Thoughts on solids at 4 months?

[Samiam03]

Thanks for your input everyone. I think I am going to find a happy medium and try a little after 5 months like I did with my son.

 

[betsy333]

My baby was ready at 4 months and I started her off on baby rice and porridge. She's a big baby on the 98th percentile and was starting to drop down the percentiles because milk wasn't enough for her. She is practically sitting by herself and took her own weight on her feet at just a week old. She also had two teeth by 3 months. Some babies are nowhere near her stage at even 6 months but they are ready for solids because guidance and research says so.

I had the full support of my health visitor who also agreed it was time for solids. She didn't try and deter me because it was the best thing for my baby to maintain the level of growth required. My baby took to the spoon very easily and doesn't try to push it back out (unless she doesn't like a new flavour)

I know several people whose babies were ready at 4 months and I don't know one person who has suffered problems due to weaning "early". I was also weaned early as a baby (the guidance then was actually 4 months) and I have no health problems!

My nan said that in her day they gave baby bottles of water as well as milk at 2 weeks and god forbid you let a baby sleep on his her back. Things change all the time and I would rather my baby guide me then some textbook or research that will be out of date next week. I don't think there is anything wrong with weaning before 6 months if your baby shows signs of being ready.

I know a lot of you won't agree with me but thats my opinion....sorry!

 

[summer rain]

The 6 month guideline has been in place for 10 years and the 4-6 month guideline for 7 years before that so hardly 'changing all the time and going to change next week'. In the 50s and 60s some doctors were advising getting babies onto solids immediately after birth just because that was considered ok then doesn't mean it was remotely healthy or safe to do xx

 

[betsy333]

I disagree. There is always some new research. Just typing "weaning research" into google and this was the first thing to come up....

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

 

[mommy0629]

A Lot of people are against 4 months yet just a few years back, HV were telling you 4 months and I bet the same people would have said 4 months is fine. Most paeds say 4 months is fine (bit more educated than a HV IMO) and a lot of the literature and studies that suggested 6 months were done in underdeveloped countries where food hygience and sterilising doesn't go on. I'm not saying it's right or wrong. My son is ready at almost 5 months,not 4 but if you want to follow the research, you should maybe fully read around it.

People are quick to say 'oh I would NEVER do that' but as early as the early noughties, you would have done because HV would have suggested it. They HAVE to follow guidelines.

Also, my son had is on due to big centile drop and won't take milk. HV doesn't know but GP does.

In the early 20th century, they'd have been telling you to wean onto 'pap' (flour water) at a few weeks old, mid 20th century, condensed milk by 8-10 weeks. In the middle ages you'd have been up to your ankles in excrement with a bag of herbs to ward off the 'bad air'. Knowledge and advice change.

I'm staying out of this one this time but just had to comment on this quick - my mom told me the other day that my grandmother was told by her doctor to give her babies condensed milk, so my Dad and aunt. I never knew this was one of the things people did at one point, how are they even alive? That shocked me.

 

[albs]

this debate comes up on here almost every day!

basically, you'll find plenty of people who say 'my baby was ready at 4 months and that's that' and that's their choice. however, the research and medical opinion is that waiting until as near to 6 months as possible is the healthiest option.

 

[summer rain]

I disagree. There is always some new research. Just typing "weaning research" into google and this was the first thing to come up....

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

That isn't new research actually it was based on several studies from the early noughties and was reinterpreting studies that had already been reviewed with completely different conclusions drawn. The reviewers of this article all do research work for SMA, cow and gate and other baby food/formula companies, they are not impartial. One of them, Dr. Alan Lucas even appeared in court in defence of SMA when they were found to be in breach of advertising laws in 2001. He is also the author of the infamous 'breast feeding and then weaning a western diet when weaning causes heart disease' study which the British Heart Foundation roundly condemned as it was a completely flawed study based on a small number of babies born in Cambridge in the 1960s. The reason for this piece of research was to give the baby food companies justification should a law be enacted to make baby food labelling as being from 6 months, thats all it is, cynical marketing and fearmongering.

