Nearly 5 month baby showing signs of wanting food

[mumtobe2025]

Just wanted to know if I was terrible to give my baby tastes here and there of the fruit purees and porridge.

I added apple puree to a frozen push thing for my babies gums and he loved it and has been showing interest in food, plus superb head control and can sit up unaided in his high chair.

I tried him on some porridge today with his formula and he absolutely loved it. Am I terrible? I dont want to make it a daily thing but if he is interested, is it so bad to try him out sometimes?

Ds25 the guidance was 4 months, ds18 guidance was 6 months. I would go nearer 6 months if you can and start with less sweet stuff like apple purée. Try soft veggies etc.

HV are not qualified to tell you to wean early. The problem is people will say "I did it and my child is fine"...but are they?? Do we all talk to our parents about our crap bowel problems? Obesity? I was fed a blended roast dinner at 12 weeks. My mum would talk proudly of it. Said nothing the matter with me. Well I was 10 stone overweight at my highest and lots of gut issues. Also "I smoked with all of you, none of you had any problems" ect. I sat in a footwell or a car from London to Wales with 7 people in a regular car. But all was 'fine'. Millions is spent on research for public health....to improve public health.

I hate this 'mum knows best'...yes you can have an istinct. But not with this, you don't have a crystal ball.

I say this as someone who weaned early...young and niave and listening to my mum and regretful. I am now nearly 40 and a registered healthcare professional. Please wait and give your baby the best chance. This is about the rest of their life, not just the next few months!

No it isn't new at all. It's actually going back to what people used to do before purees packets, tins and special baby food was marketed. It just wasn't called baby led weaning then.
I am almost 70 and it's pretty much how I was weaned, and how my children were weaned.
That's not to say everyone has to use it. That is completely up to the individual

@00deed1988You think obesity is caused by a baby having a veg purée at 5 months? What a load of ??!

Just because you were abused don’t stick that on perfectly normal parents beginning to feed a baby at 5 months. Just ridiculous. The babies should “have the best chance”! Best chance of what? Not being abused? Going to Oxbridge? Being slim and fit? You actually think feeding at 5 months makes babies overweight? I’m speechless!

Let me be clear. A baby at 5 months being fed age appropriate food that’s home made is not going to get overweight. Quality matters and plenty of overweight dc are fed rubbish when they are weaned and that could be at 12 months. Or maybe you meant the best chance of having non abusive parents?

I wish you really were speechless @OhDear111 , then you’d stop posting misleading nonsense that encourages mums to ignore the most recent research and do things that we now know to be harmful.

@OhDear111
“Let me be clear. A baby at 5 months being fed age appropriate food that’s home made is not going to get overweight.”

Yes, because age appropriate food for a 5 month old is (breast) milk. Not pureed apple.

It’s appropriate to give milk if baby happy with that. Breast milk - oh that old chestnut. Let’s have a go at bottle feeding mums too whilst we are at it. Those wicked mothers.

I personality didn’t give puréed apple at 5 months. Mine liked banana and carrots. Separately!

he does have superb head control?

I also dont breast feed my child, do does this also make me a bad mother on top of giving him pureed apple?

If you say so.

I do, and I think I know my own child better than a judgey stranger on the Internet. I always get comments on how well he sits up and controls his head.

I thought this site was supposed to be supportive of new mums but its nothing but judgement that has made me feel incredibly anxious all day.

I hope one day when you need advice you get kindness rather than "if you say so"

Holy cow. Calm down a bit. Your reaction was completely over the top. The irony of berating someone for something they said as judgy by doing the same is delicious. Go in peace.

I dont think im over reacting at all.

I've been made to feel anxious and judged all day, and how am I doing the same?

Have you never heard of survivor bias?

I have researched this area and you are incorrect I’m afraid. Before the relatively recent introduction of mass produced and marketed baby food, babies were weaned on soft, pre-chewed, or mashed foods. Saliva was known to help pre-digest the food. Weaning babies were fed gruels and thin porridges, along with broths and soups. This was a pattern seen in different cultures and contexts, with some areas focussing more on rice-based soft porridges and other areas would use more maize, corn, wheat, barley or beans. But what they had in common was that these meals would be very soft, pre-chewed or mashed.

