Weaning simply means introducing food other than milk into your baby's diet. It is a gradual process and involves slowly giving your baby solid foods. Moving on to solid food will help develop the muscles necessary for chewing and eventually speech. Health experts recommend you wait until your baby is around six months old before you start weaning because it’s important to ensure their digestive system is equipped to deal with solid food. Until then they will have all the nutrients they need from either breast milk or formula. An individual baby’s readiness and interest in food should be considered in deciding when to begin solids.

How do you know if your baby is ready for solids?

• the tongue-thrust reflex needs to have disappeared – don’t push spoon away with their tongue
• will have gained more head & neck control
• will show interest when others are eating
• has control over hands and can bring them to their mouth
• can sit with support
• reaches out to grab food
• opens their mouth when food is offered

Weaning is very gradual and should be started slowly. Since you’ll only be aiming to give solid food at one meal to start with, decide which daytime feed is the most relaxed, give baby their normal amount of milk and then offer the solid food. Start with baby rice, bland pureed foods such as potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, mixed with a little breast or formula milk. Remember not to add any seasoning. If they refuse, just try again on another day there is no rush.

Take your time. Your baby needs to learn how to take the food from a spoon, chew and swallow it. It will taste and feel different from milk, and it will take time for him to get used to it. Babies first Spoons should be:

• plastic, as metal retains heat and could burn your baby’s sensitive mouth.
• it should have a narrow shallow bowl to ensure the food doesn’t stay on the spoon.
• have a long handle as it is useful to get into food jars and storage pots.

Babies learn to chew at 6 – 7 months old, which means that you can start to introduce mashed or grated foods, rather than purees.

Between 9 and 12 months, your baby can start to eat the same food as the rest of the family, either mashed or sieved. Remember not to add any salt, sugar or honey. They will still need their milk (either breast milk or formula) - up to 600mls a day. They are interested in self-feeding moving to independent eating, chews lumps well and able to use cup.

Weaning is not just about your baby moving on to solid foods. It’s about learning to drink from a cup too. Learning to drink from a cup again like solids is a gradual process and can be quite messy at times. Although it may be difficult and take some perseverance, you should aim to have your baby off the bottle by his first birthday. Using a cup is much better for his teeth.

Learning to drink from a cup is a developmental step for baby also. When choosing a first cup it needs to be;

•  Light
•  Have handles which are easy to hold
•  Be plastic that won’t break
•  Have a lid that screws or snaps on
•  Have a spout that is simple and easy to clean.

Tommee Tippee’s ranges of cups meet the above requirements as well as being spill-proof. They support a baby’s development as their needs change as they grow and learn. The first sips cup allows baby to do something different with their tongue and mouth than they do when breast or bottle feed. The easy drink cup and beaker are then an easy transition from first cup drinking to independent mealtime drinking with no spills using a natural drinking action.

Check out Tommee Tippee's website tommeetippee.co.nz and their facebook page for more information.

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