Weaning at 6 months - can you help with some Qs please? :)

[Sophora]

Hello

I've never posted here yet but have been a member for a while so please be gentle with me....

My daughter Imogen was weaned slowly from 19wks so we went through all the pureed stage and building up from one meal to two then three. This time though I am hanging on until 25-26wks before I start with Reuben (although am finding it hard at the moment because he's waking twice a night for feeds and I'm shattered and he's just over 23wks ). I am hoping to give quite a lot of finger foods (if I can get over the fear of choking!) but I suspect I will be giving some by spoon as well, just want to try and avoid pureeing if possible!

Anyway, I just feel completely clueless partly because I can't remember a lot from last time and partly because we are doing this at a different stage so if anyone can give me some help with these Qs I'd much appreciate it...

• what's the best food to try first? A mashed veg/fruit (do I just mash finely with some milk)? Runny weetabix?

• do I go straight to offering a little bit of something at every meal time seeing as he'll be 6mths or build up to three meals? Do I just offer b/feeds inbetween meals?

• do I offer a cup of water with meals or not yet?

• I know the iron stores start to deplete around 6mths so what vitamins should I give? Imogen has Haliborange ones but they don't have iron in them, do the ones I give Reu have to contain iron?

• can I give petit filou and scrambled eggs from the beginning?

Sure there were other Qs, will probably be back with more posts! Any advice gratefully received! Thanks!

S x

[beansprout]

It depends on how you want to go about it. I started with some pureed fruit (pear is good) and offered it once a day. Once ds was actually eating some, I would increase this to twice and then three times a day. I would offer him this first and then let him breastfeed for as long as he needed. Other fruit and veg that babies tend to like include apple, butternut squash, parsnip, sweet potato, plums etc. I wouldn't use petit filou as it has loads of sugar in it and I think the baby just ends up with a sweet tooth that s/he doesn't need to have.

That said, there are lots of ways of doing this, so go with what works for you!

[Eulalia]

Can't answer about Reuben as I have never heard of it.

Basically any food should be OK providing there are no allergy problems. Eggs are supposed to be hard boiled till a year old (till baby is a year old of course! ) - you can then mash them if you like.

Finger foods OK - basically just watch that smaller items are small to avoid choked like halve grapes for example.

Don't worry about water too much if you are giving runny food but you can start to offer maybe with one meal or in between meals and build up from there. Depends how much milk she is taking.

And don't worry! - my 3rd child faffed about with solids till 11 months - thankfully I didn't start till 6 months but he didn't seem interested. As long as your baby is getting plenty of milk and having a taste of a wide range of food then she'll be fine.

[Sophora]

Thanks for your replies

I may just start with a fruit/veg then and build it up to 3x a day.

Eulalia - Reuben is my son who I am about to start weaning!! Imogen is my daughter who I weaned some two years ago, well nearly 2.5yrs ago now actually, that's why I'm feeling a bit lost as it all seems so long ago and I'm doing weaning at a later stage with my ds than I did with my dd.

Thanks again
Sharon

[Clary]

to add to what others have said, I wouldn't bother with vitamin tablets. If your child has a healthy and varied diet they certainly don't need them (it's a bit of a con IMHO).

(not talking about very fussy eaters/children with CF etc)

[fluffyanimal]

If you are worried about iron, try apricots and dark green veg (not necessarily together!!] Lentils too, once basic fruit/veg tastes have been accepted.