What Age to Wean.. and Why?

[Bunnikins]

Just interested when people weaned their babies onto solid foods and what made them realise it was the right thing to do?

My girl is 4 months old so im starting to think about it. My eldest was weaned as soon as she turned 17 weeks, but she was a very different baby, she was very big and sat up herself very early. My youngest is definitely more "baby like", average size and nowhere near sitting up yet!

She does seem more hungry lately and has gone from drinking 28oz per day to 35-40oz, waking in the night for 1 or more feeds when she used to sleep through.
My eldest did really well weaning at 17 weeks and is a great size, eats well and likes her food with no issues whatsoever, so i think this was the right thing to do for her, but i dont know what to do with my second... i dont want to wait another 2 months if shes really hungry and would be happier filling her tummy with something other than milk, but i also dont feel shes ready yet.


Feeling a bit indecisive so im hoping other peoples tales of when they weaned and their reasons might help

 

[salamander91]

We started weaning at 20 weeks on the recommendation of a pediatrician due to reflux. Flynn wasn't ready. He ate but he didn't enjoy it until he was 6 months. Personally if you don't think she's ready I wouldn't wean. Just give her as much milk as she wants.

 

[Shandelion]

Glad you posted this. My son is four months old, too. The dietician for wic told us that when he is interested in what we're eating, he's ready for something besides milk. He's vaguely interested now, and I'm tempted to give him something, but I don't know what! Or if I'm right.

 

[Bunnikins]

Mine hasnt really shown an interest yet to be honest but my first little girl was very interested at 4 months. She actually grabbed my banana i was eating and shoved it in her mouth then looked delighted with herself! We gave her banana flavoured baby cereal as her first food after that

salamander did the solids cure the reflux?

 

[MindUtopia]

We wanted to do BLW, so for us, there was no real option or reason to wean early. Also, my daughter had been on the smaller side at birth and had some weight gain issues in the first couple months, so it was really important for me to make sure she was getting the full benefit of her milk (and just milk) for as long as possible. Now having gone through the weaning process, I think probably the best motivation for waiting is just that it takes extra time and money to wean early. I'm glad I had an extra two months of not having to think about planning her meals or cooking for her or spending the extra money (there is a lot of wastage in the beginning and our weekly shopping bill definitely has gone up since she started to eat solids). It gave me time and money to focus on more important things for her - like just playing and bonding and taking classes and going to groups that would have otherwise been during mealtimes. Weaning is more work and more money (what I saved on formula eventually, I now more than spend on food) and if you can delay it a bit to give yourself a bit of a breather (as lots of things seem to settle down and get a little bit easier around 4 months), then do it. I think there's no reason to rush into extra work for yourself if it isn't even going to have a benefit to your LO (and may actually be detrimental later on).

 

[salamander91]

salamander did the solids cure the reflux?

It's not cured. I'm not sure it's even helped. He started taking ranitidine the week before we weaned so whilst he is doing better I'm not sure if weaning made any difference. I've noticed some foods tend to make him sicky though so I don't think it has really.

 

[Bunnikins]

We wanted to do BLW, so for us, there was no real option or reason to wean early. Also, my daughter had been on the smaller side at birth and had some weight gain issues in the first couple months, so it was really important for me to make sure she was getting the full benefit of her milk (and just milk) for as long as possible. Now having gone through the weaning process, I think probably the best motivation for waiting is just that it takes extra time and money to wean early. I'm glad I had an extra two months of not having to think about planning her meals or cooking for her or spending the extra money (there is a lot of wastage in the beginning and our weekly shopping bill definitely has gone up since she started to eat solids). It gave me time and money to focus on more important things for her - like just playing and bonding and taking classes and going to groups that would have otherwise been during mealtimes. Weaning is more work and more money (what I saved on formula eventually, I now more than spend on food) and if you can delay it a bit to give yourself a bit of a breather (as lots of things seem to settle down and get a little bit easier around 4 months), then do it. I think there's no reason to rush into extra work for yourself if it isn't even going to have a benefit to your LO (and may actually be detrimental later on).

Very true about cost/hassle. I remember from first time round having to pack a lunch/bowl/spoon when going out aswell as milk, and all the time spent puree-ing something they then don't eat! I think weighing up pros and cons its likely il wait as long as possible.. And I guess I assumed also that solids would help reflux, which she does seem to suffering with.

 

[Shandelion]

Mine hasnt really shown an interest yet to be honest but my first little girl was very interested at 4 months. She actually grabbed my banana i was eating and shoved it in her mouth then looked delighted with herself! We gave her banana flavoured baby cereal as her first food after that

salamander did the solids cure the reflux?

