What age did you wean your baby ?

[Ellarose23]

Out of curiosity, what age did you wean your babies ? How did you do it ?
did you expose to allergens early ? Or later ?
if doing purées , what do I give to my child to expose her to allergens ? Would it just be the likes of eggs / nuts etc blended ?
is BLW better ?
my hv is useless and I can never get through to her to ask.
my plan was to do some veggie purées then work way up to finger foods , thoughts ? She’s just turned 4 months a week ago.

There's some weaning guides here which might be helpful:

www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/weaning/

6 months as per NHS guidance. I mainly followed a book called How to Wean Your Baby with a mix of finger food and puree. Also my HV team ran a zoom training, which was useful. Not much went in until he got his teeth at 8 months, but it doesn't matter as it's about exposure. I didn't use pouches until then as it was a waste of money as he was eating so little. I use pouches now if we're out somewhere.

You don't have to do baby led OR traditional, you can do a mix and be lead by your baby. I'd give finger foods alongside puree.

Definitely introduce allergens early. The book I mentioned above was useful for a time line.

No need to wean before 6 months unless advised. It's fun but a lot of extra work.

I weaned my baby at 6 months, following the guidelines from the government.

We did BLW and loved it - small amounts of finger foods and then she started eating small portions of the food the rest of the family ate. The odd jar of ready made baby food for when we were out and about.

My older DC were weaned at 4 and 3 months as per the guidelines at the time for DC1 and for medical reasons for DC2.My youngest child is now 22 by which time the guidelines had changed to 6 months so with relief this is what I followed. It is so much easier when they are ready and there is no need for purées etc. BLW wasn't coined then but I would mash our dinner up with a fork and give them spoonfuls while breaking bits up and putting them on his tray to feed himself. No need for special foods for babies I just cooked without salt and he ate the same as his siblings and the family. If I was a parent now I would probably do much the same but I can see the attraction of BLW particularly if you only have one child. Once there are more to factor in, ease is the important thing. Management of allergy tendencies has changed in the intervening years and I would be introducing foods that are commonly associated with allergies from an early stage.My best advice to you is to sit with baby, eat at the same time and the same things as far as possible, offer a wide variety of foods and don't worry if they aren't interested or eat very little for weeks on end.

We had to wean ds a bit earlier because of reflux, so he was 17 weeks. We used Annabel Karmel weaning recipes. Started with puréed veg and fruit. By 6 months he was eating family meals mashed up a bit, and finger foods. We exposed him to a wide variety of foods as early as possible, he’s always been adventurous about trying new foods but that could just be his personality? He’s adventurous about everything!

5 and half months as she was showing all signs of readiness.

We did mainly BLW and it was great, she took to it very well. Go with what you're comfortable with, you could always feed purées but give finger foods for your LO to explore alongside if you want to. Do lots of research so that you goni to it confidently.

And yes we exposed to the main allergens in small quantities from the start.

I followed a lot of weaning accounts on instagram and downloaded BLW recipe apps and found them really useful too.

My three all breastfed but lost interest in the breast at around 12 months. I never used bottles, we went straight onto a cup.

From around six months our baby would sit in a high chair at the table, whilst we ate. We would give her some of what we were having, either as finger foods or something from a spoon.

My HV was brilliant and she explained that the whole idea of weaning, is to transfer your child onto family foods and to get your child to enjoy social meals with the family. I think this is excellent advice. We never used “baby” food or purées, there’s really no need.

I was so lucky to have such a great HV. I think back then they weren’t so under staffed and they were able to do the job they wanted to do.

30 years ago I started at about 9 weeks, as suggested by my HV at the time. No problems at all.. baby was eating family foods mushed up a bit by 6 months and drinking the recommended pint of cows milk.

No long term problems. I appreciate research and ideas have moved on, but I am grateful I didn't have today's ideas to follow.

