help im a novice!

[ButteryBiscuitBase]

Hi I hav an 8 year old dd (don't worry I'm not weaning her!) I can't remember how or what age I weaned her and guidelines were different then. My ds is 16 weeks and appears to be ready for food. He is not going as long betweern feeds, finishing bottles quickly and I have increased his bottles to 8oz. I am mixed feeding and am topping him up between feeds more often. He is on hungrier baby milk. He watches us when we eat and growls! He is putting everything in his mouth (I know that could be teething or just exploratory)

The past week he has woken up in the night more often and is hungry. He is big for his age he weighs well over 15 pounds.

Am I to wait until 6 months? I don't want to get it wrong and hurt his tummy or make him obese! Also baby led weaning doesn't seem to have hit it off where I live I've only seen peiple talk about it in here! Is it the best thing to do? Any advice or tips appreciated!

I'd be looking to get closer to 6 months - it's not a total cut-off, some babies are ready earlier, some later, but 16 weeks seems very young. The government guidelines suggest that they should be able to sit up and reach for food themselves.

I only know one other person who did BLW and no one who lived near me - I felt very well supported on here and would definitely recommend it.

Thanks for reply I thought 6 momths but a lot of friends have weaned at 4 months and seem to be doing ok, also lots of baby food says 4-6 months.

My sister told me that with blw there is a window between 4-6 months where babys have a certain skill for weaning that they lose at 6 months! It sounded a bit nuts to me! is there a website for blw how did you know what to do?

With dd is put her in her bouncy chair and fed her baby rice and porridge with a spoon and built up to textures and lumps and introduced new foods gradually (I think that's how it went anyway!) I think I don't remember much bexause it went so smoothly and she is an excellent healthy eater all round. I find this site really useful as I like to hear what other people have done.

Have a look at www.babyledweaning.com

The NHS current advice for weaning can be found here and here. It is now currently advised to wait till sitting up and able to put food in mouth. This is usually closer to 6mo than 4mo for most babies.

Thank you I will look those up, when I googled it brought up cow and gates site which was largely promoting their products! My health visitor didn't seem to know much about baby led weaning, is it a new phenomenon that has passed me by?!

I'm biased because I did baby led weaning with my DD. Basically the theory goes like this. Since we are waiting for a bit longer to wean our LO, by 6mo most babies are able to put food into their mouths, and some might even refused to be spoon fed. Then why not skip the mush completely, and just start with the type of food you'd eat as a family? Baby weaned with finger foods only obviously will be a bit slower to start initially, as they have to learn to chew. But I found from around 9mo, my DD starts to eat better than the puree babies. She gained enough skill to be able to handle anything we eat. It is just so easy when dont have to prepare another meal and spend time feeding them. DD has her tea earlier than us. So she just has our leftover from the night before. I eat with her with a mug of tea, a biscuit and a magazine. She has breakfast and lunch the same time as us. Going out we dont have to buy jars either as I just order an extra starter or side for her.

It sounds like it makes sense and I like the idea of my ds eating the same foods as same time so I might give it a go. Thanks

Also at 16 weeks the body and brain are going through a growth spurt and require more energy to support this so will obviously need more food.