Archive for the ‘Weaning’ Category

The Department of Health issued Guidelines in 1998 suggesting that infants should now be weaned from six months onwards rather than the traditional ‘four month’ milestone that many Health Visitors previously suggested.

So when is it right to begin weaning your infant? The Department of Health suggest that the following signs are a useful way in which to identify when your infant is ready to begin weaning.

1. Your infant shows interest in chewing, whether its their hands or on objects
2. Your infant is able to grab and reach things with accuracy
3. Your infant is sitting upright unaided.

The NHS ‘ Start 4 Life’ campaign recently introduced ‘The Banana Test’ which is said to be an efficient method to identify whether your infant is ready to begin weaning. According to the NHS, if your infant is able to grab a piece of banana and put it into their mouths and eat it, then they are ready to begin eating solids.

With current guidelines suggesting that we should withhold weaning until six months of age, it does seem odd that many of the infant foods on supermarket shelves suggest that they are suitable from ‘four months upwards’. According to the Government Guidelines, these foods are not following recent research and therefore the age guidelines printed on infant foods are outdated and incorrect.

Weaning before your child is ready can increase the chances of your child contracting infections and allergies. Until six months of age, your child’s digestive system is still developing.

Although parents are now warned that they should be in “No rush to mush”, it is hard when your infant who has been sleeping through for the past three or four months begins to wake in the middle of the night. The Governments current guidelines state that infants under six months who wake in the middle of the night are not hungry for solids and should be quenched with either breast milk or formula.

However, if it were completely wrong to begin weaning at four months of age, as has previously been suggested (until 1998 when the Guidelines suddenly changed) then surely the companies selling baby foods advertising from four months onwards would have a fair share of legal battles to pursue. Upon reading more into the Government Documentation upon weaning it actually states “Solids should never be introduced before four months.”

It is important that your child is ready to begin weaning when you make the decision to introduce solids but this should be BABY LED not Government led! Each child is different and each child will achieve different milestones at different times in their lives, this includes when they are ready to be introduced to solids. You, as a parent will most likely know when your little one is ready for food, as they become interested in watching you eat and start to reach out to try foods around them.

Here are some basics for what to do first when you and your baby are ready to begin weaning.

1. Ensure that the equipment you use (feeding spoons, bowls, etc) is clean. It is advisable before six months to sterilise all feeding equipment. After six months, putting items used into the dishwasher should suffice.

2. Sit your child in a high chair so that they are upright and comfortable. Many high chairs now on the market can be used from birth onwards. You may want to use your high chair before your child is four months and able to try solids, perhaps as somewhere safe to place your child for a moment or simply to allow your child to become comfortable in their eating place for the future.

3. Ensure that you have a muslin cloth/ wipes close to hand and have protected your child’s cloths with a bib, Long sleeved bibs tend to be very handy during weaning!

4. Start by offering your child one to two teaspoons of baby rice mixed with their milk (breast of formula milk) during the first week of weaning.

5. Slowly introduce new fruits and vegetables which have been cooked and processed into a mush. (pear, apple, sweet potato, and carrots are excellent foods which can easily be mashed up). These foods can be offered along with baby rice, so that your infant is offered something they are familiar with.

6. Increase the amount of food according to your babies needs. If your baby would like more then offer more! From around nine months onwards you should offer 3-4 servings of food per day as well as the milk feeds. A routine such as Breakfast and milk, snack , dinner, snack and milk , tea, supper milk will soon fall into place.

7. Let babies try finger foods as soon as they show interest. Try to offer a wide range of foods and textures.

8. Rather than plumping for what seems to be the easier option and purchasing bottled foods and tinned baby foods, TRY COOKING YOUR OWN. Not only is it fun but its more nutritious for the child and is far more satisfying watching your child eat the food you prepared by hand.

9. Try to sit down to eat as a family, start as you mean to go on.

10. Remember to encourage foods that you yourself may dislike! Just because you aren’t keen on your greens doesn’t mean that your little one should miss out.

