Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

What age did you wean - be honest!

246 replies

Rhian82 · 12/03/2009 11:06

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!

OP posts:
Martha200 · 15/03/2009 23:13

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

RamblingRosa · 16/03/2009 09:15

6mo. I think I tried DD on some baby rice at 4 or 5mo but she totally rejected it so I decided to stick to the advice and wait until 6mo.

JeanPoole · 16/03/2009 11:05

6 months to the day,lol

anal moi?

muffle · 16/03/2009 11:10

I was full of good intentions for 6 months but actually did it at just over 5 months - DS was practically biting my hands off and trying to grab my toast, he wanted food so much. And I don't think i was wrong. yes waiting till 6 months is a good and scientifically proven guideline - BUT i refuse to believe that babies don't vary a little in their needs. They do. I knew a baby who wasn't ready for solids until 8 months, so it isn't so amazing that some seem ready a bit earlier than the guideline.

lljkk · 16/03/2009 11:18

2000: 16 wks, pressured by HV to boost weight gain & I was desperate 2 try something 2 get him 2 sleep more (he loved 'food', but didn't sleep more or gain any extra weight)

2002: 18 wks: my own curiousity. I deeply regret as baby had constipation problems.

20004: ?21 wks: Got fed up with baby teething (ouch!) on my fingers. Ingested very little 4 weeks.

2008: ?22 wks: Just started handing over rice cakes & similar. Ingested very little for many weeks.

barbarapym · 16/03/2009 11:37

14 weeks with DS. He was huge and hungry all the time, plus the advice was only four months then. Advice changed by the time dd was born but she wasn't interested anyway - more like 7 months, and at her own instigation she was almost exclusively BF until 11 months until I couldn't stand it any more!

cardy · 16/03/2009 11:39

dd1 - 18 weeks
dd2 - 22 weeks

When I thought they were both ready. Advice changed between dd1 and dd2 - from 4 months to 6 months

throckenholt · 16/03/2009 11:46

to be honest - I can't remember !! DS1 I think was about 6 months - DS2&3 (twins) probably nearer 7 months - I do remember putting it off day after day because I couldn't face the faff and mess of weaning with twins .

shortcircuit · 16/03/2009 12:30

6mths for both.

kellise · 16/03/2009 13:55

5 months for both

MrsHD · 16/03/2009 15:36

DD was 13 weeks, which in retrospect I realise was far too early and she was just having her 3m growth spurt. She's not suffered for it though and will be 7 next week.

DS is a huge, hungry baby but I'm not into uphill battles so will wait til he's capable of shoving food in his mouth by himself, and view that as a bonus to the breastmilk which I expect to be what he actually 'eats', IYSWIM. Food will be just for fun to begin with, unless he shows a real interest in eating properly. The thought of another 3m+ exclusive BF is quite defeating, but if that's how it goes sobeit - am a lot more laid back this time around!

ipanemagirl · 19/03/2009 12:39

ds 6 months exactly
dd 5.75 months.

CrackerNut · 19/03/2009 12:42

Dd1 (11) Nearly 4mths
Dd2 (9) About 4 1/2 months
Ds (6) About 5 1/2 months

Interestingly, was talking to a lady the other day who recently had a little boy at 28 weeks. She mentioned that she was weaning him now and I asked how old he was, and she replied that he was now 4mths and she had been told to wean him early by the hospital because otherwise he would be at risk of having speech problems as he was prem.

I had never heard of that before.

MumHadEnough · 19/03/2009 13:14

Oh my God, my ds (now almost 7) was given baby rice at 9 weeks! He was 16lbs at the time and I was advised to do this by a paediatrician, as he wouldn't stop bloody crying and he was drinking three times more milk than he "should" have been! I didn't have mumsnet back then or I would definitely have did things very differently.

Thankfully he's a really healthy lad, has no food issues at all, allergies or fussiness etc. In fact he's an absolute joy to cook for. I think we got off very very luckily looking back now.

