Age of weaning

You should wait until your baby is 6 months old. Just because your baby has learnt how to use their hands to grab doesn't mean they're ready for food

Medical advice is 6 months

Yes the recommendation is to wait until 6 months. But I was advised by dietitian to start weaning my baby at 4 months (17 weeks) due to her CMPA. So personally I don’t see the harm in weaning them earlier when they show signs they are ready for it! Obviously just start with the very smooth purées and gradually work up and make sure they are still getting plenty of their milk as that’s their main source of nutrition still!

I’d wait until she’s sitting with no support and if that’s before 6 months I’d go for it. We started weaning about 2 weeks before my LO was 6m and started with baby rice and some purées I’d made x

I was the same as Stephanie but if you’ve not been advised I’d wait. Also baby should be sitting with zero support. My little one was sitting with zero support around 4 months so I got lucky when I got told to give her a tea spoon of puréed food.

https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/baby/weaning/ you could try the ready or not weaning quiz to help you decide?

As long as she can sit up with no supports, you can start weaning some puree. That can be between 4-6 months. I started weaning my son at 5 months as he was sitting up since 4 months ish, my daughter started just before she turned 6 months old as well

@Nattinan being able to sit doesn't mean your digestive system, tongue or hands are ready

WAIT. Unless you’ve been medically advised to start early, there is absolutely no need to introduce solids till 6 months 🤷🏼‍♀️

Wait until 6 months!

@Emmo that is literally the advice my health visitors and midwives have told me. When they can sit up, they can have small bites or spoonful of puree fruit. By 4-6 months, they can have solids with no issues because they need extra source of iron at this point. Some baby has already triple their weights by this point, such as my son, so he has no issues having some solids once a day. You don’t need hands to be ready at this point, they will learn to wean and that will take some practice, it will never happen right away. No baby is born ready to do anything, they’ll learn these skills as you wean them. My son was able to self feed with a spoon before he turned 2, I can put a plat of food in front of him and he’ll eat them. At first, it’s a mess and that’s normal, the key idea here in to get them to learn about different food and texture, they might even end up on the floor in the early days, but as times go by, they’ll learn to pick them up and put them in their mouth. That is BLW

I also exclusively breastfeed, and both of my children are fine, never had any stomach issues. There are recommended portion size for each stage of solids, the can be found on the nct site.

@Nattinan well your health visitors were not following NHS guidance which is not before 6 months as mine told me and as the NHS site says.

@Emmo Yes, but if your baby can sit up just fine after 4 months, it is generally ok to start introducing solids. The advice only sticks if your baby only manages to learn to sit up at around 6 months of age. That’s the average, but not true for every baby since they are developing at a different pace. Some baby won’t sit until they’re 8 months old, so even if the recommended time to start solids is 6 months, you still want to wait until they can sit up - so in that case, would be to start solids at 8 months. Some baby developed much earlier than others, if they have been able to sit up since the age of 4 months old, you can observe how they are, and if they look interested in food. Then you can start with small amounts of solids, and I’m talking about 3 spoonful of puree at this point, maximum, and maybe not everyday either. Again, even if it is generally advice based on age, they actually look at baby’s weight and overall development as well.

Every medical professional I’ve spoken to were fine with it, even at our health reviews because my son ticked all the boxes. He’s been running since he was 7 months old, and definitely look older than he was because of how big he was then, and all I have fed him up until 5-6 months was just breastmilk. I’ve started solids about twice or three times a week, then slowly increase to a full week, once a day, and by then he has turned 6 months. It is fine if they can eat and sleep well still, I know my babies best, and so should you. So if you want to wait, then that’s fine, but I’m also offering my own experience here. Surely enough if there were any red flags, that would’ve come up in our health reviews. We never had any health issues, both of my kids never gotten seriously ill either.

Studies done by the World Health Organisation show "The systematic review's findings suggest that exclusive breastfeeding of infants with only breast milk, and no other foods or liquids, for six months has several advantages over exclusive breastfeeding for 3-4 months followed by mixed breastfeeding. These advantages include a lower risk of gastrointestinal infection for the baby," https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/15-01-2011-exclusive-breastfeeding-for-six-months-best-for-babies-everywhere

@Emmo ok, again, just do whatever you want. Wait 6 months, it is your choice. Like what do you want me to do with these info when my daughter is 3 and a half, and my son is now 26 months old (2 yrs and 2 months old) not exactly planning for a third baby either. 🤷‍♀️ Again, both are happy and healthy toddlers. I’m not the one raising your child, you are, and if that’s what you believe, ok 👌 and all would eventually grow up to eat nuggets and chips anyway 👍 looks to be normal over here in the UK 😀

@Nattinan I'm just saying what the overarching guidance is. OP isn't seeing your HV and the advice your HV gives you can't be automatically applied to someone else's baby. I'm also in the UK, and all my HV and doctors said 6 months.

What’s the rush?

20-24 weeks is a no

6 months x

Thanks all, this clearly divides opinions, thanks for all your insights. I will speak to HV and take advice there, but will also follow my mother’s intuition. Thanks x