Watching daybreak and at about 730am they doing a feature om this. It is reported better in the times but cant access link properly, here it is in the sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/health/health/3351004/Breast-milk-can-put-babies-off-food-cause-allergy-says-study.html

^^^ I disagree with their headline for it though.

Anyway latest thinking seems to be (from what good auld dr hilary on daybreak has said so far ) Basically yes BF is fantastic, but maybe using it for the only source of nutrition for 6mths (which only 1% of mothers achieve) may not be the best thing for baby. Drs are now coming back to the thinking that weaning at 4 mths may be beneficial as alot of babies are hungry by 5/6 mths if purely on breastmilk. They also claiming that it may reduce allergies if weaned earlier (total opposite to current advice!!!).

I may have not followed the findings correctly - am eagerly waiting the segment in 15mins.

If Iv got the jist of it though, I am a bit peeved. I waited til 6mths (was btl feeding from 8wks) and as Caitlin wasnt a hungry baby she def wasnt desperate for food, BUT I admit to hearing of babies being weaned at 12/13 wks and being shocked, thought their parents were being a bitter over eager to wean/sleep through. Now theyve changed the guidleines again.

All this changing the guidelines is making a mockery. Il be more inclined to ignore advice in future and do what suits me. Im nearly embabrassed by how neurotic/obssessed I was with guidelines when caitlin was teeny. My MIL pissed me off mocking me.... and now it turns out she was perhaps right. Grr!

Hehe snoops, like you said you'd be better off just doing what suits you and baby. I can understand why people follow the guidlines with their first baby though.

Ellie was weaned just after she Was four months, my other two were weaned at 12 weeks as that was what the guidelines said in those days.

It's absolutely ridiculous snoop, I was the same as you with Thomas, tried to do everything 'by the book' and I absolutely resent it now. I turned myself into a neurotic worrying mess and I feel as a result I didn't bond with him as well as I should have and didn't enjoy his first few months .

With Hannah I have basically said bollox to the lot of it and gone with the flow. If I feel she needs/is ready for something I do it - regardless of the 'rules' and I have a super contented and happy baby as a result. I am also a much more contented and happy mummy this time too

xx

Babymilly I was like a nutter doing everything 'right' with Caitlin .

Well, what a shock the UK midwifes and the dept of health are disagreeing with new advice and are refusing to acknowledge new findings . Anyway apparently new studies showthat sole BF for 6mths doesnt apply to UK as we have higher standards of hygiene and adequate food available.
They have found that 3-6mths of age is the best time to intoduce gluten.

No one is arguing about whether breast or btl is best btw, its about what age babies get hungry and could benefit from more nutrition. Was interesting listening to 2 health proffessionals saying that if at 3/4mths your baby is still waking every 2-3 hrs for a feed they are probably hungry and could do with a little food. My HV would never have said that! Also said that giving a little food may fill them up and discourage them from getting into the habit of grazing on BF's every cpl hrs.

So confusing. I will def be using common sense next time (my own not the Hvs ). I dont think I would have weaned Caitlin earlier, at 6mths she still averaged only 24oz a day over 4 feeds and didnt cry for a btl. If my next one is hard to fill at 4mths I think il just get the porridge out!

Debs i intend to be the same as you - though MIL will prob gloat, and my mum will be so confused by this. She was more anal than me about following all the rules for Caitlin! My sanity & happiness is more important though - I honestly felt before that if I went against any advice I was a terrible mother and Caitlin would be harmed... I blame HVs for not being a bit more open and honest instead of scaring new mums. x

I am lucky to a fab hv this time round! Both Jake and Aron were weaned at 4 months and are fine! I said all along Rhys will be weaned when he is ready regardless of age! They say to look for signs that baby is interested in feeding like following your hand to your mouth when you eat, if that's the case Rhys wants weaning now at 2 months! Lol!

My hv said they changed the weaning age from 4 to 6 months due to a study where a 4 month and 6 month as the 4 month old hadn't developed their facial muscles to take the food in properly!

I think that as Mums we know our babies better than anyone else and if we use our common sense then that is best for our little ones!

Xx

that article has annoyed me The sun has made the article to look like bf is not best rather than the real message of introducing solids earlier. I bf until 8 months and started solids at 20 weeks, ava has not refused any food at all, who knows if thats got anything to do with bf.

I'm totally with going with whats right for you, whether bf or formula but it can be so confusing for new mums when the media print headllines like that.

I just said the same on your FB x

It's confusing for old mums too!! Pinky! Xx

snoopy21 wrote:

I just said the same on your FB x

great minds think alike!

kinky it is confusing for everyone, i think the key is to ignore the whole lot and trust your instincts.

I agree Pinky! But if you are lucky like me and have a good HV it's good to have somewhere to get advice from! The other place I find invaluable for advice is here! I would be lost without BANDA!!

Xx

you are lucky kinky i haven't had a hv since ava was 1 week old, so i rely on banda ladies and other mummy friends.

my friend just put this on my fb which is quite interesting

'The paper acknowledges that three of the four
authors "have performed consultancy work and/or received research
funding from companies manufacturing infant formulas and baby foods
within the past three years'

I had a useless hv with Jake and Aron so I can sympathise and appreciate how lucky I am!