It’s also interesting looking at societal attitudes and responses to the wasting of food that’s common in BLW. I’m sure you can imagine the religious or cultural thoughts to that in many areas of the world. Ditto the fact the baby can get very messy with it. It’s really interesting reading about the different perspectives.

BLW really is a very recent invention/approach, it absolutely isn’t how the global majority wean their babies and it definitely isn’t ’how it used to be done.’

You are not terrible. In most of Europe, the advise is to start tasting solids between 4-6 months, depending on baby’s development and interest in foods.

According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), introducing purees before 6 months doesn’t benefit the baby, NOR does it do any harm. An EFSA panel published a scientific opinion on appropriate age range for introduction of complementary feeding into an infant’s diet in 2019. It’s quite easy to read and interesting: https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2019.5780.

I was advised to wean ds1 at 4 months by the health visitor. He wasn't ready and it was a total nightmare. At 6 months he suddenly "got it". I started weaning my others at 6 months.

I know that the evidence that I have read Will back up what I am saying.

I always feel that the people that are so passionate about early weaning are the ones who have done it and it is too late for their kids and they regret it deep down but can't admit it as they are too stubborn. I am someone who did it but am regretful. I know I made a mistake. I dread having to apologise but know I will have too. I am not so strong willed like you that I Will ignore my children's struggles just because I thought I knew best!!!

But good for you. You know the inner working of your child's gastrointestinal system before aged 6 months. Aren't you extraordinary!!!

Of course you can feed your baby food. Mine both had food from four months. One was over ten pounds at birth the other just under. I breast fed them but they were interest in food so I gave it to them. I think banana was first but sweet potato and mushed up veg followed. And clutch your pearls people my babies also always slept in their own rooms from day one 😱😱!
The NHS guidelines are just that : guidelines. Not laws.

I know modern advice is different now but I started with a teaspoon of baby rice mixed with breast milk and it was really runny and dribly given at end of breast feeding. After a while I added a teaspoon of poured carrot I cooked in a separate pan with no salt to the baby rice. I know now babies are given solid finger food. Advice changes over time because I was always told finger food could be a choking hazard. All 3 of my babies started on milky mush.

I began weaning at 5 mo very slowly as is advised where we live (in France). Baby rice, some porridge, mashed fruit, sticks of cucumber etc. Kept breastfeeding as long as I could then switched to bottles; even now at 3 DS is still a big milk & dairy fan. Eats lots of different foods no problems. I don’t think it makes you a terrible parent at all!!! Be careful though about sugar. Once they know something is sweet they will seek it out 😂 my MIL gave my son a carton of Um bongo juice once when he was 2. He’s never ever forgotten it!!!!

@00deed1988 why on earth do you think some parents regret weaning???! This is just bizarre. Humans are designed to eat food….in many places 5 months is not ‘early weaning’! It is proven to reduce serious allergies aswell. And it’s all very very gradual. It’s not milk one day and wagon wheels the next. Far better to do a long and graded weaning process involving milk and all different types of food - which lasts years really - than short & quick later on. I find your response here quite weird tbh

Also I think @mumtobe2025 if you want to start now stick with mushed milky things not sticks etc. You don’t have to give baby led weaning stick sort of foods. That’s just a modern trendy thing.. A doctor once told me they thought baby led weaning essentially means kids are eating it because they’re really really hungry..!! You can do old skill mush and still give variety etc without the need for chewing x

I ate farleys rusks with milk every day from 4 months and I have zero allergens, a great relationship with food and have never ever had trouble staying a stable, healthy weight.

Not a bad mother, apparently around 30% of people in the uk believe formula is the same as breastmilk, so if you chose not to breastfeed, rather than tried to and had insufficient support to manage it, you’re far from alone.

But, plenty of people on this thread have explained why giving your baby anything other than milk (breast or formula) before 6 months is not recommended. Don’t get mad because you’ve been told something you didn't want to hear. Take the info and rethink your decision. Know better, do better.

I did the same and neither of my 2 now adult children have weight problems. I know the guidance has changed and I don't claim to know better than experts but many women of my generation know that it won’t harm your child to start weaning at 4 months.