Weaning at 4/5 months

[Whiskeyjar]

Can anyone recommend some foods to start weaning with a 4 and a half month old?

@jellycat1 thanks for your reply! Great suggestions

@Sammilouwho thank you!

I made my own purees to begin with then gave fruit pots and jars as well.

For anyone who wants to judge me, my boys both had reflux and eldest refused formula by 12 weeks. It's kind of hard to stick with formula and breast milk when you can't provide one and baby won't take the other. I did what was best for my kids. You do what's best for yours.

@Fatted you shouldn't even bother explaining yourself! I don't. I couldn't really care less for the judgement of internet mums on their high horses. Thank you for the advice 

It’s not people being on their high horses! It’s proven to be better for your child to wait until they’re 6 months to wean. No one is being judgemental, it’s literally the best thing for your baby!

I weaned at 20 weeks on HV advice. The advice may be to wait until 6 months but the evidence isn't really there to support it. Challenge is if they say wait until 5 months then some idiots will start at 3. There is good evidence to wait until 20 weeks as a minimum.

So I started out by mixing porridge oats into expressed breast milk. Formula would be fine but no cows milk for cooking until 6 months. I make it into a paste, so not too runny, which was HV advice.

I've also done simple veg and fruit purée. I'm gonna keep doing this until 6 months and then I'll mix it up a bit by combining carrot and apple etc.

Oh my God, this one really brings out the crazies.

There is actually quite good evidence suggesting that introducing allergens sooner rather than later reduces the risk of allergies. Based on this I started giving my baby small amounts of food from 4.5 months.

Also iron-rich and iron-fortified foods as my baby was born on the small side.

This time round I think I will be weaning ds at 4 months to try and lower the risk of allergies as my dd is allergic. Both the US and Australia have changed guidelines back to 4 months I believe based on evidence it may Lower allergy risk. I would start with a few puréed veg, porridge maybe, but very very tiny tastes and introduce slowly.

How is pureed veg and porridge going to help introduce allergens to your baby though? Surely for that to work you need to be introducing foods that are likely to cause a reaction?

@TeddyIsaHe the thread specifically asked what foods would be good to try and NOT 'what age should I wean my baby?' So for people to jump on to tell me 'I didn't wean mine until 6 months because that's what recommended' is totally pointless and unnecessary. Also I gave NO background on why I am weaning earlier so no one knows and have no right to ask either- why do they need to know?! I didn't ask anyone's opinion on that. If the thread doesn't apply to you then don't comment- surely that's common sense

It’s not crazy to point out the nhs recommends weaning starts at 6 months. I’d heard that potential allergens can be introduced now at 6 months rather than waiting longer but wasn’t aware either the US or Australia now advises weaning at 4 months. Do you have a link to this so I can read more?

You’re being utterly ridiculous. If you just want people to agree with exactly what you want to do then why post? You don’t control people’s opinions or what they can say! Chill out love

Well yes I will introduce him to peanut butter early, but eggs/milk too, porridge will contain dairy. A big study into early intro had shown that it can reduce peanut allergy up to 80% by introducing early and general early weaning reduced allergy 67%. Here is a good article outlining the latest research, it might be behind a paywall though. NHS advice is yet to catch up.

‘The American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology used the studies to change their advice to state that allergens such as eggs, nuts and fish “can be gradually introduced during the four to six month window . . . In fact, delaying the introduction of these foods may increase your baby’s risk of developing allergies.”

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/times2/why-do-so-many-british-children-have-allergies-7x9x28s67

Advice changes, it will probably change again, in the not too distant past we all weaned at 4 months and I had never heard of blw until I came on MN.

So, to answer you question, I used to give very simple pureed veg or fruit and yogurts. Batch cook them and freeze in ice cube trays. Gradually increase the variety and consistency as you go along.

There is no evidence that early weaning is damaging in any way, and in fact, new research suggests that it may even enhance beneficial gut bacteria.

Breastmilk also protects against allergies, in fact the introduction of formula is one of the factors of allergic children. The US has a much, much higher breastfeeding rate which is why they have less children with allergies. It’s not just early weaning that is the only factor. I’ll hunt down the study.

Age isn't the important factor it's whether or not they can sit up unaided.

If they can, then at the early age, just purée would be best as at 4/5 months even small lumps could be too much to handle.

They first thing I gave was root veg which I puréed and mixed with formula so it tasted a bit familiar.
I've got four dc and was guided by them really some took a little longer, one was like a seal you literally through food at him and he caught it
They all loved mashed banana and avocado mixed together which I've heard is popular with a lot of babies.
Chicken and root veg casserole was always popular too if you are ok with giving meat.

Yes Aus has changed advice now to and even the British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology recommend that parents with children at risk of allergy(that would be me) ‘may consider’ feeding allergenic foods from 4 months. NHS advice will surely follow the rest of the world, I’m not sure why they haven’t yet given the large proportion of British kids with allergies compared to some ther european countries. Sweden has an allergy rate of 3.2% compared to Britain’s 8%. Advice in Sweden is officially wean at 6 months but give tiny tastes of your own food from 4 months old. Anyway I don’t wish to derail the ops thread, as their decision might be nothing to do with allergy risk!

I EBF and my child is still bloody allergic! It’s v. Annoying. I’d try anything to avoid it with dc2!

I started properly at 5 months but did give the odd taste of mashed banana or butternut squash before then. I remember my DS used to taste it and spit it out only at that age so I couldn't have exactly weaned him properly if I had wanted to! When he was able I gave him baby porridge in the morning, a fruit or yogurt at lunch and a veg puree at dinner, he liked sweeter veg at that age like sweet potato, squash, peas.
When he was a bit bigger, def. over 6 months I started to move on to lumpier food eg proper porridge, mashed up version of what we were having for dinner, and finger food like rice cakes and cooked veg sticks. I let him feed himself a lot of the time which was messy but he did have good fine motor skills and I wonder if it was linked to that.

I don't live in the UK and the advice here is to start weaning between 17 and 24 weeks of age because it reduces the risk of gluten intolerance and food allergies. Threads like this really make me laugh because people feel so superior by following the advice given by the NHS, without realising that the advice is completely different in other Europeans countries, and still based on very sound scientific studies.
I started with fruit purees with both of mine. I added millet or oat flakes as they got older. Mashed banana was a favourite.
I also gave them veg purees like sweet potato and carrot. I made these purees myself, they weren't perfectly smooth as my blender is a bit crap but they still ate them.

Honestly, unless it’s absolutely necessary I’d wait until baby is 6 months and go down the BLW route. It’s so much better for them, it encourages a healthy relationship with food, and is excellent for muscle tone in the mouth which in turn helps with their speech. Plus they get used to real food first rather than grim baby food, and it’s so much more stimulating for them to explore food and play with it. Much better than having food shovelled into your mouth and unable to decide what to eat for yourself.
You sound completely brain washed.

My DD is a little older at 5 1/2 months but we have started with veg purée. She has her own little spoons and we give her a few little spoonfuls but otherwise let her play around with it.

We weaned at nearly 5 months started of with mushed fruits and veg. Added meat after a while. he eats everything 13 months now

Avoid pears unless you want a poop explosion 😂

@Whiskeyjar if you go on to the Ella's Kitchen website you can order a free weaning guide - the wall chart is brilliant!

It is very useful re what foods and quantities etc and the starting age bracket is 4-6 months!

Ella's Kitchen Weaning Pack