WEANING : THE BASICS

Hello readers!
I'm so I'm so MIA these days.. motherhood has me by the throat. I tell you it never gets easy especially if you're living alone.
It was MOMMY MONDAYS yesterday and I thought ill share a piece I wrote few months back with you. It's on WEANING. Now weaning can be of two types.. from breastfeed to normal milk or the introduction of solids.
When you're finally settling into motherhood.. and making a routine.. its time to wean and then starts a more tedious process. This here is just an introduction on how to go about it.
I hope it helps you somehow.

WEANING

Motherhood. . A single word encompassing: sacrifice, joy, fear, tears, sadness, love, struggles.. Life. Once you're in it there's no going back. Life does a 180, your time becomes some one else's, your life becomes someone else's, for you nothing is important enough than your kids, they are your priority. All these responsibilities though tough, are thoroughly rewarding.

Once a mother gets used to taking care of a little one and has settled in a routine finally, comes the biggest task... WEANING. After you get over the shock that your little one is growing up so fast that it's already time to introduce solids.. you may have alot of questions.

Weaning is anything but easy, but needs to be done properly so that your little one can develop good eating habits that'll be part of them as they grow up.

Weaning is basically the process of introducing solids to a baby. Now as per the WHO standards the advised age to start weaning is 6 months. This may vary depending on your kids general health and weight. Your baby's doctor is best to advise when to start weaning but it can be anywhere from 4-8 months. It is best to start solids once the baby is able to sit unsupported atleast for sometime.

After you get the go ahead from the doctor, you might ask what to start with? Well the first foods are basically any milk based food. Lots of doctors prefer to start with Rice Cereal/Cerelac. It is easier on their little digestive systems and also rice rarely is a cause of allergy. You can also start with bananas mashed and thinned in the milk you give them. Remember that the little ones don't know yet how to swallow properly, so give them foods with a little thin consistency. Over time you can increase the lumpiness so that they get used to swallowing and are quickly shifted to normal table food, after all making purees is hard work and babies need to be trained into eating thick consistency else switching them over will get difficult and they'll gag on the slightest lump.

Sooji( semolina) is also a good nutritious food. But see how your little one reacts to rice cereal first, as sooji being a hard grain can be a bit tough to digest.

Start with tiny spoonfuls first. After the little one has their morning feed, at the time of next feed introduce the solid. Also give as much as the little one takes. If they close their mouth after 2-3 spoonfuls, stop. This is the most important advice I can give, NEVER force feed, you'll end up raising a fussy eater/ someone who would HATE food. Also "solids before one is just for fun", it's only to get the little ones into habit of eating and nothing more. Babies before one need all their nutrition from milk.

Increase those spoonfuls little by little over the next couple of days if your little one is okay. Increase quantity with age.
Always give new foods at daytime, so that if God forbid there's any allergy etc. You can easily go to hospital, and before starting anything new, continue the same food for 3 consecutive days so as to eliminate any allergens.

Start giving 1-2 oz water with the solids, as the baby reaches 8-9 months or in hot weather you can also increase this amount. Another thing to note is that the milk intake might decrease after introduction of solids. That's not an issue, as long as the baby is gaining weight and is happy/ healthy. Within a month of introducing solids, you can increase to two meals per day, and within a month of that, 3 meals. Remember it's not necessary that they eat bowl fulls, whatever they are happy with, and if after half an hour to 1 hour the baby is still hungry, you can give milk.

The best guide to what foods need to be introduced when is your doctor. Also there are countless charts present on Google. Remember egg whites and nuts are serious allergens so be careful when giving them and best introduce these after 1 year. Same goes for whole milk.

Give as many nutritional foods as you can, fresh homemade fruit and vegetable purees, rice in chicken stock etc. But if you're out and have no alternative then no harm in giving cerelacs and bottled foods, just keep them to the minimum.

Last but not the least, take care of yourself, do NOT stress. Take things slowly. Like all the other seemingly tough phases, this too shall pass soon and you'll have your little one eating with you at the table. So relax, breathe and remember: A happy mom equals a happy baby. 

To update you guys my little one is 1 year and 3 months today and eats everything with us MashAllah :)
Oh and a very important point, when they are teething they can go on a hunger strike, and may stop taking solids altogether. Remember it's okay.. give them milk and easy chewable stuff to ease them with the teething. :)

Well hope it helped you guys.. especially the new moms and moms to be, best of luck with it. I shall see you all very soon inshaALLAH.
Take care and lots of love,
Regards,
Dr. Mom Chef xx

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