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

I believe it's 6 months because up until then the gut it "leaky"- it allows bigger molecules through. For many reasons, to maximise uptake of milk, to allow immune system components through…

Wean before the gut has matured means molecules from weaning foods may not be broken down and absorbed properly, and may lead to some proteins crossing the gut whole- the risk then is triggering reactions like coeliac disease.

Of course guts mature at different rates, some may be ready before. But unless you start biopsying before weaning, the only way to know for sure is to wait until 6 months, when research has shown the benefits of weaning outweigh the risks of the gut being super-slow to mature.

DH was weaned extremely early- if mil is to be believed before he left hospital, so within days of birth (rice/rusks in bottles, jars of baby food). He has awful, awful problems with his guts. Friend of mine started BLW at about 3.5 months "oh I'm not weaning, he's just having a taste"- kid now has gut issues and food allergies.

Of course you'll never know if it is related or not. But for me I'd feel terrible if I weaned early against advice, and then had gut problems, all for the sake of waiting a few weeks.

I waited until 6 months and started BLW as dd refused to take anything spoon fed. She didn't actually start swallowing anything until she was about 9 months and not in any quantity to replace milk until 10 months. Every baby will eat when they are ready. I miss the EBF days, it was so much easier to just whip out a boob every few hours, don't be in such a hurry to start weaning!

Well my son is a bottle refuser and I need to go back to work so I don't have time to wait, tinkering around with BLW for a year. I need him to be established on solid food so I can leave him and go and earn money!

When I went back to work, mrsmugoo the staff at DD1's nursery were totally happy to do BLW, and she was a bottle refuser too. I really found it far less faff than I have seen my friends go through with more traditional weaning. Horses for courses, maybe I am just lazy!

Mrsmugoo....it was never my intention to 'tinker' with blw but when your baby refuses to take anything from a spoon you have no other choice. My dd also refused a bottle and I returned to work at 9 months without having weaning established. I've had to be very open minded in my approach, nothing has gone to plan with weaning my dd!

I waited as long as possible. Life is so much easier with just milk!

Weaned just before DS was 6 months. DS had been putting things in his mouth and showing interest in food and bfing a lot before then but BLW seemed to make so much sense to be and I'd seen friends do it so successfully that's what DH and I wanted to do. So glad we did BLW from 6 months as it was easy and DS is the most fantastic eater.

We waited until 6 months with both of ours. We BLW'd both times and neither of them really ate a huge amount until they were around 12 months, although they made plenty of mess! Once they started nursery 2 days at around 16 months, they ate at lot more as I wasn't around to bf them during the day.

but I've started weaning my 19 week old.

My head hurts trying to do the maths........ ummmmm.........4 months 3 weeks?.........yeah !!

dd1 14 weeks
ds 13 weeks
dd2 15 weeks

My DD turned 6 months this week and I started weaning last Saturday. I'm going down the BLW route at the moment and so far she has tried cucumber, steamed carrot, raspberries, roasted butternut squash, toast and avocado. I don't quite feel brave enough to try "meals" as such at the moment, but that's more me trying to ease myself in.

I allowed my babies to decide when they were ready. I did BLW and made family food available from 6 months( sharing my plate).
My DD was 9 months when she started solids, my DS 8 months. I didn't use purees or baby rice. Just normal family food.

I started weaning at 4 months as that's the recommendation where I live.

Most people don't wait for 6 months.

As long as you wait til after 17 weeks I wouldn't worry. I don't think there's really much in the way of evidence of risk between 17-26 weeks.

I weaned my dd at about 18 weeks I think (it was a 8yrs ago!) My dd was never much interested in milk and would only bf for 5-10mins every 3 to 4 hours!

She loved food from the start, loved everything she tried and grew like mad. To this day she doesn't like milk but loves her food.

So shoot me I think blanket rules are a bit pointless when all babies are different.

I think the key is if you definitely want to try BLW then you need to wait until close to 6 months so that they have the co-ordination to bring things up to their mouths. There's no point in trying to give a 18 week old a stick of cucumber as they just won't be able to do much with it!

