Parents’ rating of reasons to commence weaning and the weaning process
| Question | Total no. | Response | Weaning age | p χ2 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before 3 mth (<13 wk) | 3–4 mth | After 4 mth (>17.3 wk) | ||||
| *Includes strongly agree. | ||||||
| †Includes very easy. | ||||||
| I started solid food because: | ||||||
| Health visitor or doctor advised me | 661 | Agree* | 39% (55) | 40% (196) | 43% (16) | 0.68 |
| A book or leaflet suggested I should | 651 | Agree* | 12% (16) | 31% (146) | 43% (16) | <0.001 |
| My family and friends told me to | 655 | Agree* | 40%(55) | 30% (146) | 25% (9) | 0.024 |
| I thought it was the right time | 681 | Agree* | 99% (141) | 96% (481) | 90% (35) | 0.017 |
| My baby seemed hungry | 678 | Agree* | 99% (140) | 92% (458) | 79% (31) | <0.001 |
| Has it been easy to wean your baby onto solid food? | 700 | Easy† | 76% (107) | 71% (370) | 68% (28) | 0.24 |
| I thought my baby started weaning | 704 | Too early | 9% (13) | 3% (18) | 2% (1) | 0.005 |
| Too late | 1% (2) | 3% (13) | 5% (2) | |||