The government looked at the article you linked to and decided it was not a reliable source of evidence and even the medical journal it appeared in clarified it wasn't new research and distances themselves very strongly from it as being such. The government reviewed their guidelines in July 2011 (after this article was published) and despite feeling the article you linked to wasn't that reliable as evidence nonetheless they included it as part of the evidence for their review anyway. They decided to not only keep the age at 6 months but to even more firmly reiterate that very few babies are remotely ready before six months. Please learn the difference between different types of research because new research doesn't mean a new study has been conducted. I have seen new research but reviewing studies done in the 20s and 30s xx

 

[greenpear]

4 months is considered "safe" zone but 6 months is the preferred time frame to start baby on solids because physiologically they are more ready to eat real food. I waited till 6 months and naively thought that I would start feeding LO one day and she'll just gobble things up haha...NOT. She's almost 7 months old now and won't eat more than a teaspoon full of stuff and while she loves playing with finger foods most of them end up down her pants and not in her stomach. I don't think she would even do that at 4 months so I'm glad that I waited till now. My only hope is that she'll start eating more properly by the time she's 1 and and has to go to daycare.

As far as people trusting research goes, research also shows that a baby who has been given bland first foods in small quantities before 6 months will take solids better and try more foods so your LO still might not be ready or this might have been avoided. I think you are right for doing what YOU wanted to do but just playing devil's advocate and saying, people who throw research in other people's face should check ALL available research (I'm a science student with potential of going into WHO line of work so be careful with their research when it is mostly centred round developing countries with different needs to ours)

Possibly, won't argue about that but my daughter hates purees in all forms and prefers to "steal" my oatmeal in the morning and finger foods. Eg. - I mashed up yams for her and she hated them but when I gave her a piece of yam to hold, she ate some (some ended up on her clothes too )

Don't know if any difference would have made if I started her earlier but I was weaned before 3 months of age and had all sorts of allergies as a baby and IBS as an adult and dairy and soy sensitivity so who knows if it's because I'm "lucky" like that or early weaning. All of my siblings have issues too. My hubby was weaned very late and never had any issues. It's possible that it's just because of our genes but maybe also nutrition. I don't know but like I said, my baby is a bit of a late baby for most things so I chose to wait and glad I did so far

 

[overcomer79]

I think this is a dead horse. I think you can search weaning 4 months and get a thousand threads about with 100s of people telling those that wean earlier than 6 months how wrong they are and how they are going to give their kids IBS and obesity and junk.

I'm obese because I got lazy not because my mom weaned me at 4 months old 33 years ago.

 

[betsy333]

Thanks Summer Rain for clarifying that. Please don't get me wrong....I am not trying to say the research is wrong. It just makes me laugh how someone is always saying something different, whether its mums, health visitors, the government, experts, researchers etc.

That article is a prime example. For a mother that knows nothing about when to wean, that article might be the first thing they come across and what is she supposed to think? Unfortunately, people tend to believe things as long as they come out of a tv or are in a newspaper. They probably wouldn't think to find out the additional information you have just provided in relation to that article.

For my baby, 4 months was the right time due to weight issues and she was showing so many signs of wanting something other than milk. If mothers want to, and are able to wait until 6 months then good for them! I fully support that.

Summer Rain, you seem to know a lot about this topic so perhaps you can help me out with answering something. If all this old research points towards being unsafe to wean prior to 6 months.....why in the same breath to they say "but not before 17 weeks?". Is this not quite a brave statement if they are saying kidneys and digestive systems aren't developed enough before 6 months?? Surely if it was dangerous before 6 months, they would just say 6 months?

 

[HopefulMi]

4 months is considered "safe" zone but 6 months is the preferred time frame to start baby on solids because physiologically they are more ready to eat real food. I waited till 6 months and naively thought that I would start feeding LO one day and she'll just gobble things up haha...NOT. She's almost 7 months old now and won't eat more than a teaspoon full of stuff and while she loves playing with finger foods most of them end up down her pants and not in her stomach. I don't think she would even do that at 4 months so I'm glad that I waited till now. My only hope is that she'll start eating more properly by the time she's 1 and and has to go to daycare.

