“Aarayna’s Weaning Adventures: A Glimpse To The Start Of Our Wonderful Journey.”

Weaning or the introduction of complementary food is an important milestone in your infant’s growth journey. After 6 months, her increasing demands outgrow the supply from exclusive breastfeeding. Your little explorer is now ready to taste the worldly flavors. Moreover, it’s time to diversify her diet bit by bit, helping her transition to a normal human diet.

Whether you choose to follow baby-led weaning or head forward the experts-recommended step-up path, you should keep the trajectory clear in foresight. 2 months into the process, we have waddled through the puree stage and anxiously await our finger-food trials. We are hopeful that the insights from our messy little adventure can arm you sufficiently for your personal excursion.

Get-set, and wean. When to take the first step.

As per the world health organization, and supported by the Indian Academy of Paediatrics ( also, most pediatric health authorities across the globe)- weaning should start after completion of 6 months. Exclusive breastfeeding is recommended in the first 6 months when you dont need to give anything else (including water) to your baby. Your breastmilk is all that the baby needs.

Between 6 to 8 months, a total of 2-3 meals a day is enough. the frequency should be increased to 3-4 times a day between 9-11 months and 12-24 months.

Signs that your child is ready for the big weaning-leap

• She crossed the 6-month milestone
• Good and strong head holding
• Can sit upright without swaying
• Looks at the adult food with wide anxious eyes
• Drools at sight and smell of food
• Good hand-eye-mouth coordination

Recommended meals and snacks frequency

That depends upon whether you are breastfeeding, the intake capacity of the infant, energy density of the food, and the energy requirements of the baby.

A standard plan for a healthy infant should look like:

Age	Breast feeding yes/no	Recommended frequency of meals
6-8 months	yes	2-3 meals/day
9-23 months	yes	3-4 meals/day add-on 1-2 snacks
6-23 months	no	1-2 cups of milk 4-6 meals 1-2 snacks as add-on

Always choose a diversified diet plan to avoid the menace of malnutrition in your child. Properly timed and well-balanced weaning is the essence of maintaining child health and ensuring adequate nutrition intake.

The meal is the main meal of the child, rich in nutrients and dense in energy.

The Snack is an add-on food which is less dense, and must not be confused with chips/ chocolates/junk.

Initially, it’s the familiarity with solid food rather than the quantity that matters. Once you two get used to the concept, start increasing the quantity as per your child’s acceptance.

Remember, this is complimentary feed and doesn’t replace the breastmilk. The maximum bulk of nutrition should still come from breastmilk. The child must be breastfed till 1 year of age for a minimum, preferably 2 years. After 1-year breastmilk/milk becomes the complimentary food for your child.

How to proceed: The dos and the don’ts.

As you embark on this wondrous new journey with your infant, there are some basic facts and caution-notes that you should make yourself friendly with.

• Choose the food you want to introduce, depending on your local customs and pediatrician’s recommendations.
• Start with once a day frequency.
• Preferably start with the afternoon, which gives you ample time to look for any unwanted effects.
• Stick to the same food for at least 3 days, preferably 1 week. This will help you identify the trouble foods with surety.
• Initially, 2 to 4 spoons may be all that the child will tolerate, it’s perfectly normal.
• Once the child loses interest; starts looking away or forcibly closing the little mouth, you must stop and not try to force a few more morsels in. This can turn critical to her new exploration, and make food time aversive.
• Start with a thin puree, gradually allow thicker purees, mashed foods, and thereafter some semisolids.
• Avoid diluting the puree with water; if needed use breast milk or formula milk. This shall maintain the desired nutrition density.
• After 8 months, most infants can eat finger-foods.
• By 1 year of age, the child should be eating the variety served on a routine basis in the household.
• Avoid low-nutrition-value drinks like tea, coffee, carbonated drinks.
• Beware of potential choking hazards like whole grapes, whole nuts, carrots, etc
• Shun the desire to serve soups or juices, allow nutrition-rich foods.
• Allow the child to explore the texture and feel of the food.
• It gets messier more than expected. Be a sport and join in the fun.
• Maintain food-hygiene. Minimize the handling and exchange of utensils. It is the leading cause of gut infections in the infant.
• Choose a dedicated eating niche for your child. A high chair or booster chair is a good accessory for feeding.
• Keep a watch for signs of intolerance or allergy in form of hives, urticaria, wheezing, diarrhea, bloating, cramping, etc.

Kids may find it hard to coordinate swallowing (especially of thin liquids), and cough frequently especially during the initial period. Anything and everything you introduce is a whole new experience for her, and you must allow her to adjust well to the new life. Don’t panic, this is normal and is a part of her defensive reflexes.

