the primary source of nutrition for a baby.