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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not see how I can follow the advice 'feed baby what ever you are having'?

300 replies

ethelfleda · 18/07/2018 16:18

Maybe I am being over cautious- 8mo is my PFB after all and am terrified of getting the weaning thing wrong!

But yesterday was the first time I've had him weighed since we started weaning him. All fine - perfect weight gain etc but the HV is telling me that as long as I'm not giving him honey or full nuts, anything goes!

So... what about the piri piri smoked fish I had earlier in the week? And should I not make him separate portions of chilli with less spice in? Tonight's dinner is veggie omelette - should I just get over myself and give him some of that? Or carry on giving separate food to us?

I feel pretty stupid for finding this so difficult!

OP posts:
BertieBotts · 19/07/2018 22:01

Yup. Me too Olenna :)

Ojiverde74 · 19/07/2018 22:05

When my children were weaning we used to cook our meals with no salt and gave our sons whatever we ate. I had a few children recipe books that are absolutely fine for adults too. If you or other person want salt on the meals then add it to your plate only.

HmmGrey · 19/07/2018 22:19

If I’m making something that DD can have then she does. If it’s too spicy, salty or it’s something she doesn’t like, I make her something different and then freeze the rest.

RiverTam · 19/07/2018 22:21

Perhaps how fussy your DC end up being has nothing to do with how you weaned them!

FairyFlake45 · 19/07/2018 22:57

Always eat together and try to only cook one meal for all...obviously leave out the salt and the chilli/spice on your DS’s. If you try to all eat the same, at the table together, in a relaxed atmosphere, you’ll not have a fussy child and save yourself a lifetime of cooking separate meals for everyone.
Just my advice, my daughter has always eaten with us and had what we’re having....she loves pretty much all food and will always try something new.

Teacher22 · 20/07/2018 05:28

A bit of what parents are eating sounds fine. Don’t forget, however, that babies have a much more acute sense of taste and might reject stronger flavours. Also, you need to avoid anything which presents a choking hazard.

SofiaAmes · 20/07/2018 05:31

I just took a mouli to whatever we were having for dinner (garlic, spices and everythingJ) and that's what dc's got for the next few meals. Now my dc's (teenagers) eat everything!
Ds' first "solid" (non breast milk) food was garlic soup.

beclev24 · 20/07/2018 05:52

just to put a dampener on all the "i gave him vindaloo at 8 months and now he's a brilliant eater" type posts. We did BLW with our first- gave him almost everything bar too much salt or sugar. He was a brilliant eater til age 3. We used to show off about it all the time and feel very smug. Now age 7 he refuses to eat anyting except pasta. DS2 I was very busy at the time and we did almost exclusively baby food from pouches. He's now a brilliant eater age 5. So who knows. DS3 age 7 months won't eat anything except baby cereal but I'm not worried as I've seen it doesn't seem to make any difference at all. Just do wahtever is most convenient for you.

BertrandRussell · 20/07/2018 05:58

I don't think whtbyou feed them as a baby makes any difference to their later eating. But it's easier and more fun to just give them what you're having.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 20/07/2018 06:02

Absolutely. Mine had whatever I was having, although I didn't use salt in their portions. Once DS1 was diagnosed I added salt to all his in summer, but he was 5 by then.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 20/07/2018 06:11

Ohyesiam my Mexican friend tells me that they don't give children spices until they're 2 or 3.

likeacrow · 20/07/2018 07:28

Like a vast proportion of the population, who don't appear to be on MN, we don't always cook from scratch. Maybe 40% of the time it'll be convenience food like veggie burgers and oven chips, or I'll often not want a hot meal, so 16 month old DD was weaned on her fair share of purees, pouches and jars as well as "our" meals when appropriate. She still has some toddler ready meals now. I don't know how they sell so well as we must be the only people buying them by the sounds of this thread...

In all seriousness, I wish we'd been better with the whole BLW as it does seem to lead to better eaters. I was just petrified she wouldn't be getting enough. I think pouches and jars have their place though.

