When did you wean and what were the signs?

[milkmummy1]

Right, i really wanted to wait until DS was 26 weeks and he only has 3 weeks to go, so am still exclusively BFeeding.
some of my friends have told me to hurry up and said it may affect DSs speach if i dont do it before 6 months.
so far DS has given me none of the signs that he is ready for big boy foods. he HAS been a bit grizzly in the day but i think this is because he is teething. he feeds every 3 hours and is generally content, and is fine after a feed (though recently he has been on me for quite a long period of time at each interval)
Hi, am thinking about weaning next month
Do i need to buy a hand held blender thing?
so how do i know when he is ready? i am worried that i dont knwo and that i may miss the signs. also do i need to buy a hand held blender thing? my friend said i can use my kenwood smothie maker. is this the case?

also, shall i try BF extra before weaning? perhaps if he gets grumpy between feeds i could feed him some more, even though my HV said to let him go the 3 hours (though this was a while ago)

It's an old wive's tale about the speech. I weaned my DD at 25 weeks and she's fine with talking, promounces both languages quite well. A friend to mine didn't wean hers until nearly 8 months (her DD didn't want to know) and her DD was talking at 10mo and never have problems with pronouciation.

People tell you lots of stupid stories re weaning and feeding, jsut go with your instincts. If your DS isn't ready don't force him. Breast milk is absolutely the only thing he needs for now.

And yes, feed him as often as he wants, baby knows best in this case. HV is talking poop as seems to be the norm. Am so glad I don't have one.

DS1 16 weeks because i foolishly listened to the HV.
DS2 later but can't remember exactly when.
A hand blender is very useful for doing little batches as he won't eat huge quantities when you first start.
I knew DS2 was ready because he always had a crying fit when we were eating and wouldn't give him any.

i did baby led weaning. that's when your 'sign' is that your baby can feed himself. so you don't need a blender, you just pass food over and see if he can pick it up and eat it. take a peach or other softish fruit/veg, cut it into 8, hand it over. usually it's around 26 weeks when they can manage to pick it up and eat it, sometimes a little earlier, sometimes a lot later. they don't need much in the way of solid food at first, but then as their body needs more, their body gets better at picking it up and eating it. for example, they can't eat peas until their body won't choke on them. so only by about 8 months will they have their pincer grip. before this they would choke on something so small.

lots of info about blw on here and elsewhere on the web.

Oh, and I weaned at 25weeks becuase my DD wasn't putting on much weight so I thought adding solids might help. Her weight gain didn't pick up at all, if anything it slowed and she ate loads! So another myth exploded, solids don't have more calories than breast milk.

Anyway, do what you feel comfortable with and take your cue from you baby.

Your Kenwood smoothie maker may well be fine - I'm sure it will be fine with fruit and veg as that's what it's designed for. It may struggle a bit with meat later on, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it. My hand blender is rubbish on meat too, so I use a jug style blender for this ( probably v.similar to Smoothie maker!!)

I agree the speech thing is an old wives tale - you stick to your guns and wait till 6 months if that's what you want to do - the World Health Organisation would hardly reccommend this if it caused speech problems would they?!

It's a myth about the speech - ignore well meaning friends!

My dd was 6.5 months - exclusively breast fed til then. The firse sign that se was ready was when she grabbed a roast potato off my plate and gummed it to death!

Message withdrawn

Ds weaned at 25 weeks onto finger foods (blw as ruddynorah mentioned). Tbh he didn't show any signs of being unsettled or not satisfied by milk - when he started food it was because he was curious and reaching out for it, putting it in his mouth and swallowing it (though only tiny bits at first).

I have found my hand-held blender incredibly useful for making soups etc and it minimizes washing up, but at 6 months you don't need to puree anything if you don't want to.

thank you. will wait til 26 weeks. baby is over 17 pounds now and is thriving on breastmilk. didnt know that solids didnt satisfy their hunger more than BM. is breastmilk more calorific than formula then?

I did blw without realizing it, because I don't have a blender!

Breastmilk constantly changes ans adapts to your baby's needs, so calorie content varies throughout the day. I think (but someone correct me if I'm wrong) that as your baby gets older it becomes richer, so there are more calories in a relativly small amount IYSWIM, whereas formula never varies in content so you have to considerably increase volume as the baby grows. Formula only gives the idea of being richer because it's harder to digest and so tends to knock babies out.

