Weaning at 5 months: why it's too early, risks, when to start
Introduction
Can weaning begin at 5 months ? There are countless cases of new parents who ask themselves this question.
If the question is also part of your thoughts, perhaps because you have a recently born baby and you are already documenting yourself on the phases of his feeding after the six-month period of breastfeeding, this content is for you!
Featuring an index to give you a way to delve into the various facets of the topic by simply clicking on the paragraph titles, it is part of a path that, if you want, you can complete with the video course “Practical, easy and stress-free self-weaning”.
Curated by Doctor Federica Dell'Oro, the nutrition biologist of the DrSilva team, it was designed to take you by the hand and help you discover the fantastic world of complementary feeding on demand.
For more content dedicated to the well-being and development of your baby, there is also my Instagram profile @drsilva.com_official .
Starting weaning at 5 months: is it correct?
Generally speaking, starting weaning at 5 months is not correct . As Dr. Federica Dell'Oro points out in this video , it is very difficult for a child of that age to have developed the requirements to handle foods other than breast milk or formula.
Let's not forget, in fact, that there are four of them:
- Loss of the extrusion reflex , the archaic neonatal reflex that allows the baby to better manage the sucking process and to counteract the entry of solid foods into the mouth. To understand if it has decayed in your baby, you can bring an empty teaspoon close to his lips. If, faced with this stimulus, he sticks out his tongue almost as if trying to rub it on the palate, it means that the involuntary reflex is present;
- ability to maintain a sitting position with the help of a few supports - a high chair is enough and here you can find advice on how to choose it - and without hunching over too much;
- palmar grip management ;
- interest, not due to hunger but to an impulse to imitate, towards the food consumed by adults. At 5 months it is very likely that this requirement has been reached, especially if you have the habit of letting the baby see you while you cook or eat - that's fine - but it's not enough. In fact, the other three are also needed.
Typically, newborns develop the skills just listed around 6 months.
However, this is a general reference. There are children who develop them at 5 and a half months and others, instead, at 6.5 -7.
Weaning at 5 months: is it too early?
Yes, starting weaning at 5 months is too early . As specified by Doctor Dell'Oro in the video linked in the previous lines, considering the uniqueness of each individual child, it is likely to start a couple of weeks earlier than 6 months.
A month, especially in advance, is definitely too much.
In most cases, we can talk about a variability of about a couple of weeks .
Now it's time to see, in the next few lines, the risks that are run by starting weaning too early.