MUNDE: Dos and donts when weaning a baby

But before you celebrate, it’s important to know that what many usually refer to as weaning, should actually be complementary feeding, meaning that you do not abruptly stop breastfeeding your baby, but rather continue to give your baby breast milk and then slowly add solids to his/her diet.

If you thought you were going to have it easy when your baby starts solids, think again, because determining what your baby likes, is not allergic to and doesn’t either give him/her constipation or diarrhoea is a journey.

There will be a lot of trial and error, throwing away food that doesn’t work and mess as your baby learns that food doesn’t only come out of the breast or bottle, but a plate.

The key is to keep calm throughout the journey and enjoy the ride.

Here are a few tips as you start the journey.

1.     As mentioned, continue to breastfeed your baby even when you start solids, because the liquid gold still offers your baby immunity that no other food can. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends breastfeeding until a baby is two years old, so if you are able to keep your milk supply up, keep giving your baby the liquid gold. A point of caution though – as much as you will continue to give your baby breast milk, after six months of age, breast milk does not have sufficient nutrients to meet your baby’s needs when it is the sole source of food, so you need to add solids

2.     There are different ways of starting your baby off on solids. There’s the puree method or the baby-led weaning (BLW) method. I have found the puree method to work for me and my baby. It’s simple – all you need is to blend your baby’s food – whether it’s bananas, mango, paw paw, steamed spinach or pumpkin. I find it safer to avoid the concern of choking. However, there are babies who show signs they are ready for BLW, which is where pieces of food are placed on a plate and a baby chews on them with his/her gums. Just make sure the pieces are not too small and not hard to prevent choking. Your baby will give you an indication of whether he/she wants to go the puree way or the BLW way by whether they gum everything in sight. You can also try the BLW method and see if your baby is responsive. If not, start with purees. A fun fact with purees is rather than using water to soften the foods when putting in a blender, you can use your breast milk.

3.     There are foods to avoid before your baby reaches the age of one. These include honey, cow’s milk and sea food. There’s a long list of other foods to avoid for various reasons, and it is a good idea to see a nutritionist for advice on this.

4.     Invest in a baby apron. Babies starting solids is a messy affair and you should be prepared for it. Don’t be rigid by thinking your baby should eat in an orderly manner and not make spills or paint him/herself with food. It’s a fun learning experience and enables your baby to develop. So to avoid too much mess, have a set of clothes that are just for baby staying indoors, that way when they spill that pumpkin all over themselves and the stains prove to be stubborn, you don’t have to fret. Another investment to make is in a spill proof baby apron and silicone bib. These are very convenient. There are some that come with sleeves so as your baby uses his/her hands to dig into a plate with puree and wipes them on the apron, you’re safe.

5.     Don’t be tempted to force feed your baby. The rules of pureed food are similar to those of handling breast milk – once out of the fridge and warmed, it should be consumed within an hour to avoid contamination. Sometimes you don’t want to waste what you’ve warmed so you might try to persuade your baby to finish their food. However, resist this temptation because forcing your baby to eat can make him/her start to dislike eating because they feel they will be forced to eat. It can also lead to obesity later on in life.

6.     Test whether your baby has an allergy to a food by only giving your baby one food at a time for at least three days. If you mix foods, you might not be able to tell which food your baby has an allergy to. It is therefore advised to give one food at a time. For example, you can start by giving plain paw paw puree for three days. If there is no reaction, you can go to plain mango for another three days; if this is ok, you can then start mixing the two – paw paw and mango puree and so on. But don’t mix too many things at once. It’s just like the ‘mashakura’ thing – your stomach may not appreciate too much mixing of many foods at once (if it works for you, though, that’s fine.)

What other tips do you have for fellow mums on starting solids? Share them on firsttimemumke@gmail.com, the comments section and drop me a tweet @Clairedudieu

Listen to the First Time Mum Confessions Podcast here.