Weaning at 4/5 months

[Whiskeyjar]

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

I thought that earlier weaning was now not such a bad thing. The EAT study published their results earlier this year.

It’s not superiority, it’s a difference of opinion. Great that you fed your kid purées, I can’t imagine anything worse! It doesn’t make you wrong or me wrong, it’s just personal preference.

Calling someone brainwashed for giving proven benefits of BLW is pathetic really. Do some research!

Don't listen to the crazies OP, I started weaning at 4 months as that's when I was advised to by the paediatrician (I live in Europe). If anything DD has an even better relationship and enjoys her food more as I started weaning her earlier. If you want to work on grabbing food and hand/mouth coordination I would recommend some form of maize puff, my DD loved these. I would start on fruit purées and then when you start to get more comfortable introduce soft mashed veg like potatoes and sweet potatoes. Good luck!

Autumn I was just coming on to say about the puffs and wafers, or rice cakes they can feed themselves and just dissolve!

Thank you to everyone who's replied with suggestions - I really appreciate it :)

We started at about 5 months as she seemed really interested in food. We made puree mixed with breastmilk, one ice cube worth a day to start, then two etc. She liked pureed peas, carrots, sweet potato and parsnip to start with.

Calling someone brainwashed for giving proven benefits of BLW is pathetic really. Do some research!

There are no proven benefits to BLW. You do some research. Do you really think that every previous generation had difficulties with speech or motor skills, or feeding themselves, or food dislikes, because they didn't BLW ?

We started at 5 months- I'd been delaying it for ages by then as DD definitely was showing signs of being ready (She is a very advanced eater ha).

We started with pureed veg- I just did one a day or two a day as separate ones to get used to the flavours. Then moved on to combined flavours. When she was closer to 6 months I started doing more BLW etc. I waited for a bit longer before introducing fruits because of advice id read about it discouraging them from eating savoury.

Hi, I started weaning when DD was about 18 weeks and she definitely seemed happier and slept better than on just breast milk. I just started on pureed carrot and baby rice and then introduced sweet potato and apple, bananas. When I was born all those years ago the advice was 12 weeks or 12 pounds! It changes all the time.
I am due to give birth again and I will wean from about the same time as DD plus try and introduce things like peanut butter etc as it has been shown to prevent food allergies. I think people should trust their instincts a bit more!

Yes definitely trust your instincts over evidence based guidance from the NHS. The NHS just make stuff up and publish it. You'd think that instead of talking rubbish that they'd carefully carry out research or complete meta-analyses of peer reviewed high quality research and evidence. Oh wait...

I weaned at 4.5 months. Started with simple 1 vegetable purée and now on 3 meals a day at 6 months. Totally what my very hungry baby needed!

Try just veggie a couple of weeks so they don't get a sweet tooth. The Ella's kitchen purple book (free as part of the parenting club) is very good!

Older most generations DID BLW in some form, it just didn’t have a name. It’s only recently that purées have become a thing.

I think what I was trying to say PerverseConverse was that if you are wanting to start weaning a couple of weeks early because you feel the baby needs it then try it. You do have instincts and common sense don't you? And don't even get me started on trusting the NHS, most of the time they are incompetent. Have a look at rising allergy stats. And the way the NHS promote breastfeeding over the mothers mental health is freaking disgusting.

Harvey honestly what a bizarre thing to say. They’re not promoting bf over mother’s mental health, it is literally the best thing for baby. That’s it. It’s not to spite people.

If you don’t trust the NHS I do hope you pay for all your drs appointments/medications etc privately and not use their amazing resources at all!

You sound brain washed because you are just repeating the purported benefits of BLW without applying any kind of critical thinking. Do you really think it is possible to tell the difference between a 4 year old who was BLW and one who was fed purees? And there are no decent studies on BLW btw.

There are signs to look out for if a baby is ready to try solids. 6 months is a guideline

Actually TeddyIsaHe, I have used private consultants throughout my present pregnancy as I lost my first baby at 21 weeks horrifically due to NHS incompetence. If I had followed NHS advice at all I would have lost the last one too. So funnily enough I don't have any trust in their 'amazing' resources.
And at least 3 of my friends have developed anxiety and PND because of pressure to breastfeed, all their babies had to go back to hospital as they lost some much weight as midwives kept pressing them to ebf.
I think its bizarre that so many people have jumped on this threat to be unpleasant, the OP asked for ideas not opinions.

You'd think that instead of talking rubbish that they'd carefully carry out research or complete meta-analyses of peer reviewed high quality research and evidence.

Exactly, you would think that but the reality is there is no high quality research showing that introducing solids at 6 months (rather than at 4 months) is beneficial to the baby. The only credible evidence demonstrates that waiting until 6 months reduces the risk of minor diarrhoea. This risk is, however, not particularly relevant in the western world:

scienceofmom.com/2015/05/14/starting-solids-4-months-6-months-or-somewhere-in-between/
expectingscience.com/2014/11/07/when-is-it-best-to-introduce-solids/

On the other hand:

1. There is consistent (albeit inconclusive) evidence that early introduction of solids reduces risk of allergies later in life. I personally read the underlying research (including results of the EAT study) and started weaning DD at 17 weeks. That was my personal informed decision. At 4-5 months DD had a minor reaction to eggs which was completely gone in 4-6 weeks. I do not know how long it would have lasted if I had delayed solids.

1. There is new emerging evidence (based on a randomised controlled trial) that early introduction of solids does improve infant sleep:

www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/babies-fed-solids-earlier-sleep-better/

1. There is no credible research that would support any major benefits of BLW. A recent randomised clinical trial in Australia did not show any statistically significant impact on children's BMI:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28692728

To answer OP question, I followed a traditional Annabel Karmel type approach. Started with home made purees (introducing one food at a time) - carrot, sweet potato, parsnip, butternut squash. Moved to fruit purees (pear, apple) in 10 days - 2 weeks. Started introducing allergenic food (eggs, fish, wheat - again, one by one) towards 5 months. DD has always loved her food (both milk and solids) so the weaning process was pretty easy. Right now DD is almost 22 months and is still a great eater (e.g. she loves most vegetables and fish).

Sorry to jump in, but what are the signs of a baby ready to start weaning? My DS is only 12 weeks so a little way off yet but I want to be ready when he’s showing the signs

If you dont want peoples opinions, just pick the stuff that says from 4months or puree your own versions no need to try start arguments

DS (now 3.5) I waited til 6 months and did mainly blw.

DD (just turned 1) I weaned her around 5.5 months and we did more purées, although she still had finger food too.

I can say there seems to be no difference at age 1 in what they eat and their coordination etc.

We started with single veg purées - carrot, sweet potato, peas etc. Some home made some jars. Then moved on to fruits, dairy, meat and more.

Puréed fruit and vegetables but no dairy.

I puréed fruit and veg myself after cooking veg lightly. Steamed apples and made baby apple sauce. Puréed banana. You can get little bags online for making your own baby food. All mine were started off with purées from 4 months and breast fed.

Babies gut isn’t mature enough
Nonsense, no evidence at all. The latest research into allergies was introducing goods at 12 weeks. They would not have done that if there wad evidence on gut maturity