Do you have to start weaning at 6 months?

[newmum234]

My little boy is getting on for 5.5 months so I’m starting to think about weaning. The problem is I just don’t know where to start! He’s also not able to sit up without support yet, so we don’t have a highchair. Should I wait until he can sit up on his own before purchasing a highchair and starting weaning? What’s the latest age you should start to wean?

[LittleTiger007]

I recommend baby led weaning. There are books and a Facebook group

[KeyboardMash]

The "food is for fun before one" thing is also not an official, evidence-based recommendation - or, rather, it's a bit of an oversimplification. Milk should, mostly, be their main source of nutrition before one - but (particularly for breastfed babies) food becomes an important supplement from six months.

The only other thing I'd add is: don't sweat it. The first few weeks are usually a massive anticlimax! You build up to Starting Weaning, ceremoniously put your baby in a highchair, present them with your lovingly prepared, carefully curated foodstuff of choice - and nowt happens. They might mush it around a bit, sometimes even near their faces, but it can be a slow process getting them to actually eat. Except when it isn't. They are all different!

[86jabberwocky]

My DS didn't sit unaided until he was 10 months but was crawling, cruising on furniture by 9 months 🤷‍♀️ I got him a good high chair and started weaning at 6 months using the blender a lot with mixing yummy fruit and making healthy soups. It started off like this until he was able to cope with solids. If I was out and about and at peoples houses (before Covid) I used his infant car seat as a high chair to feed him. I asked this question to my HV and she recommended that I start at 6 months as it's important for a baby's muscles to develop by the jaw.

[BertieBotts]

They just need to be upright as with BLW if you feed them reclined it's a choking hazard :) You can do that on your lap or in a highchair. Bumbo isn't the best as it tilts their spine which (according to some occupational therapist blog I read) affects the movement of the arms so it's not natural which if you're partly doing BLW for development of fine motor control reasons, is counterproductive.

[saywhatwhatnow]

My little boy is 8 months and still can't sit unaided. He's fine in a highchair though and shovels in food like there's no tomorrow! We started around 6.5 months as he didn't seem quite ready at 6months. He's EBF and doing fine. I do need to start giving him a multivitamin though.

[RegalRags]

My DD didn't sit unaided until 13 months so if I'd have waited the poor child would've starved!
Sat unaided at 13 months and walking by 14 months but still started weaning by 6 months

[BertieBotts]

It was about well before then, people were throwing it about as advice in 2009 when DS1 was weaning, probably before then too, but I have heard of that FB group. TBH they give some quite dangerous advice (e.g. if you have spoon fed once at 8 months you must totally drop all solids and restart offering one item at a time - this is BONKERS and totally unnecessary, potentially even harmful).

Beware militant FB groups. Some people hear advice, ignore/forget/don't notice the reasoning behind it and adopt it as a kind of badge of what a super parent they are and then go and insist it, as though it was one size fits all, in an extremely bullying manner. In these kinds of echo chamber groups often the same posters will go around with their pet beliefs and brigade everyone else and it becomes a bit oneupmanship, soon advice not to start until 6 months becomes distorted into it's best to start later, so I didn't start until 8 months, 9 months, my child is still fully breastfed age nine or whatever - and because they are an echo chamber with other people repeating the same views it can lend an air of authority.

If you join parenting related FB groups I would recommend to stick with general, preferably local ones, if you join advice related ones make sure you pick one which is staffed by actual experts and check their credentials - often these groups have stricter posting criteria which can be a bit of a pain.

Beware one size fits all advice. Usually there is nuance. Always ask for the reasoning why and if something doesn't make sense explore it for yourself. If in doubt refer back to advice bodies you trust e.g. NHS (whose advice must be evidence based).

Is Aitch's weaning forum still about? :o That was ace! And no weirdness about unaided sitting nor militancy about spoons.

[Hardbackwriter]

The 'sitting unaided' thing seems to come from an American baby-led weaning Facebook group who are massive, absolutely militant about this (I've seen them insist that a 10 month old shouldn't be given food if they can't sit unsupported on the floor for 2 minutes!) and seem to have entirely made it up. It's not in any actual baby-led weaning guide (including the Gill Rapley one where the term comes from) and it's clearly not necessary if you're going to spoon feed rather do baby-led weaning since people used to routinely spoon feed three/four month olds, which is now not recommended but not because there was some disastrous outcome from those babies not being able to sit.

[BertieBotts]

Really long, quite old now but all info still correct and worth a read :) Explains the background behind some of the "shoulds" rather than a blanket rule.

www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk/2013/09/13-baby-led-weaning-myths.html

[Bol87]

When you do start weaning, you may also find that your baby doesn’t follow the ‘food is just for fun until 12 month’ thing. My DD weaned at 5 months & by 8 months, was wolfing down food & dropped to two bottles. I really worried about it but my HV said it was great she took well to weaning. She loved food & became non plussed by milk (formula fed). We made sure she still had a couple 6oz bottles & topped her calcium up with plain yoghurt, copious amounts of cheese and milk in things like cereal & rice pudding. She ate everything under the sun until 2 years, now she’s fussy 🙄

My youngest is 6 months & again we started at 5 months (both on medical advice as both have/had severe reflux). DD2 prefers to feed herself on the whole (DD1 preferred it spooned in) & so is probably eating less. She’s still having quite a bit of milk. But will simply follow her lead & continue to do a mix of baby led & spooning in!