DD was 21 weeks and sitting unaided. We did BLW. She was kicking up such a fuss whenever we ate it was just easier to let her join in!

I would have waited otherwise, though - it was her who was in a rush, not me.

I waited until six months, despite being constantly told by my husband's family that he was ready and too big to be filled by milk. Absurd. He liked food straight off but was not taking in a lot, and it took a while to build up to enough to drop bottles. He still loves milk and had about 18oz of formula a day. I started with puréed fruit and yogurt. We are now on mostly finger foods, and he spoon feeds himself sometimes. I am making his food since it is pretty simple, healthier, offers more variety at each meal, and is cheaper in the end.

ds1 4 months
dd 18 weeks
ds2 16 weeks
all big babies 9lb+and all breastfed.
DS1 was feeding so often that it got silly, if I got him to 2 hours during the day I was doing well, desperate for more. refused bottles completely from 8 weeks old. he was growing well. watching us eat and wanting the food. loved food from the moment that we started feeding him. would just watch the spoon coming towards him. while I am sure that BLW is fantastic for some babies it would have been absolute child cruelty to have done this with DS1. we now know that as part of his ASD he has fine and gross motor coordination issues. he certainly wasn't able to sit up unaided. but at that time we had no idea that there were issues (although looking back we can identify things that weren't neurotypical). he has no gut issues at all. it took until he was well over a year before he was feeding himself well.
DD wanted to be doing what her big brother was doing. if she had been 1st we would have probably waited much longer. she was the only 1 of my DCs who would take a bottle properly (hates milk now though!) liked being able to feed herself
DS2 hated baby rice. wanted food with taste right from the start. he also was slow to be able to feed himself.
I am convinced that I waited until my DCs were ready for food. I don't think that there is a correct age that suits all children, they are all individuals. I have seen some people get very militant about BLW and I think that it is like breast feeding. it is right for some and not others.

BLW at 6 months for all three DC. DD1 was very ready at that stage and was eating a whole banana for breakfast within a week of starting weaning, DD2 took a while to get going (and is still the fussiest), preemie DS just poked at his food until he reached 6 months corrected when he replicated the experience of DD1, something obviously had clicked somewhere in his brain.

I'm sure some kids are interested in food before 6 months but who can be arsed? I'm more of an advocate for BLW (when it's up to the child when they start eating) than I am for starting at a set time. After all, if you stick a carrot stick in front of a 4 month old (or a preemie 6 month old IME) they'll just ignore it and you know quite unequivocally they aren't ready to start eating solids.

DD about 24 weeks. She started stealing from my plate, so I figured she must e ready. BLW and had great fun.

She also never took a bottle but was good enough with a spoon and a cup of water by the time she went to nursery (11m) for me not to worry. Never took milk at nursery despite all my expressing though!

I enjoyed weaning my older two, it was a real pleasure. There wasn't much fuss. They took a range of tastes from a spoon between 4 and 6 months then quickly fed themselves. They're 8 and 5 now and greateaters.

Re the molecule crossing gut and triggering coeliac. I thought it was gluten that caused it? So if you don't give gluten pre six months how can it be a risk?

Just to reiterate, I think people missed me saying it upthread, it's not necessary to sit unaided. It can be with support. They need to be upright when having solids, not reclined.

And I'll repeat my other point. There is no blanket rule, it isn't prescriptive about when apart from to say not before 17 weeks, the guidelines advise looking for the signs. Not how much milk they're taking, weight or how much they sleep. Able to sit up, no tongue thrust and can chew and swallow. I like how baby led it is. Not prescriptive at all.

Absolutely agree Showy, should be baby led

I tried BLW 6 months, got nowhere, tried purees, got nowhere, around 8-10 months he started eating baby rice/porridge, and at 14 months he finally picked up a piece of food to eat (a cracker, I remember how happy I was and was able to cancel the paediatric appointment!).