Weaning

Feeding children can be a worry. What should children eat? Can I afford to give it to them? Will they eat it??

Weaning your child can be a difficult period. The information here will help you when starting solids and help you to help them eat healthily.

When Should You Introduce Solid Foods?

It is generally advised not to begin offering any form of solid foods until your baby is 6months old. For the first 6 months babies digestive systems are too immature to cope with anything other than breast or formula milk. Leaving weaning for as long as possible also reduces the risk of your baby having an adverse reaction to certain foods and developing food allergies. This is particularly important if there is a known family history of allergies, e.g., excema or asthma.

Signs Your Baby Is Ready To Start Weaning

Although guidelines recommend using 6 months as a starting point for weaning, obviously, all babies are different and not all will be ready as this age. If you feel that your baby is showing signs of being ready to start solids earlier than 6 months, you should mention it to your health professional. They may advise you to avoid certain foods, e.g., eggs; gluten’ dairy products and fish.

Some useful indicators of it being time to try to introduce solids can be:

Baby can hold his head up well and maintain a good sitting position, being supported if necessary while you spoon feed him.

Baby is a good weight, shows interest in your food and makes chewing movements, and maybe has started cutting his first teeth.

There is no right or wrong time, you should remember to always go at your own baby’s pace. If you try to introduce solid foods a few times and he is not interested then try again in another week or so. Never rush or force feed – allow plenty of time for feeding and give your baby the chance to learn how to move solid food from the front of the mouth to the back in order to swallow it. This is a whole new experience for him – the food will taste and feel like nothing he has ever had before so be prepared for him to pull lots of faces and even spit the food out! Accept that mess is an inevitable part of weaning and invest in a splashproof mat and plenty of bibs for baby.

STAGE ONE 'HOW TO'

The most popular first food used for weaning is a baby rice cereal, which is mixed with breast or formula milk.

The best time to offer your baby his first taste of solids is towards the end of one of his usual feeds, when he has had nearly enough. Give him a teaspoon of baby rice using a purpose made rubber tipped feeding spoon or, if you prefer, just the end of your finger dipped into the rice. You can then continue baby’s feed as before – introducing solids mid-feed in this way should mean that baby is not too hungry, which could make him frustrated, but not too full either, in which case he will not be interested in anything you offer.

At first, try baby with solids once a day, gradually increasing the amount you offer. Always make sure everything used for feeding is really clean and throw away any leftover food. Once baby is eating 2 or 3 tablespoons of baby rice cereal a day, and providing it is being well-tolerated, that is with no signs of diarrhoea, colic or other tummy problems, then you can think about trying a new taste. Suitable first foods are cooked, pureed fruit or vegetables, for example, apple, carrot, sweet potatoes, parsnip, pears or mashed bananas. It may be wise to try baby with vegetables before fruit in case he develops a preference for the sweeter tastes and refuses to try anything else!

Prepare cooked veg plainly with no added salt, sugar or spices. Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners , which have no nutritional value, and you must continue to use baby’s usual formula or breast milk in cooking, as, at this stage, cows milk is not suitable.

When you are happy that your baby is coping with the new foods, you can try combining 2 or more fruits or veg – e.g., apricot and apple; apple and pear; broccoli and potato, etc. It is a good idea to offer as wide a variety of tastes as possible at this stage to help avoid fussiness later on.

Tip: Making up batches of cooked pureed food and freezing it in ice-cube trays is a great and convenient way to feed.

BLW - BABY-LED WEANING

An alternative approach to the weaning process is the BLW – baby-led weaning method which focuses on self-feeding using finger foods from the word ‘go’. As there is no evidence to suggest that offering pureed food is the best way this alternative method may be suitable for some babies who show signs of being able to hold and chew their food. This may seem rather risky to some parents and obviously no child should be left alone whilst using any method of feeding but certainly, if the child is ready, and the tongue thrust reflex will cause baby to spit the food out if he is not, it is well worth a try.

Food must be offered in easy to hold baton shaped pieces, harder foods are lightly cooked to make it easier to chew. Allow plenty of time and let baby decide when he has had enough and even if this doesn’t seem much to you do not attempt to feed with a spoon to ‘top-up’.

