Weaning routines for babies
complementary feeding
Introducing your baby to solid foods, also referred to as weaning or complementary feeding, starts when your baby is around 6 months old.
Babies are not always hungry
Food does not equal love.
An unsettled baby is not always a hungry baby. Establishing a routine will teach you to recognize your baby’s different types of crying and needs with confidence.
Babies love to know what’s coming next, it reassures them and helps them to become independent, confident and relaxed, which ultimately has a positive affect on their personality. In the first few weeks, swaddle your baby at bed time; it will create the comfort and security it once experienced in the womb.
Weaning a beginner’s guide
Don’t compare your baby to others – babies are individuals and will respond in different ways. It may be necessary to make adjustments to suit your baby and your lifestyle in order to achieve the best results.
Pick your own path and learn to trust your judgment. You will make mistakes – fortunately babies are very adaptable and resilient. One of the greatest gifts you can give your baby is to teach him to fall asleep by himself. Prevention is better than cure
By following a routine you’ll soon realize you still have a life.
Feeding your baby is an important connection and should be unhurried and quiet – a perfect moment to share and get to know each other. If you are breast- feeding, introduce a bottle within the first 6 weeks, it will give Daddy a chance to bond, a break for you, and you won’t have to argue with your baby, trying to convince him/her that when breast-feeding is not longer an option, food does and will come from other sources.
Avoid rocking, feeding and dummy sucking to get your baby to sleep, including driving around the block in your car in the middle of the night; having your baby listening to radio, a hair drier or the noise of the vacuum cleaner. It will only create the wrong sleeping associations that you will have to recreate every time your baby needs to sleep.
A massage after the bath is a perfect way to relax your baby and to promote and enhance a bonding relationship. Don’t over stimulate your baby or let him become overtired, he will be impossible to settle
All babies have bad days as well as good days, but always think of tomorrow as a good day. If you follow the rules from the start, later you’ll be able to break some, and still have a happy, well-adjusted child
Value your baby’s need for independence. Even babies need their own space, allow him to explore this new world by himself from time to time. Don’t neglect yourself or your partner – although you have become a mother – don’t stop being a wife or a partner.
Happy motherhood!!!