Has the advice changed?

[Fiver]

Haven't heard anything about recs changing to 4m.  Most 4mo aren't showing the major signs of readiness for weaning.  FWIW, we're doing BLW and it's great.  No, she's doesn't necessarily eat everything, but she gives it a go.  There's the old mantra of "food before one is for fun" and I'm trying to stick with that an not be stressed about how much she does or doesn't eat on each particular day.

[Shdef]

See, the advice now goes both ways. Some kids are not ready until eight months or so, some are very ready at 4.5 months.

This exactly at the 6 mo mark thing can't be right.

[~inbalance~]

I guess it all boils down to following YOUR baby! 

[shivi]

I have a friend here whose LO is late April born, so around 5 mths now and she has been PUSHING and pushing him with purees since he turned the magical 4 mths....and he is not one bit interested.

He's up every three hours in the night minimum (EBF and no routine) and she's convinced a few spoonfuls of jarred apples is gonna make a difference!!!
I went back to work at 4.5 mths after Oscar, also April born. He was guzzling 8 oz bottles of EBM every four hours but nowhere near ready for weaning...


I think here for sure the baby food companies are to blame to a certain extent - all the packaging says "from 4mths" for the single purees, simple soups, baby rice etc etc so people feel they're doing their child an injustice if they don't feed  OR they are so, so sleep-deprived feeding EBF babies round the clock with nobody helping them with routines etc etc and they feel less guilty giving some pureed carrots or apples than they would using formula even to get a break during the night for their DH to take over a feed or two....

S x

[Vicku]

Just cos you may find it interesting...
Here it is 4-6 months, no earlier than 4 mos. An interesting thing that they talk about here is that it depends on if you're BF or not, and when you're planning to BF until. The important thing being to ideally introduce food under the protection of breast milk. They believe that the breast milk protects the gut and helps to prevent reactions and allergies, so if you're planning to carry on BF then it's best to wait til around 6mos as the digestive system has matured more then BUT if you're planning to stop BF around 6 mos then they actually recommend introducing solids around 4 mos under the protection of the BM rather than wait til 6 mos and do it while on formula.
For formula fed babies it is said to be more important to wait til around 6 mos, but it can also be harder to hold off a baby til then as formula contains the same calories per onze while BM changes to become more nutritious as baby grows (they don't actually need more ozs) so a FF baby will "max out" their stomach capacity and may show signs of needing more food. So 4-6 mos depending on the baby and the feeding method here.

[Mashi]

Clare - I know the "study" you are talking about and I remember it as well.  I don't however remember where I read it to be able to find it.  But what I do remember is that it was leaning from the 4-6 month guideline which was in place when my DS was a baby and leaning more towards starting AT 4 months and not waiting until 6mo.

In regards to studying nutrition Anna is your SIL specializing in paediatric nutrition? Because I would say that unless she is really focusing on the younger stuff then it does not mean that she would know about recommendations, yk?   And I think that studying that stuff in general does not necessarily focus on what a current recommendation from the NHS is, rather than look at a more broad idea of it all...really, the one fact of when to start a baby on solids is a drop in the bucket in terms of what she would be covering in all of her classes, iyswim. 

[*Kara*]

Here in Canada, our official rec is 6 months, but our doctor okay'd it at our 4 month checkup.  Of course, I thought he was crazy and just said - Oh, okay then   I had full intentions of waiting until 6 months, but DD started really showing interest around 5 months... I gave her a very slow intro from 5 months 3 days.  Just a tsp of rice cereal once a day for a week, then increased to a tbsp... she got her first taste of peas just before she hit 6 months... I still don't push solids at 10 months.  She eats like a horse most days, but I certainly focus on her formula intake to ensure she gets all she needs, since her food isn't a complete variation yet.

FWIW - My SIL has 3 kids... first was just FF from birth (milk never came in)... he started solids at 5 months.  Second was combined BF and FF (low supply).. he started solids at 6 months.  Third was EBF until 10 months, then slowly intro'd to solids but still BF'd until 2.5 years old.  The third was BF'd the longest and intro'd the slowest... she has the worst allergies and is by far the most picky. 

[Shiv52]

Just cos you may find it interesting...
Here it is 4-6 months, no earlier than 4 mos. An interesting thing that they talk about here is that it depends on if you're BF or not, and when you're planning to BF until. The important thing being to ideally introduce food under the protection of breast milk. They believe that the breast milk protects the gut and helps to prevent reactions and allergies, so if you're planning to carry on BF then it's best to wait til around 6mos as the digestive system has matured more then BUT if you're planning to stop BF around 6 mos then they actually recommend introducing solids around 4 mos under the protection of the BM rather than wait til 6 mos and do it while on formula.
For formula fed babies it is said to be more important to wait til around 6 mos, but it can also be harder to hold off a baby til then as formula contains the same calories per onze while BM changes to become more nutritious as baby grows (they don't actually need more ozs) so a FF baby will "max out" their stomach capacity and may show signs of needing more food. So 4-6 mos depending on the baby and the feeding method here.

This is what I've been reading bits about but that is really interesting about BF becoming more calorific per oz as time goes on.  Amazing!! 

The third was BF'd the longest and intro'd the slowest... she has the worst allergies and is by far the most picky.

Poor wee mite.  Hope her allergeries get better as she grows.  we've just seen the paed for R's MPI and she said her intolerance would have been more severe and I would have noticed it more had I been FFing so tell your SIL in the longterm BFing will have been for the best as her allergeries could have been much much worse with FFing and the picky eating could have been much worse too. 

[*Kara*]

I can't imagine her allergies being worse - she is the only kid I have ever heard of with a rice allergy

[Erin M]

Totally interesting.  My ped gave us the 4-6 month guidelines at James' 4 month checku and said that the latest studies indicate that they should be in solids by 7 months t avid taste aversions.  I wish I had asked where that info was.  James will be 5 months this weekend and doesn't seem interested yet so I'm probably waiting a few more weeks.

[clazzat]

I have to say, whatever the guidelines, we are nowhere near ready for solids here yet. He has just started to watch occasionally when I am eating, but that is truly the only sign that he is even approaching it. So it is definitely about watching your own baby and making decisions based on that.

[anna*]

In regards to studying nutrition Anna is your SIL specializing in paediatric nutrition? Because I would say that unless she is really focusing on the younger stuff then it does not mean that she would know about recommendations, yk? 

Well true, and no she's not studying paediatric nutrition, but I know that if it was ME and it was an area of particular interest and my own kid, I'd surely be researching and reading up on all the latest findings.

This is all really interesting ladies, thanks. With Stan I was very stalwart about NOT offering any solids before 6 months - and by that point he really was very ready.

[*Kara*]

I agree with Clazzat - it's all about watching for when your own LO is ready