The majority of babies will be demonstrating these by the time they are 6 months hence where the age came from , however, some babies will be ready before 6 months. If you would like to learn about 3 simple checks you can do with your baby at home to assess if they are developmentally ready, click here for my free checklist which will be delivered directly to your inbox.
No, absolutely not. A fourth sign of being ready for weaning is a nutritional one. Babies can not thrive on milk alone after 6 months of age and so even if they are not showing all three signs of developmental readiness, you should still start weaning. Often the tongue thrust reflex is the last developmental sign to go and research has shown that the act of feeding itself can sometimes help push this back.
Discuss with your Health Visitor if you are unsure but remember that there are critical nutrients that your baby needs for their development beyond 6 months that milk alone can not provide. Lot of parents mistake night waking for being ready for solids, other common mistakes are demanding extra milk feeds, chewing their fists 2 and watching everything you eat. These are all actually completely normal behaviours for babies and not a developmental sign that they are ready to start solid food.
Babies can be cold, wet, uncomfortable or just want a cuddle. There has been some controversial research in the last few years which suggests that the introduction of solids at 4 months may help your baby sleep better. Babies who were in the earlier weaning group 4 months did sleep for an average of 2 hours more per week than the group weaned at 6 months and had 2 less night wakings per week 6.
The general consensus is that starting solids will not make your baby any more likely to sleep through the night Sorry to all the tired mums out there reading this! If you think your baby is developmentally ready and they are older than 17 weeks, then yes, absolutely you can start weaning. Developmental readiness matters more than age 6. The key here is that it is important for both developmental and nutritional reasons to only give appropriate foods 3.
At this age, it is not recommended that you attempt baby led weaning BLW due to the risk of choking 6. There are certain foods you should avoid. The British Nutrition Foundation advises that you avoid the following foods until your baby is at least 6 months old 8 :.
And if you are ready to go for it, have a read of my blog all about stage 1 weaning which goes through the steps of how to actually deliver the first few meals including answering questions like where you should sit and how to encourage your baby to open their mouths!
Exclusive breastfeeding for around 6 months and then to continue breastfeeding alongside weaning is the best protection you can give your baby against developing an allergy. If your baby is not at high risk of developing a food allergy then you should introduce food as part of a normal weaning diet including the allergenic foods egg, peanut, other nuts, dairy foods, fish, shellfish and meat.
If your baby has eczema requiring daily steroid treatment or already has an existing food allergy, they are considered high risk.
When your baby is developmentally ready, start solids and introduce egg and then peanut sometime from 4 months of age. After egg and peanut you can introduce the other allergenic foods; other nuts, dairy foods, fish, shellfish and meat. Having another family member with a food allergy does not mean that your baby is at a higher risk and you should not delay the introduction of allergenic food because of this.
Keep a diary of when you offer the allergenic foods and monitor your baby for any symptoms. Immediate onset reactions tend to happen with the first 30 minutes of eating and delayed onset reactions can occur several hours later. What is important is that the introduction of allergenic foods is not delayed past 12 months, as research shows this can increase the risk of your baby developing an allergy to the food 8. If your baby was born prematurely before 37 weeks , they need to be introduced to solid food according to their individual needs, which your dietitian will support with 4.
The usual developmental cues to start weaning may not be present in a pre-term baby, but it is important that baby shows the following cues:. Holding their head steady - When sitting upright in a supported position. He is bottle fed and is on Aptamil for hungrier babies and has 6 feeds a day of between ozs. He goes to bed at 7. I think that he should be going hours overnight so I am wondering if he is not getting enough with just his milk?
But all the "guidelines" say do not wean before 6 months!!! Any advice from all you mums out there would be grateful as I am in a dilema of what to do.. See last answer. Search for a thread. I spoke about this yesterday with my hv as there is no way my Ruby is going to last till she is 6 months. Hv said that if you think baby is ready at 4 months then start with really simple home made stuff like baby rice, pureed fruit and veg.
So yes, fine at 4 months just don't go mad with the food as this is where the allergies start. I'll be doing Rube in a month for sure Rxx. Weaning weaning at 4 months? Weaning Baby-led-weaning at 4 months? Weaning Will weaning at 4 months help with reflux? Weaning BLW at 4 months. Hello My son was a hungry so strated on solids at 4 months just with babyrice. A lot earlier than you might expect.
The study looked at whether feeding certain foods to babies could stop them getting allergies, and a secondary part of the study explored whether giving babies solids before 6 months could actually help them to sleep better. Two sets of babies were looked at: one set were breastfed only up to 6 months, the other set were breastfed and given solids, including peanuts, wheat and eggs, just short of the recommended 17 weeks.
The study showed that the babies who had been introduced to solids earlier slept, on average, 2 hours more a week than those in the other group and woke 2 fewer times at night per week by the time they were 6 months old.
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