We’ve recently joined the Soil Association and they sent a couple of free recipe books, including “The Organic Baby & Toddler Cookbook”. I was hoping it would be a sensible book, at least mentioning that there is no *need* to puree if you don’t want to, but no.
It mentions starting weaning at 4 months (although only ‘raw’ fruit and vegetable juices, but it is still NOT milk) and then talks about giving purees from 6-8 months, and introducing finger foods afterwards (although I haven’t read it cover to cover so might have missed something)
While lot of people will say that weaning at 4 months was fine ‘in my day’, guidelines now clearly state that food before 17 weeks (and most people will take 4 months as 16 weeks, I certainly did at that stage) is proven to be potentially harmful to your baby. Their gut matures (and is able to deal with digesting food rather than just milk) sometime between 17 and 26 weeks so the best thing is to wait until 26 weeks. (I didn’t quite but I will next time round!). The best piece of advice, whether you are pureeing or not, is to wait until your baby is sitting almost unaided in their highchair and can pick up food and bring it to their mouth.
I know people decide to wean earlier based on all sorts of advice from parents and friends and even health visitors – advice that they have every reason to believe, and I know that there are some very good medical reasons to wean before 26 weeks, but these are the facts. This is not a dig at parents, but a dig at people who should know better publishing books with incorrect advice.
Of course someone is now going to come along and tell me there is something different about ‘raw’ fruit and veg juice that actually makes it safe, but I’m pretty sure that is not the case!
Anyway, for information, the NHS weaning leaflet really gives the right advice on starting weaning :
At about six months babies are ready to be moved onto a mixed diet.
Try giving solid foods when your baby:
– can sit up
– wants to chew and is putting toys and other objects in their mouth
– reaches and grabs accurately.
It is normal for babies aged three to five months to begin waking in the night when they have previously slept through. It is not necessarily a sign of hunger and starting solids will not make your baby more likely to sleep through the night again.”
(You can read the whole leaflet here http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_084164.pdf: )
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Continue reading No, recommended weaning age is NOT 4 months
