Conflicting advice on when to wean - a mum shares her story

In January, a report came out which went against the WHOs recommendation that all babies should be exclusively breastfed for six months. We wrote about it here. It's easy to look at all the different arguments from a distance and see the different points of view. But when you are a new mum and you have hormones raging through your body and you're not 100% sure what you should be doing but you know you want to do what's right, conflicting advice can be very upsetting and confusing.

Helen, a mum with a now 10 month old son, writes a blog at http://petitmew.blogspot.com/. She was kind enough to share her experience of receiving conflicting advice about weaning onto solids.

What we take from her story - and what we hope other mums will take from it - is to listen to all the opinions out there and then make your own mind up. You know your baby best so read his cues. Every baby is different. There isn't a one size fits all answer. So don't beat yourself up if you think you've got something wrong. It's a learning curve.

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Helen's story

When my son was born I felt so overwhelmed with joy and happiness. I was unsure before as to whether I would breastfeed but when I saw him for the first time I knew that I wanted to breastfeed him for as long as possible. 

I was kept overnight because I had stitches and my son had a little help with the ventouse which left his head rather sore, but also they wanted to make sure I could breastfeed him without any trouble. I thought all I had to do was show him where the nipple was and he’d be enjoying breast milk. It was not that simple one bit! It was a learning curve for both him and I, neither of us really had a clue what we were doing. I was very lucky to have had a midwife who specialises in breastfeeding and would help any mum with advice, showing them how to position yourself and baby and so on. Once I had shown the midwife I could do it on my own I was discharged and able to go home.

Everything had been going well and he had been perfectly healthy. I suffered with sore nipples and felt like giving up a month later, but we bought some cream and nipple guards which helped give my nipples a bit of rest. At the age of 5 months old for a week I was having trouble keeping him on the breast and found him pushing me away and crying loudly. I was confused and when I asked for help seemed I wasn’t doing anything incorrect and was suggested to see my Health Visitor. I did just that and he had lost nearly 2lbs in weight. She suggested I see my GP right now and almost instantly I had swapped rooms and was getting my boy checked by the doctor. She saw nothing wrong with him, but noticed signs of teething and desire to be weaned. I felt so stupid for not noticing these signs before and rushed off to get some baby food, juices, everything you need for weaning. I expressed milk using a manual pump but over time I found myself making less and less milk until finally I was barely making enough to make a bottle for him.

One week later I returned to make sure he was gaining weight again. He had not only gained it but had also put another 2lbs on top of what he lost! I was so relieved and happy to know the problem had been resolved. Sadly my Health Visitor was not happy. The moment I told her I was feeding him food and no longer able to breastfeed him she went off on one. She was not only angry at the doctor, who she said should not have told me to wean so early, but made me out to be a bad parent. When I asked what I should do now her words were “well the damage is done now, continue what you are doing”.

I was hit hard by those words. As I walked back home I felt tears rolling down my cheeks. It took me weeks to get over what she said to me, but now I feel confident that I did the right thing for my boy, who is very healthy and happy now at the age of 10 months.

Breastfeeding is a wonderful experience that I suggest all mums-to-be to try. I won’t pretend it wasn’t a struggle and you probably will have sore nipples for the first few weeks, but with the right help and a supportive family you can get through all that and follow on until your baby is ready for food.

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Have you had a similar experience? We'd love to hear your breastfeeding stories - whether you exclusively breastfed for 6 months or whether you weaned early. It really helps new mums know what other new mums have gone through so they realise how different everyone is.

And it goes without saying that if you are breastfeeding, you'll be needing some nursing bras, so do check out our range!