What age did you wean - be honest!

[Rhian82]

So yes, I know the official advice is six months and that we all think waiting till then is best, but in honesty, how old were your kids when they first tasted solid food?

I don't think I know anyone in RL that waited till six months!

DD was exactly 6months.
DS is now 20 weeks and quite happy on BFing only. I imagine he'll be the same as DD.

DS1 5 1/2 months on purees
DS2 8 Months BLW (So much easier!)

DD1 almost exactly six months - suddenly tucked into pumpkin and yogurt in the Afghan Kitchen in London and never looked back.

DS - around the same time - banana and avocado

DD2 - was so interested in trying to grab her siblings' food she wasn't drinking her milk so gave her mushed butternut squash and ate the whole bowl - 5 and a half months.

All three have great appetites and eat everything - or at least will give everything a good try and like most things so very easy to take out - I was THE fussiest child eater in the world and my bro had loads of allergies so wasn't expecting it all to be so easy. Lucky I guess.

Wasn't that bothered about guide lines - just went with instinct and their behaviour - and they were formula fed by that stage so not worried about purity of gut or whatever by then anyway.

DD1 (now 2.10) - 21 weeks
DD2 (now 10.5mths) - 22 weeks

Neither of them had any time for milk, but as soon as I waved the baby rice/purees/finger food in front of them, they gobbled it up. They are both very good eaters. DD1 hoovered up Lancashire hotpot with picked red cabbage last night (had awful wind afterwards, though!).

DD was 20 weeks when I introduced some puree. Advice at the time was to wean at four months. I wanted to go with WHO guidelines, which health visitor scoffed at - "The World Health Organisation? Well what do they know?"

DD was sitting up and grabbing for my food by 20 weeks, but honestly, she hardly ate any solids and wasn't really that bothered by anything other than breastmilk until she was 8 or 9 months. Breastmilk was certainly the staple of her diet for first 15 months.

If and when I have more children, I'll certainly wait longer and go for BLW.

DS1 - 26 weeks BLW
DS2 - 26 weeks BLW. Still playing with it at 28 weeks though rather than eating!

Dd 4 months-I had rusks in as my MIL said I should have them "just in case" so I mushed one up with BM once/twice a week for her until about 7 months.

Rhian - what do you do if your baby cries while you are eating then? Sometimes I've had to sit him on my lap and eat to avoid ending up with stone cold food (though it was usually cold by the time I'd finished anyway!) I also eat snacks like biscuits etc with him on my knee.

Do you know, I asked this question on a worldwide site (so mostly American people posting) and the ages ranged from a few weeks to 11.5 months. It seems they are much more relaxed over there!

6 months to the day. Exclusive breastfeeding was the most convenient so we kept that up as long as possible.

A week under 6 months in 2004 (couldn't wait)
2 days past 6 months in 2008 (BLW)

4 months (2005), and DD loved her food straight away and still does!!!
At 5 weeks old though my mother in France gave her a "boudoir" (biscuit you usually dip in champagne..) DD loved sucking it (without the champagne!!) and we just make sure that no big bits were swallowed..it was quite funny to see how much she was enjoying this!

4 months both times (1998 & 2001)

spinspinsugar - I chose food over formula too but once the new advice about waiting until 6 months came out I remember other mothers at toddler group who felt their BF babies were ready for food at 4 or 5 months deciding to introduce formula in the meantime.

If part of the reason for later weaning is allergy and one of the most common food allergies in children is cow's milk, I do wonder which is better to introduce first - rice/fruit or cow's milk based formula. (I have no idea of the answer to this though).

We weaned DD 6months on the day, although she had pinched a bit of broccoli off my plate and shoved it in her mouth about a week or so earlier, but I wasn't worried about it TBH.

Crying while eating - he doesn't too much any more, he's got me trained to eat during his naps! And when he does do it, I tend to put my food down to go to him, I can normally settle him so he's not too unhappy for a few minutes while I gobble food down, and then give him a proper cuddle and attention when I'm done. I've eaten over him while he was breastfeeding a couple of times, but he's too distracted then to take any notice!

24 weeks.

My DS is 24 weeks, but have not started yet. Will do in earnest when he reaches 26 weeks. It'll be boob till then.

DS1 6 months. DS2 currently 20 weeks. He's had nothing yet and I'm not planning to start till 26 wks

dd, 4 months, the advice then was 4 months and i was going back to work when she was 5 months and wanted to do the weaning myself.

ds, was at least 7.5 months, before then he showed no interest in eating food.

both mine were 4weeks old when i introuduced solids[15 and 4yrs ago].But you know your own child better than anyone else every child is diffrent and you know if they are ready for solids.

not long after 4 months. she was looking with wide eyes at my dinner. so i tried her with some baby rice which she loved. felt bad though as it was supposedly too early so stuck with the milk a little longer but giving rice or veg/fruit puree now and then. started weaning proper at 5 months ie with a set meal every day.

6 months to the day.

ds1 - 4mths
ds2 - just over 6mths, though think he'd have not cared if I left it longer.