When to wean your baby?
How do you know when to wean your baby?
Starting solid foods can be an exciting yet daunting time for a parent. There is so much information available about weaning but much of it is conflicting, making it hard to figure out the best way to go about it.
I usually say there is no right or wrong way to wean your baby, however one of the few exceptions is when it comes to getting started. Getting the timing right when it comes to the introduction of solids is super important, mostly because it can really influence how your baby goes with eating, which in turn has a big impact on your experience as a parent.
Even though the guidelines around starting solids have been in place for over 20 years and haven’t changed during that time, there continues to be a lot of misinformation around the age at which solids should start. Some of these stems back to the fact that when most of us were children the weaning guidance was different and many of us started solids between 4-5 months of age so this the message we are getting from our family and professionals in the generation above us.
What are the current weaning recommendations?
In the UK, the guidance is to start solids at around 6 months of age when your baby is showing developmental readiness for eating. This guidance is supported by the NHS and World Health Organisation (WHO). As a feeding therapist, I believe that waiting for readiness is vital. Babies who aren’t ready are reliant on parents feeding them and, personality depending, are usually much less responsive, less interactive and are often more inclined to refuse solids.
Is my baby ready to start solid foods?
There are three key signs of developmental readiness for solid foods;
Your baby is able to hold their head up and sit upright.
Your baby can reach out and grab food and then take it to their mouth.
Your baby’s tongue thrust reflex is diminishing and they are able to swallow more foods than they push out with their tongue
Sitting upright.
Babies will achieve this milestone at different ages. A few may be sitting before for 6 months but most will be able to sit up unsupported between month 6 to 7. It can be tempting to rush and get going with a very wobbly baby in their highchair however there may be consequences to this. Babies who are working hard with their core to try and stay upright, will find it harder to control their fine motor movements such as those with their hands (needed for reaching and grabbing) and mouth (needed for eating).
The baby in the video below is not yet able to sit fully unsupported. Note the challenges of positioning him in his highchair and also how hard he is finding it to reach and grab food. You see that he becomes frustrated that he can’t do what he wants to.
When it comes to giving your baby finger foods then it is even more important that your baby can sit upright. Not being able to support themselves in an upright position can increase the risk of choking.
Reach out and grab food and take it to their mouth.
Having this skill means that your baby can be independent at feeding themselves from the start. This is especially important if you choose to do baby led weaning. I find that babies who have had early feeding challenges or were born preterm or have reflux tend to prefer to self-feed. They may not be proficient when they first reach and grab and may miss their mouth more than they hit, however if they show interest, reach for food and attempt to take it to their mouth then you can tick this ‘readiness box’.
This baby is 6 months old and does not have the skill of reaching and taking the food to his mouth. As you can probably imagine, giving this baby finger foods is not going to go well!!
Swallowing foods.
This readiness sign refers to the tongue thrust reflex which is present in new born babies. The purpose of this reflex is to push out any foreign body which enters the mouth in order to prevent a baby from choking. When something comes into the mouth the tongue pushes forward, thus pushing out whatever has come in. Like most reflexes, it doesn’t disappear overnight, it gradually starts to diminish from between 4-6 months. This means it may still be quite dominant at 6 months for some infants. You will know that it is present if when you offer your baby food on a spoon, they either push the spoon away with their tongue or if the purees enter the mouth, they stick their tongue straight back out with the purees too. As it doesn’t completely disappear overnight it is still ok to wean your baby if they are doing this some of the time – a good barometer of readiness is that the baby is keeping the tongue in and swallowing food more than half the time, if it is less than this then your baby is not ready.
Most babies will meet these milestones sometime between 6-7 months, however there will be a small proportion of babies who are not showing developmental readiness for weaning despite them approaching the 7 month mark. If this is the case there are things you can do to enable you to get started with modifications. If you have concerns about your baby’s developmental readiness for eating then speak to your health visitor or GP.
Knowing when to start weaning is key to getting your baby’s journey to eating off to a positive start. For more support and information about weaning your baby you can purchase my online course ‘Introducing solids’. With more than 30 video tutorials and 16 real life baby video examples as well as multiple downloads including 13-page equipment guide, this affordable course gives you all the information you need to get weaning off to the best possible start.
