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Babies, weaning

Food is often a source of worry to parents, with questions such as when to start introducing solid foods, what foods to begin with, and whether your baby will like it. Breast milk or formula milk provides all the nutrition that babies need for the first six months. Their stomachs can’t digest other foods properly until this age. After this time, it’s a good idea to start slowly introducing solids alongside milk, as your baby will start to need iron and other nutrients, and will also benefit from the different textures and tastes. By the age of 12 months they can be joining in with family meals.

Indications that your baby is ready for solids are that they remain hungry after a milk feed, they seem more hungry and are demanding food more often (perhaps starting to wake in the night to be fed having previously slept through), or may mimic your eating with great interest after six months of age. They should be able to sit up, with some support to begin with.

Allow plenty of time and go at your baby’s pace. They will need to learn how to take food from a spoon, move it to the back of the mouth and swallow it. This may take time. You’ll need to keep baby spoons and bowls really clean, and prepare only the amount of food that you think your baby will eat – you can always prepare more if needed. If your baby likes their food warmed, make sure that it is heated thoroughly, stir it and allow it to cool before testing the temperature yourself. It’s not safe to reheat or refreeze previously warmed food, so throw away any left over at the end of a mealtime. Put a bib on your baby, and keep some wipes handy for cleaning messy faces! Always stay close when your baby is eating to make sure they don’t choke.

When your baby has clearly had enough food or is refusing to eat, stop until the next mealtime. If s/he shows an interest in feeding him or herself, encourage this by providing them with their own spoon while you try to feed most of the meal with another spoon. 

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