3 Essential Tips to Follow For Weaning Your Baby

Wimbledon Day Nursery

Every child develops and reaches milestones at various stages and development can’t be measured precisely. However, there are certain guidelines that you can follow to make sure that your child is growing and developing when expected.

When should I start weaning my baby?

Some parents start weaning their baby at four months. However, child health specialists and child care experts from nurseries in Wimbledon say otherwise. As per their advice, you should start offering your baby solid foods when they are around six months old. Before this, your little one's digestive system isn't developed enough to handle the solid food. If they seem hungrier before hitting six months, you can always give them extra milk. Remember this; some babies may take longer to adjust than others. Here are some super tips to consider when you are weaning your baby.

Signs to look out for

Your baby may be ready for solid food if:

●     They are able to swallow their food easily. Babies who aren’t prepared will spit their food back out, getting more around their face than in their mouths.

●     They can coordinate their eyes, mouth, and hands looking for food, picking it up and eating it all by themselves.

Relax and make it fun!

By this time, your baby has only known milk and water, so new solid food textures and tastes are going to be unusual to them. It’s important that from the start you introduce a wide range of foods, so you and your baby can figure out what they desire and dislike.

              Be ready for a lot of spitting out and funny faces, but don’t stress them too much about it. By building a relaxed, exciting atmosphere, you can help encourage them to try more and more. Even if most of the food is on their face, loads of praise and smiley face will help them get used to solid food.

Keep trying

Don’t be down if your baby refuses to eat a certain food or spit it out. Getting used to the texture as well as taste is a big thing for them, it’s all about patience and time. Keep trying with the same food item several times and try to introduce new foods along with their favourites, so they'll get a good range.

Let them experiment

As your baby grows, the more independent they will become. The thought of the mess of food may fill you with the worry of cleaning it. But, you should worry more about how much they are eating. Let them be in control. When they can and naturally with a bit of help, let your baby feed themselves with their cutlery. They’ll love mimicking you!