When is the best time to wean your baby?

Babies grow up drinking milk for a certain period of time. This is due to the baby's own conditions. However, it is not right to drink milk all the time to get nutrition. After a certain period of time, babies should eat other foods to achieve the purpose of supplementing nutrition. Therefore, many mothers will ask when is the right time to wean their babies? Let's take a look together?

Weaning your baby in autumn

Weaning means completely stopping breastfeeding and feeding the baby regular food instead. This requires the baby to change from liquid food to semi-solid or solid food, and from sucking on the nipple to getting food to using chopsticks, spoons, cups, plates and bowls. This is a big transition process, which requires the baby to change and adapt physically and psychologically. You can't rush it, but change it gradually; otherwise it will cause problems such as baby refusing to eat or indigestion. The appropriate time for weaning is around 1 year old. However, in areas where there is a lack of milk or milk substitutes, you may consider retaining breast milk 1 to 2 times a day in addition to regular food until the baby is 1 and a half years old, and no longer than 2 years old.

Weaning is a very important period for babies and a major turning point in their lives. Weaning is not just a change in food variety and feeding methods, but more importantly, it has an important impact on the baby's psychological development. That is why psychologists call this process the second mother-infant separation. While sucking milk, the baby is constantly communicating emotionally with the mother and gaining maternal love, which has an important impact on the baby's physical and mental development. If the weaning method is inappropriate, not only will the baby find it difficult to adapt psychologically, but it will also have a negative impact on the baby's physical health. The weaning method of applying pepper, ink, mercurochrome, gentian violet or coptis water on nipples is not advisable and will cause great psychological harm to the baby. As a result, the baby may cry, feel fearful, or feel uneasy, or try to get comfort by sucking handkerchiefs, quilts, and mother's clothes, and may even develop abnormal behaviors that are difficult to correct in the future.

The benefits of weaning babies in autumn

Seasonal factors

It is best to wean your baby when he is about one year old, and the best time to wean your baby is in spring and autumn. Because the temperature is relatively high in summer, the baby's loss of appetite caused by weaning will be aggravated. The baby's gastrointestinal digestion ability is poor in hot weather, and it is easy to cause digestive tract diseases if you are not careful; the weather is too cold in winter, and the baby will have trouble sleeping at night due to weaning, and is prone to catching a cold and getting sick. If the baby's weaning time happens to be in summer or winter, the mother can postpone it for one or two months.

Physical factors

In addition to seasonal factors, the baby's health is also one of the factors that determine whether weaning is possible. If the baby is unwell, the weaning time should be postponed appropriately. In addition, it is best not to wean the baby if the baby is teething, or if the nanny is changing, moving, traveling, or the mother has to go to work. Otherwise it will increase the difficulty of weaning your baby.

The best time for a baby to be weaned is not fixed. Some babies may start earlier and some may stop later. But no matter what the baby chooses, it must be done in a way that is beneficial to the baby, because no matter what mothers do, they should do it from the baby's perspective.