What Is Weaning?

Weaning is the process of moving your infant away from a diet consisting of only milk, by introducing a wider range of foods. Weaning is complete when your baby is able to cope with a full range of solid foods, and is gaining the majority of her nutrition from them.

When Should It Start?

Current medical advice is to feed your child solely on breast milk for the first six months, in order to get the full benefits of this natural source of nutrition and immune-system boosting ingredients. Unfortunately though, many parents find that their children show distinct signs of wanting to begin weaning well before this point. These signs can include showing interest in the foods you’re eating (maybe even trying to sample them), and a decreasing level in the ability of milk to fully satisfy appetite. If you think you need to start weaning before the 26 week point, speak to your health visitor who will advise on whether this is the right option or not.

What Foods Come First?

So as to minimise the digestive disruption involved, begin weaning with a food which largely consists of your baby’s normal milk. The most common starter food is baby rice, which is a fine powder which you mix with milk to form a puree. Once your baby is happy with this, then you can start introducing other purees such as mashed potato (again with milk), or other bland-flavoured vegetables.

Try to only introduce one new kind of food every few days, so that if there is any allergic reaction it’s easy to pinpoint the offending food.

Once your baby has spent a couple of months eating pureed fruit and vegetables, you can move on to meat and fish if you want to. Always remember though that new foods can have a dramatic effect on the developing digestive system, so slowly but surely is the key here.

Finger Foods

The next stage in weaning is the introduction of ‘finger foods’ which can be chewed and gnawed on. Examples include baby biscuits, rice cakes, bread sticks and the like - but be sure to only use products with little or no added salts and sugars.

Once finger foods are accepted, you can start making the usual purees a little coarser in texture, and begin added whole rice grains or small pieces of pasta, for example, into the food to help develop full chewing ability.

It’s important to remember that solid food is drier than puree, so gradually introduce more water and thinned-down fruit juices to the diet to compensate.

Foods to Avoid Before 12 Months

While it’s sensible to avoid overly spicy or strongly flavoured foods, it’s also vital to stay away from certain food types which can seriously harm a developing baby. Nuts should be avoided, as medical opinion is that eating them too early can lead to nut allergies, not to mention the choking risk.

Citrus fruits are likely to lead to indigestion before the digestive system is fully developed, so should be avoided. Shellfish carry a risk of food poisoning, which can be much more serious in babies than in older children or adults. Likewise, any undercooked foods or ones containing unpasturised raw egg presents risks too.

How Long Does Weaning Take?

This will vary from child to child, and there’s no need to rush things. let your child decide the pace of weaning, but if it seems to be going nowhere then ask your health visitor for advice - chances are there’s nothing at all to be worried about.

One final thing to consider is that it’s very likely that the tastes encountered during weaning will have a lasting impact on the kind of food your child will eat for the rest of childhood or even longer, and so a wide variety of good healthy food eaten at this stage will hopefully lead to a lifetime-long healthy diet and appreciation of food.

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