When did you try your baby with food

[mumbunforever]

Just a general question really to gage when the average age of weaning is for most babies I know government guidelines say 6 months but most parents I have known have tried their babies younger.

DD2 is 4 months and I think I tried my first when she was 5 and a half months...I'm going to wait as long as I can but I may try her before the six month mark to see if she takes an interest...She is a big baby and is still having feeds every two hours so feeling like she may be interested in food sooner than my first.

If anyone did start their LOs sooner than six months what was the reason if any?

Thanks in advance

An old friend of mine weaned her baby at 4 months, and I weaned my DS at 5.5 months.

No issues on both sides as far as I'm aware! Began puréed food then went straight to BLW. Wean your child whenever you think she or he is ready. I believe it is better to do it once they are sitting up unaided.

No reason really! I was looking at baby food and decided there and then that it was time to start.

6 months. Her Dad has IBD so there was no way I was going to risk her health in the hope that she would sleep better a few weeks earlier.

The guidelines are based on gut readiness. The only way to know you know what is happening in a baby’s gut would be to do very invasive tests.

6 months

Just under 5 months because she was grabbing food from my plate and could sit unaided so I thought she was ready, I’d also read conflicting arguments for the 6 months rule. In reality I don’t think she was ready as she wasn’t particularly interested when offered food on a spoon so it was just the odd taste here and there until 6 months when she suddenly got it and developed a real appetite and looked forward to food.

6 months, same as everyone I know

6 months. Was in no hurry to get to the faff of it so happy to follow guidelines.

6 months. I didn't feel it was worth the risk to try any earlier.

4 months, I couldn't match supply to demand, and I was worried about the 6 month guide. I was in USA and my paediatrician told me to be guided by my baby. He said to try him on baby rice and mashed banana. He gobbled it up. No problems until I weaned him onto dairy based baby milk a few weeks later. Had to switch to soya.

6 mints. If she’d been grabbing food off plates herself before then I would have gone with that though.

My family went on and on at me to give her food from about 3 months. Actually told me I was being cruel by 4 months. God knows why, she was huge and clearly doing fine on milk!

Months! Mints when she was a bit older

4 months with a couple of very small spoons of plain baby rice in formula.
I was expecting spitting.
He loved it.

I think I tried very small amounts of a fruit puree a couple of weeks later, then a different one the week after, and so on.

Gave her a strawberry at 5 and a half months but didn't start proper weaning until 6 months

5.5 months with my first and took it pretty slowly

My current little lady - 4.5 months and could have started earlier. She is OBSESSED with food. Literally tries to swipe whatever I’m eating off my plate. Could sit up properly at 4 months too. Have avoided dairy or wheat but she’s doing a full range of purées and some BLW (bananas, avocados etc)

OP weaning wont help with feeling full. Food is less calorific than milk so best to stick with BM if you think she’s hungry. But if she’s looking interested then no reason not to give it a go.

I’ll just add weaning for us at least made no difference to frequency of milk feeds. My dd now has 2 good meals a day and a little porridge before bed and she still feeds as frequently during the day as she did before weaning and at least 3 times during the night (often a lot more!)

Around 6 months with both

6 months. It's honestly such a faff and messy so I'd recommend that you don't start until you need to. Also the food is not very high calorie and actually mine and all my friend's babies have had deterioration in their sleep when we started weaning - so don't do it if you are hoping it'll help her sleep longer - it may well not! 😭

5.5 months - wanted to wait til 6 but she has a milk aversion and I was really worried about how much (little) she was taking so started a bit early. It is messy but she usually loves it and I laugh through a solids feed rather than crying through a formula one so I’m so glad I did.

6 months.

Weaning isn't about hunger or how big they are. It's about ability/gut readiness.

They're ready when they can sit up, no tongue thrust reflex, can pick up food, put it in their mouths, chew and swallow. Usually happens around 6 months. DD was 26 weeks, DS was 24 weeks.

3.5 months with plain baby porridge
4 months with fruit/veg purée
Now he’s 6 months he swipes whatever I’m eating so last night had chilli cheese on crackers (after his own dinner!!) and has just made a fuss about my pasta and sauce until I shared. I’m not finding it messy either, far to greedy to waste food! 🐷

Grabbing food off your plate is not a sign of gut readiness. Same as grabbing you car keys is not a sign that they’re ready to learn to drive.

Well damn, I’ll just have to wrestle the Mazda keys back off the toddler!

Seriously though, everyone (I’m hoping) knows that gut readiness is what’s important, but given that nobody can see gut readiness for a given baby I think the BLW approach of “around 6-ish months when they can sit up, have lost tongue thrust and are showing an interest” is fine

That is true, however since weaning DS has stopped vomiting after every feed and is a much more happy and content baby. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes aged 6 months. He was breastfeeding constantly to try and get a belly full then throwing up as soon as he’d finished. Now he’s eating proper food and formula he is thriving. He can chew his food and ears whatever I am

He had lost tongue thrust reflex by 4 months. At 3.5 he was having very runny baby porridge once a day

A few days before he turned 6 months! Everyone told me he would need food earlier because he was big, but he was honestly fine with milk, if I was starving I'd rather have a glass of milk than 3 spoons of carrot puree!

The first few days he just had pureed veg, fruit, yoghurt and within a week was scoffing everything lol! He didn't sit unaided until he crawled at 7 months though, but could sit with support!

He's now 14 months and I am shocked at the amount he eats, i honestly don't know where he puts it all! He will eat anything, he hasn't gone through a fussy phase yet (I know it's heading our way soon)

It seems easy now I'm used to cooking for him, but at first it was such a faff, I'm glad we waited until he was almost 6 months!

And he still doesn't sleep through the night!