“ A spoon of novel taste to a novel of life”. Weaning is not a sudden withdrawal of the child from the breast. It is a gradual process starting from around 6 months as the mother's milk becomes insufficient for the child after this age. Weaning your baby is an exciting time, but it is not without its challenges. Switching from breast milk or infant formula to solids is a big change. So whether your baby is gagging on lumpy foods, or refusing to eat anything new, find out how to solve the most common weaning issues.

1. Choking

-Supervise the children while eating and discourage conversation during eating as eating, running and breathing at the same time can cause choking in the child, which may ultimately lead to death.

- Choking can be caused by peanuts, seeds, raisins, crisps, big pieces of fruit/vegetable etc. Feed the child with bite-sized pieces. Hard and big pieces of fruit/vegetable or popcorn should be avoided for children under 3 years of age.

-introducing solid foods to the baby before he/she develops motor skills to swallow them may lead to choking. So begin introducing pureed solid foods after your baby is 6-7 months old.

- Avoid giving your baby gummy foods such as chewing gum, peanut butter, marshmallows etc.

- Keep hazardous objects out of reach such as coins, cells, batteries, button, pen caps etc.

- Have children sit up while eating and drinking.

2. Diarrhoea

Overfeeding the baby may sometimes lead to mild diarrhoeal disturbances. Also, other causes may be unclean feeding bottles or indigestion following early introduction of weaning food.

-The most important thing you can do to treat baby diarrhoea is to continue to breastfeed. Breastfeed more frequently when your child has loose stools to provide extra fluids.

-Withhold all the solid foods as well as 1-2 of the several milk feedings.

-Along with this, substitute juices with boiled water or balanced electrolyte solution.

-Shift to bland diet immediately such as mashed bananas, rice porridge, bread, sweetened curd etc.

-Offer the baby small meals.

- foods to be avoided include dairy products except curd, high fiber foods such as raw vegetables and fruits.

3. Tooth decay

Infants fed sugar-sweetened beverages or fruit juice in a bottle at bedtime have been observed with patterns of tooth decay. It is also called as baby-bottle caries.

-Infants should be fed, burped and put to bed without milk or juice bottle to avoid it.

- Begin brushing your baby’s tooth without toothpaste when his/her first tooth comes in.

- Don’t give your baby soft drinks.

- If you want to interest your child in a ‘sippy cup’, give juices mixed with half water and half juice.

- Never put your child to bed with bottle or food.

- Avoid sweet or sticky foods for baby.

4. Constipation

An artificially fed baby may be constipated because of insufficient amount of food or fluid. This may also be the consequence of high fat or high protein diet, lacking in bulk.

-Simply increasing the amount of fluid or sugar in the formula may be corrective in the first few months of life. Keep the baby hydrated.

-After this age, adding or increasing the amount of cereal, vegetables and fruits give the best results.

- Try to give fruits as puree, chopped or finger-foods.

- Baby massage may relieve constipation and can be comforting for the baby.

- P fruits are best for constipation- plums, pear, peaches, prunes.

- babies are commonly fed pureed foods that misses out on healthy fats. Use butter, vegetable oil etc. to cook their food.

- when constipated, avoid rice for the baby.

5.Cold and cough

-Ginger garlic khichdi may work wonders for baby having cold and chest congestion.

-Use the age-old therapy of turmeric milk.

-Honey added in warm water helps to clear mucus, soothes the irritation arising from cough and sore throat.

-Sweet whole wheat flour porridge, commonly called ‘sheera’ is a preferred porridge for babies when their chest is congested.

-Bajra raab is known to soothe sore throat.

-Barley water is a great remedy for fever, cold and cough.

-Sweet potatoes help to boost immunity.

-Moong dal porridge is a wholesome and filling food for babies suffering from cold.

The final word

These were the most common problems that may be encountered during the weaning stage. All of them are temporary and have solutions. You just have to keep your calm and behave wisely using tactical tricks rather than punishment and force!