It’s been a grim start to the year with the press leaping on a review and reporting it as fact that babies need solids at 4 months.
Here at Lactivist, I believe that all babies are different and some will need solids before others but that is no reason to stop breastfeeding – especially in winter when mother’s milk protects against all sorts of bugs and baddies.
The fantastic Kellymom have a great checklist for readyness for solids:
- Baby can sit up well without support.
- Baby has lost the tongue-thrust reflex and does not automatically push solids out of his mouth with his tongue.
- Baby is ready and willing to chew.
- Baby is developing a “pincer” grasp, where he picks up food or other objects between thumb and forefinger. Using the fingers and scraping the food into the palm of the hand (palmar grasp) does not substitute for pincer grasp development.
- Baby is eager to participate in mealtime and may try to grab food and put it in his mouth.
This competition to win an ‘I’ll wean when I’m ready’ Lactivist t-shirt ends on the 23rd January 2011, it is open to people in Europe only – sorry! A winner will be chosen from the entrants and informed by email and on www.lactivist.net.
Please share this! The more the merrier 
To enter, leave a comment below telling us your experience or thoughts of weaning. Have you got any good advice? Any funny stories? Any good websites about introducing solids? Any fantastic recipes?
I’ll start you off
My son was late to solids, I introduced him to a lovingly dug up and cooked carrot, mashed up and pushed through a sieve and he spat it right out. He has only just started to think of carrots as a viable option now 7 years later and hates mushy food. I worried about it for a bit then decided to just see how it went, trying every now and then and a few months later he grabbed the spoon and ate the lot – he was ready! After that it was a non stop adventure involving removing rice cake particles from every surface of the house and discovering that bananas can stain – and of course solid poo, which, if you are really bored you can read about here : http://www.lactivist.net/?p=8.
There is also an excellent article on Baby Led Weaning by Laura of Brightspark Slings here http://www.lactivist.net/?p=7 and of course Gillian Rapleys book ‘Baby Led Weaning’ which came a bit late for me but has ace reviews.
The competition is now closed and the winner was Jessi!
Care Instructions – Shopping Bag 
Any Old Cow – Shopping Bag 
Mummy Milk Rocks – Shopping Bag 
My 6-months-old baby Eddie loves his Mummy milk, and is a chubby boy with sparkly eyes. I just started giving him a bit of solids, just as a taste, he manages about a couple of tiny spoons at a time and then loses interest and wants a breast. For him any solids so far are a kind of appetiser. His fave porridge is Holle banana porridge, and I agree with him, it tastes lovely unlike many other branded porridges. I will continue b/f-ing him as long as he wants. With my older son, I breastfed him for more than 2 years, he was eating solids but still loved to be nursed.
I don’t care about all the latest fads in eating, and the official advice on when to wean or stop breastfeeding is not going to change my opinion.
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My little boy was contantly hungry so i got to the stage when i knew it was time for solids but to ease the transition i just mixed the food with breastmilk when blending so he seemed to take it quite well just start slow and gradually build up.
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Try not to beat yourself up about anything – we’re all different and so are our children. At postnatal group, all the mums used to go on about boiling and mushing up veg and putting them in ice cube trays – it came to me & I just said ‘I use Hipp’ (jars). Disdainful looks, but my son is fine – I had a gazillion other pressures and I want to be a mum, not mother earth. First son was also rubbish at breastfeeding – I agonized over it – but I tried for 6 months, so he got plenty.
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The one thing I have learnt about weaning is
1. Have plenty of bibs
2. Be ready for a mess
3. Make sure you have a camera to hand
Also
4. There must be a conspiracy between baby food makers and bib makers as all food is bright orange and hard to wash out.
5. Raspberry blowing babies will coat you in baby food once they’ve had enough by blowing raspberries in the mouthful your attempting to feed therefore coating you in creamy chicken supper
6. A baby with a cold is never a good idea to feed. One sneeze and again your coated.
Lesson is – the whole weaning thing is a messy business but fun to watch. =)
The experiences with Holly May so far and shes only 6m god help me………..(FYI I do have a 7 year old as well though)
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