Weaning: When To Start

Most babies are ready to move from an exclusive milk diet to one that includes solids at around six months, but you are the best judge of when it’s time to wean. Here are a few guidelines on weaning to help you make an informed choice.

Weaning your baby onto solids is an exciting milestone. To help you, this article includes essential weaning advice about when is the right time to start weaning your baby.

The importance of weaning

A healthy balanced weaning diet can improve your child’s eating habits for life, so it’s important to get him off to the right start, and we’re here to help you achieve just that.

What is weaning?

Complementary feeding or weaning starts when breastmilk alone is no longer sufficient for your baby. To meet his increasing nutritional requirements, other foods and liquids are needed, along with breast milk.

What if your baby doesn’t want to eat?

At 6 months, your baby may not be interested in eating solids. It is, however, important to keep trying. He will start to enjoy it soon. Moving on from a milk-only diet to solid food is an important stage in his overall development, because solid foods contain essential nutrients that his growing body needs, like iron. It is also rewarding to see your little one enjoy different kinds of foods!

3 signs that tell you he’s ready to wean

Your baby has his own way of communicating, but there are signs that hint he’s ready to try solid foods, like demanding more milk. When these 3 signs appear simultaneously, it means your baby’s ready for weaning.

1. He can use his neck muscles to hold his head steady and stay in a seated position.
2. He has hand-eye and mouth coordination, which means that he can look at food, pick it up and put it in his mouth, without your help.
3. He makes chewing motions. Your baby should be able to move food to the back of his mouth and swallow.