When is the right time to wean?

I'm actually asking this for one of my girlfriends who is wondering when the right time to wean is. I was only able to nurse for a couple months so I don't think I'm in the best place to advise her!

Did you wait for your child to give you some sign that they were ready to wean? How do you know it's the right time?

Thanks for any advice you can provide!

This is a really personal question. It depends on so many factors, we are not here to advise on. I mean, mom should feel whether the child is ready or not and if he/she is not for too long, its time to!

Dear, Amelia.
In case the child is sitting up while being supported with their head steady. If the kid puts objects in their mouth, then it is an indication that they are ready to put solids. The best age for you to wean your child is when they turn six months old. Babies are known to develop at varying rates, but they will manifest some signs that show they are ready for weaning. Apart from sitting upright, they will put toys and other objects near them into the mouth, and they will watch keenly when you and other members of the household eat. Such babies will begin to seek for their feeds much before the usual time for eating during the day, which is due to the fact they are feeling hungry even after being given lager feeds. Some babies display chewing fists, which can be a sign of hunger indicating that the baby doesn't get satisfied by the milk-feed given. Big kids tend to grow more rapidly, and as such, they need to begin the weaning process much earlier. However, all babies are different, if your girlfriend's baby is ready for solids and is more than six months, tell her to begin weaning.

But this always depends on how you feel when or after breastfeeding. If you are not doing well yourself, you should also offer the bottle to the child. Maybe the bottle will accept it and if not offer it again and again. So it's going to take the bottle at some point.

As far as I know, Breastfeeding must be done for 6 months up to 2 years but it depends on the Mother and Baby itself. There should be a sign that your Baby no longer need your Breastmilk. This aunt of mine is now on the process of weaning her 11 months old Baby and from my observation, the Baby is totally fine and healthy. So, I guess that's a yes for weaning her with that age. I hope it helps! 🙂

Hello
Thank you for starting this educative thread. I have read through some of the responses posted by readers and I feel I should make my contribution. For those who do not know what weaning is, let me start by saying that it is the point at which the breastfeeding baby gets introduced to other foods. The trouble is that most people are confused when they should actually start weaning their babies. The best time to start weaning is when you have exclusively breastfed your baby for 6 months. At this point, you will realize that the child feels hungrier often and the breast milk is not sufficient. The child will start crying a lot because they are hungry. It means that you must introduce other foods to reduce the pangs of hunger. Now when you want to start weaning, you need to read books on weaning so that you do it the right way. Remember the digestive system has not fully developed and so you may want to start introducing the foods gradually. Start by giving the child watery foods and ensure that you watch over what the child feeds on. This is critical since it helps to avoid overfeeding the baby. Note that there are some babies who lose interest in the mother’s milk and so may want to eat solid foods at 4 months. There is nothing wrong with this. However, you must ensure that the baby breastfeeds even if they eat other foods.