Has anyone weaned early?

[Emma58]

I know this is a really controversial subject but i'm considering weaning Sam early.

He is on hungry baby milk and it really doesn't seem to fill him up he can quite easily have a bottle every two hours.

I understand why we are advised to wait until 6 months before beginning weaning but, on the other hand when George was the same age as Sam i began weaning him and it hasn't done him any harm.

When we are eating a meal he sits there opening and closing his mouth as though he is copying what we are doing.

I just wondered if anyone has weaned early and why and how it has gone for them.

 

[Jen & Her Men]

Im probably a glutton for punishment responding to this thread because I'll probably get berated by the "BF til 6 months and food is evil til this point" mums, however I will because I believe strongly in doing whats best for your child and that individual mothers know best what is best for their baby and I can completely understand your worries as I had exactly the same thing with James.

He has been on extra hungry aptimil from when i stopped BF at about 4 weeks and like your little one, would happily consume a full bottle every couple of hours. At 12 weeks, with the consensus of my doctor, I gave him some baby rice with his final feed and started the weaning process from there.

He is 6 months next week and currently has 3 bottles a day plus his weetabix and homemade meal for lunch followed by a pud of some description.

He is such a happy healthy boy and I feel that I did exactly the right thing for him because he was pretty miserable before I weaned him.

Now he goes 4 hours between each feed and is content happy and healthy!

I would say if you have the sort of baby where you can follow the ideal of BF til 6 months then do the whole baby led weaning thing your very fortunate. Dont put your babies health and happiness at risk because you feel underpressure to follow the "ideal" guidelines. Your his mummy, do what YOU think is best.

 

[Manda&Thomas]

Thomas has been having a very small amount of baby rice with his evening bottle even though its very very early we had to do it,
he was showing all the signs and his milk isnt filing him up, and you cant get hungry baby soya milk so ive really had no choice as i wont see him go hungry,
my nephew was weaned around now due to the same issues and hes perfectly healthy,
thomas has taken to it very well takes him about 10 mins to eat half the recomended aount for a 4 month old i wont give him more just yet.
good luck if you do it hun
xx

 

[xkikix]

Hi Emma,

I'm going thru a simiular dilema myself! He's on 9 oz now every 3.5 hours but he could have more often if I made it! My mum said that in the olden days when we were kiddies she weaned us all at about 3 mnths there were no rules you just followed your babies needs!

They do go thru a growth spurt at 4 months so i'm gonna wait a bit, to see whether its that thats causing this massive hunger otherwise I might get some baby rice to try.

MY baby is nowhere near doubled his birthweight yet which is one of the requirements.

No-one knows your baby like you do hun and if you think its time xxxxxxxx

 

[MummyJess]

When I had my oldest, the advice was to wean at 4 months and she was fine.

My second was hungry, so started her at just over 4 months, despite now being told to wait till 6 months this time.

My youngest was more like 6 months but she wasn't really that fussed - would have started her early if she'd needed it.

As with most things babywise I would always say trust your mother's instinct and screw what the 'professionals' say! They'll probably change their minds again in a few months.

DO IT!

 

[Emma58]

Sam has already doubled his birthweight he takes about 9oz of milk a time and i'm quite sure sometimes he would happily have another few ounces. He gets quite mad sometimes when the bottle is empty!

My HV has obviously advised me not to wean before six months but then she will won't she?

I just wanted to hear anyone else's reasons for weaning early and whether they had had any problems with it.

I just find it hard to understand when George was a baby you weaned at 4 months and now they say 6.

If this had been George i could have gone until 6 months he wasn't a very hungry baby but Sam is the complete opposite.

 

[charliebeth]

We started giving Jack tastes of stuff at 12 weeks - just letting him lick the juice of soft fruits off my fingers and so on. He was watching and mimicking us eating from 12 weeks so just before 16 weeks we started giving him baby rice with mummy (breast) milk.

He's 20 weeks in a couple of days and he now has rusk or baby cereal with mummy milk for breakfast, and then a jar or baby food (4-6 months) or home made meal split between lunch and dinner, maybe with some pud. He still has mummy milk feeds in between and through the night.

He's a hungry boy! Our HV suggested we try him with solids at 4 months, and it was my gut feeling that he was ready for it. He's a healthy, happy boy who loves his food and his mummy milk.

Do what you think is right for your own kids. If they are hungry feed them

 

[jodie_honey]

i weaned abigail at 12 weeks, started small but now she has 3 bottles a day aswell as breakfast dinner n tea, shes fine dop wots right for u n sam x

 

[Emma58]

Thanks everyone I was a little worried about asking this question I didn't want to get slated.

I'm really sure he is ready and i think we'll try something today and see how he goes.

 

[mary70]

Kieron was 9 weeks when i weaned him and Hannah was 16 weeks and she was a month prem do what you think is right hun dont listen to the goody 2 shoes in power its your baby and you know best

 

[loz]

I think you can start from 17 weeks if you want gradually as their digestive system is more developed. Annabel Karmel's book has suggestions for what might be good from 4 months. I am going to try Emms with some purees from about 5 months or slightly before to see what she does. I'm sure if Sam isnt ready then he will spit it out!!

I sometimes think that you just have to go with what you think as a mother, you know your individual baby needs. People from some other countries I have spoken to give quite young babies solids as norm.

