Mumsnet Talk

I'm thinking of starting to wean my 24 week old daughter this week.

Is it ok to give adult cereals like weetabix and porridge at this age? I don't want to have to bother with baby rice if I don't have to.

We'll also be doing BLW and I'm thinking of just offering her food whenever we sit down for meals as that seems to be the most natural thing to do. Does this sound ok or should I structure it more around her milk feeds? DD is second child but I seem to have forgotten everything I did with DS!

Any advice much appreciated.

Hmmm, might be a bit of a shock to her system, lots of fibre and I think they can be high in salt. I'd be inclined to start with baby porridge rather than adult cereal.

I hate baby rice but quite like the Heinz little dinners stuff as a base and add veg to those as a good place to start.

First breakfast the kid had was Weetabix. She seemed to like it, but beware, it sets like concrete.

Most are high in salt so be careful

Nothing stopping you using ordinary porridge oats with milk. No extra salt in that.

My HV seems to be up to date on all of her advice and she said any cereal is fine as long as its not super sweet e.g. Coco Pops or Krave etc, and of course no honey! Ive been giving DS weetabix, ready brek, Cheerios, rice krispies and cornflakes since he was 6 months.

If you want to sweeten the taste, you can always mix in some apple or pear puree, or sprinkle some sultanas on the top.

Yes, watch the salt levels. But I'm with you on vile, disgusting, pointless baby rice. No reason not to do oats/milk porridge (rather than instant) and mini shredded wheat were a bit hit here too - you can soften them with milk, but they still keep some shape to be picked up.

My kids have never had any special 'baby' foods - baby biscuits, baby cereal, etc. They are both still alive to tell the tale with no obvious ill effects.

No added salt in Readybrek either.

Weetabix and readybrek are fine from 6 months, as is normal porridge.

If you're BLW you might want to think about cereal that's easy to pick up for baby. I give my DD shreddies (well, fake own brand ones) and mini weetabix as both can be eaten easily (and slightly less messily than normal weetabix) with fingers.
You might want to find a recipe for porridge fingers too.

We did BLW with normal Weetabix. Hardcore, us

We do BLW with weetabix and porridge both made up thickly as she likes to grab handfuls and shove it in!

I mean normal rolled oats not instant or baby porridge which has so many additives on back of packet.

Thank you ladies!

All the information I was l

Oops-fat fingers pressing wrong buttons!

All the information I was looking for. Can't wait to get started - have such happy (rose tinted?!) glasses about weaning.

Thanks again.

Ready Brek or porridge with fruit puree or mashed banana

Ellas make little baby Cheerio-style rings which might be good for picking up practice and dont have the refined sugar of adult versions.

My little one eats full sized weetabix dipped in milk loves it and normal porridge. Shreddies are a huge hit.
I tried a recipe for porridge fingers didn't go well just welded porridge to a plate so we just load a spoon with porridge and he feeds himself.

I also like the sound of your approach of just including the LO in your mealtimes, with a by of your food to play with, or saving a bit from dinner for the following day. I found this helped minimise my frustration on the amount that was actually eaten as I wasn't going to any special effort to create something to be spread around/thrown on floor. It helped us check salt levels in our diet too (crisps remain a treat when DS is sleeping).

I recently started weaning and have been giving regular porridge oats or ready brek. Both made with whole milk (I thinks that's ok for cooking from 6 mo) and some added fruit purée or mushed up banana.

She like it . Ready brek easier but she'll chew the porridge oats, I do ridiculous chewing actions/noises to get her to copy.

We did blw with ready brek or weetabix with fruit added. We too are hardcore