Weaning later than 6 Months

[Flllightattendant]

I'm not sure whether this has been discussed before but it suddenly occurred to me that it might be an option.

The HV whom I like a lot has told me that despite the advice to Bf exclusively for 6 months, they do 'like' your baby to be on regular, full on meals by 8 months at the latest.

Mine is almost 7 months and he is still being mostly breastfed. I give him bread to suck and pieces of carrot, cheese, etc. and have tried rusks too, and the occasional jar of mush, but he either spits most of it/all of it out, or gags/chokes most of the time.

Apart from the fact he is exploring tastes and so on, and likes to put everything in his mouth at the moment, I am not sure it is really doing him any favours.

Now I recall a quote from somebody associated with childcare which basically said food up to 12 months should only be about fun, while breastmilk remains the main source of nourishment.

I would really appreciate it if anyone could share their thoughts/experiences on this, as I just want to do what suits my son, and the idea of 3 meals a day within 4 weeks is just silly for him!

TIA

DS2 is 10 months and has only really just got an taste for anything other than breast milk and now I can't get food ready quick enough for him! I did start offering finger food and BLW at about 7 months and he has happily chewed on bread and apple slices but not really bothered that much about food until the last few days. The change is amazing, he is so excited when food is around and wants more and more of it, so I guess really he has "self weaned" at the time that is right for him. Still having plenty of breastfeeds though, esp at night.

Now DD was a whole different ball game, she was active very early on and was stealing food off our plates at 4.5 months , again she breastfed lots but also "self weaned' with food, she just seemed to want it much earlier than DS2.

I would have been happy to hold of to at least 12 months though if they had shown no signs of interest in food and just keep offering finger foods to try, I think if they are growing, passing urine and normal (for them) bowel movements, then there is no need to rush

I didn't start weaning dd1 until she was 8 months old because she had bad eczema and was doing perfectly fine on b/m. Like your ds she was mainly having finger foods so b/m continued to be the main source of nutrition by far for a long time - certainly until she was well over a year old. She was a big strapping baby during all this time and had no problems increasing her intake of solids when she was ready for it

FA, I started ds on solids just before six months but with hindsight I don't think he was ready until about seven months, as he like your ds would spit it out and gag most of the time until then. Once he got to seven months he started to join in at mealtimes much more, although he is still at nearly nine months not on "three meals a day"; it's still more like tastes at this stage.

Not until babies get to about a year old do they need to have a solid base of meals iirc and even then that's more for cultural reasons ("family that eats together..."!) than anything else I think.

I have even heard of babies that were exc. bf for over 9 months although I would have thought iron supplies would start to dwindle by then and baby may need a broccoli floret!

[waves to fa vigourously]

i wondered then this might come up. as you know still breastfeeding ds2. he is now 10.5 mo and only has one meal aday, which is breakfast, he's eat more but i'm happy to leave it longer. the unicef guidelines are that a baby doesn't need any supplements until 12months of age, however because demand increases at around 7.5 months many mothers put it down to wanting food. he has snakcs o orange and banana in the day but not proper meals. it's fantastic, because i left it so late originally, about 8months i've never had to puree a single thing which is so useful with older ones to cater for. i remember numerous evenings in kitchen with df making up batchess for freezing for ds1, so glad we dont have to do it this time and he can just eat what we eat. go with your instincts

Oh thanks girls, I'm really pleased to read all your replies.

My instinct is that he will 'self wean' gradually (or suddenly, by the looks of some of your babies!!!) and start to let me know when he wants to eat more 'real' stuff.

I was starting to worry that I would be starving him, especially on the HV advice - why, why, why do they have these guidelines, I mean I don't do three meals a day let alone the children!

Thanks a lot for reassuring me

listen to YOUR instincts not a HV, they're full of crap most of the time (IMHO)

only you truly know you child and when they're ready

I think it does depend a lot on the individual child. My daughter took to meals like a duck to water and probably was on 5 very small, proper meals a day at about 7-8 months, thats just her, she seemed to rather like it and everything related to food. But I wouldn't, in hind sight, have worried if she hadn't, because they are still so little at that age.

child-led weaning rules.

lots of finger food

bin the goop

they'll self-regulate