When should weaning start

Weaning should not start before neuromuscular co-ordination has developed sufficiently to allow the infant to eat solids, nor before the gut and kidney have matured to cope with a more diverse diet. Most babies are ready to start on solid foods between 4 and 6 months. Your Health Nurse or Health Visitor will guide you as to when to start weaning. By this age the infant’s physiology and development have matured to cope with the weaning diet and most infants are ready to experience new tastes and textures. All babies are different and your baby will let you know when the time is right. There are a number of helpful signs to look out for:

• Your baby may demand milk more frequently, or still appear hungry after a milk feed.
• After sleeping through the night, they may start waking up again.
• Your baby may start sucking her fists or try to put objects in their mouth.
• They start showing an interest in the food that others are eating.

At Milupa we are dedicated to providing information, advice and support to help you make an informed choice about your child’s nutrition and development.

Weaning foods are given to begin the step by step process of changing over to a normal diet of solid foods. The baby learns to eat foods from a spoon and becomes accustomed to a variety of flavours. The rate at which weaning foods are introduced and the order in which types of food are first given, should be tailored to the individual growth, motor development and requirements of the child.

During the first few months, before the infant is introduced to solids, the digestive system contains many friendly bacteria that help maintain healthy digestion and support the body’s natural defenses. During weaning, and as the infant gets older, the composition of friendly bacteria changes to a diversified pattern.

The first weaning food usually consists of some strained vegetable or fruit puree. Also cereals like baby rice are appropriate first weaning foods. At first, only a few teaspoons are given and if the infant reacts well to the food, this can be gradually increased to larger portions which gradually replace feeds of breastmilk or infant formula. By this time, weaning foods become an essential part of the total intake of nutrients.