Pregnancy and Parenting Society Mark II

Original post by bristols

the who report states that babies are ready between 3 and 6 months, but the 6 month marker means that every baby will be ready. The signs of readiness are the same as they have always been...so the whole thing is a bit stupid, and quite irrelivant really. Mums instinct is always right, imagine there are people making their wee one wait til 6 months, on the basis of a report! Ha...

remember my daughter swiping things off plates at 4.5 months, switched to blw at 6 months. Go glad i weaned when she was ready, not when a document or health visitor told me. My advice to anyone would be to not bother about even seeing the hv unless you really need to.

I made my daughter wait until 6 months on the basis of the WHO guidelines and also the plentiful research on gut closure and allergy prevention. Informed choice and all that.

Reply 405

bristols

Please dont think I am criticising, all good mums do what's best for their children. It does trouble me when i read a lot of parenting forums etc, that people are adament that ALL children need to wait until 6 months, when the who research states that they are ready between 3-6 months. The signs of readiness included in the who report are the same as the traditional signs of readiness. I weaned my daughter under the advice of a peaditrician, so had full backing.

i just think that people worry too much about the 'advice' when the 'advice' is based on a broad range of children, and not your own child. each child and each parent is an individual, and i strongly beleive that mum knows best in the majority of cases.

growth charts, development milestones all of these things seem to induce anxiety and confusion in parents. - Not to mention despite all our good intentions, new guidance will soon come out that will make us all feel that we have done some wrong. The pressure put on new mothers to breastfeed is terrible, as there is no realistic information or help available....this is not the fault of the mother, but she's the one who feels like she has failed her child.

Plus a lot of the new findings have little evidence to support them, so in a way i'd rather parent in a way that has been tried and tested.

Id rather trust my instinct (and my daughter's), than a HV or midwife.

Reply 406

Original post by bristols

Please dont think I am criticising, all good mums do what's best for their children. It does trouble me when i read a lot of parenting forums etc, that people are adament that ALL children need to wait until 6 months, when the who research states that they are ready between 3-6 months. The signs of readiness included in the who report are the same as the traditional signs of readiness. I weaned my daughter under the advice of a peaditrician, so had full backing.

i just think that people worry too much about the 'advice' when the 'advice' is based on a broad range of children, and not your own child. each child and each parent is an individual, and i strongly beleive that mum knows best in the majority of cases.

growth charts, development milestones all of these things seem to induce anxiety and confusion in parents. - Not to mention despite all our good intentions, new guidance will soon come out that will make us all feel that we have done some wrong. The pressure put on new mothers to breastfeed is terrible, as there is no realistic information or help available....this is not the fault of the mother, but she's the one who feels like she has failed her child.

Plus a lot of the new findings have little evidence to support them, so in a way i'd rather parent in a way that has been tried and tested.

Id rather trust my instinct (and my daughter's), than a HV or midwife.

The way I view the whole weaning issue is that at 4 months your baby may be ready (their gut may have closed); But at 6 months your baby will be ready (their gut will have closed). There is no way to look inside your baby to see for sure if their gut has matured.

Sorry but I've got to plug my blog at this point:

http://thealphaparent.blogspot.com/2011/07/virgin-gut-note-for-parents.html

Even peaditricians are influenced by baby food companies and mainstream media. Mine quoted the recent BMJ 'opinion piece'; Remember the "breastfed babies need weaning earlier" drama that all the papers were reporting? It has since been proven to be twaddle - the mere opinion of the authors whom were paid by the baby food companies to conduct the research!

I tell you, this parenting lark is political!

Reply 407

Isnt it funny how advice can change over time?.When my 2 were little it was recommended that weaning began at months, no sooner.Then it changed to 6 months and I see that recently it went down to 4 months again.My eldest was weaned at around 4months, and my youngest around 3and a half months.Every child is different I suppose.

Both are happy healthy teenagers now.

Reply 408

Original post by Annie72

Isnt it funny how advice can change over time?.When my 2 were little it was recommended that weaning began at months, no sooner.Then it changed to 6 months and I see that recently it went down to 4 months again.My eldest was weaned at around 4months, and my youngest around 3and a half months.Every child is different I suppose.

Both are happy healthy teenagers now.

Where does it say that?

Reply 409

Original post by Tufts

Where does it say that?

I cant find anything concrete, some people say the recommended age is 4 months, some say 6 months.

I'm just reading a Mumsnet article about weaning.I feel that I have inadvertantly put both my sons at risk from obesity and diabetes due to weaning them at around the 4 month mark.But thats what the guidelines were when they were babies.I tell you being a Mum is hard sometimes.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 410

Original post by Annie72

I cant find anything concrete, some people say the recommended age is 4 months, some say 6 months.

I'm just reading a Mumsnet article about weaning.I feel that I have inadvertantly put both my sons at risk from obesity and diabetes due to weaning them at around the 4 month mark.But thats what the guidelines were when they were babies.I tell you being a Mum is hard sometimes.

Yes it's very frustrating. You did the best you could with the information you had at the time.

Reply 411

Original post by Tufts

Yes it's very frustrating. You did the best you could with the information you had at the time.