I so didn't have a clue!

troutpout · 19/03/2009 13:26

ds was 17 weeks
dd was 18 weeks

Bikergoose · 19/03/2009 13:56

My DD went on strike at about 16 weeks. I was forcing down 1 bottle a day and nothing else. She would take 2 sips and go back to sleep. I let it go on for 3 days and she would rather starve. I gave up and started solids. The 3 day food trials never happened. She would start humming which kept increasing until we fed her from our plates (after she had eater dinner)that we just ended up feeding her anything we could find easy enought to mash and shove down her gullet. So long as food was going in she was happy.

maxbear · 19/03/2009 14:18

dd 17 weeks after a month of misery cos she was desperate and I was unrealistic.

ds 16 weeks cos I couldn't cope with constant crying if he didn't get food.

Do it when your children are ready. I felt like a failure both times cos I didn't fully bf for 6 months but my two were desperate and miserable. I saw a huge improvement as soon as food was introduced. Dd continued to be bf until 5 1/2 months, ds until 11 1/2 months. Both are very healthy and no signs of any problems. Am hoping to ttc again soon, would like to fully bf for longer but just have a feeling it won't happen

Natasha104 · 19/03/2009 14:24

Harrison was the size of a 6-month-old at 9 weeks (he weighed about 18 pounds) and was DESPERATELY hungry. I gave him some pureed fruit and got my lovely happy baby back. By five months he was on three full meals a day!!!

CompareTheMeerkat · 19/03/2009 14:26

DS about 18 weeks
DD about 22 weeks

winestein · 19/03/2009 17:51

My DS seemed to be interested in food other than milk at about 10 months old, so that's when I started giving him bits. He lost interest totally and it was only when he was 13 months old that he regained interest, grabbing handfuls of my smoked mackerel risotto... and he hasn't stopped eating since!

93pjb · 19/03/2009 18:26

DD was excl BF to 25 weeks. She launched her self at a mint choc chip ice cream cone last summer and loved it so we took that as her telling us she was ready.

We did BLW and although the cleaning issues were a real pain it was great to see her hand eye coordination improve when she had a real incentive.

She's 13.5 months now and will eat pretty much anything - drinks a lot of water if it's spicy!

Babies are so different though - I'm amazed at the thought of a baby weighing 18lb at 9w - DD has today been weighed at 18lbs 1 today (1 YEAR and 9w )

MrsJenM · 19/03/2009 20:02

DD about 3 1/2 mths after much pressure from mum and grandmum both assuring me I was starving her and that was why she wasn't sleeping.

She wasn't sleeping because she just bloody wasn't. Food made no diff at all and added a pressure of weaning I really didn't need then (had PND). BUT, she's a fit, healthy, active and lovely 3yr old.

DS is only 4 weeks old but wanting milk like a mad thing since born (and looking rather enviously at my plate of food on a regular basis), so may wean him around 4 mths, depending on how he is.

pispirispis · 19/03/2009 21:37

I had a false start with my dd at 4 months because she suddenly started refusing bottles and crying and FTM that I am I thought she suddenly had gone off milk and "wanted" solid food. Plus she started waking at night so I thought she was "ready". Clueless as I was I thought at that stage that babies "should" be eating quite a lot by 6 months and that it was good to get them "used" to solids from around 4 months. So I gave her small amounts of baby rice and got out the ice cube trays. She ate the small amounts I gave her but didn't care either way and didn't really know what it was about at all. She continued to refuse milk for a week when - lo and behold a tooth appeared!! And of course she started wolfing down her milk again, so I stopped giving her solids until she was 6 months as she really didn't seem interested, and learnt my lesson about teething!

When we started again we only did spoon-feeding for a couple of weeks as it became a really stressful event with both of us crying, and I decided I was NEVER going to fight about food with dd so decided to do BLW. I had never imagined I would do BLW as I love tidy charts and plans and ice cubes you can count, but it has been FAB FAB FAB!

So if I have another baby I definitely hope to BLW at around 6 months!

Sorry, this is long

beetie · 19/03/2009 21:43

5 months, after hanging on forever with a very hungry baby! He was much happier when a bit of baby rice started filling his tummy! I don't believe in rushing it, leave it as late as you can, but be realistic and respond to your babies needs. It's no good feeding milk every hour to try and hold it off til 6 months to the day!

Sandrina · 19/03/2009 22:14

4 months and 3 1/2 months. both were SO ready!! 3rd time, started the 'tasting' process bout 10/12 weeks, but only had a teaspoon amount of babyrice once a day for a while, took it REALLY slow building it up, but she was just so hungry all the time. am glad i started when i did for all of them