Lol

 

[pinklizzy]

With my daughter we didn't wean until she was about a week off 6 months. I didn't enjoy weaning at all in the beginning, I constantly stressed about whether or not she was getting the 'right' foods, % of protein, carbs, fats etc etc!
Little man is now very interested in food when we are eating and has snatched food from me in the last few days (cheese sandwich and a chip!) and it's straight in his mouth! He puts everything in his mouth though so I'm not convinced he's ready yet.He drinks a 7oz bottle every 3-4 hours and wakes once in the night for a feed but that isn't a new change.
I'd far prefer to do BLW weaning though so will try and wait it out until 6 months, despite some pressure from family that he's ready for solids

 

[tublet]

I waited until 5.5 months would like to have waited longer but baby started waking up 3 times a night starving, was sitting unaided etc. she delayed it as long as I could as I thought it was just a growth spurt and felt really pressure to wait until 6 months.

It turned out she was just hungry! She's now 7.5 months and we do a mixture of finger food and purée and she's doing great!

Next time I would definitely trust my instincts more and not get paranoid over peer pressure

 

[PoppyPainting]

My lo was a reflux baby and baby rice made her sick. I felt that solid foods would stay in her tummy better and I was right. However every reflux baby is different. I (after the 3 day experiment with baby rice) waited until 6 months and blw. I loved it and she loved it. I treated it as a play activity exploring textures and taste. To me that was so much more fun than pureeing stuff for her to spit out. Dd is now a really confident and competent eater c/w many of her peers. I'm so glad we did blw, and if I had my chance again I'd do blw again despite all the pressure from mum and mil to wean at 4 months.

 

[Bunnikins]

Thats fab what foods did you begin with? Did she eat them ok right from the beginning? I did the pureeing from 4 months with my eldest and she was always a good eater but very very picky and took a while to accept "lumpy" food... still have to cut things up very small for her now. Maybe BLW is the way forwards although yes i am having pressure from husband and family to "give her a bit of food", "you were eating 3 course meals at 4 months" etc etc...

 

[petite ping]

For my LO I weaned her at 5 months with little tastes of fruit puree. This timeround I will wait a bit longer as to be honest after the initial novelty of watching your LO taste things for the first time, mealtimes got messier, longer, more expensive and more hard work.

Nothing kills the morale faster than spending hours cooking something and then watching the LO refuse to eat it.

 

[TTCaWee1]

I started solids at 4 months with my dd. She was eating every 1.5-2 hours still and when she would have a bottle, she would take 5-6oz and still be hungry after. We started with oatmeal cereal after her morning feed then moved on to mixing it with fruits. After a few weeks of just breakfast she stopped sttn and was waking earlier and earlier at night to eat. Once we got through all the fruits, I added "dinner" which was one veggie at 6pm. She still has 4-5 6oz bottles a day (formula bc my boobs started to die ) she has been sttn since we started the second meal. I probably won't add a third meal yet until after 6 months or until the doc says meats are ok then I'll switch the dinner to a meat. Hope this helped. I told myself I would make my own baby food but that was short lived. I just buy the organic baby food when it's on sale and stock up. The only thing she doesn't like are peas.

 

[Pearls18]

6 months, because all the current scientific advice says this is the optimum time to wait. I haven't read the replies so this isn't a dig, babies watching you eat IS NOT a sign of weaning, if they're hungry you give more milk they will not starve and will get MORE nutrients from milk so if they're hungry it's all the more important to give them something more nutritious, if they're not sleeping you don't fill them up just for that purpose. My eldest was a big, hungry baby, he was 91st centile and feeding 2 hourly, I still waited 6 months, my youngest was a snacky eater and poor sleeper but I still waited 6 months, yep I was counting down till the day I could wean in the hope it would fix any problems we had (some it did, many it didn't) but that couldn't justify going against advice. I am confident that no matter what happens in the future I did the best by current advice, I have IBS and there is a lot of digestive issues in the western world today many of which is looking like can stem from poor infant nutrition in babies so I wanted to ensure I did everything by the book so I know I had tried my hardest for my boys, yep advice might change but evidence is very compelling as to why it is best to wait and at least I don't have to feel guilty, people who wean early tend to do so more for the parent's benefit than the child I feel. (NOT TALKING ABOUT THOSE WHO ARE TOLD TO WEAN EARLY FOR REFLUX OR WHATEVER OTHER MEDICAL ISSUE).

 

[callypygous]

MarineWAG, sounds like you know a lot on the subject. I also have digestive issues - wheat intolerance and dairy intolerance that only came on just before my wedding day and still is an issue a year on. For that reason I'm also trying to be very careful. Did you do baby led weaning with your boys? Are there any books or websites you recommend to find out information? I'm nowhere close to weaning my little one but keen to read up on it a lot before starting. Thanks

 

[Fliss]

I intended to exclusively bf til 6 months, then BLW.

I ended up unable to make milk, so ff, and then Nathan tried to steal my food from 17 weeks old. So from 18 weeks we did TW.

He is now 26 months and loves all food (apart from the standard toddler 'fussy phases')

Never regretted it - we did make our own pureés though....

 

[JenX]

I have a silent reflux baby, but we still waited to wean. Actually we waited until just after seven months because I read on the Kellymom site that delaying weaning until then could be beneficial. I have issues with gluten and my my LO has CMPI, so I wanted to wait. We did baby led weaning and she wasn't that interested in food for several months after we started so she didn't take in much for a while. Still, this was definitely the best approach for us and she now eats well.