How do I know when to start weaning?

[Harrysmum111]

Hi

I'm a first time mum and my little boy is 19 weeks old. I'm getting lots of pressure from my family to start giving him baby rice but I'm not sure he's ready and my health visitor says I need to ideally wait till he is 6 months. What are the signs he is ready?? He is on 7 ounce bottles of formula 4 or 5 times a day and sometimes drains them but sometimes leaves about an ounce, so he's drinking approximately 30 ounces a day and is on 50th percentile for his weight.

He can't sit up unaided yet, but is chewing his hands and watching what we eat? He doesn't come across as a hungry baby as his bottles seem to satisfy him.

Any help/advice greatly appreciated, I do not want to give in to the 'well it was never like that in my day' that I hear constantly!!

Thanks :) xx

I had this with my first and weaned at 18 weeks on medical advice as he just didn't like milk so was losing weight.

With my second now 7.5 months i waited until she was 5.5 months and it is so much better/easier because she's that little bit older and more able.

The signs i looked out for were mimicing chewing motions whilst i was eating and sitting steadily with a bit of support.

We startes out with porridge (i just ground oats but Ready brek is fine) fir a few days then added mashed fruit and veg then just any soft food and after about 2 weeks we started offering finger foods which she guns quite happily. Two months on she eats what we eat and i really do put it down to waiting that little bit longer :)

You could also point out to your family that baby rice has little/no nutritional content, its just a filler and in the past was generally used to introduce solids so extra milk is much better for him until he's ready to try proper foods.

NHS recommends the banana challenge. If they can sit up, grab a banana, get it to their mouth and eat a bit, then they're ready.

Chewing fists is not a sign, neither is watching you eat.

My dd nearly grabbed some of my dinner off my plate just shy of 6 months. A week or so later we started on a few finger foods. Dd had been chewing her fists since birth- still does its one of her habbits. She was also next to the table for every meal from about three months as she would kick off if she was anywhere else (she would even wake up from sleeping magically on time) so was constantly watching us eat.

Thanks everyone, he's definitely not ready yet after reading your responses. He can sit in his bumbo but not sit unaided yet, we will definitely not rush it and wait till he is 5.5 / 6 months old

Thank you xx