Child-led weaning

[Cherubs]

I would love to have some advice in this area.
All the information focus's (grammer check please Popsycal) on when to stop bf. But I'm more interested in when to start solids. What are the benefits of waiting a little longer?
Is it true that babies don't need solids under one year?
If I were to leave off the solids until say 8 months what food would I have to start with?
This is all hypothetical at the moment as I'm still planning on the 6 month mark unless he shows no interest at all.
I'm interested in this because of genetics mainly. We have a strong history of allergies on my side and obesity on my husbands side so anything I can do to help prevent both of these would be wonderful.

It's helpful to think of moving on to solids as a stage in development, rather than as a a date on the calendar. The evidence - such as it is - is that babies will mostly need other foods by a year, and there is some research showing that babies (whether breast or formula fed) may be at risk of anaemia if solids are deliberately delayed this long. But there's no reason to think that as soon as the date says '6 months' solids have to start or something dreadful will happen!

Most babies show an interest and can put food into their own mouths at around this age, and can start to chew.

There is also evidence that iron is needed from about this age, too.

I don't know of any evidence that it is an advantage to delay solids longer than 6 mths - I think that would be unlikely, to be honest, except in a few cases of severely allergic babies.

What does your HV say?

Thanks Tiktok.
I don't see my HV as they often have very out dated information and can be quite biased towards certain parenting techniques.
I didn't think that were any health benefits. I'm doubting whether there could be any real psycological benefits (regarding eating habits)either.
He is already trying to grab food and put it in his mouth so for someone to delay introducing solids it must be quite difficult.
I'll wait until the 6 month mark which I've no doubt he'll be ready for solids then.

At what age does bf become unimportant regards health benefits? Another pointless question probably since I'll be feeding him until hes had enough, but still it would be interesting to know so I can explain to horrified relatives when I extend bf.

There's no cut off time beyond which bf ceases to be of benefit. The World Health Organisation says bf has benefits for 2 years and beyond.

Obviously the more other foods are present, the less the baby relies on bf for nutrition, and as the immune system matures the antibodies become less cricual.

But you can bf as long as you and your baby want to do it. It's no one else's business

Cherubs - rather going through this dilema myself at the moment. Started dd on solids at 16 weeks as was the advice of HV and also in the books I was reading. She showed little interest in food for about 4 more months so with the benefit of hindsight, I think I did start too early. Now we are getting WHO guidance to say that 16 weeks is too early and 26 weeks is better. My second child is now 17 weeks and I haven't done anything yet. He, however, is much, much bigger than dd ever was and a voracious bfeeder! He shows a lot of interest in all of us when we are eating and likes the taste of pears and apples - when I am eating one I give him a bit to suck on. In the early days, dd turned her nose up at anything that didn't taste sweet and milky. I am wondering whether to start him on solids soon. There is no family history of allergies or obesity. What do people think?
Just anecdotally, my stepson was exclusively bf until 11 months and is now a very bright 6 year old. He is however the fussiest, littlest eater I have ever met - there are about three and a half things he will eat and then he seldom eats more than his 2 year old sister. Don't know whether this is linked with starting solids / different tastes and textures late or whether he would have been like this anyway. But my pet hate is fussy eaters so I am not going to leave starting solids that late, just in case! My dd, although not exactly a big eater, will eat a wide range of foods. Whoever heard of a 2 year old who loves pickled onions!

I started dd2 at about 23 weeks as it seemed 'right'...I'd think if he's showing interest and getting the odd slurp, this is the way to go.

That WHO recommendation came out about two years ago, btw (dd1 was under six months at the time)even though the UK govt has only recently adopted it - I remember reading it in the Guardian and mentioning it to a HV who clearly had no idea what the WHO was.

very ineresting thread
like motherinferior DS1 was under 6 months at the time and, because he was sturdy and chewing hs hands I started trying to shove the baby rice down at 13 weeks

We recently came across a video of this and he is clearly not interested and I was just getting stressed out about the tiny amounts he actually swallowed.

DS2 is 16 weeks, on the 98th centile and Iwon't be going near gim with solids until he grabs a passing spoon or turns 6 months.

will offer formula as supplrment to BF at about 8 months and offer bosom for as long as he wants iy, ds1 was 16 months

hope this helps