6 months, guided by the baby led weaning cookbook by Gill Rapley, no stress whatsoever

Guildlines have changed over the years. My older DC were all weaned around 12 weeks. Well I say weaned but not as in full blown meals. But of rice with milk sort of thing. With my second to youngest I was told 6 months. We did the same and weaned at around 12 weeks. This was because he was simply not sustained by milk and had lots of colic and reflux. Health visitor agreed. My youngest who is 11 weeks old is not showing any signs of needing to be weaned early.
all DC are differnt. It is wrong to say do this and that at a certain age. You know your DC best

With DC1 thirty years ago I started at three months as per the guidelines at the time. By the time DC2 had arrived just over a year later, the advice had changed to four months. DC3 was also weaned at four months, then the guidelines changed again not long afterwards, to six months.

I think I'd've struggled to get my three babies to six months on breastfeeding alone, but if the guidelines had been six months back then I'd certainly have tried to.

Thanks so much everyone . My baby has really bad reflux and struggles with keeping milk down at times . She’s really loving grabbing things and shoving it in her mouth too , she’s lost her tongue reflex and can sit up in a chair and has really good neck strength. I obviously don’t want to do it now if it’ll cause problems but would I be okay to give her a tiny spoonful of purée veg or something a day just for some extra cals? Il obviously ask my hv, but she’s so hard to get in contact with so I’ve no idea when she’s due out again !

Introduced formula around 7 months and they sort of lost interest in BM by 8 months.

Wasn't intentional, but in hindsight, once the teeth came through it was the right time.

Op vegetables don't provide many calories. If baby is thriving then I would stick with what you are doing but if baby is dropping down the centile that would change advice. I don't suppose it would harm your baby to start but at the same time will it benefit her? You can see from above that lots of people have started mixed feeding earlier over the generations and that on an individual level it hasn't seemed to have caused harm.

I weaned mine at 6 months as recommended 27 and 23 years ago. A few purées, dal and finger foods. No allergies or intolerances-but that may be unconnected to weaning methods.

About 6 months but more like 23/24 weeks. Just gave them mashed up versions of what we were having from the word go.

There’s no point at all in giving puréed veg. Vegetables have very few calories in them and the whole purpose of weaning is to get your baby eating family foods, which doesn’t include purée.

She just needs milk at this age.

Yes go for it! Just don’t expect too much at the moment, it’s really just getting her used to having something other than milk in her mouth.

Why would vegetables give a baby extra calories?

Veg has nutritional content. But they aren’t going to fill up on a few spoons of purée veg and reject their milk - I’ve weaned 3 kids and that didn’t happen! It’s really about them exploring a different taste /texture in their mouth. And it did help with my youngest reflux.

6 months for both of mine.

Straight on to normal food. Mixture of spoon food (eg porridge, soup, mashed veg) and finger foods (everything else). We never bothered with purrees or baby foods as were weaning from 6 months.

You only need to worry about allergies if you have them in the family (or wean early).

I have food allergies. Gp advised exposing to all foods quickly at 6 months. I just couldn't fit them in with blw, so did a mix of blw and purees. Kids loved it and don't have allergies like me, thankfully!

The thing is that there's very little calories in veg and fruit purée and the space that purée takes up in baby's tummy could be used by high calorie high nutrition milk.

Would really advise you pursue your HV though cause sometimes they do recommend early weaning for reflux babies.

How heavy is baby, and is there still good weight gain?

The advise of 12 weeks or 12lbs may be outdated but there is some sense to it. As baby gets heavier more calories are needed to continue adequate weight gain and it would take a lot of milk to deliver it.

Ob you need professional advice and consideration of centiles

Sorry I didn’t think the veg was gonna fill her or anything like that, I just wanted to try her on the Ella’s kitchen and the veggie ones looked good but not sure , she’s is a bit behind on weight but not sure if that’s because she was early or cause of her reflux !
so should I just leave it to 6 months on the dot then ? And just expose allergies at 6 months too?