The Science Baby

When your baby is a few months old, it’s time to start facing down the next big milestone in your parenting journey: weaning them onto solid foods. But while the official guidance is clear, the advice you get from different people can vary. So when should you start the process?

Right now, Kim is just about to start weaning, and Leila is shocked to discover that she and Felix have been at the solid foods game for over two years. So this is a great opportunity to compare notes on when is the right time to wean your baby, as well as some of the things to look out for in those early months. 

What to Expect in This Episode

Since they’re both at different stages of their solid food journeys, Kim and Leila share their expectations and experiences with weaning. Kim is excited to get started, since she’s seen her 6 month old daughter showing a real interest in food and drink. Whereas Leila is a bit jaded, acknowledging that weaning didn’t go as smoothly as she would have liked because, it turns out, Science Baby isn’t particularly interested in food full stop! Although we realise now that that’s nothing to worry about, it was the source of not a little bit of stress along the way.

We talk about the important issue of mess when it comes to weaning. Should you put a shower curtain beneath the high chair to catch the mess, or should you just embrace the chaos and clean the floor after? Leila is firmly in the floor camp, since Science Baby would have needed an entire shower enclosure to catch the food he flung!

Next, Leila takes us on a deep dive into the history of weaning timing, helping to explain why we may be experiencing pressure from Boomers to start weaning early. Like all things, recommendations have gone hand in hand with scientific understanding, and have oscillated from no food at all until baby is over 1 year old, to weaning as early as possible, at around 3-4 months old. Now that we understand the protective and responsive benefits of breastmilk and properly prepared formula, and the need for additional nutrients later in life, official guidance suggests weaning at 6 months old.

It might seem strange that we expect babies to have only milk until their 6 monthaversary, and then suddenly be able to stomach a whole range of food groups, so what’s going on inside their bodies? It turns out, their digestive tracts aren’t as immature as we once thought, and they have all the enzymes necessary for breaking down the fats, carbohydrates and proteins present in milk or solid food. Rather, it’s the kidneys that are underdeveloped, and the lining of the gut that is a bit leaky which can lead to complications if starting solid food too early. Recent research into the changing diversity of the guit microbiome has started to reveal links between very early weaning and certain illnesses like diabetes and obesity, so this may soon put a safe lower limit on weaning timing.

Six months is the guidance, but every baby is different, and what’s more important is to watch for signs that your own little one is ready. These include being able to support their head and core independently, having a diminished tongue-thrust reflex, and actually being interested in food!

Once you’ve decided to start offering food to your baby, many people worry about choking. So we chat briefly about why, as animals, humans are very choky, what to watch out for, and how to minimise chokling risk in your weaning experiments. In this, we recommend (not an ad) the app and website Solid Starts, which gives clear guidance on when to introduce different foods, and how to prepare them for each age of child.

And finally, there’s always the worry about encountering something that your child might be allergic to. We talk about how the guidance has changed, and how it can be adapted in certain, medically supervised circumstances to help children that might have a hightened risk to allergies. Last of all, a cautionary tale: don’t try and use AI to plan your weaning journey!

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