Weaning is integral to your baby’s early development. It is a transitional phase for your baby as he starts to experience new tastes and textures from a wider range of foods. Solid foods help your baby to practice lip, tongue, and jaw movements as he chews and swallows his food.  The importance of weaning your baby at the right time lays the groundwork for all-around development and healthy eating habits as your baby grows older.⁴

As far as developmental milestones go, weaning takes months. It’s an ongoing process that takes careful preparation, and hands-on practice. There will be various signs that appear from around 6 months of age, to show that your baby is ready for his first solid foods alongside infant formula.

When to Start Solid Food For Your Baby

The recommended age to start weaning your baby is between 4 to 6 months of age. Aside from age, you can also tell if your baby is ready to wean from his development. Signs your baby is ready for solids include:

• stay in a sitting position longer
• hold his head steady
• shows an interest in food – for example coordinating his eyes to look at the food
• using his hands to pick up food and put it into his mouth by himself
• swallow food (rather than spit it back out)

How to Start Your Baby on Solid Food

It is easier for your 6-month-old baby to eat food that is mashed, pureed, or strained and very smooth in texture. Between 7 and 10 months, your baby’s food can be a little thicker and coarser and subsequently between 11 months and above, the food needs to only be in small bite-sized pieces.

It can take time for your child to adjust to new food textures. You can introduce various food groups to him in no particular order¹, but it helps to start with fruits and vegetables.² These two food groups are the easiest to make baby-safe and baby-ready. 

Give your baby solid food made with only one main ingredient, pureed or mashed carrot or chicken, or an example. It is best to wait a few days before giving something new. This is the best way to observe any allergic reactions that may develop to each new ingredient¹. Once your baby becomes more used to eating solids, you can start to give him potentially allergenic foods like eggs, dairy, wheat, nuts, and fish.²

Keep in mind that breastmilk and/or formula milk should still make up the majority of your baby’s nutrition and nourishment, even as he starts to eat more solids. Continue giving your baby breastmilk during the weaning process.

Types of Baby's First Foods to Wean

Take a look at examples of what you can introduce as solid foods for your baby from the four major food groups below.²

• Vegetables – broccoli, carrot, parsnips, peas, cauliflower, spinach, kale, green beans, asparagus, butternut squash, cabbage, yams.
• Fruits – banana, apple, avocado, strawberries, blueberries, pears, melon, peach, plums, papaya, pineapple, mango, oranges.
• Starches – potato, sweet potato, baby cereal and grains, porridge, oatmeal, baby brown rice, quinoa, brown bread.
• Proteins – eggs, chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, fish, tofu, beans, lentils, chickpeas.

How Much Solid Food to Give to Your Baby

• Start the weaning process by giving only 1 teaspoon of soft or pureed single-ingredient food per day. Work your way up to around 6 teaspoons per meal.³
• Babies at 6 months old need only 1 meal per day. You can gradually increase the number of meals to 2-3 per day as your baby grows from 7-9 months old.³ During this time, you can also increase his solid food intake to around 5-10 teaspoons per meal³, or up to 110 grams per meal.⁴

Parents should keep in mind that, as each baby is different, there’s no strict portion size that he needs to abide by. Experts recommend feeding your baby according to appetite, and not according to portion size.^7-8

If your baby seems full or uninterested in eating, it’s best to stop feeding, even if he hasn’t finished the amount of food prepared. You can tell that your baby’s full or uninterested in eating with the following signs⁸:

• When offered food, your baby keeps their mouth shut or refuses to open his mouth.
• Your baby pushes the food away or turns his head away from the food.
• Your baby plays with his food instead of eating.

What is Baby-led Weaning?

Instead of spoon-feeding your baby, you can choose to let him feed himself with tiny bits of food. This approach is called baby-led weaning.²

Some parents choose baby-led weaning exclusively, while others use a combination of baby-led weaning with spoon-feeding. While there’s no one method that experts recommend more than the other, if you’re having a hard time spoon-feeding your baby, you can switch to baby-led weaning instead. 

Baby-led weaning usually begins with giving your baby matchstick-sized bits of food – not bite-sized finger food, as the latter can potentially be a choking hazard. Matchstick-sized foods are easier for your baby to hold. Most babies at 6 to 8 months haven’t mastered the pincer grasp yet (using the thumb and index finger) and tend to pick up food using the whole palm.

Once your baby develops the pincer grasp, which usually takes place around 8-9 months, food such as mango, cooked beans, steamed spinach and pasta can be cut into pieces.² By this time, your child would have also mastered swallowing and working through their gag reflex. 

The Benefits of Baby-led Weaning

Though evidence is mixed and inconclusive at the moment, some research suggests that baby-led weaning can lead to less fussy eaters and a reduced risk of obesity.⁵

That aside, there are plenty of proven advantages to this approach.^5-6 Baby-led weaning:

• Encourages your baby to pick up and explore food items on his own
• Introduces your baby to more diverse foods, tastes, smells, and textures
• Teaches your baby to eat intuitively at an early age
• Contributes to the development of fine motor skills
• Allows you to determine the foods your baby likes
• Fosters independence at an early age
• Allows your baby to take part in family meals at the table
• Encourages mothers like yourself to feed more homemade and healthy food to your baby
• Requires fewer expenses for commercial, pre-made baby food

Whilst switching to solids can be an uphill challenge for some parents, the joy of witnessing your baby achieve this milestone is certainly one to cherish. 

References:
¹ When, What, and How to Introduce Solid Foods – CDC. Accessed January 18, 2022. 
² What to feed your baby – NHS. Accessed January 18, 2022.
³ Stages of weaning – Our Health Service. Accessed January 19, 2022. 
⁴ Feeding Your Baby: The First Year – Cleveland Clinic. Accessed January 19, 2022.
⁵ Baby-led weaning: pros and cons – NCT UK. Accessed January 18, 2022. 
⁶ Baby-Led Weaning: What You Need to Know – Cleveland Clinic. Accessed January 18, 2022. 
⁷ Portion sizes during weaning – Solid Start. Accessed January 10, 2022.
⁸ Portion Sizes – Beaba. Accessed January 10, 2022.