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What Is Weaning: Mothers Define Weaning in Various Ways
What Is Weaning: Mothers Define Weaning in Various Ways
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
1. What is weaning ?
WHO Recommends, exclusive breast feeding for first 6 months with continued
breastfeeding along with appropriate complementary foods up to two years of
age or beyond.
Mothers define weaning in various ways:
In other cultures, it refers to the addition of solid foods to the milk diet.
Weaning also signifies the beginning of a social detachment of the Child from
the Mother.
Cereal based foods are usually the first weaning food offered to the infant.
Begin with smooth textures, mashed, minced, chopped, finger foods and finally
family foods.
Remember:
1. The aim is to get the baby used to taking food from a spoon-Start with
teaspoonful (quantities will be small) and milk will still be major sources of
nutrients)
2. Foods should be not be salted or sweetened.
3. Don't press food on your baby-If the food doesn't seem to be wanted, wait
and try again another day.
4. To try the food after a milk feed or in the middle of one
5. If food is hot, you make sure you stir it and test it again
Remember:
1. Introduce lumpy foods by 6-7 months
2. Introduce feeding from the cup.
3. Encourage different textures and stronger tastes.
4. Food should not be salted or sweetened
5. Encourage a savoury preference to sweet
Some meals to try:
Breakfast: porridge of rice mashed banana
Lunch: minced chicken with vegetables and potato or soft ripe peeled pear or
apple.
Dinner: mashed boiled sweet potato with carrots with cauliflower.
Breakfast:
- Stewed apple with curd/yoghurt
- Mashed banana with milk
Lunch:
- Mashed rice with yoghurt
- Mixed seasonal vegetables soup (carrot, spinach, tomato) and potato
- Stewed fruits with custard.
Dinner:
- Same as for lunch
After 1 Year
Minimum of 350 ml milk daily or 2 servings of dairy products e.g. curd, paneer.
- Dairy products: Whole cows milk may be now used as a drink.
- Starchy foods: minimum 4 servings daily.
- Vegetable and fruits: minimum 4 servings daily
Remember: Your child may now take almost all that you cook for your regular meals
1. Postpone feedings
This is a simple yet effective tactic: Just lengthen the time between feedings.
Bourne recommends that you extend the period between feedings by 30 minutes
each week. If your little one gets hungry, you can offer solids. If she is less than
a year old, give her formula, but if she is over a year, give her whole milk in a
sippy cup.
2. Shorten feedings
For this method, you would shorten your feeding sessions. Bourne suggests
cutting each of them down by one minute per week. “You go at a slower pace
so that your baby realizes that she isn’t getting everything she needs and has to
get it someplace else,” he says. If your baby gets hungry and fussy, you can
supplement with formula or expressed breastmilk in a bottle. If your baby is
over a year, you can offer whole milk.
3. Skip feedings
To avoid shocking and upsetting your baby, gradually eliminate one
breastfeeding session at a time and replace it with breastmilk in a bottle.
Breastfeed the child when he asks, and don’t offer when he doesn’t. This
simple technique known as “don’t offer, don’t refuse” may help
accelerate the weaning process when used with other methods.
Change daily routines. Instead of heading home after picking him up
from daycare, head to the grocery store or elsewhere instead. Try to avoid
the “nursing chair” or other usual “nursing station” in your home as much
as possible at the times when he usually would ask to nurse. Stand up as
much as possible!
If possible, get help from other family and household members. If he
usually nurses upon waking, try getting up before him and have your
partner or someone else do all the morning routine.
Anticipate nursing sessions and offer substitutions and distractions. Try
offering a snack or drink at that time. Take him to his favourite place at
the usual nursing time. Other distractions: reading, bike rides, visits from
friends, a new toy, walking/singing to the child.
Shorten the length of nursing or see if he accepts a postponed nursing.
Telling him he will be done when you are finishing singing a certain
song, or counting to 20 may help with the transition. If he doesn’t
understand the concept of waiting or of time, this may not be helpful.
Breast milk is highly beneficial to your child as it contains all the essential
nutrients that your child needs for the first few months of his life. There are
some important antibodies that your baby will miss out on if weaned too
early as well. Here are some consequences of weaning too early: