Why wean early?

[iiTTCii]

Just curious really as to why people choose to wean early. My friend started weaning her little boy at 14 weeks and by the time he was 17 weeks, he had been eating toast and spicy wedges! And now that he is 5 months old, he is eating bags of crisps etc. I just think that they have the rest of their life's to eat proper food so I'm not gonna rush and try and do it early.

 

[Mrs Bee]

No idea....people are obsessed with seeing babies eat food.... Especially the older generation. I had a woman bitch about me because I wasn't feeding Alice baby rice at 4 months...because "I wasn't ready but Alice was"..... Excuseeee me lady, she's my daughter I know when she's ready!.... She started on pumpkin @ 5 months and she was ready, since then we have just been treating it as food before 1 for fun

 

[catty]

Im scared to feed him food incase he chokes or something! Plus it seems like alottt more effort than simply making up a bottle ( or boob)

However i do have a very hungy baby and i know thats not a reason to wean early but i constantly have people saying 'wont be long until hes onto food' 'if you wean him soon he will be full up' etc etc

 

[katherinegrey]

My baby had pyloric stenosis and had to have an operation, however, his stomach valve was still slightly thickened even after the op, meaning he kept being sick still, I was advised by his surgeon to start solids at 18 weeks to see if he could keep them down better, it didn't work, but I'm just saying some mums get advised to do it by professionals for various reasons.

 

[TrixieLox]

I know people who weaned their babies from 4 months, and of course our parents etc did this 'back in the day'. They can do what they wish, they know their babies best and though I know the NHS recommends 6 months (which is when I'll be weaning my LO), ultimately, I don't think it does any harm for most babies.

However, what I do worry about is when people wean their kids on crap like, as you say, wedges and crisps etc. That's the thing to worry about, not when people wean their kids but what with.

 

[staralfur]

I think in most cases (or so it seems) people misunderstand the signs of being ready.

They'll notice their baby eating more and instead of thinking "hey, a growth spurt" they assume their baby must need solids. Or they see their baby watching them eat and confuse curiosity with wanting to eat their food.

I think to some it seems like an easy answer to some 'problems' like growth spurts, sleep regressions, etc.

 

[babyhopes2010]

to the op thats ridiculous! i weaned my 1st at 17 weeks due to severve reflux so dr recommended it. i started off with baby rice and took along time to move onto strong flavours

 

[eulmh82]

Every baby is different. But we waited til six months only because he wasn't ready. He's 19 mths now Abd had never had a bag of crisps ... Or even a crisp! I agree they've got their whole lives why rush it. Plus weaning is so hard! Keep them on milk as long as you can!

 

[Shadowy Lady]

no idea, I agree that the old generation is obsessed with the idea of early weaning though. I weaned Sofia at 5.5 months as advised by my pedi.

 

[Abz1982]

I think possibly confusing some other need it hunger - for some. Others I do think, can be ready early. I have weaned Ewan at 4 months, but we stuck to rice and the likes. I am just now up to 2 meals a day and have introduced bottles. It turns out it is good I did do this as I am VERY anaemic, and BF is making it worse . Since weaning I no longer have a baby who wants to sleep ALL the time - literally he would sleep 10 hours straight without wanting fed, and would then get dehydrated and he just wasnt engaged. Having started weaning he is more alert and responsive. You could argue that its just him getting older, but when compared to my DD at his age, and to 2 of my freinds older kids, he was too sleepy and disinterested. He was also very food focused and would freak out if we ate dinner and he was left out.

 

[seaweed eater]

We started offering at 4 months because LO was interested, and there's some new research out supporting the benefits of early introduction for reducing the risk of allergies

 

[tristansmum]

I started my first at 19 weeks as he was ready and took to it immediately. My second we have started at 20 weeks. I think along as you wait til 17 week's and your baby is ready then do it when you feel it's right. 10 years ago they told everyone 4 months. Now it's 6 months so what will it be in another 10 years? There are pros and cons for each. Totally agree with the person who said what you wean on is more important than when. Homecooked healthy foods at 4/5 months is far better than crisps at 6/7 months.

