10 Signs That Your Baby Is Ready To Be Weaned…

April 28, 2009 by tanya
Filed under: Baby Health, Baby Tips

Weaning is the process of moving a baby gradually on to solid food. After six months, breastmilk alone doesn’t provide your baby with enough nutrients, in particular iron, so other foods are needed.

The Department of Health used to recommend that babies were started on solids between the ages of four and six months. Then in May 2003, the following statement was issued:

“Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of an infant’s life as it provides all the nutrients a baby needs.

If you do feel that your baby needs to start solids before six months, you may want to have a chat with your health visitor. This is particularly important if you baby was premature.

Be aware that introducing solids too early or increasing the amount too quickly may result in damage to the baby’s digestive system. It may also mean that your baby does not take the amount of milk it requires to obtain his daily requirement of essential nutrients.

Weaning too early has been linked with a higher risk of developing conditions such as asthma, eczema and hay fever. It sometimes also leads to infants being overfed and resulting in obesity, which increases the risk of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease later on in life.

If you do decide to wean your baby onto solids before six months, there are a number of foods that need to be avoided, such as those containing gluten, eggs, cheese, dairy products, fish and shellfish.

The goal is to get your baby to be eating a well balanced diet by their first birthday. At this point, they should be eating most foods, although they will need meals to be chopped up.

Is my baby ready to start eating solids?

Every baby is different, take a look at the following checklist to help you decide whether your baby is ready to start eating solids:

1. Is your baby over four months old?

2. Can your baby swallow food easily? Young babies can only swallow liquids – as they get older, they will drool less and start transferring food from the front of their mouth to the throat.

3. Can they sit upright, either on their own or with help, and support their head and neck well?

4. Have they started to make chewing motions, such as trying to chew their hands more?

5. Are they showing more interest in solid food? This is one of the strongest signs of readiness to wean. They may try to grab food of your plate.

6. Have they doubled their birth weight? This usually happens before or around their sixth month.

7. Are they demanding more frequent milk feeds and showing signs of hunger?

8. Do they seem unsatisfied and still hungry after a full milk feed?

9. Are they sleeping through the night? After a period of sleeping through the night they may start waking up for a feed.

10. Do they get distracted when feeding? Maybe they are stopping and starting feeds to play with objects or to try and chat.

If you answered ‘Yes’ to the majority of the above signs, then you may want to think about starting to wean your baby. You should talk to your health visitor or doctor if you have any concerns about introducing solids to your baby’s diet.