To Wean or not to Wean

Weaning

Today I am going to talk about Weaning. There is a lot of controversy over whats right and whats wrong when it comes to weaning and the following views and opinions are purely my own, based on my own experience having brought up 3 children that are now in their teens. I also have a 2 year old and a 6 month old who I am weaning at present.  Government guidelines have recently changed and are now advising parents not to wean their babies till 6 months where previously it was 4 months.  Even before this is published I can hear the Tut-tutting of the do-gooders and jobsworths out there, half of which probably haven't even got children of their own and just read from a text book!

All of my children have been weaned onto solid foods before 4 months, milk just simply wasn't enough, they all needed that little bit extra.  My second Son Georgie was born a week late weighing 8lb and came into this world screaming to be fed!, he would gulp down his bottles like they were going out of fashion and he wanted feeding every 2 hours, he was an absolute nightmare to feed.  It would take me an hour and half to get a bottle down him and settle him and then only half an hour later he would be screaming once more for another bottle, I was like the walking dead. I tried him on the hungry baby milk but that made no difference at all I then consulted my health visitor for some advice when he was 2 weeks old because my instinct was telling me that the milk was just not filling him up. I spoke to a lady I was friends with at the time who came from India and she told me that in India they feed their baby's solid foods (baby rice) from birth.  My health visitor was about about as useful as a chocolate teapot! she just told me to persevere..........I went straight into Boots and bought a pack of baby rice and started giving him 2 spoonfuls of rice before every bottle, it worked wonders.  Georgie started to go 3-4 hours between each feed and was gaining a healthy amount of weight.  By the time Georgie was 4 months old he was fully weaned and was thriving.  He is now a healthy happy 14 year old and weighs exactly what he should for his age and height.

I have a 12 year gap between my oldest Son and my 2 year old (Josh) and its amazing how much things change when it comes to pregnancy, what you can and cant eat, the tests that are available now and weaning.  You don't actually realise how much you forget.  When I gave birth to Josh it was like having my first child all over again.  Josh was quite content with his bottles till he got to 10 weeks old and then the milk just wasn't enough for him.  Once again I consulted my health visitor for some advice, who was a different lady to who I saw 13 years previous.  I was advised not to start Josh on solid foods as this could cause stomach and bowel problems later on in life and was told that babies stomachs are not mature enough to digest the food until they are 6 months of age.  I did take this on board and came home and continued with his bottles but another week went by and my baby boy was hungry, miserable and not fulfilled with just milk so I started giving him baby rice and once again it worked wonders, my happy contented baby was back!

Every child is different, what works for one may not work for another.  the 6 month Government guidelines are exactly that, GUIDELINES and guidelines are not set in stone.  They will probably change again in 5 years time.  If it were a true proven fact that weaning a child before 6 months can cause bowel and stomach problems we would have a whole generation walking around with these problems, I don't know one single person that has any sort of Bowel or Stomach disorder.  I think its just a case of using a bit of common sense, and a mothers instinct.

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Fisher Price Jumperoo

                                                             Fisher Price Jumperoo

I bought this just before Christmas for my Son who was 5 months at the time and getting to the stage where he was getting bored of being stuck in his bouncy chair, and wanted to feel his feet.

I looked in Mothercare where this was priced at £89 which I thought was a bit pricey so I shopped around online and I found that Amazon were selling it at the much more appealing price of £59 so I ordered it and planned to put it away for Christmas.............not everything goes to plan!

It seemed silly putting it away for a couple of weeks when my baby boy could be making good use of it now so we gave it to him early.

We unpacked it and assembled the parts which easily went together  with no fuss. The Jumperoo is the Rainforest theme which is brightly coloured in green, red and yellow.  There are 2 leaves that hang over baby's head, one with a parrot hanging off it and the other with a frog hanging.  The seat swivels round and is sprung so that baby can bounce to his hearts content. All around the sides are different brightly coloured activities. There is one activity that requires 3AA Batteries that has lights and sound.

This is one of my best baby buys and would recommend it highly, my son absolutely loves it and will sit and play in it for a good while. I got this for a steal at £59 but even at £79 it is worth every penny.


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The Wean Machine

Being a mother to 2 young children, a 2 year old and a 6 month old baby I am always looking for cool products to make life a little easier.

Whilst browsing a mother and baby magazine one day a product I saw advertised jumped out at me and screamed "buy me, buy me"! It looked fantastic, this product was The Wean Machine.
This product boasted that it was suitable for 1st and second stage weaning, easy to use and portable. It also states that its suitable for most soft vegetables, pasta, mincemeat and pureed fruit and banana's. Simply fill, squeeze and feed and voila! you have a healthy nutritious meals for your little one in minutes.

The Wean Machine looks like a giant yellow Garlic press and is made from hard plastic, you get 2 grills with it, one for 1st stage weaning and a bigger grill for second stage, the grills are also made from plastic. You also get a spoon that clips handily inside to product for when you're out and about.

I went out the very next day went straight to Boots to get my very own Wean Machine, Boots were selling it for £18.99.  Got it home, washed it and sterilised it and had cooked spaghetti bolognese for dinner so thought id put some Pasta and mince meat into this for my 6 month old. I used the smallest grill which was the one suitable for 1st stage weaning and the food refused to go through, I felt like it was going to break if I squeezed it any harder, the bits of food that did go through the grill were in big lumps, no where near suitable for 2nd stage weaning let along 1st stage as advertised on the box.  I gave it the benefit of the doubt and boiled up some Apple and Pear till soft and tried to put this through the Wean Machine, all that came through was the juice!! 
The only thing this product can handle is a ripe Banana but why pay £18.99 for a Banana mashed when a fork does a good job in minutes?
This product is totally useless, the only useful thing about this product is the spoon that comes with it.

I am shocked that Boots actually have this on their shelves, I was very very disappointed, I took it back the next day for a full refund. 

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