The choice of food for your start-up.

As per the Indian Academy of pediatrics, the weaning diet should be a part of the usual cooked foods in the family, albeit thicker for nutrition density and mashed to meet the child’s maturity. Using commercial weaning foods is discouraged and should be avoided as far as possible. Despite the beautiful logos and huge claims, most contain some form of preservative agents if you look a little deeper into the contents’ label. Though, recently I came across a lot of companies offering ‘all food, nothing else’. You may want to explore that trail.

In keeping with the advice, I try and make the meals fresh, and chose from the day’s menu for adults, if possible.

Family pot feeding is giving the child the cooked food for the family in mashed form, before the addition of any spices giving. It is an effective and economical way to wean.

Although, not a prefect approximation, yet can this serve as good reference for staring the weaning.

Pulses/ Cereals	protein and carbs
Veggies/ Fruits	vitamins
OIl/Ghee/Sugar/Jaggery	caloric density

Pediatricians worldwide recommend inclusion of all major food groups in the diet of the infant before she completes the 1st year of her life. This not only maintains a diverse and well-balanced diet, but it also helps reduce the incidence of food allergies later on in life.

1. Fruits and vegetables
2. Grains, roots, and tubers
3. Eggs
4. Vitamin A rich products
5. Flesh foods
6. Dairy products
7. Legumes and nuts

We aim to get our hands messy with as much as we can. Not even 2 months in the run, Aarayna’s adventures have already included the following tasting journeys.

1. Pulses.

Moong dal (petite yellow lentils)

It is, without a doubt, the first choice in most Indian households. A spoonful of the lentil boiled to a thin puree consistency is perfect for the little ones to swallow and digest. It is a perfectly balanced meal for the still-maturing tummy, having a good energy density and fiber content.

We started with a running moong-dal puree and stuck with it for a week, starting with once a day frequency. She showed signs of gassiness by the 4th day and vomited profusely within 3-4 hours of meal on the 5^th and 6^th day. Sadly, we had to omit the all-time favorite starter from our menu.

Red-Masoor dal (Red lentils) is also a good choice for little-tummies. Aarayna loves the flavor and tolerates the dal as well as khichdi (dal+rice gruel) very well.

Later on, we intend to try other pulses and pulse-cereal combos for a richer and well-balanced diet.

2. Vegetable and fruit purees, our weaning super-stars.

Apple puree has been Aarayna’s favorite. I use a kiddale food processor to make smooth fruit and vegetable purees. This cuts down on the steps required to make the meal, maintaining the food- hygiene chain. Apples get supple with a 10-minute steam cycle, good enough to be made into a smooth puree. I use the water collected in the jar while steaming, for making purees, this helps to retain the nutrition of the food.

You can read my detailed review of Kiddale food processor here.

You can add other fruits to the menu, try individual purees first, before attempting combos.

Fruits	Vegetables
Papaya	Spinach
Pear	Beans, peas, pumkin
Grapes	Carrot
Ripe banana	Broccoli

3. Wheat and Rice

I keep a jar of roasted wheat-flour handy. All you need is to add a little water to make the puree. You can add apple puree to make a richer and tastier wheat-apple meal, as your baby starts accepting single meals well.

I have been using double-boiled rice made into a puree in a food processor. I would say that alone it tastes very bland, and we are not a big fan. When added to vegetables, it gets a new life, giving it a much acceptable taste and consistency.

Ragi is a rich source of calcium, easy to digest and can be easily made in a porridge using expressed milk.

4. Dairy and poultry

Although we are a house of hardcore chinkenarians, I haven’t yet introduced her to the flavor. I explored the literature about the best timing, some experts recommend waiting till 7 or 8 months, others give a green signal right from the start. I intend to start after she turns 8 months, just arbitrarily.

Chicken, fish, eggs, and dairy are all good sources of proteins and Vitamin B12.

Boiled eggs can be given as puree while scrambled eggs make for good finger food.

I often offer her Yogurt/curd as a snack, and she does like the flavor a lot. I am intent to make flavored yogurts for her from 8 months onwards.

Aarayna will complete 7 months on the 21st of this month. She is taking 2 meals and 1-2 snacks at present. she loves exploring her meals and it gets pretty messy more than a once-a while. I love her messy adventures. She never shies away from showing love or utter dislike for the presented food, and I follow her leads with a grinning smile.

Happy weaning to you all.

I will be more than happy to answer any boiling queries in your mind regarding the introduction of complementary food to your child. Leave your comments and queries below and I will revert back as soon as possible.