Weaning - when did you start?

[Fleetw00d]

So I'm a bit confused about whether to start weaning my dd, would still mostly breastfeed but would give her a bit of pureed fruit or veg too. She's 4 months/just over 17 weeks, she's on the 90th percentile and pretty advanced with rolling over, very good neck strength, can sit in her little seat or jumperoo and can stand with just her hands on something for support.

The reason I'm thinking of starting to wean her soon on a bit of food is she's feeding all the time and lately has started waking more in the night and doing a full feed each time, so not sure if that is the 4 month regression or her being hungry. She brings things to her mouth such as toys etc and will stare at anyone eating and has tried to take food out of our hands before.

A lot of my friends have weaned at 4.5 months and my mum weaned me at about this age and all had very good experiences, I'm just not sure if I'm jumping the gun a bit though and don't want to cause any damage to her stomach/gut for the sake of starting a few weeks early.

Does anyone have any thoughts or good/bad experiences with weaning at 4/4.5 months? Thank you!

I started weaning ds totally by accident on Christmas day at 2 weeks shy of 6 months, he was sat on my lap while I was eating Christmas Dinner and helped himself to my veg.

We carried on letting him help himself to our food as he wasn't always interested, rather than properly weaning him after that, I think he was about 7 months when I properly started giving him food, around the time he started nursery as they were giving him 3 meals, so made sense to just do it then.

I think it's a very independent decision, the advice is 6 months, but I think if she is watching people eat, maybe she is ready/interested give her the opportunity to help herself, that way she's got the opportunity to try, and then it's a gental introduction to food rather than going whole hog?

5 to 5.5 months with mine.

Waking more in the night won't be solved by food. You can cause gut problems weaning so early. There is no need.

Our son was only 4 month when I introduced some porridge once a day in to his diet. He was 98th centile and took to it really well. Didn't introduce more than porridge until around 6mth though.
Our girls were not ready for weaning until 6mth.

I started at 6 months.
Waking more at 4 months is most likely the normal "regression".
If anything my experience was starting food made waking up worse as new stuff for stomach to digest...and more nappy changes.
If it was me I would wait.

I am following that current nhs advice to wean at 6 months.

Take a look at Latch to Ladle website or Instagram. Wean in 15 is also helpful.

My baby is 5 months and watches me eat but he also watches me iron and I guess he won't start ironing any time soon .

Baby rice or porridge has no nutritional value. Milk shock satisfy. My son is also feeding more often I think he is just growing.

https://www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/

Mine were all around the six month mark. I’m strict on it being bang on six months but I don’t really see much point in doing it earlier.

At 4 months most babies go through a change in their sleep pattern, it is also normal for them to bring everything to their mouth and to watch everything you do because you are so interesting to them! They aren’t really signs a baby is wanting food, just they they are doing what a baby does at that age.

Weaning is great fun, I loved it each time and looked forward to it with my dc but there is no rush,

not strict*

Six months. Something to do with the gut being porous before then and risk of it causing allergies?

The thing is, if your baby is big then you think they need early weaning. If your baby's small then you think they need early weaning.

It's not usually an on/off switch, babies basically play with it and barely eat anything for the first few months. It'll come soon enough and then you'll be wondering why you wanted all the cleaning!

I would just wait until 6 months. Its easier then as they can have anything and they can have finger food too. I know its an exciting step and everyone wants to start weaning but to be honest its a right faff and makes a load of mess so you want to put it off really.

If you think she is hungry (drinking a lot of milk) then going on to solids won't make any difference. A few teaspoons of pureed veg doesn't fill anyone up, and she will still use milk as a primary source of nutrition until at least age 1.

By around 8 months a baby weaned at 4 months and a baby weaned at 6 months will be eating the same stuff, so you're just prolonging the process.

Sounds more like a sleep regression than being hungry.

