Weaning
Also called wean, weaned, weaning off, weaning from the breast, self-weaned, weaning journey
Weaning is a baby's move from milk alone toward other food, or away from the breast altogether. Parents use it both for starting solids and for stopping breastfeeding, and where they live usually decides which one they mean.
How it's said
At 5.5 months she stole a pesto tortellini from DH's fork and that was the start of her weaning.
I was so worried about weaning, and worried that we'd lose some sort of connection but honestly the connection is still as strong as ever.
I need some tips how do I go about baby led weaning?
Who says it
In the UK weaning mostly means starting solid food. In the US it mostly means stopping breastfeeding.
Where it came from
Wean comes from Old English wenian, which meant to accustom or train. By the King James Bible of 1611 it was used for a child taken off the breast, in the line about the feast held the day Isaac was weaned.
Today the word pulls two ways. NHS pages file weaning under moving on to solid foods, while the American Academy of Pediatrics uses Weaning Your Baby as the title of a page about ending breastfeeding. Baby-led weaning names a way of starting solids where babies feed themselves, with spoon feeding as the main alternative.