 

[purple13]

i'm not going to berate anyone for weaning early but i am a mum who's waiting til 6 months to wean. the latest research in the usa is suggesting that weaning should actually be between 6-8 months, so even later than currently advised. there's no doubt that my hungry lil man is ready for weaning - developmentally he's all the way there - but i want to be sure that he's physically ready. i'm all for trusting mummy instinct; this is what my instinct is telling me to do for my little boy.

 

[chezzabell]

I weaned Sophie at 12 weeks with the backing of my MW aswell, u have to do whats right for ur baby not what other people force on too you. Yes them guidlines are there for a reason, but every baby is different xxx

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I weaned Sophie at 12 weeks with the backing of my MW aswell, u have to do whats right for ur baby not what other people force on too you. Yes them guidlines are there for a reason, but every baby is different xxx

I agree with this Chezzabell. As far as I know, guidelines are there to ensure your baby is healthy and happy and progresses correctly etc. However, if by following the guidelines you find that your baby is actually the opposite of these things, then surely the guidelines become null and void in that particular instance?

Dont get me wrong, for baby number 2, I will endeavour to follow the guidlines, Im gonna BF again and see how I get on and I would love to do the whole baby led weaning at 6 months however its all down to how baby reacts and develops and if I think that -like with James - the guidelines arnt supporting the development of my child, then I wont be following them!

 

[Babylicious]

I weaned Harrison at 4 months, I say sod what anyone else says he's your baby and you know best

 

[kazlin]

Thanks everyone I was a little worried about asking this question I didn't want to get slated.

No-one would 'slate' you hun

From Monday just gone Daniel has been having a tiny amount of baby rice. When I took him to the docs last week, the HV advised this as he is now 16lb. He has also been watching us eating for about a month now.
I am however weaning him very gradually. Will stay on the rice for a month, then next time I see the HV (in about a month) will ask her advice again.

I have to say that Dan has taken to a spoon like a fish to water

Good luck huni and keep us updated

 

[beanie]

hmm I am one of these "not wean till six months" mums and I don't think I have actually slated anyone for weaning early - I have perhaps offered advice but at the end of the day if you choose to wean early then that is your choice and I will respect that.

There are two things here - when you say wean early do you mean before the six months, or do you mean before 17 weeks which is the earliest minimum age recommended as research has shown that before this the gut isn't fully matured and this can lead to an increased risk of allergies, stress on kidneys etc. If you wean before 4-6 months then your HV will be able to guide you through what you need to do etc. If it is before 17 weeks I would advise seeking medical advice about this (not a HV) and get advice from someone who knows about weaning. I was weaned early and I did suffer from an allergy to gluton which was horrible when I was younger, and still affects me to this day (though thankfully not as badly), so I do have a different point of view. Like midna said there are all sorts of growth spurts happening and this is your baby telling you they need more milk not solids, so you need to make sure its not a growth spurt.

 

[LilysMummy]

My mum weaned all 4 of us at 3months and not one of us has an allergie to anything I weaned lily at 4.5months and very happy with my decision. Dont feel pressured to make your decision based on presure from over people it your little man and you know him better that any one. And for what its worth if it was me Id do be doing something pretty soon

 

[Gem & Leland]

yep agree sod what medical professionals say... they obviously know nothing

it was my medical professional that told me to wean leland early so i started a slow weaning process at 4 months but this was infact only 2.5 months corrected but due to him having milk early a prems baby tummy matures at a quicker rate . leland didnt take to it greatly and has know only moved onto 3 meals a day , again because i was told too

im one of the mums that was told to wean early ( his now tripled his birth weight) but thinks i could have well got to 6 months if i hadnt been told to wean. but ill never know now , and his doing great i took the first weeks very slowly with only baby rice and broken down rusk. he had apple etc from about 5 months and now his just having protein for first time .

 

[Jen & Her Men]

hmm I am one of these "not wean till six months" mums and I don't think I have actually slated anyone for weaning early - I have perhaps offered advice but at the end of the day if you choose to wean early then that is your choice and I will respect that.

There are two things here - when you say wean early do you mean before the six months, or do you mean before 17 weeks which is the earliest minimum age recommended as research has shown that before this the gut isn't fully matured and this can lead to an increased risk of allergies, stress on kidneys etc. If you wean before 4-6 months then your HV will be able to guide you through what you need to do etc. If it is before 17 weeks I would advise seeking medical advice about this (not a HV) and get advice from someone who knows about weaning. I was weaned early and I did suffer from an allergy to gluton which was horrible when I was younger, and still affects me to this day (though thankfully not as badly), so I do have a different point of view. Like midna said there are all sorts of growth spurts happening and this is your baby telling you they need more milk not solids, so you need to make sure its not a growth spurt.

I dont think anyone was directly accusing you Beanie? I certainly wasnt

Its just that there are SOME mums who do come over all preachy about the weaning debate because they were able to follow the guidelines. As I said earlier, if you are able to do that then fantastic! And i hope that i will be able to with baby 2. But sometimes it is impossible to stick to the guidelines for a multitude of reasons and actually becomes harmful to baby to follow the guidelines, as it did with James.
I truely believe that there isnt a right answer to this and many other parenting questions. What drives me mad about this forum is that some people believe their way is the only way and whether they mean to or not, they make other mums who dont follow their way, feel inferior. Believe you me, its not only me who feels this way. Im just feeling hormonal enough not to care about saying it today where as others dont like to rock to the boat..

Mothers intuition is a vastly under rated gift. I think every mum on here wants to do the best for their children and whilst I agree that medical research etc is important and should be listened to, you also shouldnt kill yourself trying to follow it to the letter if it doesnt always agree with baby and you.