 

Here are some NO NO’s for weaning…

• Never force weaning, One piece of advice that the Department of Health give which SHOULD be followed is “Enjoy it, Encourage it, Don’t force it”.
• Do not use refined sugar or salt in any of your infants foods.
• Do not offer your infant nuts, honey, low-fat foods (those created specifically with lower amounts of fat such as low-fat butter)

If you do decide to wean your child before six months then also avoid the following foods:

• wheat based foods such as bread, rusks etc which include gluten
• eggs
• fish
• shell fish
• nuts
• seeds
• soft unpasteurised cheeses

Upon weaning your child, you will often find that they drop their intake of milk. Before twelve months infants should have between 500-600ml (about one pint) of milk per day. Also, remember that cows milk is unsuitable until your child reaches the age of one year. When introducing cows milk, ensure that it is full fat and pasteurised.

There are many infant and child nutritionists out there who have written and produced a wide range of popular publications upon weaning. These can be very helpful in finding suitable recipes for your little one. Two of the best known child nutritional authors are currently Gina Ford and Annabel Karmel, both of which have a range of books published upon weaning and feeding infants. Although, it is wise to bare in mind that there is some debate as to whether some of the routines and weaning techniques suggested in differing books are correct. As always with parenting, it is down to the parent and the baby to decide what is best for them!

The NHS currently recommends weaning your child at six months of age. However, as you will notice when browsing through the ranges of baby food available, many ‘stage one’ weaning products available on the market state that they can be used from four months.

It is entirely up to the parent to decide upon when to start weaning their child but there are some cues which babies give us to help identify when they might be ready.

How do I know when my Baby is ready to be weaned?

Every baby is different, simply weaning your child because they have reached a certain number of weeks in age is not advised. You may start to notice some of the following signs if your baby is trying to tell you that they are ready to begin trying solids.

• Your baby starts to show an interest in food (solid food)
• If your baby previously slept ‘right through’ and is beginning to wake due to hunger.
• Your baby is putting their hands into their mouths and gumming them on a regular basic (this can also be due to teething).
• Your baby is demanding more and more milk over short amounts of time (rather than holding out for 3-4 hours between each feed).
• Your baby looks at your food longingly and begins to get irate when seeing you eat.

How do I start weaning my child?

There are several strategies for weaning, most of them well documented and now available in book form. Most strategies suggest baby rice as the first solid to try with your baby.

Hipp Organic Baby Rice uses organic rice flakes and is ideal for mixing with fruit or vegetables as they are introduced. Hipp uses the highest quality ingredients that are GM and sugar free!

What equipment will I need?

• Highchair/ feeding area
• Sterilised baby feeding spoon
• Sterilised baby bowl

What about sterilising?

Remember that you MUST sterilise all baby equipment as before (bottles, dishes and spoons do not need to be sterilised once your baby is over a year old, they can be washed in the dishwasher).

Do I still feed my child milk?

YES! It is essential that your child still drinks milk as it is the main statutory part of their diet until at least one year of age. Milk is an essential part of your child’s feeds and should continue alongside solids. Try to encourage your baby to drink their milk first.

What if my baby does not like the food I offer them?

Keep trying, research suggests that a child should be offered each food fifteen times until you should start trying an alternative if they dislike the food.

What are my options?

Here are some of the well known documented plans for weaning

• Annabel Karmel
• Gina Ford
• Baby Led Weaning (using finger foods etc)

 

 

 

 

 

There are more options than this but these are the three MAIN feeding plans which are currently top of the shelves on the market.

Where can I get Hipp Organic Baby Rice?

You can get Hipp Organic Baby Rice from Asda retailing at £2.33 per box. You can also buy online from the Hipp Organic Website.

How often do you make your baby a milk up or cook them foods which they only eat a little of and then we are faced with having to throw away the excess…all too often.

Due to health and safety standards parents are now advised to keep food as fresh as possible which leaves us little option but to precook food, divide it into feeding pots and freeze any excess. However, this isn’t practical for when we are out and about with our little ones.

Ella’s Organic Baby Food products come in squeezy packets which are easy to carry in your changing bag and easy to squirt small amounts of food onto a teaspoon, screwing the top back on once your baby is full.

Although this may come across as ‘fast food’ for our little ones , Ella’s kitchen make all their food using 100% organic products and with zero additives. Ella’s Kitchen Organic Food Pouches are healthy convenient options for parents who are on the go (they do not require refrigeration) and dislike waste.

Available from most supermarkets Ella’s Kitchen Organic Baby Food Products range in age suitability, starting at around 6 months (the current suggested weaning age) and running right through to toddlerhood and beyond.

See www.ellaskitchen.co.uk for more information