The current recommendations state that you should begin weaning your baby with solid foods from the age of six months, but one celebrity Mom has kicked off a storm on social media by announcing she’s started before her daughter turns four months!
UK Celeb, Amy Childs, posted an image on her Instagram account of weaning bowls and spoons saying that she’s going to begin weaning her baby daughter Polly as she’s so hungry.
Naturally expecting to start a commenting frenzy, the Mother-of-one with Bradley Wright, even said: “I have got haters commenting on my wall….no hate please.”
However, the response was huge – with many highlighting the issues with early weaning as well as plenty of support by Moms who also weaned early.
Concerns around starting weaning before six months are because your baby’s digestive system (their stomach, guts, and kidneys) may not be developed enough to cope with food.
If your baby has a reaction to certain foods, their immune system is also underdeveloped at this age, so the current guidelines are to feed breastmilk or formula milk until they’re six months of age.
A post shared by Amy Childs (@amychilds1990) on
Signs Your Infant is Developmentally Ready for Solid Foods
- Digestive System Readiness: According to Kellymom.com, “although the maturity of baby’s digestive system is not something that we can readily observe, research indicates that 6 months appears to be ideal for avoiding increased illness and other health risks of too-early solids.” Your infant’s digestive system is most apt to be ready for solids after 6 months.
- Sitting up: Is your baby sitting up well and without support? If you answered no, then your baby is not ready for solid foods.
- The Pincer Grasp: Your baby has developed the “pincer grasp,” grabbing foods and other small objects between thumb and the forefinger.
- Bye,Bye Tongue Thrust: Your baby must be able to move food to the back of the mouth, rather than the early infancy reflex of the tongue thrust–pushing something placed on his or her tongue right back out of the mouth!
Some extra things to keep in mind:
- formula or breastmilk should still be the majority of your baby’s diet for the first year
- introduce new foods one by one to determine any allergies or gastrointestinal discomfort
- have fun
It’s not a race. Eventually, your child will be existing on all solid foods and you will miss the day in which all you had to do was clean up a poopy breastmilk or formula diaper. Once they start eating real food, boy, oh boy does diaper clean up take on a new meaning. Wink.
SaveSave