How to Wean Your Baby

The word does two jobs and the confusion is worth clearing up first. In British usage, weaning usually means introducing solid food. Elsewhere it usually means stopping breast or bottle feeding. This covers both, because most parents eventually do both, and the two overlap for the best part of a year.

Part one: starting solids

Current guidance is to start at around six months, by which point most babies can sit with support, hold their head steady, and coordinate looking at food, picking it up and getting it to their mouth. Age alone is not the signal — those three signs are.

Two things commonly mistaken for readiness: waking more at night, and watching you eat. Both are normal at four months and neither means a baby needs food.

How to begin

Milk stays the main source of nutrition through the first year. Early solids are practice, not replacement.
Offer solids after a milk feed at first, when the baby is content rather than desperate.
Start with one meal a day, build to two by around seven or eight months, and three by nine to twelve.
Vegetables first, and repeatedly — particularly the bitter ones. Acceptance often takes eight to fifteen exposures, and most people give up after three.
Let them touch, squash and wear it. Handling food is part of learning to eat it.
Sit them fully upright with feet supported, and never leave them alone with food.

The allergens, which have reversed

Advice here changed materially, and a lot of what parents were told a decade ago is now the opposite of current guidance. Introduce common allergens early — from around six months, once solids are started — rather than delaying them.

Peanut (as smooth butter thinned, never whole nuts), egg, dairy, wheat, soya, fish, shellfish and sesame.
One new allergen at a time, at home, earlier in the day rather than at bedtime.
Once introduced and tolerated, keep it in the diet regularly. Occasional exposure is less protective.
If your baby has severe eczema or an existing food allergy, speak to a doctor before introducing allergens — the guidance is still early introduction, but with advice.

What not to give in the first year

Honey — risk of infant botulism.
Salt. A baby's kidneys cannot handle it; keep under 1g a day and do not add any.
Sugar and sweetened drinks.
Whole nuts, whole grapes, popcorn and other choking shapes.
Cow's milk as a main drink before one, though it is fine in cooking from six months.
Unpasteurised cheese, raw or lightly cooked egg unless it is stamped as safe, and rice drinks before five.

Part two: weaning off breast or bottle

There is no required age. Guidance recommends breastfeeding alongside solids to two years and beyond if it suits both of you; bottles are usually best phased out from around twelve months, mostly for dental reasons and because a bottle displaces solid food.

Doing it gradually

Drop one feed at a time and hold for several days to a week before dropping the next. Sudden stopping risks blocked ducts and mastitis, and is harder on the child.
Drop the least-favoured feed first — usually a middle-of-the-day one. Leave the bedtime feed until last, because it is doing the most emotional work.
Replace rather than remove. A cup of milk, a snack, and crucially a cuddle in the same chair at the same time — the connection is a large part of what is being missed.
Change the context. A different room, a different chair, a different person offering the alternative all reduce the association.
Do not wean during another upheaval: a house move, starting nursery, a new sibling or illness.

Moving off the bottle

Introduce an open or free-flow cup from around six months so it is familiar long before it has to replace anything.
Drop the daytime bottles first and the bedtime one last.
Never put a baby to bed with a bottle — pooling milk against the teeth causes decay, and it is a choking risk.
Avoid long periods of sipping from a bottle through the day, which is worse for teeth than a drink taken and finished.

Looking after yourself while weaning

Gradual weaning gives your body time to adjust. Express just enough for comfort rather than fully emptying, use cold compresses, and watch for a hard, red, painful area with flu-like symptoms — that is mastitis and needs prompt medical attention. Expect a hormonal dip too: low mood in the days after weaning is common, real, and usually short-lived. If it persists, speak to a doctor.

Questions parents ask

When should I start weaning my baby onto solids?

At around six months, and judged by three signs rather than the calendar: sitting with support and holding the head steady, coordinating eye, hand and mouth, and being able to swallow food rather than pushing it back out.

Should I delay allergens like peanut and egg?

No — current guidance is the opposite of older advice. Introduce common allergens from around six months, one at a time, at home and earlier in the day, then keep them in the diet regularly. Seek advice first if your baby has severe eczema or a known allergy.

How do I stop breastfeeding without engorgement?

Drop one feed at a time, waiting several days to a week between each. Express only enough for comfort rather than emptying fully, and use cold compresses. A hard, red, painful area with flu-like symptoms is mastitis and needs prompt medical care.

When should a baby stop using a bottle?

Usually phased out from around twelve months. Introduce an open cup from six months so it is familiar, drop daytime bottles before the bedtime one, and never put a baby to bed with a bottle.

Sources

This guide is general information, written to help you understand a topic and ask better questions — it is not medical advice and does not replace your own doctor, midwife or paediatrician. Anything that worries you about your baby belongs with them.

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