STAGE TWO - 7-9 Months

Now you can try to move on from offering solid food at just one feed to solid food at two and then three feeds a day. Typically, at this stage the feeding schedule would be:

1st feed – breast/bottle 2nd feed- breast/bottle followed by baby rice or fruit/veg puree 3rd feed - breast/bottle followed by “ “ “ “ 4th feed – breast/bottle followed by “ “ “ “ 5th feed - breast or bottle

As baby might, by now, have one or two teeth it is possible to make the consistency of the food thicker and maybe introduce lumpier textures – i.e., mashing rather than puree. I tried peas when my twins were being weaned and they actually gagged when they felt the lumps in their mouths so not too lumpy to begin with!!

If baby is eating well from a spoon, you can now increase the range of foods you offer, using the one-at-a-time rule to help identify any reaction. Try starchy foods, such as bread, pasta, cous-cous, oats, breakfast cereals; well cooked eggs; fish; lean meat and poultry or lentils/pulses; dairy products such as yoghurt; cheese; cows milk in cooking for cheese sauces or similar. Aim for 2-3 servings of starchy foods and 1 serving of protein per day.

Also, baby will now be more able to start eating finger foods. You can offer him cooked carrot sticks, banana, baby breadsticks , cheese, toast, pear, melon, etc. Always stay nearby if baby is feeding himself to make sure that he doesn’t choke.

STAGE THREE - 9-12 months

As baby grows and develops it becomes so much easier at feeding times. If he is now sitting up unaided you can bring him to the table in a highchair and make mealtimes a family occasion. This is when everyone needs to wear bibs and hats!!

Although you will still be giving some breast or bottle feeds, by this stage, a large proportion of baby’s nutritional requirements will be met by the solid food he receives. The appearance of several teeth should mean that pureed and soft food has gone and that self-feeding is progressing, maybe now even to baby attempting to use a spoon himself.

At stage 3, aim to be giving baby 3 meals a day as well as around 500mls of breast or formula milk. Try to include 3 or 4 servings of starchy food, e.g., bread, pasta, potatoes. One serving of protein, e.g., meat, fish,. eggs or pulses and one or two servings of dairy products, e.g., cheese, yoghurt, etc. Avoid salt, sugar and artificial sweeteners. Food, such as breakfast cereal, can be sweetened with pureed fruits such as banana if necessary. Give baby water to drink instead of fruit juices and squashes if possible and do not use cows milk as a main drink until after 12 months – then use whole milk, not skimmed or semi-skimmed. Babies under one year should not be given honey as it carries a risk of botulism, caused by bacteria.

EATING HEALTHILY

You can do a great deal to help set up baby with healthy eating habits for life by ensuring he eats a balanced, nutritious diet including a varied selection of foods and avoids sugar, salt and artificial additives. Try not to bribe or reward your child with food as this may lead to an unhealthy relationship with eating – children soon learn that refusing meals is a great way to get attention. Try to encourage baby to snack on fruits and vegetables rather than biscuits, crisps, etc., as this will help to avoid problems such as childhood obesity.

Until 2 years of age, your child needs a certain amount of fat in his diet for energy so ensure you always use full fat versions of milk, cheese and yoghurt. Children older than 2 years, with no health problems, can be given lower fat products if desired.

Babies and children do not need an enormous amount of extra fibre in their diet, so don’t be tempted to offer solely wholegrain breads and pastas as this may cause digestive problems. Some wholegrain products are fine but mix with white cereals and breads to avoid over filling small tummies with bulky fibre.

PROBLEMS

One problem you may encounter during weaning is food allergy and food intolerances. Only a very small number of children will actually develop a true food allergy, which is a severe reaction to a certain food, e.g., nuts or shellfish, and can be life-threatening in some people, common symptoms are itchy rash, swellings of tongue or lips, sneezing, shortness of breath. A more common problem is food intolerance which is just a sensitivity to a particular food or foods, such as bread or dairy products. Symptoms, which develop and worsen over time, can include stomach pain, bloating, diarrhoea or wind.

If you think your baby or child is experiencing an allergic reaction to any food you should seek medical attention urgently. If a food intolerance is suspected it can be helpful to eliminate one type of food at a time and keep a note of how this affects symptoms. This will be useful if you go on to ask the advice of a health professional such as a dietician or GP.

Food allergies can only be managed by ensuring that your child does not ever come into contact with the culprit food. Food intolerances can be helped by limiting any food which causes adverse reactions – small quantities will not normally cause problems.

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