weaning... are you all waiting till 6 months ?

[Rosie2011]

just need some advice really... little one is now 4 months bottle fed. Just wondering if everyone waited till 6 months? also what are the signs that u should move onto weaning and also whats best for first foods and how often? any help would be appreciated xx

We waited with DD1. She was able to sit up without any cushions propping her and had lost the tongue thrust reflex. Her first food was roast chicken dinner with potatoes and butternut squash 'fingers'. We cut everything into long finger shapes so she could pick them up.

Hello,
The official advice is to wait for 6 months, to ensure they are developmentally ready.

The signs include being able to sit up straight, and to put things (food!) into their own mouth.

I did Baby Led Weaning with my two, others choose purees. Personally, BLW was far less hassle for us, but there are pros and cons for both methods! With BLW, the baby is in charge also of cutting down on their milk feeds, whether bottle or breast, so they really do learn how much is "enough" for them.

For first foods, my two both loved a roast dinner, plenty of nice textures and flavours. As long as there isn't much salt or sugar, BLW babies eat what you do, when you do - no need to cook or feed them separately. Here is the website for Baby Led Weaning

It's lots of fun!

snap, stargirl!

I had every intention of waiting until DS was 6mo but I ended up weaning him at about 5 &1/2.

Iirc I started him on baby rice and baby cereals until he was 6mo, which I gave him first thing in the morning and about an hour before bed. I then started him on puréed fruit and veg when he was 6mo.

I did a mix of homemade and shop bought. Again he had these twice a day for a couple of weeks and then we moved on to 'proper' food, 3x a day which was blended. He started with small amounts though. I followed a baby purée book which had a guide in the back of it. (I think it was an Annabel Karmel book).

Celia

I should add we did try BLW at about 6 & 1/2 but DS didn't take to it until about 11mo.

If you do decide to do BLW, veg and fruit sticks are great starter foods. My DS liked cucumber and sweet potato best. Pasta is also a good one.

I plan on waiting till 6 months though 4.5 month old DD did snatch a piece of mandarin from her Grandad the other day and start sucking furiously until I wrestled it from her. She looked extremely pleased with herself so I definitely think we'll go the BLW route as soon as she hits 6 months!

Waiting til 6 months. Always confuses me why people don't follow health guidelines- why take a risk with babies you can't see inside their guts.

DS will be 6 months in two weeks time and we are going to start weaning then.

My friend recommended an Anna Karmel App which has lots of recipes for first foods and subsequent ages - it looks really good

I waited til almost 6 months with both. Milk contains more calories than most weaning foods and so I don't really buy in to the idea of early weaning because of 'hunger' or because they are watching you eat with interest.

DD2 wasn't really bothered until 7 months and now eats like a horse at 14 months.. DD1 was enthusiastic from day 1 .

When DD2 started mimicking my chewing, I gave her a banana. She loved it! She was 5 months and I don't think her milk consumption really dropped until about 7 (hard to judge as I was BF).

If they can sit up, have lost the tongue thrust reflex and can pick up food, put in their mouths, chew and swallow, they are showing the signs. Waking more, increased appetite, watching you eat are NOT signs.

NHS website and Mumsnet weaning info are both great.

I started just after 5 months, my reasons being 1) my DH was away and I stayed with my mum for a week and figured it would be nice to have an extra pair of hands at the start 2) he was BFing literally every hour and I was desperate to get him to stretch out his feeds a wee but.

6 months. dd grabbed the spoon and started to try and feed herself at her first feed.

turns out she has allergies so waiting meant that I did not feel guilty that it was my fault as i was following hte current advice.

ds 6 months too

baby led weaning was not trendy when mine were small.

Well I know I'll get shot down in flames as some kind of baby murderer but I've started weaning my 19 week old.

She was feeding (ebf) one to two hourly night and day. She's big (was over 10lbs atbirth), and can sit with support and grabs food off me and tries to suck/chew it.

I only give single veg or fruit puree or a bit of formula mixed with baby rice. I just don't understand how that can harm their gut.

