Do I have to wean my baby?

Question

My daughter is 6 months old on Saturday, and more than satisfied with her milk. She sleeps through the night, is bang on average in weight and always has been. She was born at 41 weeks so wasn't premature.

I'm keen to avoid the puree and mashing stages and progress straight to a more age appropriate baby led weaning method.

I find it hard to believe that magically on Saturday she will need solid food overnight. Do I HAVE to start weaning or can I wait until she seems ready?

Thanks in advance.

By weaning I mean start on solid food, I understand that milk is the primary source of nutrition. I want to know if I can wait longer to introduce solids because I just don't get the feeling that she needs them yet.

Answer 1

Absolutely, wait until she's ready. And you will know when that is. You're her mom, and I'm sure you'll recognize when she starts acting interested in table food.

I just have to laugh at all the crazy advice on here about starting solid foods! "She won't learn to talk" "She'll choke on thicker foods" "She won't learn to be independent" "She'll be nursing till she's 14" ... That's all ridiculous!! Where do people get this?

Skip the puree stage if you want. Truthfully, it's not necessary. And I guarantee she'll learn to talk without them. :) When she's ready (in a week or in 4 months), she'll show interest in something other than milk, and she'll learn how to eat it just fine.

You obviously have a good mama instinct, so go ahead and follow it!

Answer 2

You can wait until your baby is ready if that is what you want to do. No one says that you HAVE to start feeding your baby anything at any age.

Just remember when making your decision, that a every taste of everything you are giving her now will help her decide what foods she will or won't like later.

The food she is eating now will help her develop a taste for new tastes and textures as she grows.

However your point is a valid one, if you do not feel like your baby is ready, then you don't have to feed her mashed/solid foods yet. A baby's primary source of nutrition is and should be breastmilk/formula for the first full year of life, anything else you give her is just fluff.

But remember that this is not a decision to be made selfishly, I wouldn't let my son use bottles until he was 4 months old. I told everyone that I didn't want him to get nipple confusion and reject his milk, but in reality, I wanted that feeding time to be just for me and him.

Answer 3

Weaning , even though it can be stressful for us mummies is actually an adventure and fun experience for the lil ones. As your baby becomes more active they will really need more substantial food to keep the energy levels up. Also chewing helps them to develop their vocal side.It all plays a part in their growing because even though some may like to, you can't keep them babies forever.
Try eating in front of her and if she shows an interest then she's telling you "Mummy im ready" and you should listen to that.
I've been weaning since my baby was 5 months starting with mash and pureed, shes now almost 7 months and enjoys lumpier foods that she can chew on as its a challenge to her, If you don't feel confident enough then get some support from a health visitor.
Introducing your baby to food should be fun for you both and if your not happy about then your baby will pick up on this.
Good Luck!!

Answer 4

She is fine without solids at this point. Solids made my daughter SICK until 10 months old. Once her digestive system was ready, so was she. She's never had a problem "knowing how to eat". She will and can eat anything I put in front of her, and has never had a bad reaction. I see nothing wrong with waiting, and I know there are resources that will support that.

"Some toddlers are eating very few solids, or even no solids, at 12 months. This is not unusual and really depends on your child - there is quite a big variation. We like to see breastmilk making up the majority (around 75%) of baby's diet at 12 months. Some babies will be taking more solids by 12 months, but others will still be exclusively or almost-exclusively breastfed at this point. It is normal for baby to keep breastmilk as the primary part of his diet up until 18 months or even longer. An example of a nice gradual increase in solids would be 25% solids at 12 months, 50% solids at 18 months, and 80% solids at 24 months.

Some children take a little longer to begin taking solids well. Some of them have food sensitivities and this may be their body's way of protecting them until their digestive system can handle more. Others are late teethers or have a lot of difficulty with teething pain. At this point there is NOTHING that your milk lacks that your child needs, with the possible exception of enough iron. As long as his iron levels are within acceptable levels and when he does eat you are offering him foods naturally rich in iron, then you have plenty of time before you need to worry about the amount of solids he's getting."
http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/toddler-foods.html


Info about starting a breastfed baby on solids: http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html

You should check out this yahoo group for nursing moms:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/milkdrunk/

Its a great place to ask questions from people who are actually educated on the subject, unlike a lot of people here on Answers. Its also a great place to share your own experiences, and just meet other moms like you. Keep up the good work!!!!

(bigbird's advice is ridiculous. I dont care what english people do. My daughter was breastfed for over a year, and speaks better than most 2 year olds. Introducing food just to help with language skills is laughable. Talking and reading to your child a lot is what they really need.)

Answer 5

I was told with my son that breast milk or formula should be there main source of nutrition until they are a year old. You can introduce solids slowly and in the correct order which i believe is rice cereal then fruits next vegetables and finally meats but you should also stick with the same food for 3-5 days to see if there is an allergic reaction if you introduce to many things at once and they do form some sort of reaction you won't know what caused it

Answer 6

You do not have to wean her yet. In fact, the sooner you start solid food, the more likely she is to develop food allergies.

My youngest daughter at 10 months was still not interested in solid food and I was concerned so I asked her doctor, he said not to start her on the food until she was ready, and that it was better to nurse her.

Don't be taken in by what "they" say, you go with your mother's instincts, you know what's best for your baby. Sounds like she doing great so I would keep doing what you're doing.

Answer 7

There is no reason to wean. If you and she both enjoy it, keep going, even if you do start solids. She needs the breastmilk. She doesn't NEED the solids yet. If you decide to wait, I would still introduce pureed foods first but your baby will only need to do that a short time because her mouth will be better able to accommodate chunkier food if she's older.

Keep nursing...as long as you want!

Answer 8

It could go either way. Weening a baby gives them 2 options - what they had before, and what they will have. And doing that could go either way.
1. Your daughter could use it as a positive transition - seeing what she can have - and showing you how she reacts to it.
2. Could make her go further back - and take longer for her to try it again.

I started my little one on the next thing - with what he already had - weening him off in a not-too-subtle way. I just added on the new, and decreased the old. He did great - showed signs that he wanted to try new things, and once he had the taste of 'real food' - he was DONE with what he had before!! So - it could go that way for you, too.

Just don't switch her too fast - or skip a step. Because she doesn't have all of the motor skills yet - and it could cause her to choke, or irritate her little tummy.

Good luck!

Answer 9

You don't have to start weaning at all. Most kids eat very little food between 6 months and 11 months. It's mostly play. The primary reason for giving food at this stage anyway is for the iron, so just stick with iron rich foods.

Babies don't normally naturally wean until between 2 and 3 years old.

Also, there is no rule that you have to give one food at a time. Most of the world doesn't do that: kids get what's for dinner for the rest of the family. That was an eye opener for me (and consider that they have less problems with allergies).
BTW, tomato products and spaghetti are totally wasted foods. They go right through their system, often barely digested. So, skip that entirely until they are much older.

Answer 10

You don't have to ween her just because she can now eat solid food. You continue giving her milk (breast or formula) and give her the other foods in addition.

The thing is, is that their nutritional needs change around six months and they start to need things other than just breast milk or formula.

Start small giving her one new food a week, to make sure that she doesn't have allergic reactions. And giving vegies first is always a good idea so she doesn't get spoiled by the sweetness of fruit.