How to wean your baby from bottle

In today’s post we will be covering some basic guidelines for all the new mums who are not very sure what the best practices on how to wean your baby from bottle.

Endless baskets full of sodden crusted dirty bibs and clothes seem to be the only thing you wash when you have a newborn. You could possibly have hundreds of bibs, yet that would not be enough to keep up with the amount of times your wonderful little one decides that they no longer want all that milk in their tummy, and we all know that it has to go somewhere! So when the day comes that your baby begins to show an interest in food, you couldn’t feel happier!

Lots to wash
Endless baskets of washing?

When to start weaning your baby?

Effectively, weaning shouldn’t really start until your baby is at least 6 months old. A baby’s digestive system needs time to develop so that they are able to cope with hot and cold solid food. So for the first six months, your little one will need nothing more than formula or breast milk.

If you still have doubts, please read our guide on how long you should be breastfeeding for.

It’s also important to remember that your little one will also not need the standard three meals a day, at least yet anyway! So do not worry if your child doesn’t seem interested with solid food, there is nothing wrong with that. How much your baby eats is much less important than actually getting them used to the idea of eating solid food for themselves.

You have to let your baby naturally want to eat; you are not going to be able to force them to eat something that they have never seen before. Don’t worry about ending up having a high needs baby. It’s all about getting your child interested in food. Now for most babies, this should not be a hard task at all!

For most of their life’s already they have been either munching on their own hand or trying to gobble yours up, so introducing a soft piece of pear may be a welcome difference to them. Eating for the first time will be exciting for them, they will be touching, smelling and tasting something which they never would have experienced before. Let your little one discover and explore the new flavours and textures of the wonderful thing we call food.

Weaning Your Baby

Let your little one discover and explore new flavours

So when will you know that your baby is ready to eat solid food? There are usually three signs to look out for. One being that they can now stay sitting up unaided and hold their head steady. They should also be able to fully coordinate themselves, this meaning that they are able to use their eyes, hands and mouth to successfully pick up the food and eat themselves. Thirdly, your baby should be able to swallow food. If your little one is not ready or able to do this, they will simply push the food back out.

If you are about to wean your child, there are some important points to remember to help you get started. Make sure that whenever you feed your child, you never leave them alone as they could begin to choke whilst you are not in the room with them. A big key pointer of getting your child to feed on solid food is that they need to be interested in what they eat. They need to be interested in food (which I’m pretty sure they will be!)

Let your baby grab hold of the food themselves and chew and nibble on it as much as they like. They need to experience it! Don’t force your little one food if they do not want it as you can always try again another day. Always give your baby a small portion of food. Remember, they are only little and they have been so used to just drinking milk, solid food may fill them up quite quickly at first. Offer them small weaning spoons sized portions at a time and if it’s hot, always cool it down or check before they munch away!

When you are ready to start to introduce your baby into solid food, make sure you have the right equipment to do it.

What are weaning spoons?

Weaning spoons are the tool to introduce a baby to solid food, like soups. Silicone tipped ones are the most recommended type.

What portion should your baby have?

From 6 months they should have 5 to 10 spoonfuls per meal (weaning spoons), in 2 to 3 meals a day.

Feeding Portions

The average feeding portion size

Here is a few handy tips for when you begin to wean your child.

  • Be careful when you introduce food as they may be allergic to nuts, soya, wheat etc…
  • Carry on feeding your child milk alongside the introduction of solid food
  • Introduce food such as mashed or soft fruit such as apple, pears or banana’s or vegetables such as parsnips, potatoes, sweet potato or even baby food.
  • If you are looking to introduce more interesting foods you could prepare soft cooked meat, chicken or fish.
  • Introduce drinking cups which is filled with water to have with meals.
  • Most importantly, get them used to eat healthily at a young age

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