Since 2012 I’ve been facilitating introducing solids workshops with a focus on Baby-led Weaning and supporting parents with introducing solids both individually and via the private Facebook group NWL Baby-led Weaning (which I set up in 2014.)

I’ve kept in touch with many of these parents and also read about their experiences on NWL Baby-led Weaning and what I’ve noticed over the years is that babies who are thriving on breastmilk are often not very interested in eating solids until around 9-10 months and sometimes even later. Because only a small percentage of babies in the U.K. are exclusively breastfed past 6 months, this isn’t a phenomenon that many British health care professionals are familiar with.

A typical example was baby G, whose mother posted the following in 2018: ‘Just wanted to say thanks to Cordelia and this group for encouraging us on our BLW journey. After months of pushing food around, mostly onto the floor, my almost 11 month old has just started to actually eat... and it's so fun to watch so just wanted to say to any mums who feel like it's a bit of a slog at the moment, keep at it! It's so worth it. He's just demolished last night's risotto.’

G was exclusively breastfed and one of the chubbiest babies I’ve ever met. He was tracking his centile (the 97th) perfectly even though he was hardly eating any solids and still getting the vast majority of his calories from breastmilk . In fact breastmilk has 22kcal per fluid oz, and therefore has more calories than most solid foods. I am certain that G didn’t show any interest in solids until he was almost 11 months old because his body was telling him he didn’t need much solid food. Once he needed solids, he started eating them enthusiastically.

Here’s what the health visitor Gill Rapley, who coined the term Baby-led Weaning, has written: “There is no rationale for pushing solid foods at the expense of breastmilk. No solid food comes close to the concentration of nutrients in breastmilk, so, spoonful for spoonful, breastmilk will always provide better nutrition (and more calories) than any other food.  Seeking to replace breastmilk in a child’s diet risks them being less well nourished, not more. All that human babies need, once they’re over six months, is access to small amounts of other foods – in addition to breastmilk – to make sure they’re getting enough of the smallest nutrients.”

Here’s Jess Nejad’s account of her baby Jack taking some time to show any interest in solid food. Jess is a peer supporter with the ABM (Association of Breastfeeding Mothers):

‘Jack is my second baby and currently 9.5 months-old. My daughter Isla is 4 years-old and I thought she’d been a tricky weaner. With hindsight, she was absolutely fine and enjoyed getting stuck in from 6-7 months using a mix of the baby-led approach and purées.

Both are/were exclusively breastfed, Jack has never taken a bottle and Isla never had much interest.

When I started introducing solids to Jack at 6 months, I assumed he’d take to it enthusiastically because he’s a ‘bigger baby’ and I had many well-meaning family members and friends say how bigger babies love their food. It couldn’t have been further from my reality!

I started off with avocado, steamed broccoli, all the things I thought he’d play with. I only realise this now, but because I started weaning before he was clearly developmentally ready (he still had his tongue-thrust reflex, and wasn’t sitting well unaided in his high chair) he found the experience very unpleasant, leading to lots of tears (sometimes from both of us). I didn’t realise how much I’d got my hopes up for a smooth weaning experience second time round, and put a huge amount of pressure on us both.

After two weeks of attempting to introduce solids via a baby-led approach, I then moved to purées and mashed foods. He hated this even more. Jack is a typical Aries child and I’ve realised that he doesn’t like being told what to do!

At this point (one month in) I contacted Cordelia who reassured me and pointed me towards her site for some testimonials. I also listened to Emma Pickett’s podcast interviewing Cordelia (see link below). The point about spoons and directing babies really resonated - the point being; would you want to eat something being shoved in front of your face and you couldn’t even tell what it was? Or would you prefer to explore and discover independently?

At around 8.5 months old (when Jack was still not eating but breastfeeding happily), I started giving him some foods here and there. I used the Solid Starts App to see how to prepare it all safely, and once I put it in front of him, I left him to it and would eat next to him or near him - and try to avoid eye contact so he could explore in peace. I thought if we have one positive ‘exposure’ to foods a day, I know I’ve tried and so has he. I felt relief that Cordelia had essentially told me to stop driving myself mad about it and that he would get it eventually!

Once he started enjoying some foods (toasted bagel quarters, bananas, chicken breast) and I had some ‘safe foods’ I knew he enjoyed, I started making fritters and patties (mainly to prepare for when he goes to a childminder at 10.5 months old) using other ingredients so he could try different flavours. This has really worked for Jack and he enjoys feeding himself, and I can usually slightly modify whatever we have for dinner to make it age-appropriate and safe. I’ve realised now he’s been exposed to a much wider range of foods and ingredients than my daughter had at this age.

Jack is still happily breastfeeding and I do feel the food is complementing this. He gets everything he needs from me and I’m trying to view weaning as a way for him to continuously develop this new skill of chewing and swallowing, while safely trying a whole range of foods.

I’m so pleased I stopped and we had a break from solids when we were struggling, it helped to take the pressure off and now weaning doesn’t feel like a chore. And because he’s better at self-feeding now, I feel confident he’ll cope a bit better when in childcare.

In the video above Jack is eating is salmon spinach and sweet potato croquettes. When we have salmon and sweet potato, I keep some aside for him, mix it with breadcrumbs, egg and some vegetables, then blend and shape and bake!’

Helen H, another member of the NWL Facebook groups, writes:

‘My third baby has been very much like this and only really started eating recently at 11 months. Otherwise he has been happily breastfed and tracking his centile from birth perfectly well. Wish I hadn't worried so much! I felt a lot of pressure from some health visitors and others to have my baby on three meals a day asap. I don’t think this was necessary at all so early on for a happily breastfed thriving baby.’

It’s important to emphasise that we am talking here about healthy breastfed babies who are meeting all their milestones and following their centile for weight gain. The recommendation for babies who are formula-fed is different, as formula is an ultra-processed food and it’s therefore desirable for those babies to be getting more of their calories from home-cooked solid foods sooner than breastfed babies. In addition it’s worth noting that what I’m describing is very different from a toddler who is drinking lots of cow’s milk and has very little appetite for solids. Too much cow’s milk can contribute to anaemia in young children because cow’s milk is low in iron and can interfere with the body’s ability to absorb iron from other foods. Anaemia can significantly affect a child’s appetite, often leading to a decreased desire to eat due to fatigue and low energy levels associated with the condition.

But if you have an exclusively breastfed baby who at six months is thriving on breastmilk, meeting all their milestones and gaining weight well, I hope this article will reassure you that it might take a few months for your baby to show any interest in consuming much solid food. All parents need to do in the meantime is continue to gently offer a few bits and pieces of food once a day or so, keep calm if their baby doesn’t eat much or any of it, and trust that their baby will eventually start to eat more when their body tells them they need to. And of course there are many exclusively breastfed babies who are thriving and who take to solids straightaway and with enthusiasm.

Links:

Emma Pickett interviews me about introducing solids for her podcast “Makes Milk”: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/makes-milk-with-emma-pickett/id1697865705?i=1000633911477

Baby-led Weaning

https://www.cordeliauys.co.uk/about-5baby-ledweaning