Introducing solids at 6 months

Weaning at six to seven months

The previous DoH advice was to wean between four and six months. It advised that new foods were introduced every 3–4 days. This was to reduce the risk of allergies, and avoid solids being increased too quickly, resulting in too rapid a decrease in the milk intake. Starting weaning at six months coincides with the age that a baby’s natural store of iron, with which he is born, is getting very low. Therefore it is important that you progress through the first stage weaning foods (here and here) much more quickly than previously recommended to ensure that your baby it introduced to iron-containing foods. The first recommended food to give is baby rice: choose one that is fortified with iron. Within a couple of days of introducing baby rice you should then progress quickly through the food groups to ensure that your baby is getting enough iron-rich foods. Introduce a new food every couple of days, and increase the amounts he is having every couple of days.

When starting weaning at six months you should also immediately go on to the tier system of feeding at lunchtime (see here), as this will encourage your baby to increase his solids more rapidly. If you do not reduce your baby’s milk intake at this feed you may find that he becomes very fussy about weaning, and rejects many of the foods you are introducing.

By seven months you should aim to have reduced your baby’s milk intake to three milk feeds a day, and to have established him on a proper lunch and tea with a small breakfast. If your baby is fussy about solids but still taking 4–6 milk feeds a day, it is important that you reduce the milk that he is taking so as to improve his appetite for the solids.

 

Introducing solid food

• When to wean
• Early weaning
• Which foods?
• Preparing and cooking food for your baby
• First stage weaning
• Weaning guidelines
• Early weaning at 4-5 months
• Introducing protein at 6 months
• Introducing solids at 6 months
• The 10pm feed
• Introducing solids at 11am
• Introducing solids in the evening
• Weaning plan at 4-5 months (Download PDF)
• Weaning plan at 5-6 months (Download PDF)
• Weaning plan at 6-7 months (Download PDF)

Quick links to important information