62 Teach Nursery

Confusion and contention arenever far away when it comes toweaning. The process traditionallyunfolds in stages, occurring over aperiod of months, where the

amount, range and textures of foods areintroduced and increased gradually, but atwhat point it should start, and when eachstage should happen, causes headaches toparents, childcare providers and healthprofessionals alike.

The Department of Health recommendsthat babies should not be given any solidfoods until they are six months of age;however, many parents will wish to weanearlier than this. Four months or 17 weeks isthe earliest age at which solids should beintroduced, as weaning before this pointincreases the risk of food allergies. Thedigestive system is simply not ready foranything other than breast or formula milk.There are nutritional and developmentalreasons why infants need solid foods fromsix months at the latest. At this age babiesneed more iron, vitamins and othernutrients than can be provided by milkalone. Iron is particularly important – babies

are born with a store of iron provided by themother, but after six months these stores havebeen used up and it needs to be supplied fromfood to prevent anaemia. Over-dependence onmilk and feeding issues may also occur whenweaning starts late.

Key points to remember include...

n Foods high in iron, including meat, oily fishand pulses, should be introduced at or aroundsix months, depending on when the baby wasfirst weaned. n It’s important to introduce babies to the tasteand textures of different foods. n Infants who are weaned at or around sixmonths are likely accept a greater variety offoods and changes in food textures morequickly than those weaned later. n Chewing, biting and moving food around themouth using the tongue, are important for earlyoro-motor skills for speech development.

Stages of weaning In order to follow the oral development ofinfants and their ability to ‘eat’ a variety offoods, weaning is often divided into differentstages. Although these stages are often

linked to certain ages, the weaningprocess should be a natural flow andshould be adapted to each baby. Babiesoften show signals and these are easily recognised.

It’s sensible to begin with 1–2 tsp ofsolids and increase the amountaccording to the baby’s appetite. Firstsolids should be introduced at anysuitable mealtime, when the baby is nottoo hungry or overtired – halfwaythrough a milk feed is a good time to trythe first few times. If the baby refusesthe solids, the attempt should bestopped and offered again at a laterstage. If this stage is started before 26weeks, the baby may take a little longerto successfully master swallowing

Smooth puréesThe main aim of the first stage is for thebaby to coordinate the purée aroundthe mouth, it’s not always swallowed.The main nutritional source for theinfant remains breast/formula milk.Once the baby has mastered handlingsmooth textures, you can move on.

Grub4Life’s Nigel Denby presents a practical guide to movingchildren on from milk to solids...

SUPPORTWeaning

Nigel Denby - Nutrition Qx_Layout 1 27/09/2013 14:22 Page 4

findout moreFor more information and support withweaning, visit grub4life.org.uk orcontact Head of Nutrition, Nigel Denbyon feedback@grub4life.com. You canread more about weaning on the TeachNursery website: ow.ly/olJ04

Suitable foods for stage 1

n Baby rice/mashed potatoes/baby cerealmixed with breast milk or formula milk. n Baby cereal should be gluten-free,especially if offered to infants before 26 weeks.n Mix the food with milk to form a slightly thicker than milk texture, like arunny yoghurt; this can be thickened tosuit the baby.n Vegetable or fruit purées could also beused, e.g. root vegetables such as potato,yam, carrot, parsnip, sweet potato,broccoli, cooked apple, ripe pear, peach, bananan Start with fruit/vegetable purées, e.g.sweet potato and broccoli, then you caninclude protein foods (meat, fish, poultryand pulses), e.g. sweet potato, broccoli and chicken.

Thicker textures The second skill that babies have tomaster is how to get the food from thespoon to the back of their mouth. Normalsucking involves pushing the tongueforwards. It usually takes a few attemptsbefore the baby masters how tocoordinate the food to the back of themouth to be swallowed.

Lumpy foods

A lot of babies are ready to learn to chewat 6–7 months when they can sit uprightby themselves and have good headcontrol. It’s important to give babies theopportunity to learn to chew at this age.Initial refusal of lumps and lumpy food iscommon, so don’t be disheartened.

n Start with soft lumps by mashing soft, ripe fruit or cooked vegetables withpasta and grated cheese, fish or chicken,rather than puréeing it down as inprevious stages.n Other examples of meals may be:scrambled egg with fingers of toast, flakedfish with mashed potato and vegetables

sticks, chapati with vegetable curry.n Other soft finger foods can also beintroduced, such as soft cooked vegetablesticks, soft peeled fruits.n Never leave the baby alone in case of choking.n Involve babies with feeding, andencourage making mealtimes a pleasantexperience by giving them their own spoonto try with... and expect a mess!

Commercial baby foods

In the long term it’s easier for babies to beweaned onto the foods the family eat.Children who only eat commercial babyfoods may struggle to move over to familyfoods once they’re offered. Commercialfoods don’t always provide the same rangeof textures that family foods can provide.

Grub4life recommends weaning foodsshould be prepared from the normal menuin a childcare setting; however, somecommercial baby foods can be incorporatedinto the weaning diet at home, and manyparents find them convenient.

Finger foods

Finger foods encourage fine finger controldevelopment – this usually starts at aroundseven months, when babies can hold objectsin their hands. It is not necessary to wait untila baby has teeth. Finger foods should initiallybe soft or melt in the mouth foods to avoidchoking. Aim to include or offer some fingerfoods at each meal:

n Start with softer foods such as ripe fruit, e.g.pears, bananas, melon, avocado, halvedseedless grapes, mango, papaya, and kiwi fruit.n Lightly cooked vegetables such as sticksof carrot, potato or parsnip, baby sweetcorn,florets of cauliflower/broccoli.n As a baby becomes more competent atchewing, the variety of snacks can beincreased. Try...

Cooked pieces of chicken or turkey Quarters of hard boiled egg

Cubes of cheeseRice cakes, bread sticks, toast fingers.Cooked pasta shapesSlices of raw apple, dried fruit Raw vegetables.

Family meals

From as early as nine months, and usuallyby 11–12 months, most babies should beenjoying family meals and eating the samefood as the rest of the family. Breast/formulafeeding should continue until at least 12months. After 12 months, a combination ofmilk and other dairy foods should be givendaily to achieve calcium requirements.

SaltBabies and toddlers cannot processhigh levels of salt, and too muchcan lay the foundations for highblood pressure in adulthood. Aone-year-old should consume nomore than 1g per day – that’s one-sixth of the allowance for an adultor less than a few crisps, a quarterof a ready-made sandwich or ateaspoon of ketchup.

There is some salt naturallyoccurring in many ‘healthy’ foods.Providing salt is not added duringcooking or at the table, and verysalty foods, like bacon or cheese, arelimited, it’s perfectly easy to keepsalt levels within recommendations.Care does need to be taken withsome processed foods, e.g. stockcubes, cereals and sauces, whichcan contain significant levels ofadded salt. Look for low-salt andvery low-salt ranges.

Baby Led WeaningBaby Led Weaning (BLW) isbecoming increasingly popular. Itallows a baby to control their ownfood intake by self-feeding from thevery beginning of the weaningprocess, and dispenses with theneed for purées and weaningspoons, as the baby feedsthemselves. BLW requires a lot ofsupervision to reduce the risk ofchoking and should only ever bestarted with babies who can sit up.It is not generally recommendedfor use in a childcare environment.

DID YOU KNOW?

Teach Nursery 63

Nigel Denby - Nutrition Qx_Layout 1 27/09/2013 14:23 Page 5