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Has it come to that time with your baby when you are looking at weaning onto solids? No need to worry, it can be so straightforward. Baby led solids/weaning is something you must look into!

Infant-led weaning onto solids is not something new. For many years, mothers and fathers have been making it possible for their children to consume food by themselves and take their time to explore and discover solid food. In latest times, however, this method of introducing table food into a child’s diet has been obtaining some good press, and many more folks are now adopting this great way of assisting their tiny ones learn to love food, and gradually decrease their intake of milk.

Baby-led weaning onto solids in a nutshell

In a nutshell, child-led weaning is basically the method of allowing your baby to tell you when he or she is completely ready to start exploring table food, and then him or her in family mealtimes, which will supply the possibility to choose what he or she would like to consume, and also the speed at which he or she does that. You don’t have to make any purees, and you don’t have to devote hours spoon-feeding your infant.

The benefits of weaning onto solids this way

Both you and your baby will get some awesome benefits from following a infant-led weaning onto solidsstrategy. You will:
o Provide your boy or girl the chance to experience a range of flavours and textures
o Be able to make the most of family mealtimes
o Let your infant to consume food at his personal pace, and stay in control
o Save money and time
o Be encouraging your kid towards independence
o Help your infant try food in a interesting and pleasant way
o Avoid tough mealtime battles
o Be capable of relax about the quantity of solid food your boy or girl is consuming
o Give your child an early chance to learn to chew, which can assist speech to improve
o Encourage your baby to develop vital skills like hand-eye coordination
o Eat together as a family which is such a blessing

Yes, it can get messy!

When it comes down to it, it has to be said, there will always be some mess with what ever approach of weaning you choose. Even if you choose to spoon-feed your child, he can quite simply spit it out, or plunge his hands in the bowl, or simply turn his head away leaving the spoonful of mush plastered right across his cheek! And at some stage, your little one will want to try feeding herself, and that’s never going to be clean from the get go. Mess is one of the points you have to accept when you have children, but you can minimise the damage by becoming ready.

So when do you begin baby-led weaning onto solids?

At all-around the 6-month mark (with some versatility either side, specially for premature babies who might only grow fascinated in solid food a little bit later), your kid will give you some obvious indicators that he is completely ready to commence wanting table food. This will probably be the moment that your child is sitting at the table with you and picks up some food off your plate which he then pops in his mouth!
At this point, you can start to give your infant a small selection of things to test, anytime she’s awake and in a good mood, and you’re having a little something to snack on yourself.

The first period of time of baby-led weaning onto solids

In the course of the very first handful of weeks, even when it feels counter-intuitive, it’s better to be sure your infant isn’t particularly hungry when you attempt this, so that your child is in the correct mood just to play and discover. Your baby will still be satisfying her hunger via milk feeds, and she will be much more apt to demonstrate an interest in discovering table food when she isn’t hungry or over-tired.
Don’t be concerned about the quantity he’s in fact getting into his little tummy – it is only over a gradual period of weeks and months that he will begin to take in food properly, as his body needs it and he develops the required competencies to properly eat by himself.

The golden rules when weaning onto solids

Your infant should be:
o Sitting up straight
o Always under supervision
o Allowed to remain in charge
o Given adequate time
o Offered a balanced diet

Excellent first food

It’s a good concept to begin with fruit and veggies; long batons of cooked carrot, florets of broccoli with an extended piece of stalk to act as a handle, pieces of perfectly ripe pear and baby corn are all fantastic for this discovery phase. It is vital that you remove any stones or significant pips from fruit, and also make make sure that you cut items like grapes and cherries in half.

Fundamentally, something your infant can grab in his fist and get in his mouth is ideal. The only items you actually will need to steer clear of are honey and entire nuts till your baby is one, and bear in mind that it is entirely unnecessary to add any salt or sugar to his food.

Rebecca Mercer: child specialist and author of Baby-led Weaning Onto Solids: A reference guide