ENG

5 easy ways to wean your baby

Weaning is an important as well as a challenging milestone for a baby to achieve, making the transition from liquids to solid foods. Here are five tips to make it easy.

Dont Be In A Hurry To Wean

Once your baby is around four or five months old you might receive a lot of unsolicited advice to start on semi-solids and wean baby off breast milk. Don’t be tempted to start the process anywhere before your baby is six months old. If you wish to start it any early talk to your pediatrician about the same. The reason one is advised to wean only after six months is because, your baby’s immature kidneys and digestive system won’t be developed enough to cope up with foods other than breast milk or formula. Diarrhea, stomach ache and other troubles can mock your baby in such a scenario. Also if your baby isn’t interested in food that early, rejection can frustrate you and make the process of weaning boring and tiresome right at the start, even before you both start having fun with food. Also read tips to wean your baby off breast milk

Make Small Portions

Once you start off with the process of weaning, don’t make a bowl full of food for your little one during the initial days. Expecting that your baby can polish off all that’s in the bowl is a bit too much for her. Probably your baby won’t take anything more than two or three spoonfuls to start with. Making too much soup, juice or excessive pureed fruit is going to bug you down when you see a lot of unfinished food left on the baby bowl. It can also lead to force feeding which can make meal times boring and a bit stressful for your little one. Read know about the eight important weaning foods. Also Read - Ginger And Chia Water For Belly Fat Loss: How Does It Work And Tips To Prepare It

Practice Patience Patience And More Patience

If you thought diaper duty was the only tedious, monotonous and dreary job of parenting, then probably you don’t know what awaits you once you start weaning. Don’t be surprised if it takes anywhere between 30 to 45 minutes to finish just few spoonfuls of food. That’s the usual pace at which your baby might eat during the initial days of weaning. Garner patience and be consistent with your job. If you show any distress or become grumpy with the food, chances are your baby is going to have the same feelings with her food later. Smile while offering her a spoonful every time, no matter how tired and frustrated you become during the meal times. Also read eight ways to make your toddler’s meal times more fun.

Avoid Force Feeding At Any Time During Meals

Now while weaning, remember no two days are going to be alike. There are going to be days when your baby might just not take in anything more than two spoonfuls and then there can be days when she finishes everything on her plate without much fuss. The times when she is uninterested in food don’t force her to take in anything more than what she desires. There can be an underlying health condition that can make her reject food like gas, fever or other health troubles. So instead of force feeding its better you look for other signs of distress and counter them. Also during a regular day if she turns her head away from food and does that for at least a few times while you keep trying, call it a day. Also Read - Measles Spread: 5 At-Home Tips You Can Undertake To Prevent It From Spreading In The Household

Keep Yourself Free During Meal Time

If you have chores to do, work to finish or have appointments to keep, make sure you place them out properly throughout the day and keep enough time in hand to concentrate on your baby’s meal time to put up with those initial day tantrums. Thinking of work or other important stuff while feeding will make you lose your patience too often than needed. Either finish your job before her meals or keep them postponed till later part of the day. It’s expected out of babies to throw tantrums, take time to finish food, till they cope completely with solid foods. You need to put up with all this until she is ready to learn some discipline with food and enjoy mealtimes with ease.

Weaning Is An Important Milestone For Your Baby

It’s a delight to see your baby catching up with her developmental milestones and skills slowly and steadily. But remember each stage of the process needs a lot of patience and encouragement from your side too. Weaning, the transition from liquids to solids is one such important developmental milestone for your baby, and truly it is not going to make your life any easy while you help your baby take to solids. Though all mothers know that it is a slow and time consuming process, here’s what you can do to make it a little less tiring during weaning. Also Read - Ayurvedic Rules Of Eating: Why Should Diabetes Patients Avoid These 3 Foods?