The speech thing your friends referred to is an old idea that has since been discredited. It was based on a study that only looked at disabled babies who were tube fed from birth until various ages - so not relevant to normally fed healthy babies....

WRT the signs of readiness - have you read the kellymom section on solids? Highly recommend it as well as anything on baby-led weaning (BLW).

Should also mention that BFing itself is good for speech & chewing skills as it uses the same muscles

when? 5 months. signs? continuing failure to put on weight at a respectable rate despite pursuing every avenue possible to exclusively bf to 6mo. she ate a whole (mushed) apple for her first meal and wanted more. was more settled (had been unsettled baby since birth) and weight gain improved steadily from then on. i know this wouldn't apply for most but it did for us.

what are the advantages of baby led weaning? havent heard of it until i came on here.

Benefits of BLW (that I can think of this late at night!):

• Baby can eat what you eat so no extra work for you.
• Baby feeds themselves so you can enjoy your meal at the same time.
• Because the baby has control over the speed, direction etc of what goes in their mouth they are less likely to choke
• Babies will eat at their own pace hopefully making it less likely that they will be obese later as they will learn to stop eating when they are full.
• Babies who blw are said to be less fussy & more likely to eat a good range of foods as they have had the chance to explore food textures as well as tastes. Food is offered pretty much as adults eat it so they are more likely to reject "adult" food later.
• No "2nd stage" problems many traditional weaning parents seem to go through with the change from smooth to lumpy purees as adult food is eaten from the start, no transition needed
• Helps develop babies' hand-eye coordination & fine motor skills
• Babies are better able to refuse foods they are allergic to as they are less likely to be mixed in as with purees
• Because the baby is only able to start solids when they are physically able to, they are less likely to be biolically ready for them - it is said that if they can sit uniaded, pick up food & place it their mouths, can chew & swallow, then their digestive system is likely to be ready as well, lessening the chance of causing problems with allergies, kidney & digestive system later in life.

hi milkmummy - only read the op, but i started weaning 2 weeks before ds was 6 mo. he started to grab stuff off my plate from when he was about 18 weeks. i figured that if he could pick something up, put it in his mouth, manoeuvre it to the back of his mouth and swallow it then he could have it!

i'm doing a mixture of BLW and purees, he has pureed fruit which i put on a soft spoon for him then give him the spoon and he feeds himself. i think it's really important that he chooses what he eats, and he loves feeding himself with the spoon!!

good luck with the weaning, don't worry about the speech thing, i don't see how it can be connected!!

DD1 - 24 weeks
DD2 - 26 weeks

DD2 much quicker at speaking than DD1, in fact DD2 is the same age now as DD1 was when she was born DD1 could only manage mama and dada, DD2 has loads of words adding new ones every day.

Both BLW but use a spoon for yoghurt.

I'm really sorry to hijack your thread milkmummy1 but i really need some advice my baby weighs that of a 3-5 mth baby & he's desperately wanting our food when we eat, he's chewing his fists he gets really excited when he sees our plates. He's refusing to have anymore than 3 oz of milk even though he is hungry, i try him with the bottle again later he gets upset & spits the bottle out. I really need some advice cos i'm getting really stressed.

I weaned unintentionally at 24 weeks as DD nicked a bit of my toast out of my hand while she was sitting on my lap and started sucking on it.
I did a week of purees and then gave it up as too much fannying about and baby led weaned her. I used a kenwood to make her purees up as well so you should be fine with a smoothie maker!

About 16 weeks with all three of them. The wee man now is enjoying mushed up apple, sweet potato, carrot etc etc. All three of them showed the same signs - trying to grab our food, not putting on much weight despite lots of b/f, crying whenever we started to eat, etc etc.

I've got a little mouli, and some bendy ice-cube trays.

My baby is showing all those signs now he's actually getting really upset. If i try him with the milk he spits the teat out cries so much so he holds his breathe. He wants whats on our plate he starts cooing & kicking his legs & waving his arms in the air. My 2 yr old started these signs at 3 mths. Help i'm getting stressed out now.