What age did everyone start weaning?

[Cjo99]

My DD is 16 weeks old & from she was 14 weeks I have been giving her a few little spoonfuls of puréed pouches of fruit etc (picture included) 2 friends of mines have said they started weaning around the same time as me but others have said I'll upset her tummy. She seems fine & enjoys it. Just looking some stories from other people? (by a 'few spoonfuls' I literally mean 5 or 6 very small spoonfuls)

Why would you do that when the advice is clearly six months?

The guidelines say 6months- I waited 6 months

Dd -17 weeks (in hindsight, too soon)
Ds - 23 weeks (more ready and closer to the 26 week guideline)

26 weeks, six months, although one didn’t choose to start until closer to nine months.

16 weeks on pouches/puréed home cooked veg. Although I gave baby rice mixed with formula before that.

Guidelines are just that - guidelines! You know your baby so do what's best for you (sensibly of course - I'm not suggesting giving a happy meal at 16 weeks )

6 months old

I weaned my son when he could sit up and put the food in his own mouth. He was just over 5 months (though he was 2 weeks overdue). So I’m not against weaning earlier than 6 months but I do think giving crap purées to a 14 week old is mad. They have way less calories than milk so you’re filling her up with less nutritious food. Also if you must give her purée, make it yourself - it’s cheaper and better than the commercial baby food which is full of sugar. If you look at the ingredients you’ll see that they pad even the vegetable ones out with apple etc to sweeten them.

@Epmama Exactly! Every baby is different. I'm glad someone agrees with me. She was always hungry and since we started on the puréed foods she has been much more settled so I'm happy with that!

5 and a half months. Like you just started with very small spoonfuls of purées initially.

Six months but she really wasn't ready for at least another month. However she took to it like a duck to water very quickly and she's a good monster now

The guideline is to wait 6 months so they are less likely to choke. Sitting up, losing the tongue-thrust reflex means even if you do purees it won’t be for longer than a week or two before the baby goes up to mashed / lumpy / finger food. By starting to early and stuffing a baby full of puree when they aren’t ready they are much less likely to be able to cope with lumps - every baby I know who was weaned early on purees was still eating smooth purees by 12 months and choking on anything thicker.

@HarrietM87 Those Ella pouches are actually all organic, made from 100% fruit or veg. They don't add any extra sugar either. I doubt they are 'crap purées'... we are still giving her her milk all day & aren't substituting any bottles for them. just a few little spoonfuls to give her a little taste.

16 weeks with baby rice, 18yrs ago.
I think this is pretty outdated now though.

6 months.

Just over 5 months. I intended to wait until 6 months but my DD was sitting up and grabbing at food etc then so she was clearly ready. She was 2 weeks late though so don't know if that has something to do with it.

Guidance used to be to wean earlier but that's now linked to a lot of digestive issues people have now.

Watch out starting with pre done pouches and fruit. Starting with such sweetness and sugar might make your baby fussy with less sweet veg.

Making your own purees is really easy done and you can get some reusable pouches on amazon which make it dead easy to store (and take with you, when we can start going places again! ). I started by just making a bit extra of whatever veg me & DH were having for tea then blending it and keeping it in the freezer and defrosting as needed. Saves a fortune too.

@GrumpyHoonMain That's very interesting! I must keep an eye out for that happening. Thanks for the advice!

@Mmsnet101 she doesn't really like the fruity ones! She actually only really likes the carrots, potatoes and broccoli ones haha

Six months. Why did you ask if you knew people would say you should have waited?

I don't see the point in doing it earlier. Weaning is such a faff, why extend it longer than you have to? The Ella's pouches are made of God stuff, yes, but they are very sweet tasting and will get her used to sweet tastes rather than a variation. They are very handy and we used them a lot, but we made our own food as well and tbh, the Ella's ones all have a very similar taste which is off-putting.

@whatswithtodaytoday Because I wanted to hear people's stories??? Everyone has different opinions & I know this lol, Every baby is different and clearly by this thread some people prefer to wean at 16 weeks and some at 6 months.

I don't think weaning is a faff, me and DD quite enjoy it.

6 months, the guidelines are pretty unambiguous that it's best to wait till then.

@Cjo99 have a read of this which is an independent study on commercial baby food including Ella’s pouches. Obviously they want you to think it’s all 100% great for your baby - that’s clever marketing.

Natural sugars (found in fruit) are still sugars. As I said in my last post they add lots of fruit to the vegetable pouches to make them taste sweeter. They also manipulate the descriptions/names to get around advertising restrictions (eg “Lamb hotpot” has to legally have a minimum amount of lamb in it, but where the meat isn’t the first word it can have barely any, so they call their stuff “Scrumptious lamb hotpot” and then can get away with it having 1% lamb and the rest filler).

It’s so much cheaper and healthier to just purée your own carrot for example.

Sorry forgot the link:
static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/5d93d133019c986514158dd3/1569968443400/Fruit_%26_veg_pouches_report_for_web_Oct_2019.pdf

@HarrietM87 wow that is clever marketing Lol. So how would I make my own so that is completely smooth? Don't want her choking on me Thanks for the tips!

He had no teeth but was teething so I gave him some cold cucumber sticks to suck on at 5 months but properly 6 months and I complete did BLW so he only properly started eating at 7-8 months - breastfed until 14 months x

@Firstimemam That's a brilliant idea about the cucumberWill have to try that with DD as she has started teething.