Emma's Weaning Tips

• The current Government guidelines recommend not weaning until 6 months. However, you should be equally guided by your own child. They will tell you when they are ready to start. Common signs include:

1. Not sleeping through the night (where previously they did)
2. Becoming more and more interested in what you are eating and drinking and even perhaps trying to get your food or drink.
3. Remaining unsatisfied after a milk feed or demanding more frequent feeds.
4. Chewing constantly on everything and anything (I would not take any notice of this one, however, unless some of the other signs are there as, from my experience, this is something that most babies do from about 3 months onwards!)

In any event, you should not wean before 4 months as a baby's digestive system is not sufficiently matured before this age. To be ready for weaning, your baby should be able to hold his own head steady and sit well with support. If his tongue thrust reflex has also disappeared he is definitely ready. This is his body's natural way of letting you know that it needs more nourishment than milk alone. I introduced baby rice at 19-20 weeks after a very disrupted 2 week feeding pattern that told me my daughter was definitely no longer satisfied with milk alone. I then moved onto stewed apple at 21 weeks and continued from there.

There are mixed views about premature babies so you should seek advice from your health visitor about the best time to wean if your child was born prematurely. My daughter was 4 weeks premature and suffers from silent reflux and I would say that weaning when I did is probably the best thing I could have done as we were able to stop all reflux medications pretty much the day she started solids. Whilst she still has symptoms of reflux now, she lives with it rather than suffering from it like she did before.

• Introduce foods slowly to monitor for allergic reactions. Ideally each food should be given for 3 days before moving onto a new one. So for example you might give baby rice for 3 days. Then mix apple into this, or offer on its own, on the 3rd day, then introduce pear or carrot on the 3rd day after this etc... At first you will find this gives a limited choice and you will be giving most foods alone or mixed with baby rice but after a couple of weeks you will find you can concoct all sorts of interesting combinations (see my recipe page for ideas).

• If you are weaning before 6 months, you should sterilise all your equipment. This is one of the reasons why I chose to use the Little Diner mini masher rather than puree in a blender as it is easy to sterilise using boiling water, Milton or other sterilising equipment and whilst it may not make as smooth a mixture as the blender would, it is pretty good at grinding to a soft pulp. All the feeding equipment on my pages are safe for all types of sterilisation. 

• Be sure to stir all microwaved food well to eliminate dangerous 'hot spots'. All our plastic weaning pots are suitable for the microwave but remember to keep the lids off. If the food does come out of the microwave too hot, I usually stick it in the freezer momentarily to cool it back down so that I don't keep my baby waiting!

• Use a plastic spoon rather than a metal one as these will be kinder to your baby's mouth. Our heat-sensing spoons are particularly useful as they turn white if the food is too hot for baby so eliminating the risk of burning his mouth.

•  Offer cooled, boiled water at meal times. This is particularly relevant to bottle fed babies as breastfed babies can just be offered a milk feed immediately after the meal as an alternative. However, I have found that offering water anyway helps to teach the baby how to use a cup. You can use a bottle, cup or beaker with spout. You will find which works best for your baby. Our cute melamine beakers are great as they come with a removable 'sippy' lid so you can test whether your baby prefers to use a spout or not without having to invest in a cup that may never get used. If you fill a feeding bottle with boiled water in the evening and put it in the fridge you will know that you have a supply of water for the following day from which you can pour out the necessary amount for each meal.

• Don't get stressed out if your baby doesn't want it at first or doesn't want any particular meal. It is important to keep mealtimes fun.

I have found it helpful continuing to breastfeed as normal throughout the day so that I know my daughter will not be starving herself if she chooses not to eat a certain meal. That way I don't feel under pressure to offer alternative foods just to get her to eat. If she rejects the meal, I try 3-4 times to persuade her and then I get her down as if she were full up... I never get upset that she hasn't eaten as I think babies can easily pick up on your mood and this could create a negative vibe towards mealtimes.

I do not offer her alternative foods. I know she will fill up at the next feed (whether milk or solid) and this way she will not learn to be fussy just to get her favourite foods. I have found that even if she appears fussy about a certain food at one meal, she will be eating it happily after about 2-3 trys by following this approach because she knows at every meal time that what is on offer is the only thing on offer and that she gets no sweet (fruit, or yoghurt after 6 months) unless the savoury is finished. However, be careful with your quantites if you want to follow this approach because if you always fill the savoury plate too full for her to finish she will never get the sweet - better to give smaller quantites and offer seconds than have her leave food at every meal. (It will also leave you feeling more positive about your baby's meal if you do it this way round). 

Above all I never suggest that she might not like something or let my likes and dislikes get in the way. If she appears disinterested I always suggest to her that she might be thirsty or full up rather than assuming that she does not like it or saying this to her.

Remember every baby is different and what has worked for me may not necessarily work for everyone else. I am just trying to share my own experiences in an attempt to help first-time mums find their own way more easily.