When did you start weaning?

[BakerBear]

Ds is 5.5 months. Hes not 6 months for another 2 weeks. I know the guidelines are to wait till 6 months and i did wait till exactly 6 months with dd but it seems no one waits till 6 months?

Im wondering whether to wean him early. What is putting me off is that the reason its 6 months now is that research has been done that shows that their is a link between adults who have gut problems in their 30s/40s with being weaned too early.

Do you think waiting 2 weeks would make a difference?

Is he showing the signs of readiness? If he is, I don’t think there is any detriment in Weaning early, but I haven’t read much research...[smle]

Have you read the MN Weaning info and found the Weaning talk yet? I found both of those helpful.

My daughter is 5 months and showed all the signs of being ready so we have gone ahead and she is loving it. I wouldn’t have done it prior to this, however for the sake of a few weeks I didn’t want to hold her back when she was more than ready.

Considering there's nothing to lose from waiting, why wouldn't you wait? Is there something that you're particularly hoping to gain from weaning or is it just that you can't wait for the fun? (Either is fair )

I have to say that I started weaning at the point where DS was getting seriously pissed off at not being allowed food to the point he would clamber up me to try and reach it, I eventually thought this is ridiculous, why am I waiting for some arbitrary guideline and making my life more difficult? So I let him explore food (baby led weaning style). I think he was either 20 weeks or 23 weeks. I can't remember exactly. I know that he was younger than six months. He is nine now, so it was a long time ago! He didn't swallow very much at first so I felt like this was a good approach as it was a slow start and more exploratory or a sensory experience rather than being about nutrition yet. But if I hadn't had such an angry food-desperate baby then I probably would have waited until 6 months as I think it's better to err on the side of caution.

I suppose i feel under pressure to start him as most people dont wait and im getting lots of remarks about it.

Its only 10 days away so im going to wait as i waited till exactly 6 months with my daughter and still put up with the remarks then

Sounds sensible to me. I'm sure you can ignore remarks for 10 more days :) If anyone does ask you can always say "Ooh yes I'm so excited but I'm waiting for my new blender to arrive" or that you want to do it on a weekend you've got lots of time or whatever other bullshit comes to mind

A few days doesn't make much difference and if he's ready, he's ready. If he's not, he may not be in a few weeks either. We did blw and we started about 5 months and 3 weeks. We just happened to be on holiday and there was lots of nice fresh food and we started to give her melon and cucumber sticks to keep her occupied during meals. She was happy to chew on them. We didn't start intentionally making her a meal every day until she turned 6 months, but she snacked on things before that. I wouldn't start just because you feel like everyone else has though. I'd do it because it's the right time for you.

Pretty much all mums I know started weaning at 4-4.5 months, I was the odd one out but it never bothered me... with DS1 I started at 6 months on the day, with DS2 I started 1 week earlier simply because he seemed more interested than my first one ever was - but he didn't actually eat anything until a few weeks later anyway! If they aren't ready they'll usually push the food back out with their tongue I think. I wouldn't worry too much about a week or two but don't let others decide when the right time is for your child.

He lost his tongue reflex about a month ago.

He can grab a teething ring and put it in his mouth himself so i would assume he could do that with food.

He can sit up with support but not unaided.

He loves watching you eat in front of him, he stares at you until you have finished.

Not sure if any of the above are relevant!

Yes the first three are the three signs of readiness. Watching you eat is just normal baby behaviour, they are fascinated by watching bigger humans do anything. He doesn't understand what eating is so it's not like he's having any understanding of what you're doing. It is a reflex at that age for them to bring things to their mouths to explore, so even the first time he tries food (from a spoon or his own hand) he won't have the understanding that this is similar to milk in that it fills you up. If you put some food in front of him you could see what he does with it. The guidelines for this age are soft foods like cooked carrots or banana, cut to about the size and shape of a chip so that he can get a grip on part of it and bring it to his mouth. Be careful of salt and don't give anything with honey or that is a choking risk (e.g. whole grapes, whole nuts, textures like raw apple which can break apart into chunks) - but you're so close to 6 months that whenever you start, there is no need to restrict things like dairy, gluten, meat.

When you're first weaning it's a good idea to give milk first so that he isn't too hungry as that can be frustrating. It's about exploring and the sensory experience first.

Guidance is aro

Sorry posted too soon. Guidance is "around 6 months" so a week or so either way isn't going to make a huge difference. More important is signs of readiness...

DD was 5.5 months when she grabbed my sandwich and shoved some in her mouth. DS was a few days off 6 months when he stole some of DDs breakfast. I wouldn't have started spooning food into them before 6 months but if they were keen I wasn't going to make them wait the extra week or two!