Weaning - what age?

[Luhou]

Hi all,

I am aware that the current guidlines suggest you should wean at 6 months. My daughter however is the size of a 8.5month old weight wise and a 9 month old height wise (based on 50th percentile)

She is 23weeks currently. Opinions on waiting until she is 6months, just worried because of her size she will not be getting what she needs from milk alone.

She sits up unaided, sleeps through the night and is keen to eat food (reaching for ours, watching us etc)

Thanks!

I don’t think it makes a huge difference if baby is showing all the signs of readiness. My daughter was great at sitting up and getting things in her mouth but didn’t seem particularly bothered about food so we waited then one day she took a piece of her dads toast whilst he was distracted and started sucking it so we decided to start - think it was about a week before the official
6 months.

Milk will absolutely be enough for her, as a pp said she’s clearly thriving so milk is doing its job, and is far more nutritious than solids.

Milk is main source of nutrition still but babies need iron from food and a few other nutrients - I think milk is one? Less important if formula feeding but basically their iron stores are depleted by about 6 months and there’s not much iron in breast milk. Formula
Is fortified but iron from food sources is still
more easily absorbed.

You do still offer milk as normal but my daughter started dropping her feeds really quickly. She’s 8 months and NHS guidance is that she needs at least 600ml of formula a day but it’s a real struggle to get that down her sometimes now she’s on 3 solid meals
and loves her food. I worry that we maybe moved a bit quickly sometimes but then it was very much led by her and what she seemed to want. They’re all different though - my friends baby is 9 months and still has nearly as much milk as before weaning.

A really good Instagram to follow is SR Nutrition. Lots of helpful weaning advice from a children’s nutritionist. She’s weaning her baby at the rnoment so I mostly copied
what she did till we found our feet!

sorry I think zinc* is one of the other nutrients they need from food, not milk

@AliasGrape thanks for your advice. It's good to know my daughter will be getting what she needs from milk. She is however very interested in food!

@LettucesAndRoses. I had heard that about other countries, it's good to know!

Thanks eveybody!

Shes clearly getting all she needs from milk otherwise she wouldn't be that size.
Due to medical advice we started at 5.5months otherwise we would have waited until 6 months. Reaching for food etc isnt a sign shes ready, it's just what babies do.

It's a common misconception that large babies mean they need and are ready for solids early. Just because a baby is large, does not mean that their digestive system is more mature or ready than any other baby. It's development, not size related. That said, 6 months is a guideline only and at 23 weeks, if you feel your baby might be ready, it should be absolutely fine.