When to wean my baby

[Juggles1098]

Hi all, I was just wondering when it is suitable to wean my baby? I have looked at several sections of advice online and it all differs?...I am waiting on a call back from my health visitor but just wondered if anyone had any advice whilst I was waiting and what the process would be?

The nhs advice is 6 months.

I echo the NHS advice is 6 months. However all children are different. My HV suggested we consider weaning early (very much “the NHS say this but…” conversation”) so we started very slowly at first months. Equally your baby might not be ready until after 6 months.

Current UK advice is very clear. 6 months unless otherwise advised by a medical practitioner.

*at five months (not first)

Thank you. He's only 3 months at the moment so I am aiming to wait. I just wanted to know the best advice on how to wean him and when would be best really... Some products state 4+ months. My baby is also a very very hungry baby and was 10 pounds when he was first born so he is a big baby now. I just didn't know if this would contribute to the situation or not... I have no intentions starting him on anything until I've spoken to my health care professional :)

They should be able to sit unaided and have lost the tongue thrust reflex.

If he is very hungry then he will get more calories from milk than from packets of pureed veg.

The advertised ages are a throwback to the last time advertising rules were changed. At that time they advised weaning a lot earlier hence products still being allowed to say 4 months.

That makes complete sense! Thank you :).

Like I say I definitely don't want to start him now, I just wanted a little advice as everybody is different :). It's just for future reference as being a first time parent it's always confusing on how, when and what to wean my baby on and I thought it'd be nicer to relate to other mother's about it, aswell as following my health care professionals advice:)

My 2 oldest I weaned at 4 months - that was the advice then. My 3rd was 17 weeks but he had severe reflux and it was under professional advice. My 4th was almost 6 months old.

There is a very good NHS website called Start4Life with excellent weaning advice and great recipes. As others have said, milk has more calories than food, so its a myth that bigger hungry babies should switch to solids earlier and there is some research that suggests early weaning might be linked to digestive issues later in life. We started at 6months exactly. In the meantime, you might find some weaning books helpful - i bought Ella's Kitchen weaning book (the purple one) and Charlotte Stirling-Reed's "how to wean your baby". Both have 2 week and 30day plans to make it really easy. But there are lots of others available.

Thank you so much for the advice! I'll have a look on start4life in that case as it'd be great to learn what's healthy etc when he is 6+ months :).
I know milk is the best substitute over anything so I'm more than happy to keep him on his milk and have the assurance that he's healthy and thriving. So far we've never had any reflux issues or concerns with his feeding.
I'm not used to what recipes I can use etc. So I'll also take a look at Ella's kitchen too in that case :)

Six months is certainly the best advice and good to aim for. However, you will know your own baby when the time comes. I managed to get to 5.5 months before starting a little baby cereal mixed with breast milk. “This is what the book says” goes nowhere when your baby has made a decision.

As close to 6 months as possible but DEFINITELY not before 17 weeks, and only then with the advice of a health professional.

Irrespective of what was done in the past, 3 months is way, way too early.