Weaning is one of the significant developmental milestones that your baby or toddler will go through. Being able to feed himself, or to eat lots of solid foods, demonstrates that your baby is growing up; he is drinking and eating like mommy and daddy, and well on his way to being able to do many more things for himself. However, knowing when the right time to wean will be is an important part of the process, and one which must be considered carefully.

Generally, a baby will be ready to be weaned sometime between the ages of 9 months and 18 months. There are in essence two things that can tell you when the right time to wean will be. The first is that your baby’s sucking need has to slow down or stop. The second is that he has to be able to control his hands and mouth well enough to drink from the cup and to, at least a little, feed himself. Once your baby is able to do both of these things, you can probably start to wean at just about any time.

Still, many children aren’t quite ready to wean, even though their parents might think that it is the right time. There is some debate as to whether it is better to allow the child to decide when to wean. On the one hand are those that believe it is best to allow your child to decide when weaning should take place. On the other hand are those that believe a child should be weaned once the child meets the criteria above. The fact of the matter is that there is no “right” time to wean, apart from those two requirements. Weaning your baby before your baby feels ready probably is not going to cause your baby any harm. Waiting for your baby to decide to wean probably isn’t going to make it any more difficult to wean later. Really, in most cases, weaning will just sort of happen as a natural progression for your baby, rather than something you map out for him.

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