Weaning: the most common questions

In Switzerland, the guidance is: from the fifth month at the earliest, that is, when your baby is 4 months old, and by the start of the seventh month at the latest. Exactly when depends on your child. Watch for the signs they give you and, if in doubt, ask your paediatrician or the parent and child advice service.

Strictly speaking, “in the fourth month” means between 3 and 4 months. That’s still too early. If your baby is 4 months old and shows the typical signs, you can get started. That’s why our baby tableware is designed for babies from 4 months.

Typical signs are:

• They sit upright with a little support and hold their head steady.
• They watch you eat with interest and reach for the food.
• They put things in their mouth.
• They open their mouth for the spoon and don’t immediately push the purée back out with their tongue.

In the first months, breast milk or infant formula covers everything your baby needs, and their digestion is geared to milk. On top of that, their tongue still pushes solid food back out of the mouth by reflex. Starting solids too early would mainly crowd out milk.

From around 6 months, milk alone is no longer enough, especially for iron and zinc. This is also a good time to get to know new tastes and firmer textures. If your baby still hasn’t started solids at the start of the seventh month, it’s best to talk to your paediatrician or the parent and child advice service.

Start with one meal a day, usually at lunchtime, and with a single food, for example carrot as a smooth purée. Introduce new foods one at a time, a few days apart. Bit by bit, add potatoes, a little rapeseed oil and later meat, fish or egg. Leave out salt, sugar and honey.

At first, a few little spoonfuls are enough. It’s about getting to know food, not filling up – afterwards, your baby has milk as usual. Over several weeks the portion gets bigger until the purée replaces a milk feed. Your baby will show you when they’ve had enough: they turn their head away or close their mouth.

A new taste often takes 8 to 10 tries, sometimes more. A grimace usually doesn’t mean “I don’t like it” but “this is new”. Keep offering the food without pressure, on different days. Patience pays off.

Once a day to begin with. If that goes well, a second meal is added after several weeks, and later a third. At 9 to 11 months, your baby usually eats solids 3 to 4 times a day. From around one year, there are 3 main meals and 1 to 2 snacks.

Good first foods are finely puréed vegetables such as carrot, pumpkin, parsnip or courgette, along with potatoes and a little rapeseed oil. Fruit such as apple, pear or banana works well too. Step by step, grains, well-cooked meat, fish and egg are added. There’s no need to delay gluten, fish or egg: introducing them later doesn’t protect against allergies.

You can give natural yoghurt and whole milk from the start of weaning at the earliest, and only in small amounts, for example in cereal porridge. This is usually from around 7 months. Leave out quark and cheese in the first year. From one year, your child can have milk and dairy products as normal.

Towards the end of the first year, from around 10 months, your child gradually starts eating with you at the family table, and that includes bread. Soft bread without whole kernels or a hard crust, in small pieces, is ideal. Bread contains salt, so it’s best not to give too much of it.

In the first year of life, it’s best to leave out:

• Honey
• Salt, sugar and salty seasonings such as stock
• Raw or undercooked animal products such as raw milk, raw meat, raw fish or soft-boiled eggs
• Processed meats, liver, game and large predatory fish such as swordfish, marlin or shark
• Rice, oat, almond or soya drinks as a milk substitute
• Cow’s milk as a drink (small amounts in purée or porridge are fine)
• Whole nuts and other small, hard pieces, because of the risk of choking

Once your baby starts solids, they can have something to drink as well, and the more purée meals they eat, the more important this becomes. Tap water or unsweetened herbal tea are best. Feel free to offer both in a small open cup, so your baby practises drinking along the way. There’s no need for sugary drinks, or for juice as a drink.

You don’t need a rigid plan. A tried-and-tested approach is to add one or two new foods each week, for example: week 1 carrot, week 2 carrot with potato and rapeseed oil, week 3 also a little meat, fish or egg. To keep track, there’s our printable family weekly planner, free of charge.

Not much at all: a soft baby-sized spoon, a bowl or plate that doesn’t slide, a bib and a small cup. Plus a high chair in which your baby sits upright. Our silicone baby tableware is made for exactly this start, from 4 months.