Weaning
Weaning your baby is an important step in his or her healthy development and involves introducing him or her to foods other than breast or formula milk.
This is usually done when he or she is around 6 months old, and, although it is often a messy business, it also fun time for parents & toddlers, represents another milestone reached.
Finger foods
Once your baby is old enough to start feeding himself or herself (usually around 8 months old, when babies begin to explore things with their mouths), you can try giving him, or her, the following finger foods:-
- Small pieces of steamed vegetables, such as carrots. Don’t give small round vegetables such as peas or sweetcorn, as these could cause choking.
- Small pieces of soft fruit:- such as bananas or ripe pears. Don’t give whole grapes or any fruit with pits or pips, since these are choking hazard.
- Raisins, but limit the amount because these have a laxative effect if eaten in quantity.
- Bread sticks & rice cakes, which are also good for dipping.
- Rusks, but make sure they do not contain sugar.
- Small pieces of toast, which can be spread with any number of foods, including pureed vegetables. Toast can also be used for dipping.
When to start
It’s recommended that babies shouldn’t be weaned before the age of 6 months. Until he or she is 6 months old, your baby can receive all the nutrients he or she needs from milk (ideally breast milk) and only after that time will he or she needs additional food.
Certainly before 4 months his or her digestive system is immature and not able to cope with certain foods. So feeding him or her solids in more likely to trigger an allergic reaction or leads to the development of eczema, asthma or hay fever. These are allergic conditions.
You, yourself will know when you should start to wean your baby because he or she will be hungry after a full feed, he or she will be increasingly hungry between feeds, or he or she will wake up hungry in the night.
Solids should not take place of milk as your baby still needs to drink at least 600ml (1 pint) of breast milk or formula a day until he or she is 1 year old. So you must make sure that any food he or she eats allows him or her to drink his or her bottle or breastfeed sufficiently to maintain this intake.
Introducing solids
Start by introducing solids once a day, particular meal time and continue with this pattern for a few days until your baby seems to have got a hang of eating. Once he or she is eating well at this meal, you can introduce solids at another meal, until your baby is having the equivalent of three meals a day. Plus the usual quantity of milk.
Many parents start off with baby rice. (I started of with fruit pureed). You will need only one tablespoonful at first.
Do not add fat or salt, your baby doesn’t need them.
You will soon find that you are able to cook a week or so of meals in about an hour. Freeze the food in ice cubes trays and then put the cubes in labelled freezer bags.
First foods
The following represents the sorts of food you can safely give your baby around the age of 6 months.
- Around six months: potatoes, courgettes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, leeks, apple, pears, bananas (ripe uncooked)
- After 6 months, your baby’s digestive system will be more settled, so you can slowly start to introduce a wider range of food.
- From 6 months: Mushed peas and other pulses, diary products such as full-fat yoghurt (do not give cow’s milk as a drink yet), chicken, red meat including liver (introduce between 6 and 9 months), wheat-based foods such as bread or pasta.
- From 9 months: Tomatoes, red fruit, citrus fruit, grapes, fruit that has kernels, such as plums and peaches, fish (but no shellfish).
- From 12 months: Eggs, cow’s milk (as a drink).
Foods to avoid
Certain foods are to be avoided, during your baby’s first year because they are nutritionally poor or positively unhealthy. Others should be avoided because they are known to cause allergies in susceptible babies, particularly if you, your partner or close relatives suffer from allergies.
Nutritionally poor or unhealthy foods
Foods that are very high in salt, such as crisps and ready-prepared adult foods should not be given because they could harm your baby. Sugary foods, such as cakes & biscuits, have little nutritional value and only serve to give your baby a sweet tooth. Conversely, low-fat foods should be avoided as well. Children need fat in their diets because it provides instant energy and allows them to metabolize certain essential vitamins. You should have no concerns, if your baby has a steady weight gain. For this reason, children should drink only full-fat milk until they are 5 years old.
Special diets
If you are raising your child on a vegetarian or vegan diet, you need to be particularly vigilant that he or she is getting all the vitamin & minerals required.
Children need correct development on his or her bones, muscles, nervous system and brain.
People following vegan diet are particularly at risk of vitamin deficiencies. Since calcium and vitamin B12 (both of which are essential for proper growth) are only found in animal products, you should consult your doctor or a state-registered dietician to ensure that your baby is following a balanced diet.
Allergenic foods
At birth, your baby’s immune system is not fully developed. If you or your family have a history of allergic tendencies (such as asthma or eczema, for example), your baby may react adversely to certain foods if they are given too early.
Allergic reactions occur when your immune system feels under attack and produces antibodies to counteract the foreign substance.
The most common foods are; eggs, nuts, sesame seeds, soya, wheat, fish, shellfish and cow’s milk. Some people can be affected with cheese.
Eggs should be avoided in the first year. With nuts and sesame seeds are an increasing problem for many children, should be avoided until at least three years old.
Shellfish should be avoided until he or she is at least 2 years old.
When is it safe to give milk?
Cow’s milk should not be given as a drink before the child is 1 year old.
However, giving your baby yoghurts, small amount of cheese and other such diary products in small quantities is acceptable.
