Weaning advice

[Sleeepy]

DS is now 12 weeks old, I've been told by the HV that I shouldn't wean until he's six months. I have literally no clue about how/when to wean. How do I know when he's ready? What should I feed him? When do I stop giving him breast/formula milk (we're mixed feeding due to milk supply issues)? We didn't cover this in any parenting class so now a bit scared!

Any books to read/avoid? Any good tips?

TIA!

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

There is some brilliant weaning advice on MN Sleeepy, here.

And lots of Weaning chat here.

The NHS Guidelines are pretty good too and include the signs of readiness for solids

[harleysmammy]

You shouldnt wean until 6 months because it can cause diet issues. I was always told not to give cows milk until 12 months, and thats what i was taught when doing a child care degree but my friend and my sister gave their babies cows milk at around 8 to 10 months and it apparently makes them sleep better so it cant be that bad. I personally wouldnt just because ive done a degree in child care and thats what i was taught. Im pregnant with my first and i am already thinking about weaning and how long i want to breastfeed, but i guess its easier for me because i learnt about it for 4 years. At 6 ish months, wean him on puree foods not solids so puree carrots or yogurts. Then go from there, gradually getting to more harder foods. Annabelle Karmel does hundreds of books and a website on weaning, that may help. Also with breastfeeding, its up to you how long you breastfeed for. Its better to breastfeed until at least 6 months and then carry on if you wish but its entirely up to the mother and how the baby reacts to breastfeeding. You can always stop the breast and then stick to permanent formula but just stick to either breast or formula or both until 12 months, and then you can transfer to cows x

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Forgot thecfoods to avoid, they're here .

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

harley I think the Weaning advice might be a little outdated. Whilst there is nothing wrong with starting on purees, lots of people now start their babies just on regular food. Have a look at this on Baby Led Weaning

[MrsJamin]

Wait until 6 months then do baby led weaning, no need for purees at all. Your baby will show you when they are ready by sitting unaided, being able to pick stuff up with fingers and put things into his/her mouth! Don't give cow's milk instead of formula or breastmilk until 12 months, that's terrible advice that it would help sleep before then. Cows milk is fine in meals but just as an ingredient.

[Sleeepy]

Brilliant, thankyou so much

[Caterina99]

We started at 6 months. Did mostly blw, although I also did a few purées/mashed up soft food like avocado, sweet potato etc. DS preferred the finger foods so we moved to them by 7 months and I gave up on the purée. At first all milk stays the same and you just add one meal a day (we did lunch), then a couple of weeks later once he was eating reliably for lunch we did breakfast and then dinner. The portions are tiny and threats why the milk stays the same. Gradually they eat more food and take less milk. Working up to 3 meals and 2 snacks a day and no bottles by 12 months. Every child does it at their own pace. My DS loved food and progressed quickly. some of his friends were still eating a few ounces of purée at a time and drinking several bottles of formula at 12 months. I think it evens out in the end

We moved to cows milk as a drink from around 12 months. I used it in food from 6 months. That was what I was recommended and my DS is 18 months old

[ODog]

I'm weaning my second baby now (she's almost 9mo). Purely from my experience of weaning 2 babies, I would start at around 6mo (DD just grabbed food off our plate at 5.5mo and started munching). Before then nothing goes in and it's just stressful and messy. In terms of what to give and at what time of the day...if baby is awake and willing during your meals times then just give them a bit of what you are having. They can have anything from 6m except honey and whole nuts and don't cook with salt. Feed on demand and milk will gradually reduce.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Actually @Caterina99 the current NHS guidelines are to move to 3 meals a day between 8 and 9 months.

ODog we had a grabber too. Weaned herself with a sandwich at 23 weeks and was very, very p,eased with herself

@Sleepy as others have said, the milk will remain the same at first but it is important that either BM (Breast Milk) or first stage formula is their main drink until they are one, cow's milk really isn't suitable and not recommended at all as a main drink.

As others have said, it's fine to offer foods with milk in like weetabix with milk and chopped banana or fish pie. Yorkshire Pudding and Blueberry Pancakes both make great finger foods too

As well as the information on Weaning I posted last night, I thought you might find this on Kellymom useful too

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Sorry @Caterina99,I had meant to put a at the end of that sentence.

And Sleeeey I had meant to tag you, I think I got the spelling wrong!

[Caterina99]

Fair enough! I didn't even know there was even specific advice on that. Good to know we basically followed it, as I just added in a meal once he was eating the one before fairly consistently, so we were probably doing 3 (ish) meals a day at 8ish months as he loves food!

I feel it was easy with formula as I could see exactly how much milk he was having and it made it easy to decide when to drop a bottle as I knew he was only drinking half of it or whatever. But friends with bf babies seem to have managed just fine too with dropping feeds. We made up his porrige and weetabix with formula to start with but I wouldn't bother with that again and just go straight to cows milk for everything except bottles if we have a second. So much easier and DS didn't seem to care.

[JiltedJohnsJulie]

Yeah, it's in the latest NHS guidelines

I don't think knowing the quantities does make all the difference really. With finger it's important to know how much they are drinking as they need a certain quantity to grow and develop. With bfing it's different in that the milk changes but the quantities remain the same. Whether your baby is 6 weeks or 6 months it will take roughly 25 floz in 24 hours