That is interesting! I haven't looked to far into yet but me thinks I will be doing some more reading!

Xx

I suppose that may sway their findings slightly, although i wouldnt completely discredit them for it as many infant formula's are follow on and most mums use baby foods as part of their childs diet in some form/stage.

Also if you work in the field of infant nutrition it may be common to have worked for such companys at one stage or another. Its just their line of work.

I understand the concern though and how it could be biased.

Oi which silly beggar gave me a negative and a positive, cancelling them out!!!

Feck!!!!!! Snoops I've just give you a neg rep point by accident due to my fat thums on my iPhone! Anyway I've give a pos one too so that should cancel the neg one! Sorry!

so your the silly beggar

Dont worry about it! x

Bloody hell eagle eyes or what

Yep it was me!

Did it work are your points the same now

Iv have no clue what they were before, I just saw the red line beside my post. Honestly dont worry. I know we all eachother and rep's dont bother me!

Well unless I suddenly started getting negs on a daily basis... then id take the hint! x

mine were all bottle fed and the advice was 4 months when dylan and tyler were babies so when it came to finlay i just did what i felt right and he was weaned at 4 months too it never done any of mine any harm lol
it just shows you how quick they can change there minds, i think you realise whith your second and third you just do what is best for you and your baby x

Snoops it was just my fat clumsy thumbs on iPhones, I'm just a dickhead hehe

I just saw this on the news and though exactly the same thing. We all knew it was going to happen... that the advice would change yet again.
it's just as well that we are all sensible enough to just let our babies guide us rather than how many months old they are!

Just goes to show that not even those "in the know" who makek the rules, even know what is best! (not like us mums of course!!)

i weaned gracie at 4 months and she was having rice in her bedtime milk at 3 months as she was having 9 bottles at 9oz of hungry baby milk she was starving i couldnt keep up with her demand of a 45min feed every hour and a half and ran out of breast milk at 2 weeks

i agree it has to be induvidual as like everything else each baby is different and some will be ready for weaning before others

by the was Gracie was a fatty and still is lol

Negs dont get a minus 1 any more so no need to counter with a +!

I am not at all shocked by this news, I have never taken notice of guidelines for this very reason.

Izzy was weaned just after 4 months as that is what she needed, and no amount of changes in guidelines is going to make her different!

snoopy21 wrote:

Babymilly I was like a nutter doing everything 'right' with Caitlin .

Well, what a shock the UK midwifes and the dept of health are disagreeing with new advice and are refusing to acknowledge new findings . Anyway apparently new studies showthat sole BF for 6mths doesnt apply to UK as we have higher standards of hygiene and adequate food available.
They have found that 3-6mths of age is the best time to intoduce gluten.

No one is arguing about whether breast or btl is best btw, its about what age babies get hungry and could benefit from more nutrition. Was interesting listening to 2 health proffessionals saying that if at 3/4mths your baby is still waking every 2-3 hrs for a feed they are probably hungry and could do with a little food. My HV would never have said that! Also said that giving a little food may fill them up and discourage them from getting into the habit of grazing on BF's every cpl hrs.

So confusing. I will def be using common sense next time (my own not the Hvs ). I dont think I would have weaned Caitlin earlier, at 6mths she still averaged only 24oz a day over 4 feeds and didnt cry for a btl. If my next one is hard to fill at 4mths I think il just get the porridge out!

Debs i intend to be the same as you - though MIL will prob gloat, and my mum will be so confused by this. She was more anal than me about following all the rules for Caitlin! My sanity & happiness is more important though - I honestly felt before that if I went against any advice I was a terrible mother and Caitlin would be harmed... I blame HVs for not being a bit more open and honest instead of scaring new mums. x

NO NO DON'T BE DAFT...ITS A GROWTH SPURT..MORE MILK!

Honestly how many times do we hear that - in fact when I started Izzy on food I was told this endless times (on another forum where they are VERY pro breast til 6 months).

Lisa I fully believed the more milk thing at the time! I listened to the guidelines (admitedly it was easy as Caitlin wasnt taking more than 5-6oz at a time even at 6mths) and hold my hands up to sniffing a bit when I heard of early weaners.

My HV, mum and I suppose dif people on forums shaped and backed up my views. I have my own opinions now and am more comfortable with the fact that all mums and babys are different.

It was only a cpl weeks ago I was chatting to stuarts cousin who has twins of 6mths and she was asking me when I weaned Caitlin. When i told her it was 6mths she started nodding & saying she always thought when people said their babys were hungry and needed weaned at 4/5mths that they really just needed more milk. She said it in a way implying they were a bit dim not to be giving extra btls. I think its something mw's say that sticks with alot of mums. Stuarts cousin is very intelligent & confident (corporate lawyer type in london) and still 100% into following guidelines.

Its such a shame most HVs dont have a personality of their own and are so uniformly to the book!

I think some mums will be genuinely upset by this study and feel that they have done wrong by their baby somehow by delaying weaning.