She has reflux and has been a bad sleeper. I was reaching the end of my tether. I also have two older kids (both weaned pre six months, the eldest because that was the advice and the middle one on medical advice).

She slept for two hours today after a bit of lunch. Is happy taking food from the spoon and swallowing it.

There doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence that six months is a must for ALLbabies. I also think the sitting up rule is nonsense. My babies didn't sit unaided until ten months!

I think the issue is that the solids don't harm the gut but the gut isn't mature enough to digest the food properly. As a result the stomach is being filled with food when the gut isn't mature enough to extract all the fats and nutrients that the baby needs anyway. This food is being given instead of milk or causing the milk intake to be less which is obviously detrimental as milk is what the gut CAN digest fully.

Basically the food is a poor supplement for the milk the child is now not having.

That us what I've been told anyway - don't know if it's correct or not

They don't have to sit unaided. They need to sit with support to minimise the choking risk.

The guidance says 'around six months' or 'about 26 weeks' and is very clear that you should be led by your baby displaying the signs I quoted above and they just happen to be displayed around that 6 months mark, sometimes before, sometimes afterwards. It is not a rigid rule. The guidelines are actually very good imo and not at all prescriptive. They outline the actual signs and dispel the myths about appetite, the baby's weight, sleep etc.

With a baby with specific medical needs or problems such as reflux, you should take individual advice on weaning from a professional. The guidelines are for the average, healthy baby.

I agree about the sitting animalsunited - my DS is nowhere near sitting unaided, he's so, so wobbly but at just under 6 months I can't exactly not wean him just based on that

I've just yesterday started DS2 on solids - he turns 6 months on 17th September. I was planning to wait because DS1 was totally not interested in food at 24 weeks, hadn't lost the tongue thrust and turned his nose up at most things.

DS2 however is a different story altogether. Last night, his little mouth remained open like a baby bird and he bleated every time I took too long to put rice cereal into it. Today I sent him to daycare with 5 tablespoons of baby rice (enough for lunches for the rest of the week at daycare). He ate all of it and cried when they finished.

This evening he enjoyed 2 tbspns of baby rice and some gerber apple puree. So I'd say he's ready....

I bloody hate weaning though, it's such a faff. Although if DS2 is enjoying his food, it might be more fun than with DS1 who is definitely not food motivated!

We're waiting until 6 months, and will do blw again as with my older child.

I think the 'showing interest in food' marker which gets listed in a lot of the guidance is misleading. My 4 month old would grab food from my hand and shove it in his mouth given half a chance. But then he also tries to do that with the nail scissors!

Stroke weaning DD1 was such a faff, and at 2.4 she can still be a pickle. We had real texture issues. maybe I missed the window to move her from puréed food, or maybe she's just not that into it, who knows.

My toothless 11mo old DD2 started just like you've described your DS and now eats absolutely anything and frankly, on a lot of days, more than DD1! Take heart, it could be a lot easier this time.

My prem twins couldn't sit unaided until 8.5 months so we fed them in bouncy chairs. Weaned them at 24 weeks as per paediatrician advice.

Weaned at 17 weeks on doctors advice due to severe reflux. Just porridge. Would definitely have waited because 1) that's the healthier thing to do in most circumstances; 2) it's carnage, and 3) they really don't 'get it' til they're older

Weaned at 5mo. DS was miserable, had stopped napping and was waking all night too. From the day I started him on some baby porridge and steamed/mashed vegetables (not together) he was like a completely new baby. Happier more settled, sleeping better and just generally less teary.

I know there's probably no peer reviewed evidence to support the fact that some babies might need weaning before 6mo but that DOESNT mean it's not TRUE! It was certainly true in my DS case. And that's all it can say with certainty.

I think talking about weaning before 6 months in terms like "why take the risk" is rather unhelpful...it's not like I was blowing cigarette smoke into his little face or anything. Many other European countries (holland for example) have interpreted the evidence differently and advise weaning at 4mo.