Yeah I guess, but I just wish that all the information would stay the same and not change because it just causes more confusion for new mums.For instance, theres an older mum saying one thing, a granny saying something else and then the HV says something completely different, lol.Its a wonder I had any sanity left :P.

My advise ( as an older mum) would always be to ask the advice of your HV, they know all the up to date info, or at least shoud do.

Reply 412

balloon_parade

14

Original post by Annie72

Isnt it funny how advice can change over time?.When my 2 were little it was recommended that weaning began at months, no sooner.Then it changed to 6 months and I see that recently it went down to 4 months again.My eldest was weaned at around 4months, and my youngest around 3and a half months.Every child is different I suppose.

Both are happy healthy teenagers now.

No, it's definitely not gone down to 4 months again, still 6 months or as close to 6 months as you can get. I only know because I recently completed some Baby Friendly training and it would have said.

Don't feel bad Liz, you just did what you were told, how were you to know! You can only do what you think is best at the time! :hugs:

I had a baby at my centre who was weaned ridiculously early (rusk in a bottle at 10 weeks :eek:

) and weighed 28lbs at 6 months, awful! :frown:

My news:

Oooh I had my hen night on Saturday and it was amazing! The girls all surprised me with printed t-shirts and they'd all brought something purple for me to wear and a pandora charm! We had a cocktail class, private karaoke booth and lots of champagne, it was fantastic!

Me as a hen:

Spoiler

I hope everyone is well! :smile:

Reply 413

Dream_Catcher

1

Original post by balloon_parade

No, it's definitely not gone down to 4 months again, still 6 months or as close to 6 months as you can get. I only know because I recently completed some Baby Friendly training and it would have said.

Don't feel bad Liz, you just did what you were told, how were you to know! You can only do what you think is best at the time! :hugs:

I had a baby at my centre who was weaned ridiculously early (rusk in a bottle at 10 weeks :eek:

) and weighed 28lbs at 6 months, awful! :frown:

My news:

Oooh I had my hen night on Saturday and it was amazing! The girls all surprised me with printed t-shirts and they'd all brought something purple for me to wear and a pandora charm! We had a cocktail class, private karaoke booth and lots of champagne, it was fantastic!

Me as a hen:

Spoiler

I hope everyone is well! :smile:

I know baby food companies are trying to get more money, but the earliest jar they have is 4mths+. If there was such a great medical concern then they wouldn't be allowed to sell it?

I have weaned or at least started to wean both my children at a young age 3-4 weeks old. By this I don't mean I'm shoving a spoon full of food in their mouth, but giving them a dipped finger of my food, given that it's not too rich etc. Xander has issues with food I'll openly admit that but that is not because as a baby I've forced him to eat food rather than have his formula. Tamzin was 10 weeks old when she first was given rusk in a bottle, she would drink throughout the day on stage 1 and 2 Cow and Gate but still be waking up all hours of the night for more milk. After 2 weeks of rusk she was able to get into a routine and sleep all night without it. She doesn't have her own food but I will often feed her from my plate, she's had duck, chicken, baked beans sauce, buttered toast, apple to name a few. She was last weighed about a month ago and was 9lbs 10oz at 3 months old, given the fact she was 7lbs born the food hasn't made her gain weight but encourgagd her to want food. So much that she stares at anyone with food and drools haha! Although 28lbs is a bit drastic for a 6 month old, Xander at was weighed at hospital on Saturday and weighed 11.5kg (25.3lbs).

See your pictures of your hen night you looked fab! You really do have natural beauty.

Congratulations on find out your having a BOY Tufts :biggrin:

Reply 414

Original post by balloon_parade

No, it's definitely not gone down to 4 months again, still 6 months or as close to 6 months as you can get. I only know because I recently completed some Baby Friendly training and it would have said.

Don't feel bad Liz, you just did what you were told, how were you to know! You can only do what you think is best at the time! :hugs:

I had a baby at my centre who was weaned ridiculously early (rusk in a bottle at 10 weeks :eek:

) and weighed 28lbs at 6 months, awful! :frown:

My news:

Oooh I had my hen night on Saturday and it was amazing! The girls all surprised me with printed t-shirts and they'd all brought something purple for me to wear and a pandora charm! We had a cocktail class, private karaoke booth and lots of champagne, it was fantastic!

Me as a hen:

Spoiler

I hope everyone is well! :smile:

Thanks

.

You are very pretty.Glad to hear your hen night was good :smile:

OP

glad you had a great hen night bp :smile:

Reply 416

Original post by Annie72

Yeah I guess, but I just wish that all the information would stay the same and not change because it just causes more confusion for new mums.For instance, theres an older mum saying one thing, a granny saying something else and then the HV says something completely different, lol.Its a wonder I had any sanity left :P.

My advise ( as an older mum) would always be to ask the advice of your HV, they know all the up to date info, or at least shoud do.

Anne don't get me started on health visitors :fuhrer:

I've just written a massive article about them. I will post a link on Wednesday when it's published.

Reply 417

OK here it is:

"Health Visitors - Help or Hindrance?"

Reply 418