Waiting to Wean
I was one of the few people I know who held out until anywhere near 26 weeks to wean. (We started a little at 23 weeks, but I don’t think much went in!) If I had not read mumsnet I’m sure I wouldn’t have waited.
Everyone seems to be convinced that its absolutely fine to wean from 4 months – because its what they did with their first baby, because its what their health visitor told them, because the guidelines used to say “4-6 months” (“so it must be fine from 4 months, they’re always changing those guidelines”). Add to this the worry about making people who did wean at 4 months feel guilty, because they genuinely believed the advice that their trusted family member or health professional told them (and really, why shouldn’t they – they have to trust someone). Add to this the fact that books such as the Baby Whisperer advocate weaning at 4 months in certain circumstances (not medical conditions) and you’ve got a society that is not going to change their practises.
I’m going to put a very short disclaimer here about medical reasons to wean early. If you’ve been told by a GP, paediatrician etc to wean early for conditions such as reflux, I’m not going to comment. You need to rely on your health professional (if you’ve been told you need to wean because you have a “hungry” or “big” baby, please get a second opinion)
When to Wean?
Traditionally, people have been told to wean when their baby wakes more often for milk (that would be the 4 month growth spurt), and when they are showing more interest in your food (just at the time when they’re showing more interest in everything, coincidentally)
The real signs of readiness for weaning are:
– being able to sit with minimal aid (e.g. hold themselves up straight in high chair to support chewing (chomping/gumming initially)/swallowing of food
– ability to put food in their mouth (often grabbing from a plate!)
– loss of tongue thrust reflex (they don’t push food out of their mouths automatically)
Whether you are puree feeding, or following Baby Led Weaning, the same signs of readiness apply. Rowan showed these at 23 weeks, so he was given food.
Why not wean earlier?
Some time between 17 and 26 weeks, the lining in your baby’s gut seals, making it able to properly digest solid foods. If you feed your baby solids before 26 weeks – or before they are showing the signs given, that are generally believed to happen at the same time as gut maturity, you are risking issues with digestive conditions and allergies later in life. I’m not a doctor or a scientist. I can’t explain how these things work, but you can read a bit more about why to wait here. Kellymom is a highly respected site for breastfeeding resources where articles are supported by medical and other references. Please note that even though that list is very breastfeeding focussed, the non-breastfeeding-related reasons are still very important and valid.
So basically, if you wean before 17 weeks, your baby’s gut will not be ready to digest the food you’re giving it. If you wean sometime before 26 weeks, you’re taking a risk (as I did) that it might not be ready.
If you do decide to wean before 26 weeks, you’re weighing up risks against benefits. Whatever you may be getting out of weaning early (apart from a hell of a lot of extra work, especially if you’re pureeing a la Annabel Karmel and her weird and wonderful recipe book) has to be balanced against the problems that you child may experience later in life. Often the response on mumsnet to people saying “well I weaned mine at X weeks and they were fine” (as an argument to convince someone else to do the same) is to say that you never know what health problems your child will have until they’ve got to the end of their lives!
If people have weaned early (between 17-26 weeks), then there’s nothing to feel guilty about – you were following the advice you had been given, and you never know what will influence your child’s health in the future. Once it has passed, its just another of those parental decisions that you took in good faith – you just keep on doing the best for your child, like we all do.
Of course, if you’re trying to shovel baby rice into a tiny (maybe 12 week old) baby because you think it will help the poor thing sleep better, I am going to stick my neck out here and say that unless you are truly ignorant of the weaning guidelines, I have neither respect nor sympathy for you.
Published December 17, 2008 . Filed under: Uncategorized
I’m with you! REALLY don’t get this rush to wean at all. My daughter is almost 20 weeks and we’re both very happy breast and occasionally bottle feeding. As our health worker said, an early wean could undo all the benfits of breastfeeding and I’m not wanting to risk her health at all. Not particularly interested in weaning until I have to – why is everyone so mad keen for it anyway?
Back in the seventies, not that i was around then, baby cereal or rusks were given all the time to babies in their bottles and they still grew and developed normally. there is too much puritanical opinion out there and there is too much pressure now to follow guidelines and quite frankly, they are just that – guidelines. my health visitor recently advised me that the world health organization is beginning to back track on weaning at the six month mark. my son was recently invited to take part in government funded research to see if weaning certain foods early can decrease the chance of allergies developing. so….. as mothers, you do what works, for your child and for you. and children, like adults, need undisturbed sleep, as well as nutrition. so if a mother chooses to put baby rice in the bottle to get some extra sleep, so she can otherwise function to be able to care for her child, i don’t see the harm. and also, perhaps this decreases the chance of a future allergy/intolerance to gluten developing, for instance. who’s to say? does this still make her a bad mother? not that i practice this. i do however have a baby who suffers from reflux so much so that he often refuses to feed well whilst awake. i feed him a couple of times a day whilst asleep. (i am considering early weaning) does this make me a bad mum too? some would say i am force feeding…i am in effect. either that or he won’t grow, becomes constipated and then will not feed at all. as i said you do what works! parenting is hard enough without this too quick to judge attitude which i see displayed on this page! you just make it harder!
Gala – so many things to address.
For a start, any sorts of solids in a bottle is widely acknowledged as a choking hazard and is potentially very dangerous.
Secondly, how to do we know all those babies developed normally. With all the food intolerances and bowel conditions around at the moment, how do we know that early weaning has not contributed to all these? It is also about a statistical likelihood – early weaning does not mean that things will happen to a particular child, but it makes it more likely that they will, based on current evidence.
As I already said, there are, clearly, exceptions to everything and it is my understanding that solid foods, given early under the guidance of a paediatrician can help a baby with severe reflux. However, as I understand it, the diet will be carefully controlled and it is considered that the risks are outweighed by the benefits.
And just because there is a trial to investigate something, does not mean that it will be proven to be the case – we’ll have to wait and see on that one, and it will take many years. I’d like to see your HV’s evidence about changes of thought in the WHO too.
As for the guidelines / rules, the SIDS guidelines (atlhough admittedly the co-sleeping guidelines are not based on the available research at the moment) say that you shouldn’t put a baby to sleep on their front. Since this advice was widely followed, SIDS (cot death) rates have dropped 80%. But should a mother ignore that bit of advice just so they can get a bit more sleep.
If you think this was a judgemental post, then I guess you have your own issues about weaning to address, because with the exception of the last paragraph, I was calmly and clearly outlining some of the reasoning behind the guidelines, which I have found most people have not been told.
I’m surprised you didn’t trot out the “happy mum, happy baby” line. Parenting is hard, but we chose to become parents and that means putting the needs of our children before our own at times. After all, they are so often not capable of doing that for themselves. I will not risk the future health of my child so that I can get a bit more sleep, and if others decide that, then that is their choice. I hope for their child’s sake that they can look at their child when it is grown and not see an adult with allergy or digestive issues and wonder if that extra sleep might have come at too high a price.
And have you ever watched a video of a tiny baby being fed. The constant scraping of food and putting it back in their mouths, past their tongue which is still trying to push the food out of their mouths? That means that they are physically not ready for it. It was those situations that I specifically judged. How can they be mothering instincts if those ‘instincts’ are overriding those of your baby?