How do you manage to wait till 6 months before 'weaning'?

[kimberleyrobx]

I say weaning, but its the only other word i could think of other than 'giving food'! I am genuinely curious and interested as to how parents can wait so long before introducing solids! (Or blended food etc) How do you do it?! My babies would never have made it to 6 months without baby jars, bananas, baby packed foods etc! emily was having a full three meals a day at six months old! it was mostly all baby jars and the packed foods and yogurts, but i've also heard of babies who live on milk until they are at least 6 months old and i am genuinely like 'seriously? how do they do it!' we didnt have an option with emily, she was always so hungry and formula milk wasnt filling her up at all! we were giving her a quarter rusk at just over a month old and we were lucky if she slept more than 3-4 hours! Is it all to do with what weight they were born? Emily was 9lbs 6oz when she was born, a very hungry baby who was never sick, she was a grubber and kept all her food down! When did everyone start introducing rusks or something like it?

 

[lemongrass]

I don't think babies are supposed to be sleeping or going without food for longer than 3-4 hours at a month old. They have very small tummies that don't hold much!

 

[Amy2701]

I had to start weaning at 4 months (on advice of my HV) with Lily. She was only 5lbs15 at birth and lost weight for a few weeks running due to problems with bottles. I really wanted to wait until 6 months but couldn't. I'm hoping to be able to wait until 6 months with Connor, but he's already showing signs of being a very hungry boy so not sure he'll hold out til then. X

 

[Sprat]

^^wss
My 6.5 month old still doesn't go more than 3-4 hours! In fact 2 is more like it! Lol!

 

[mad76]

My baby was happy on just breast milk till 6 months
He didn't sleep more than a few hours without a feed, but I thought that was normal till solids at 6 months !
It wasn't easy, but as a first time mum I just listened to health visitors advice to wait till 6 months for solids, until reading on here I dudnt even know early weaning was an option !

 

[mellyboo]

I was advised to start early weaning at first but i decided aganist i gave her a few bites she really loved it but i dont no something felt so wrong prob because everyone is like wait 6 months blah blah wait wait and i think i felt paranoid we have her started right now on one meal a day and she LOVES her food!

 

[corgankidd]

I had to start weaning recently because whenever I was eating he would try to grab my food then start crying when I wouldn't give him any. I wanted to wait until 6 months, but only made it to almost 5 months. 1 month is far too early though!

 

[aliss]

TBH I'm not sure what you mean, if a 4 week old is still hungry an hour later, then give them more boob or another bottle. 3-4 hours is pretty good for that age, many 4 week olds will be waking for food hourly, 24/7. My 1st was 9lb 3oz but had reflux so a bad example, but my 5 month old (smaller, 8lb 7oz born) is on 100th percentile but just takes a lot of boob, so he's fine without solids. I don't see a big deal about 4-6 months at all but I don't see how anyone could say a 4 week old can't be full on milk alone without serious medical issue?

 

[kimberleyrobx]

It actually amazes me how people can wait until 6 months, but i think thats only because we have very hungry babies in our family so i dont know (and havent seen) any differently! emily was such a grubber, she loved her foods so much and she just wouldnt stop eating at around 9 months! she ate EVERYTHING! xx

 

[Daisy_Delayne]

Mine ate every 1.5 - 2 hrs for months, but you just do what you have to do. If she was hungry, I pulled out a boob! lol. She's always gained weight consistently on just breast milk, and even now at 7 plus months, she's only eating small bits of solid food. She's just not that interested in it yet, and anything that isn't liquidy makes her gag. She loves her milk! She still wakes up about 3 times per night for a feed, but it's not a big deal to me.

 

[Noelle610]

Breast milk and formula have more fat and calories than baby rice or puréed carrots. So if your baby is really hungry, milk is going to be more filling than anything you can give a baby who is younger than 6 months.

 

[readytotry]

You just give them more milk

I don't think it's about hungrier babies tbh, I think it's about expectations.

