How late can/should I leave weaning?

[Chickpea]

Ok, I think I've bleated on about this on here before but Esme is STILL showing no signs of wanting to wean. Still sleeps well, is satisfied with milk etc. But she's now over 6 months and I'm wondering if I should just do it, or if I can still hold off. I've tried her a couple of times and she just isn't interested, pushes everything out of her mouth with her tongue, shudders, retches - etc etc.

So how long can I leave it?

If it's ok to leave it another couple of weeks or so it might be a good idea as she's still in her harness and as she can't be bathed it could be difficult to get her cleaned up if she makes a mess!

any ideas on this greatly appreciated

thx

cpx

[lucypede]

Has she got good hand/mouth coordination? If so, i'd try giving her a chunk of banana or soft pear or even a rusk and let her explore the taste/feel of things. It could be she just hates being spoonfed. There are one or two threads about baby-led weaning on here and it might suit her better?

[bluecow]

I'm not going to be much help, sorry! But after you mentioning this on my sleep thread I thought I'd come and offer some support! It will be nice to see what others have to say too.

My LO is now 26 weeks so only just over the 6 months.

He does the same as Esme :yeahright: :yuck: although he did on one occasion eat some Ready Brek which I now think was out of curiosity. I have offered him finger foods such as cooked sweet potato and as soon as it was in his mouth he spat it out, yet he will happily try to eat anything other than food!

I have been offering something every 2-4 days and I think I will leave it a bit longer now, not sure how long though!

[goldilocks]

Have you talked to your HV about it? If it was me I would want to get her started. It takes babies a while to learn to push food to the back of their mouths, and is natural for them to push it out with their tongues at first. They learn quite quickly though.

As for the mess- I found that in the beginning of weaning it wasnt too bad. Now she's grabbing the spoon and trying to do it herself its a different story though. I could do with one of those riot sheilds the police use as it goes everywhere :lol:

[noo noo]

Just googled it...

There are also a number of reasons why you should not leave weaning too late (ie. after six months):

Your baby needs to get used to the foods before he/she actually needs it. By the age of six months, your baby will have used up the store of iron he/she was born with. Therefore from this point on, iron will have to be included in the diet. However if you wait until this store is used up and then your baby doesn't take to the solids, there is going to be a period of time when he/she is taking in no iron at all.
Delaying weaning also means the process may prove much more difficult. This is because babies are usually most willing to try new foods and flavours when they are between four and six months old.

[skylark]

noo noo, that is interesting as the advice now is that ideally you should wait till they are 6 months before introducing solids. There must be some form on iron in formula and breastmilk - surely?

[seashell]

My HVs said that if you start at 6 months you need to progress quicker than if you started at say 4 months. Are you breast or bottle feeding Chickpea?

I think that i read if you are breastfeeding it is advised that you take vitamin supplements which would contain more iron and vit D and if you are formula feeding you can give them Forward milk - both of these act as a safety net - as when you start weaning it can be a while as Noo Noo said until they are eating a substantial amount and having the iron they need.

[IncyWincySpider]

I found http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/index.html very interesting. This seems to suggest that some babies just aren't ready to eat until 8 or 9 months but that it totally varies from baby to baby. It also has a bit about the iron and says that there is iron in both breast and formula milk. I'd keep offering a bit every few days and if she's not interested don't push it.

[redhed]

Don't know where to link to it online but I thought there were a couple of other reasons for weaning soonest after 6m:
- the muscles used for speech are the same ones used in chewing. So though late weaning won't necessarily lead to a speech disorder (could be fine) if they are going to have any problems they'll have a head start if they can chew well already.
- there is a finite period where they are amenable to new tastes. I can't remember if it is 6-12m or 6-9m. But anyway, after that, they start getting this toddler stubbornness about trying new things. So ideally, you want to get them happy to eat pretty much everything you ever eat within that window of acceptance.

[Ruby]

God there's some serious Breastfeeding propaganda on that Kellymom site...

I'm also of the opinion that if you wait until 6 months you need to wizz through it a bit quicker. There is definitely a window of opportunity when it comes to weaning. There's actually not very much iron in breastmilk. Iron stores do deplete after 6 months and lack of iron can cause lack of appetite, so you can end up in a vicious cycle.

But, having said all that, it's a bit difficult if she's not showing any signs. I'd agree that it's probably best to offer it every couple of days, but don't push it. Try different things, some babies hate baby rice?

[Chickpea]

thx for everyone's advice, some interesting stuff there.

What I think I'll do is offer her a piece of cooked butternut today and see how she gets along with it, she loves to put everything in her mouth right now so hopefully it'll work. If not, we'll try again in a couple of days time again

Oh - seashell - she's formula fed btw.

thx again
cpx

[Julesb]

For the first couple of weeks i'd be very surprised if much of what went into my DD's mouth was swallowed. It seemed to end up in her hair,on her hands or on the floor.

I think the main idea is to get them used to moving food from the front to the back of their mouths.
Mine wasn't really showing any signs, but when she hit 6 months i knew that i had to give it a go. Although as i said the first couple of weeks were a disaster really.
Try not to get too stressed about it though, because she might pick up on it and it may make the situation worse.
As Lucypede said, maybe try to give her a rusk or something similar to have a suck/chew on.

[Chickpea]

Well, we've had another try today and still got a fair bit of gagging/shuddering, but after a while I think it definitely got better. We tried some pureed butternut mixed with some formula and then I gave her a chunk of banana to slurp on. The banana really only made it as far as her hands before being squished, smeared and then thrown (which apparently was hilarious). But I think we're getting somewhere!

was hoping to add a pic of her which I took, but have absolutely no idea how to do it - can anyone tell me how?

cpx