Weaning: what influences the timing?

Appropriate nutrition during infancy is essential for optimal growth and development, and when solid food is introduced is recognised as important. Guidelines recommend that infants start weaning from six months. This locally-based study aimed to investigate parental decisions to start weaning. A postal questionnaire was sent to 203 families with infants aged between seven and 10 months. Weaning earlier than the recommendations was common--by the age of four months, more than half of infants had commenced weaning. Considerable social patterning of feeding practices was found, with those living in socially deprived circumstances least likely to follow the guidelines. The most common reported reasons for weaning were internal factors including the perception that the infant was ready. The majority of the respondents had received or sought a form of formal advice from their health visitor. Although receiving information was not associated with the timing of weaning, when the advice was delivered was significantly associated with when solids were reportedly introduced. Further research is needed to confirm the findings of this study.