Feeding FAQ: 4-6 months – Weaning

Do you think my 5mth son is ready for weaning yet?

My 5 month old baby (I was overdue) has been a contented baby since birth, despite his low birth weight: 5lbs 3ozs. I am now becoming concerned as to when I should wean him. The reason I have contacted you is because the case studies of small babies are usually premature. There were a lot of tests done on my son at birth by the hospital but nothing was found as to why he is small. My health visitor is currently telling me to wean him even though he is only taking five feeds of 150-180mls each feed. Having done your routines with my 3 year old I am determined to wait as I don’t think he is ready. In short, do you have any advice on how to increase his intake/weight (he is staying perfectly on the centile line on which he was born so no concerns there). He presently weighs 11lbs 13ozs. I have tried to split feeds but he still takes the same amount through the 24hrs. Once he reaches six months (only 4 weeks away) will I have to wean him ready or not? He does sleep more than the routines suggest but he seems to need that amount.

At present he takes 180mls at 7.15am, 10.45am and 6pm. He takes 150mls at 2.30pm and 170mls at 10.30pm.

He naps at 9-10am, 12-2.30pm and 4-5pm. He is settled by 7pm.

Your son is taking the amount of milk a baby of his weight needs, so trying to increase this intake could be difficult. You could try offering him a small amount of milk before each nap in the day, which may take his intake up by 60-80mls. Whether this will increase his weight much, it is hard to say. As he has remained on the correct centile for his birth weight, his metabolism and body make-up are that of a light, small baby.

Once he reaches the age of six months, especially as he was a full term baby, although small he will no longer be able to get all the nourishment he needs from milk. He will need solids then to provide him with essential nutrients, such as iron. By the age of six months, a baby’s own stores of iron laid down at birth are fast depleting and, although formula milk is enriched with iron, milk alone cannot replenish them.

If you decide to wait until your son is six months old before introducing solids, you will need to progress quite quickly through the food groups so that you are able to provide meat or vegetarian alternatives, to avoid iron deficiency anaemia.

Delaying weaning much later than six months may mean you may come across problems with his refusing food and not developing his ability to chew properly. There does seem to be a “window” at around six months when it is advisable to start weaning, to help prevent these problems developing later. By seven months a baby has the ability to close their mouth firmly and refuse food.

Although the guidelines for beginning weaning do state that a baby should be having four or five full feeds a day [240mls/8ozs] your son’s age does also have to be taken into consideration. Providing he has good head control, which will mean he is able to swallow properly, and is using his hands to put things into his mouth he should start solids by six months.

Obviously you don’t want him to cut back too quickly on his milk intake, so maybe you should consider beginning a little before six months and offering your son a very small amount of baby rice at 11am. Begin with just one teaspoon after he has taken his milk. After a few days you could mix this with a ½ cube or less of pear puree, just to prevent any possible problems with constipation that the rice may bring. If you take things very slowly, watching that he still does take his full amount of milk each day, weaning should not bring any problems.

Discuss your concerns with your health visitor again and ask her for her reason in suggesting that you start weaning soon.

If you didn’t use Gina’s Weaning Guide with your first child it may be a good idea to have a look at a copy. This was written before the present guidelines were published, about delaying weaning until six months, and so the introduction of solid food is done very gradually. This means that a baby is being introduced to a wide variety of vegetables, fruits and protein in tasty and easy recipes but not cutting back on their milk too soon.