As far as people trusting research goes, research also shows that a baby who has been given bland first foods in small quantities before 6 months will take solids better and try more foods so your LO still might not be ready or this might have been avoided. I think you are right for doing what YOU wanted to do but just playing devil's advocate and saying, people who throw research in other people's face should check ALL available research (I'm a science student with potential of going into WHO line of work so be careful with their research when it is mostly centred round developing countries with different needs to ours)

Possibly, won't argue about that but my daughter hates purees in all forms and prefers to "steal" my oatmeal in the morning and finger foods. Eg. - I mashed up yams for her and she hated them but when I gave her a piece of yam to hold, she ate some (some ended up on her clothes too )

Don't know if any difference would have made if I started her earlier but I was weaned before 3 months of age and had all sorts of allergies as a baby and IBS as an adult and dairy and soy sensitivity so who knows if it's because I'm "lucky" like that or early weaning. All of my siblings have issues too. My hubby was weaned very late and never had any issues. It's possible that it's just because of our genes but maybe also nutrition. I don't know but like I said, my baby is a bit of a late baby for most things so I chose to wait and glad I did so far

It could be because you were weaned early like you say but we were weaned at 3 and 4 months, my 3 sibs and I and not one of us have an allergy or any stomach issues. I think you know your baby as well as I know mine.

 

[HopefulMi]

Also, if it's so wrong at 17 weeks, going along Betsy333's thinking, how come few of our parents or grandparents ailed anything doing their own thing and now, with heavy medical intervention and advice, there are thousands of babies with intolerances etc we live in a world of too much caution rather than parental intuition. I should add my son DOESN'T have the tongue thrust reflex anymore and can sit up.

Obviously starting early still makes us bad parents though haha

 

[summer rain]

The latest government guidance doesn't say 17 weeks is the minimum as that message was causing confusion making a lot of parents think you had to wean as soon as possible after 17 weeks but if you waited longer then no longer than 6 months, something that sadly a lot of baby food companies say on their websites and in weaning packs they send to parents. Unfortunately the old guidelines are no longer online anywhere not even on the 'wayback' machine website but if they were compared with the new guidelines there is a marked difference. If people followed the guidance on the NHS website and up to date weaning leaflets it's difficult for there to be much confusion. xx

 

[HopefulMi]

Our HV are still using the 17 week minimum in northumberland so gov arent doing a good job on making themselves clear then

 

[Hellylou]

I find this debate so confusing. My son is now just over 5 months - 23 weeks this Friday. I have two older children who were weaned as per the old guidelines of 4-6 months. They are 13 and 11 now. I would have also been weaned the old way. I think my little boy is showing signs of interest in food and we have tried a few 'tastes' of things with varying success but he grabbed some broccolli off me last night and was actually biting bits off and chewing them!

I am so in two minds over all this. I know what I did with my other two and they are fine, yet it's all different now, and there is the BLW route too, which never existed back then. I honestly don't know what is right!

 

[bookreader]

Without getting into a debate, my son was ready at 4 months. My daugher was more like 5.5months. Good luck with what you decide.

This.

 

[summer rain]

Our HV are still using the 17 week minimum in northumberland so gov arent doing a good job on making themselves clear then

It really doesn't help when HVs are attending seminars by big companies telling them to ignore any updates to the government guidance, and telling them that all the latest research says weaning should be started between 4-6 months and babies should have tried pretty much everything by 6 months, its difficult for the government to fund up to date training for health professionals so these companies take advantage of this xx

 

[gaiagirl]

Wow I didn't realize this was such a hot topic!? Now I feel like I have some serious research to do, lol.

Just curious when ppl say 'weaning' though are you referring to starting to wean off BM or just adding a small amount of solids? I would think babies will be getting MOST of their calories from BM (or formula) well after 6 months?

 

[mommy0629]

Wow I didn't realize this was such a hot topic!? Now I feel like I have some serious research to do, lol.

Just curious when ppl say 'weaning' though are you referring to starting to wean off BM or just adding a small amount of solids? I would think babies will be getting MOST of their calories from BM (or formula) well after 6 months?

It means adding solids. This confused me at first also as I'd never heard of it called weaning until BnB, must be a cultural/location thing. To me weaning is what you do around 1 year - you wean baby off of bm or formula. Most of the time though on BnB when someone says "weaning" they mean adding solids.

 

[patch2006uk]

Wow I didn't realize this was such a hot topic!? Now I feel like I have some serious research to do, lol.

Just curious when ppl say 'weaning' though are you referring to starting to wean off BM or just adding a small amount of solids? I would think babies will be getting MOST of their calories from BM (or formula) well after 6 months?

In the UK, weaning means the introduction of solids. You do also wean off breastmilk or formula, but 'weaning' as a term means solids here