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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:
mondaymonday · 24/04/2009 10:00

25 weeks (DS was a week overdue so assumed it was ok)

EyeballsintheSky · 24/04/2009 10:01

26 weeks and two days. Also wanted to wait till weekend. Was really excited and couldn't wait but then two days in I realised what a faff it was but there was no going back!

madwomanintheattic · 24/04/2009 10:01

16 weeks x 3

dorisbonkers · 25/04/2009 09:53

My baby is 6 months exactly and I'm not weaning her until she's 6-1/2 months (when I get back to the UK)

My mother exclusively breastfed me until I was 9 months.

milkmummy1 · 25/04/2009 11:07

exclusively BF for 6 months and then weaned. have to say it was one of the best decisions i made. DS has had hardly any illnesses or infections and showed no signs of allergies yet. I was lucky as he thrived on my breast milk and was on the 91st centile. I'll def be doing the same for my second due in october - just hope he/she turns out as healthy!

BonsoirAnna · 25/04/2009 11:09

About 5 and a bit months. But she didn't eat much in the way of solids until 7 months - only tiny tastings. She got horribly constipated initially.

gussymooloo · 27/04/2009 20:44

DD1 was 4months, refused to drink milk.. loved solids..

DD2 was over 1 year old... her choice not mine argh!!

MrsMattie · 27/04/2009 20:49

20 wks with DS.

DD is 23 wks and am waiting until 26 weeks at least.

tattycoram · 27/04/2009 20:53

6 months pretty much to the day.

weejuls · 02/05/2010 09:00

18 weeks, I think we all follow our instincts on this and its quite unfair to say that its an unnecessary waste of time and energy, I really enjoy preparing lots of fresh nutritious food for my daughter and its really rewarding to watch her enjoy it so much.

amidaiwish · 02/05/2010 09:06

dd1 4 months (2004, was the advice then) but she really didn't want food so had very little

dd2 7 months - but she had problems with formula, then we went on hol so i left it as long as i could and when we were back home.

LtEveDallas · 02/05/2010 09:46

DD couldnt sit unsupported at 26 weeks, so I waited another month. HV was horrified and accused me of 'starving' her, said she should have been introduced to food at 4 months, and totally weaned at 6 . I thought I was doing the right thing and got myself into a right state. Luckily very sensible and forthright Neice told me to ignore "stupid woman with no kids" and to "trust my instincts".

DD was 5 weeks prem and teeny. I EBF right up till I went back to work, then she got EBM. My neice acted as my nanny for a couple of months until DH could finish work and was quite happy helping with DDs first tastes of food. Looking back she was BLW before I knew what it was - Neice would just phone me up and day "I had a jacket spud for my lunch - DD took some and enjoyed / didn't like it. I'm very glad that Neice wasn't a junk foodie! - although some of the concoctions DD must have had make me now (boiled potatoes with pesto poured over anyone?)

Same HV turned up unannounced one day (cue frantic phonecall from neice). Actually said to neice "and what makes you think you can look after a baby?". Neice replied "umm my 6 year old" HV (on back foot) "Oh and where is she now, dumped her have you?" "She's at school......where do you think she is, the pub?"

HV left and never came back....

SleepySheep · 03/05/2010 20:58

4 months exactly, but only because he decided to eat some of my bannana.....has eaten everything put in front of him since!

ILoveDolly · 04/05/2010 13:52

hmm waited 6m to the day with dd and then was very happy with her progress mainly BLW. But dd2 is already on full power drinking as much breast milk as she can, always chewing hand, trying to take food off plates and is just nearly 4m. I will wait few more weeks at least to see but I think I'd rather give her little bits of food to taste early after 17w than wait two months of this!

helyg · 04/05/2010 13:56

DS1 (in 2002): 4 months
DS2 (in 2004): 4 months
DD (in 2006): 7 months

When I had DS1 the advice was 4-6 months, he was a big baby so HV told me to start solids at 4 months. I followed the same advice with DS2, although I think the advice had "officially" changed it hadn't filtered through to my HV.

By the time I had DD the new advice had filtered through. She was born a month early, and wasn't interested in solids until she was 7 months old, so I took her lead.

madmissy · 05/05/2010 10:26

DD1 5.5 months
DD2 5 months
DS1 4 months he's huge! just coming up to 5 months now and weighs 19lb

madmissy · 05/05/2010 10:28

Just read in a reply somewhere to trust your instincts... great advice

3ismylot · 05/05/2010 16:10

DS1 5 months
DD& DS2 (twins) 8 months- they were not sitting unsupported until then and showed no interest,took to it straight away and no tears or tantrums like ds1 so def made right decision to wait!

WinkyWinkola · 05/05/2010 16:14

DS1 6 months

DD 6 months

DS2 5 months and 3 weeks. He grabbed my banana and ate it. And then some cucumber. I guess he was ready!

I never understood why the rush to wean though. I mean, bm for example, is chock full of fats and the good stuff so if a baby starts eating at 7, 8 or 9 months and isn't fading away, so what?

It's just another job to do imo!

FionaSH · 05/05/2010 20:04

16 weeks, then realised 4 months is 17 weeks (doh!) so waited a few more days until 17 weeks...

lovely74 · 05/05/2010 20:44

Kind of started at 25 weeks as he'd started to grab for food. We're doing BLW so I just put some roast veg in front of him and watched... he's now nearly 7 mnths but I'm still only really doing one meal a day and not much is going in, so he lives on boob more than anything.
I only know one person who waited till 26 weeks, and the HV's round here really push for early weaning (and then weaning off the boob!!!) I really don't understand why the rush, and it really annoys me when HV's advise people to start weaning when their babies start to wake at night, which we had really badly at 4 months. It's a developmental phase, it settles after a few weeks, and a bit of baby rice and some pureed carrot ain't gonna make much difference!

Stannie · 06/05/2010 23:55

5.5months

IMoveTheStars · 07/05/2010 00:33

4months. Baby rice and pear/apple puree. Didn't go well, DS couldn't sit, and ended up abandoning for a month. Weaned very very slowly from 5 months. Nothing meat/wheat/dairy (basically baby rice and beg before 6mo)

Next time won't bother! it makes no difference to sleeping at night and it's extra work for no reason!

sumum · 08/05/2010 22:28

10 weeks - 21 years ago
9 months blw - 19 years ago
6 months blw - 6 years ago
Would always recommend blw although it was practically unheard of when i had my second and I got a hard time of it from health professionals.

spiderlight · 08/05/2010 22:34

Six months and two days, although he was closer to 8 months before he actually showed any real interest in food or sought it out in any way - too addicted to breastmilk! I don't know anyone else who waited but I'm glad we did.