 

[summer rain]

Sadly I think in some cases it is due to misleading advice put out there by baby food companies and the like making out that all new research suggests four months is better and the government guidelines are going to be changed to reflect this, these companies are very sneaky and teach this info to HCPs at free seminars they offer who then pass it onto parents who then believe the NHS must've said this-in fact the NHS reviews the guidelines every two years based on new research and for the past ten years the age hasn't budged and they only just re-reviewed the guidelines this summer. Of course there are some parents who wean early for genuine medical reasons but a lot of those I know who wean early do so because cow and gate etc has given them the false impression that waiting will be harmful to their LO. Xx

 

[arlene]

I started my lb on porridge once a day at 18 weeks. He was hungry and taking a 9ozs bottle every 3hrs but it was too much for his wee belly and he kept being sick. I then started him on simple veg at 22wks, now 26wks he gets porridge in the am, veg at tea time and then 2 mashed up rusks before his bath, as well as four 7ozs bottles. x

 

[w8ing4bean]

My best friend was advised by the doctor to start offering fruit/veg at 4 months as her bub had tummy issues

 

[Caroline:-)]

I started weaning DS1 at 6 months. I started weaning DS2 at 17 weeks on medical advice due to his reflux & other problems. I was really concerned about weaning early... We've all heard about the possible future problems associated with early weaning. However, my mind was put at rest after a number of health professionals told me the same thing. There's no evidence to suggest any problems weaning from 17 weeks. The guidelines that we should wait until 6 months to wean are actually based on international guidelines aimed at third world countries where they need to encourage women to exclusively breastfeed for as long as possible due to what would be unhygienic weaning with risk of contamination. I was not aware if this as we are so indoctrinated to believe there are long terms risks to weaning before 6 months. So whilst I'm certainly not advocating everyone weaning early - most babies will certainly not need anything more than milk before 6 months - weaning early is certainly not as bad as we're led to believe... I was very judgemental of people who weaned early before. Now I'm far more open minded about ut

 

[babyhopes2010]

I started weaning DS1 at 6 months. I started weaning DS2 at 17 weeks on medical advice due to his reflux & other problems. I was really concerned about weaning early... We've all heard about the possible future problems associated with early weaning. However, my mind was put at rest after a number of health professionals told me the same thing. There's no evidence to suggest any problems weaning from 17 weeks. The guidelines that we should wait until 6 months to wean are actually based on international guidelines aimed at third world countries where they need to encourage women to exclusively breastfeed for as long as possible due to what would be unhygienic weaning with risk of contamination. I was not aware if this as we are so indoctrinated to believe there are long terms risks to weaning before 6 months. So whilst I'm certainly not advocating everyone weaning early - most babies will certainly not need anything more than milk before 6 months - weaning early is certainly not as bad as we're led to believe... I was very judgemental of people who weaned early before. Now I'm far more open minded about ut

thats exactly what iv been told!

 

[sillysapling]

My best friend was advised by the doctor to start offering fruit/veg at 4 months as her bub had tummy issues

Yeah, this. My LO had tummy issues and until we were able to find the right formula- it seemed like LO was just awful on formula. We'd been giving LO very small, watered down amounts of apple juice to help with constipation from 3 months anyways. At 4 months, LO showed all the signs of being ready to start solids except age. It helped that LO never exactly ate huge amounts- to this date, the most food he's eaten has been about 1 baby spoonful. I probably would have been nervous if he started eating a good amount more than once a day.

The majority of the reasons to hold off on solids, that I've seen, are based on breastfeeding. If we were able to breastfeed, I probably wouldn't have tried to offer solids at all until 6 months and would have gone with a lax BLW approach after that.

Once we found the better formula, we got a lot more lax about solids because there were far fewer tummy troubles. There was still the occasional try, but that's it. Now I'm more fervent about wanting LO on solids (6 months now) because I still loathe formula and I want them to be getting good food as soon as possible.

I agree fully that the what is at least as important than the when.

 

[NerdyMama]

I started DD early because they said to start weaning at 4 months ( my ped) and DS at 16 weeks due to reflux. They both took to it like fish to water lol. I did tw for a bit until a friend told me to not be so nervous about real food and I started DD on finger foods. She loved it! As for DS we are only a week or so in so he just gets oatmeal which he loves and has a huge desire to feed himself lol. It's a messy adventure!

 

[caramelly]

I waited until 6 months to fully feed her by then but I did try around 5 months with 1 little spoon of baby rice and she didn't liked it so I waited but I was being talk by other to try early.. and I'm glad I fully tried by 6 months.