 

[mellyboo]

Breast milk and formula have more fat and calories than baby rice or puréed carrots. So if your baby is really hungry, milk is going to be more filling than anything you can give a baby who is younger than 6 months.

this is why i waited i read into it and went aganist my dr.. well i started a couple days early, pfft.. it just felt wrong to me.

my Lo still drinks formula every 3 hours 6-8 oz bottles.

 

[Broodypants]

Is this a genuine thread? I just don't get it. If you were honestly feeding your baby rusks at a month old you must surely be aware of the sort of responses you are going to get?!

Is this written just to start a big debate?

 

[mrsrof]

I was adamant i was going to keep her until 6 months, but in the end it was 5 as she was genuinely ready for food (showed all the signs, including grabbing sandwiches out of our hands!!). But we only started with a spoon or 2 of baby rice, which she hated so we never gave to her again, and I don't like baby jars, they're full of crap IMO, so we made/make our own food, including fruit pots. We do buy kids yoghurts for her but she will eat natural yoghurt as well. We do mostly BLW but she gets fed cereal/fruit puree/yoghurt.

Giving rusk at a month old?? Wow. I don't even know where to start with how bad that is. Current guidelines say they shouldn't have ANY solids until 17 weeks minimum as their digestive systems aren't developed enough and it can lead to problems (such as IBS) later in life. I agree with pp...if a 4 week old is hungry...you give them more milk, you don't give them solid food. Some babies want milk every hour or 2, some can go several hours. My LO usually had 6 bottles a day (or more if she wanted!), but I have a friend whose baby had full bottles every 2 hours day and night...they're all different, you just have to roll with it!

My MIL visited when DD was 2 months and wanted to know why she wasn't on solids and said she gave my BIL custard at 5 weeks "because I thought he was hungry". This is a woman who gave DH COFFEE in his bottle at 9 months though "because he liked it", so she's probably not a great example!!!!

 

[kimberleyrobx]

Is this a genuine thread? I just don't get it. If you were honestly feeding your baby rusks at a month old you must surely be aware of the sort of responses you are going to get?!

Is this written just to start a big debate?

Its definitely not written to start a debate, im honestly curious as to how some babies can hold off to 6 months old! I wasnt sure wether to put down that emily had a bit of rusks at over a month old, but i dont see why i shouldnt be able to share when emily had a taste of something other than milk just because it was earlier than most

 

[Twister]

Is this a genuine thread? You just give them more milk I don't understand why it's so hard to believe that some people do wait until around 6 months to start solids (as per WHO guidelines), its really not that long in the grand scheme of things. I do understand that not all babies are the same, and some may be ready earlier than others but I honestly cannot imagine any 4 week old needing solids, milk is all they know and need at that age.

LO is 5 months and is completely fine on bm alone. We are starting solids at 6 months but are taking the blw approach so she probably won't eat much to start with. Yeah she feeds every 2-3 hours through the day and feeds a couple of times in the night but I always thought that was normal. I sometimes think people expect too much from little babies, most don't go 3-4 hours between feeds especially not at 4 weeks old! Their tummies are tiny and delicate at that age and they grow at such a rapid rate it's to be expected that they eat frequently. Shoot me now but giving a 4 week old rusks is irresponsible and potentially dangerous not only is it a huge choking risk but there is also a risk of digestive issues and other health problems in later life too

 

[Broodypants]

So what was your basis for giving your daughter rusks at one month old? I'm curious, how did you come to that decision?

 

[pompeyvix]

If she was just over a month old and was super hungry, she was just having her 6 week growth spurt I would have thought? Completely normal and the way to manage this is to give her more milk, as much as she needs.

I don't want to cause offence, but I can't believe anyone would give a rusk to a baby just over a month old.....

 

[mrsrof]

So what was your basis for giving your daughter rusks at one month old? I'm curious, how did you come to that decision?

I kind of want to know as well (considering they're not supposed to have wheat until after 6 months either).