5 Actionable Tips for Weaning Your Baby
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Weaning your baby can be tough, confusing, and scary, especially for first-time parents. Fortunately, the effective ways to help you through this process are doable and easy. We have these weaning tips to help you get your young one to transition to solid foods comfortably.
1. Start Slowly
Try as much as possible to proceed gradually when weaning your little one. Remove a less-effective feeding time such as nap-time feeding. After your infant adjusts to this routine, you can eliminate morning nurse sessions up to night-time feeding.
Caution: Your breasts should adjust to the new change for up to a week or less.
2. Understand each baby is different
The second tip you should know is that your youngster is different from others. That means one method of introducing hard foods is not fit for all. For instance, it can be days, weeks, or even months for the entire weaning process.
But remember, after successfully weaning, your little one might breastfeed in the morning. Others even suckle milk from their moms before bedtime.
3. Identify Weaning Time
Are you able to know if your infant is ready to wean? foryourlittleone.com has some signs we to give you an idea.
Swallowing food:
Your baby does not have any problem swallowing hard foods. You can introduce the recommended meals at first to see their reaction. If they push back out the food with their tongue, they are not ready.
Good sitting position:
This sign indicates that your baby is ready to enjoy solid meals. Notice if they can hold a steady sitting position without assistance.
Improved Coordination:
The last sign is enhanced coordination between the mouth, eyes, and hands. You can see if your infant can look at the meal, pick it up and finally toss it in the mouth.
4. Don’t Introduce Water
There’s confusion for moms or guardians during the weaning process about water. When a baby is fully breastfed, they have enough hydration in their system. When you introduce the foods to infants under 6 months, you can add sterile and not tap water.
5. Identify Weaning Stages
As earlier stated, the weaning process needs to be gradual. You slowly introduce new tastes, textures, and experiences to your little one. This process has 3 stages that help make weaning
much easier.
Stage 1: Here, you start feeding your youngster with solid meals from 6 months
Stage 2: From around 7 months, you can present more food tastes and textures
Stage 3: Begin feeding the infant a variety of meals from 9 to 12 months
Following these 3 simple stages will eliminate the risk of introducing solid foods too early(under 4 months). Also, starting soon comes with a chance of too high or little nutrients plus calories to the baby. You can experience problems like ovarian cancer, diarrhoea, breast cancer, hypertension, and diabetes.
Conclusion:
Introducing solid meals to your little one can be easier with the tips above. For instance, you can start gradually by eliminating feeding times, such as nap session feeding. Also, knowing which weaning stage to use is important. Weaning your baby by using some of these methods will come in handy for parents and guardians.