I really recommend both Annabel Carmel & What Mummy Makes. Two fantastic weaning books. I’ve made many a delicious meal, purée, snack from them!

Don’t worry, weaning is fun once you get going!

[Babyboomtastic]

If formula fed you don't need to worry about iron after 6m if you switch to follow in milk, as that has the additional iron in it.

You don't have to start at 6m, but it's very advisable to as:

• it raises their risk of food allergies and intolerances (though to minimise that risk you want to introduce allergens between 4-6m ideally)

• you miss the opportunity to try them on a large variety of foods whilst they are still relatively compliant.

• the sitting up thing just means able to sit in the high chair, not necessarily independently sitting.

[India999]

Hi. They are supposed to be able to sit unaided before weaning, so I'd wait abit. Mine was sitting unaided and had all the signs of being ready but screamed everytime I fed him, so I ended up waiting until 7 months. You'll know! Try and enjoy it.

[GrumpyHoonMain]

@newmum234

DS is 100% formula fed - is there still an issue in terms of iron reserves after 6 months? I thought formula would contain the full amount needed?

Formula only gives the amounts needed until 6 months. Beyond that it’s just a supplementation - the diet should contain most of it

[newmum234]

DS is 100% formula fed - is there still an issue in terms of iron reserves after 6 months? I thought formula would contain the full amount needed?

[CoffeeDay]

Forgot to mention that even at 7.5 months she was still a bit wobbly in the high chair. We also had the Antilop from Ikea and the cushion helps a bit to wedge her in place. I think sitting upright isn't a huge problem as long as they can keep their head up long enough to eat and swallow some puree. The huge majority of babies around that age should be fine

[CoffeeDay]

DD was weaned at 7.5 months as she was still too wobbly to sit upright at 6 months and we had a trip to a friends wedding at 7 months with lots of overnight stays at different hotels. Not sure how it works in the UK but we booked one session with a private midwife who gave us basic tips about weaning.

DD always had a very sensitive gag reflex so the tiniest crumb or lump would make her throw up. BLW was impossible as she had to bite and chew herself which involved too many lumps. In the beginning she could only manage a few spoonfuls of very smooth carrot or sweet potato puree or a bit of baby porridge. Up until 12 months she got the majority of nutrients through breast milk or formula.

I found it useful to just go with your baby and not worry about what is written in official guidelines. DD ended up a very slow weaner and only managed to eat a biscuit without gagging around 13-14 months. Between 12-16 months she was still on fully pureed foods (a mix of fruit, veg, meat and grains). Starting at 16 months I started giving her BLW style snacks that most babies get at 8-12 months. She got over the gag reflex and learned how to chew and swallow. She's 21 months now and eating perfectly normally!

[killerofmen]

At 6 months, weaning consists of put food in front of them. 90% of that food will end up on the floor and in their hair.

[Ihaveoflate]

I agree that the NHS pages on weaning are probably all that you need, but if you are looking for a sensible, pragmatic book I can recommend Weaning Made Easy by Dr Rana Conway. I got a cheap 2nd hand copy off Amazon and I found it really helpful.

[ChelseaCat]

I did an online weaning course with Baby Steps - it was brilliant and gave me so much confidence with starting weaning. It was about three hours and cost about £20

www.baby-steps.co.uk/weaning

[NoRoomInBed]

I was told 6 month even if they cant ait unaided and you can before that if they can sit. I've weaned all of mine at different ages. It was whenever they could pick things up to their mouths and was interested in food copying chewing

[mylittlesandwich]

6 months was a great time for us to start weaning.DS was interested in food and could sit comfortably in his high chair. He was 8 months before he could reliably sit unaided. He's 10 months now and loves his grub. We've found that as his food intake increases his milk intake decreases. He's still on 3/4 bottles a day and I'm aware than needs to be cut down but we'll get there.

[BertieBotts]

You can start with him sitting on your knee if you like :)

[BertieBotts]

There's no guideline saying they need to sit unaided, just with support.

You should start at 6 months but there's no rush. Milk continues to be the majority of their nutrition until 12 months.

There a great post about baby led weaning myths by analytical armadillo if you want to look that up.

[Lockdownseperation]

The guidelines have been 6 months for over 20 years.

[GrumpyHoonMain]

To wean before 6 months babies must be able to sit unaided. But 6 months is when iron stores run out so you are risking major growth and nutritional difficulties by not weaning on time - if he can’t sit straight prop him up and go slowly with purees.