I had to start weaning at 5 months on the advice of a paediatrician due to reflux and I really wish I had waited until 6 months. Even though she was showing signs of readiness her stomach wasn’t ready - she ended up waking more at night due to it. It was also such a faff, I’d wait it out if you can.

At 4 months your baby is too young.

She won't have lost her tongue thrust reflex.

Give her milk in demand and wait a few weeks.

And stop standing her up.

Unless she pulls herself up to standing,there's no need for her to be stood up and weight bearing on her wee legs.

5.5-6 months with mine. My second baby is also a big baby so felt I should wean early but waited until 5.5 months and glad I did. At 4 months I would say it’s growing or a regression that’s causing the extra feeds and weaning won’t change that.

My son turned 5 months yesterday and it's clear he's desperate to try food as tries to take stuff out my hand and waits to be offered a biscuit or a bit of chocolate when we have some 😂 my health visitor has told me to wait until he's 26 weeks before introducing food. I'm really excited to try him with food and have started buying stuff in preparation!!

Thanks everyone that's really helpful, I'll hold off for at least another 6 weeks 😀

@00100001 no I won't stop standing her up actually, she only does it for short bursts and then I sit her down for a rest and she gets very excited everytime she's doing it.

@Thesearmsofmine

Mine were all around the six month mark. I’m strict on it being bang on six months but I don’t really see much point in doing it earlier.

At 4 months most babies go through a change in their sleep pattern, it is also normal for them to bring everything to their mouth and to watch everything you do because you are so interesting to them! They aren’t really signs a baby is wanting food, just they they are doing what a baby does at that age.

Weaning is great fun, I loved it each time and looked forward to it with my dc but there is no rush,

I totally agree. There’s bit a lot of calories in a pureeed carrot, early warning won’t stop night waking.

@LittleGungHo I mean if we could get them ironing that would be great 😂

Don't wean with the aim of getting more sleep. Babies are weaning much more slowly these days (which is a good thing!) which means it's not likely to have much of an impact on sleep. If anything it may even make things worse as their tummy can get a bit upset by the new experiences.

The sleep is probably caused by the 4 month sleep regression.

I did let my babies start to explore food occasionally from 17 weeks but only strictly according to baby led weaning rules so letting them pick it up by themselves rather than spoon feeding to begin with. I just treated it as another new experience like everything else at that age and kind of let them have things they were curious about if it was safe. Neither of them really got into it until more like 20-22 weeks. Once they seemed to get the hang of eating food and asking for it, then I introduced actual mealtimes and would spoon feed as well as letting them feed themselves.

@BertieBotts that sounds like a really nice and natural way to starting weaning!

DD1 at 26 weeks. DD2 at 24 weeks - it was too early for her and she ended up with blood in her poo.

@Fleetw00d I really recommend how to wean your baby by Charlotte Stirling Reed

@LittleGungHo “ Baby rice or porridge has no nutritional value. ” Why do people on this website continue to parrot this absolute nonsense? I’m so sick of seeing this exact line repeated uncritically ad nauseam.

Of course they have nutritional value. Not only do they provide calories, but as fortified cereals they also provide nutrients (read the side of the packet!) and are an especially good source of iron - particularly important for bf babies who often do not get enough.

I’m pregnant now and planning, at the advice of our allergist. To wean at five months (possibly earlier) directly onto allergenic foods.

Sounds like the 4 month sleep regression to me. And at that age, if your baby is genuinely hungry, she’s so far better getting extra calories from more milk. First weaning foods like baby porridge and veg purées are pretty low in calories and will just fill her tummy with bulk and might prevent her taking enough milk, which could then cause more genuine hunger - the opposite of what you’re trying to achieve!

Sadly babies wake for many more reasons than hunger. And the 4 months sleep regression is brutal.

In answer to your question, I weaned both mine at 6 months. DS2 took to solids immediately and eats like an absolutely pig, yet still wakes for a milk feed at 9 months, so weaning isn’t a magic bullet for sleep either.