When to start weaning

[harrietm87]

My baby is just 5 months old and ebf. He was 2 weeks overdue (not sure if relevant). His motor skills are quite advanced- he has been sitting unaided for a couple of weeks and has been picking things up and putting them in his mouth (toys etc) since 4 months.

My preference is to wait until 6 months to introduce solids as per the advice, however, meal times are becoming more and more difficult as he is so desperate for our food. We got him a highchair and give him toys to play with so he can feel part of meals, but he screams until he can sit on our knees and then does his best to grab what’s on our plates. Every meal ends in him crying and me having to take him away from the table before I’ve finished eating. I’m torn between wanting to follow the guidance to the letter and thinking maybe this is mad and I should listen to my baby instead. Dreading seeing the in laws as they will definitely think I’m starving him! What should I do?

Put some food in front of him, if he can pick it up and eat it then he's ready.

There's no evidence that weaning after 17 weeks has any risk.

I'm usually an advocate of waiting till 26 weeks but it does sound like he's ready. All DC are individuals. I wouldn't recommend weaning at 17 weeks like a PP suggested because there IS evidence that weaning so early is linked to obesity and allergies later in life, but since your DS is already 22 weeks and was 2 weeks overdue he'll be fine. Go for it!

Could you link to any evidence that weaning after 17 weeks carries risks? I've never seen any before.

He sounds just like mine was! I started at just over 5 months and had no issues at all. In fact, weaning has been loads of fun with him. I started on a couple of tea spoons of single root veg puree ( I didn't fancy BLW), then various fruits etc. At 6 months I started mixing different flavours, different proteins and offering bits of soft finger food. 7 months he got chunky purees with pasta bits etc. At 9 months he's eating everything I put in front of him. Tonight's.menu is pork and Apple burgers with steamed veg on the side. Just go really slow with it. You.dont need to offer food as a meal for a while yet so keep it fun! X

Should it be 6 calendar months or 24 weeks? Sorry to derail a little, I'm just approaching the time with my ds.

26 weeks is 6 months

NHS advise 'around 6 months' so 24/26 weeks doesn't matter.

I'll start around 26 weeks - might even leave it a little later, he doesn't seem bothered at the moment, can't sit up by himself yet either.

Delaying weaning past 26 weeks does carry risks, particularly iron deficiency and increased allergies and intolerances.

Sounds exactly like my wee guy when he was that age. I started weaning and never looked back he eats everything apart from tomatoes 😂 start small mind

I would wait til 6 months. It really doesn’t make meal times easier once they start on solids. They’re often tired especially by dinner time and there is then a lot of screaming to get out of the high chair, plus the added work of modifying meals to be baby friendly and all the clean up (taken together means you often don’t get much time to eat yourself!). It definitely got harder rather than easier to get through meal times once each of ours started on food so I wouldn’t rush into it.

Thanks for the advice all. @mindutopia it’s not about making it easier for me, it’s about doing the right thing for my baby. I feel cruel depriving him now when it seems to be what he wants but obviously if there are health reasons to delay then I will.