When is the right time to wean my baby?
All babies develop at different rates, some babies will be ready to tackle solid foods as early as four months old, whereas others may be happy to hold up on the solids until around six months or later. It is advised to leave weaning until six months if possible.
How to recognize that your baby is ready to be weaned:
Signs that your baby is ready to move onto solid foods include:
- If your baby is able to sit up (with support) and hold his or her head steady and upright, they could be ready to start trying solid food!
- Is your baby putting toys and other objects like their little fist in his or her mouth? Although also sign of teething, your baby might be trying to communicate to you that they want to try something new!
- If your baby is demanding his or her feeds earlier, despite the larger portions of milk you might be feeding your little one, and watching with intense curiosity when you or others eat, maybe your little one is ready to try something more solid themselves!
- If your baby is coordinated enough to grab food (or other objects) and put it in his or her mouth, this could be another sign that they’re ready to wean.
- At around six months most infants will probably have doubled their birth weight and this is also an indication that they are ready to consume solids.
- Your baby may have grown a couple of teeth and be making chewing motions as well and will have stopped salivating as much as they used to.
- Another sign is if your baby has started waking up in the night when he or she was previously sleeping through, this could indicate that your baby is getting hungrier and milk is becoming less satisfactory.