No milk after 12 weeks?

[HKateH]

Mods I apologise if this should be in weaning and nutrition!

My SIL is a big advocate of early weaning and used to frequently tell me my LO needed weaning as milk wasn't filling him. This isn't strictly true - he was very satisfied with milk but I fed on demand and he was (still is) a very hungry baby, going 2 hours between feeds until about five months and only 1 hour when I was breast feeding. I began BLW at just over five and a half months. He took to it immediately and now eats everything I give him. I still feed milk on demand and he eats four bottles a day after dropping a feed himself.

My SIL told me her eldest child was weaned at 12 weeks and had no formula after that, but did have plenty of cheese, yoghurt etc. Her youngest was weaned at 15 weeks and had no formula after that. Now I thought formula/breast milk was recommended at least up to one year. Yet her two children are extremely healthy. I'm interested to hear thoughts as my initial reaction was horror but her children are thriving so it clearly hasn't done them any harm!

 

[special_kala]

Im sorry but i dont believe her, does she mean she put them on normal milk at 12 weeks?

If so then personally i find that incredible irresponsible and frankly ridiculious. Babies need breastmilk/formula.

They may be healthy now but she has massivly increased their chances of having digestive problems later on in life.

 

[sue_88]

Your initial reaction was correct. HORROR!

That is stupid, dumb and dangerous.

 

[HKateH]

Im sorry but i dont believe her, does she mean she put them on normal milk at 12 weeks?

If so then personally i find that incredible irresponsible and frankly ridiculious. Babies need breastmilk/formula.

They may be healthy now but she has massivly increased their chances of having digestive problems later on in life.

No I questioned this too! To clarify, she fed them no formula after the point she began weaning - just purées and dairy products such as cereal with cows milk and yoghurt.

 

[aliss]

Is she like 80 years old and has forgotten due to decades of brain dormancy?

I don't see how it is physically possible to not provide milk to an infant of under four months, without leaving them to scream and starve. She is either talking out of her ass or committed medical neglect.

You can do a LOT of terrible things to babies and they will bounce back like rubber. Doesn't mean it's okay or not done them harm

 

[iiTTCii]

How crazy. Have you asked her why she felt the need to do this? I have never understood people wanting to wean early (apart from when advised by a medical professional). I just think that a baby has the rest of their life to eat. Let them enjoy milk for now!

 

[chezababy]

Omg. How irresponsible. That's incredibly dangerous, she's lucky her children are healthy. I wonder how any mother can be so uninformed that they would think this is a good idea. It is one thing to think that early weaning is ok as it used to be recommended and still sometimes is but I doubt stopping breast milk or formula has either been recommended for a baby that young.

 

[HKateH]

She's in her late thirties and had her youngest five years ago so I'm not sure where she got her advice from as surely it hasn't changed that much in five years?!

I have no idea how she even managed it - this morning my LO stuffed his face full of French toast, banana and porridge and STILL wanted his bottle afterwards - in fact I didn't make it fast enough (2 minutes) and he got quite cross. I don't get it - my son LOVES real food but he still really enjoys his milk!

 

[Pielette]

I can't get my head around how on earth it's even possible to wean a 12 week old!

 

[iiTTCii]

I always thought that food before one year, should be considered fun for them and about them learning and to rely on milk for nutrition.

 

[HKateH]

I always thought that food before one year, should be considered fun for them and about them learning and to rely on milk for nutrition.

This is my understanding too. It's certainly how we treated it! Plus milk is so much simpler than weaning; I was still in an absolute daze at 12 weeks pp! Even 15 weeks I wasn't much better! There's no way I'd've managed the whole weaning thing then!

 

[cat lover]

wow, shes either lying or, frankly, a terribly irresponsible woman who should be doing her research before making dire parenting decisions

 

[cat_reversing]

What???!!! ignore sil and keep giving milk. All advice i've ever seen has been to give bmilk or formula til 1 year then can give cows milk, can be supplimented with cheese,yogurt,custard.

 

[dan-o]

Truly bizarre! Of course babies need milk, that's what we lactate for as long as they need it!

 

[Bevziibubble]

That is so irresponsible! How could her baby have not has milk at that age?! The poor thing must have almost starved, they're no way ready or able to eat enough solids at that age to cover the energy and nutrition requirements of milk. Just terrible

 

[sequeena]

Oh my God what a horribly irresponsibly thing to do and advice. Please ignore her!! I cannot imagine my son only having food and cows milk after 12 weeks... he didn't want to eat any sort of food until 9 months old!

 

[felix555]

I really don't actually believe this.

I think she is massively twisting the truth and if someone told me this i would probably not be horrified, I would be laughing too hard

 

[Julesillini8]

I agree, I think she's lying. Well twisting the truth. I just don't believe that those babies didn't have any milk. And yogurt is not a replacement for milk. I just don't buy this.
OP in your heart ( and brain) you know this isn't the right thing to do. If it were me I would've called her out on It, but that's just me haha

 

[Irish Eyes]

Even if she is lying, this is a very dangerous thing she's telling people & I wouldn't be able to stop myself from confronting her. You know that is a ridiculous thing to do but who knows who else she's been telling this to.

 

[greats]

Ugh, she's crazy, plain and simple. Please stick to formula or breastmilk, whatever you're currently doing, until 1 year of age. Your SIL is nuts. lol