@zebrarobot how did you turn things round with your eldest so that they went from turning their nose up at your food to eating anything?

brotherphil · 20/07/2018 07:32

I wouldn't necessarily worry about the Piri Piri.
Apparently, when I was about 18 months old, my big sister made a chicken curry, and didn't realise that we'd got the pink tin of curry powder instead of the blue one (or maybe the blue instead of the pink - anyway, the hot one).
She followed the usual recipe, resulting in comments like "That's lovely, sweetheart, but sadly it's too hot" etc.
Cue little Philip, tears streaming down his face from the ferocity of it, asking for more...
As has been noted, the salt might be something to watch, but with the heat - try it in small amounts and see what DC thinks.

RiverTam · 20/07/2018 07:45

Bertrand no, but it’s a claim lots of BLWers (including the woman who wrote that book, can’t remember her name) like to make.

Original poster
ethelfleda · 20/07/2018 08:21

Perhaps how fussy your DC end up being has nothing to do with how you weaned them

This - I was weaned on anything and everything and then became fussy about 6 or 7 for a while although I suspect it was really my mum's cooking and now as an adult I am no longer fussy.

OP posts:
BertrandRussell · 20/07/2018 09:10

The problem I had with mine-until one of them turned fussy at about 5, was controlling the distain they showed when offered "children's food". Combined with very clear speech, wide vocabularies and extremely posh accents-the potential for maternal embarrassment was very high.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 20/07/2018 09:33

No Apehouse, why can't a baby have a cut up pulled pork burrito, or firecracker prawns? Confused

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 20/07/2018 09:36

Skittles if you make your own, how are there additives? Confused

NorbertTheDragon · 20/07/2018 09:44

What is nursery food anyway?

I gave mine everything we had from the start, spicy food and all. All of them eat anything and always have.

I think it's luck though, rather than anything special and wonderful I've done. They just take after me!

We almost always eat together as a family and meals range from made from scratch curries, pasta, pies, roasts, salads etc to nuggets or fish fingers and chips. I eat nuggets sometimes. Nothing wrong with something and chips occasionally. Chips are a perfect finger food! Grin

I've never added salt to anything anyway so didn't have to worry about that, and just made chilli and curries a bit milder to begin with, gradually increasing spiciness as they got older.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 20/07/2018 09:58

Racecar all mine would happily eat endive and gorgonzola at 8 months. They eat what they're used to. I couldn't eat spicy food when I was pregnant with DS2, so I made up for it with a vengeance after he was born. He loved, and still does, spicy food, presumably because he could taste it in my milk.

PerfectlySymmetricalButtocks · 20/07/2018 10:06

As a side note, the DC have got class parties today, I'm quite glad DS2's taken in crisps and popcorn and not a slab of Manchego! Blush

AlphaBravo · 20/07/2018 10:09

We just offer whatever we're having. If he wont eat it (he normally has bits of it no problem but not all of what we give and sometimes just goes 'nah' and launches it on the floor) then we just don't make a deal out of it and he gets plain pasta with cheese and broccoli or whatever I know he will eat.

Sometimes they just don't want to eat something. It doesn't make then fussy. They just don't fancy it today or for the next week or month. I don't like cucumber, if someone tried to feed me it I'd throw it in the floor aswell 😁

It's soul destroying watching your food go on the floor over and over sometimes but it's a development stage and they grow out of it.

Some days they eat everything, sometimes nothing for days but milk and potato. Normally very much tied in with teething and growth spurts.

Just dont sweat it. As long as baby is fed and getting vitamins (and its not on mars bars) that's all that matters.

babyyorkie · 20/07/2018 10:11

The hardest thing that I'm finding about feeding the baby the same food as ya is that he has his tea at 5pm and we don't eat until 8pm!

AlphaBravo · 20/07/2018 10:12

We do pouches and jars and ready meals too btw! Anything to make sure he's eaten something! The iceland toddler ones are fab 🙈

AlphaBravo · 20/07/2018 10:16

@babyyorkie make extra at lunch and give him it for his tea too :) or steam some veg in the microwave or cook some pasta and veg (my instant pot is my favourite thing ever for this alone!! 10 minutes and perfevt every time without having to do a thing) and stick it in a tub in the fridge mixed with some philly. Then heat it up for baby's dinner.

Sometimes ours just gets some mini pitta with philly and fruit for tea. All easy stuff he loves.