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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

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Original poster

Where to start with my 4 month old

29 replies

Mamtogirls · 25/02/2018 12:30

I have a 4 month old baby girl and we have started weaning on puréed foods... I’m just wondering on what’s best to do..... do I feed her a small portion at lunch time then again at dinner or just keep going with the lunch time food until her appetite increases. It’s been a while since I weaned so as much advice as possible would be great....thanks in advance

OP posts:

BossWitch · 25/02/2018 12:33

Start by waiting another 2 months. Spend that time reading the current guidelines.

Marcine · 25/02/2018 12:35

I'd start once a day and build up. I started at 20 weeks and have just moved up to 3 meals a day at 24 weeks.
I have read the guidelines and research by the way and feel this is best.

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 09:40

According to the NHS information babies should move to 3 meals a day between 8 and 9 months so there is absolutely no rush to get her on more meals yet. At the moment all she really needs is the milk.

Are you offering solids roughly an hour after her milk to make sure she is getting enough milk? If she is formula fed, she should be having roughly 2.5 floz per pound in weight per day until 6 months. Anything less than this can affect her growth and debelopment. I’m not having a go, when you wean is upto you, but I just want to make you aware as I was very naive with my first baby.

Have you read the MN Weaning information too OP? It’s very good

NerrSnerr · 26/02/2018 10:03

Unless you've been advised to wean early by HV or GP I would slow down, doing stuff with the baby is much easier before having to fit in meals as well!!

Spam88 · 26/02/2018 10:15

Have you been advised by a paediatrician go wean early OP? If not then the NHS guidance is 6 months.

Marcine · 26/02/2018 10:19

You know guidance is just that, you don't need permission from anyone to feed your own baby.

Sinistrophobia · 26/02/2018 10:20

You don't need to start at all, not until another 2 months time. Please do some research on this.

RebeccaCloud9 · 26/02/2018 10:21

I think at 4 months I would be introducing tastes and the idea of eating but not feeding them whole meals or expecting to increase to 3 proper meals a day. Keep an extra keen eye on her yo make sure she is safe and chewing/swallowing properly.

FWIW I weaned my first at 6 months exactly and she was a total nightmare - Was starving but found eating really unappealing by that point. It was v stressful time and it was ages before she ate properly.

My 2nd we started at 4.5 months ish with tastes here and there, gradually building up when he was ready and it has been a total dream and he eats brilliantly. (Could just be a coincidence but we really felt that starting earlier worked much better for us).

Lizthefizzy · 26/02/2018 10:35

Unless you have medical advice to do differently, do you need to wean now? Is she ready for solids? What signs is she showing?

All babies are ready at different times but 4 months seems very young. Respectfully, have you looked into why it's recommended you wait until about 6 months now? I know it used to be a lot earlier though.

To answer your question though, her calories need to come from milk. So don't fill her tummy up with food at the expense of milk. She won't get what she needs from food at this point in her life so it should be milk + food not food + milk.

Starting so early might mean it takes longer to get to the point of her being satisfied with food.

We tried at 5 months I think because we misread her signs and were excited to start exploring food with her. It was clear pretty much immediately that she wasn't ready. At closer to 7 months she started grabbing food and copying us eat. So we weaned.l

Marcine · 26/02/2018 10:39

Waiting til 7 months is ignoring guidance just as much as starting at 4 months. Weren't you concerned about increasing the risk of allergies?

welshweasel · 26/02/2018 10:45

There is actually very good emerging evidence for starting to wean between 17 and 26 weeks, it seems to reduce risk of allergies. It seems likely that the nhs guidelines will change again in the near future to reflect this.

What you’re doing sounds fine, as others have said make sure that she’s getting enough milk, the food isn’t for calories. We started at 20 weeks and DS was on 3 meals a day by 6 months. We did mainly purees to start with and added finger foods as his dexterity improved.

If you’re worried about allergens advice is to ensure you’ve introduced all the common allergens by 6 months - egg, nuts, tomato etc.

Spam88 · 26/02/2018 11:20

weasel where is that advice from? Just looking at the nhs website and it says eggs and nuts shouldn't be introduced before 6 months.

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 11:21

Welsh please can yiu pist a link to the research as the only research I know about was funded by Nestle. If there is new, unbiased, research, I’d love to read it

jellycat1 · 26/02/2018 11:23

Yeah I think you're a touch early. We did 5 months for ours on advice from consultant due to reflux, cmp and all that tedious shit. I believe their digestive systems are not quite ready before then. Weaning is the seventh circle of hell imo. Like any big changes with kids - Put it off until they're really ready and it's going to be a lot easier.

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 11:24

It seems likely that the nhs guidelines will change again in the near future to reflect this.

I’ve seen posts on MN like this for as long as I’ve been on here. My eldest is 14. They haven’t changed in all that time. I wouldn’t hold your breath Welsh

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 11:25

*you post. Yiu pist sounds a bit like when I’m back home and drunk on a night out!

DeleteOrDecay · 26/02/2018 11:30

It seems likely that the nhs guidelines will change again in the near future to reflect this.

People have been saying this, literally for years and guidelines still haven't changed.

Honestly op I would wait a while longer, weaning is a pain in the arse, it's made easier by waiting until they are actually ready imo.

isitfridayyet1 · 26/02/2018 11:35

Why are you weaning at 4 months anyway? It's crazy how many people ignore nhs guidelines. They are there for a reason

Marcine · 26/02/2018 11:43

I have no idea if NHS guidance will change, but different organisations have varying guidance between 4 and 6 months. Most that suggest 6 months do so on the basis of exclusive breastfeeding til then, so if you're not exclusively breastfeeding there may be no benefit in waiting.
No one suggests waiting past 6 months though.

Rockandrollwithit · 26/02/2018 11:46

I'm weaning my second at 5 months on the advice of his surgeon and paediatrician. To be honest I hate weaning and would much rather wait til 6 months but have been specifically told to start now.

We are sticking to really smooth blended purees and literally just tastes. Some days he likes it, some days he doesn't. Don't push it until they are 6 months.

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 11:50

Marcine can I ask which organisations suggest Weaning before 6 months and which ones suggest different guideline for ff babies? WHO’s guidelines are 6 months for bf and ff babies. I’d be interested to hear which ones are different.

PineappleScrunchie · 26/02/2018 11:50

Agree with the pp that people were saying the guidelines were about to change when I weaned my dd and she is 6!

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 11:52

Yeah Pineapple they were saying the same thing when I weaned my DD. She starts High School this year

Marcine · 26/02/2018 12:04

This link has some information scienceofmom.com/2015/05/14/starting-solids-4-months-6-months-or-somewhere-in-between/

I've never seen any evidence that weaning after 4 months causes any problems.

EveryoneTalkAboutPopMusic · 26/02/2018 12:37

The link that you’ve posted doesn’t really give details of any organisations that recommend Weaning at 4 months Marcine. Do you know of any?

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