To think its possible to wean without a microwave

[newmun]

Has anyone done it?

Hate the space it takes up in the kitchen !

Funnily enough, as I was heating up my babies dinner in the microwave this evening, I was thinking 'feeding your baby without a microwave must be really frigging annoying'.

I would find it a big faff without one, with 2 dc, 1 fussy eater and one bottomless pit.

It also saves on washing up.

I only use the microwave for the same things as I did before weaning - reheating

My motto is anything that makes your life easier.

For non meat meals it's handy for the baby to be used to eating them at room temperature - makes it a lot easier when you're out as that is what they're used to. Also I never fancied BLW so made purees. I think the time spent making them was far less than the amount of time spent cleaning my child, highchair and floor with the additional mess that BLW involves.

I use my microwave about 10 times a day. I think you're all missing out!!

Today alone:
i warmed up milk for the kids in the morning - 60 seconds.
I had to defrost a few slices of bread for sandwiches.
Lunchtime I heated up soup. Another cup of milk for my DD. Dinner I was making garlic bread and wanted to soften the butter. DH didn't get home till late so reheated his dinner in the microwave.
A forgotten cup of tea - into the microwave.

It's a genius machine!! Get one.

hoki we don’t have a microwave.
The DC prefer their milk ice cold.
We don’t freeze bread
I heat up soup on the hob (prefer to be able to monitor/stir as it’s heating)
Softening butter would be useful, granted!
We don’t drink hot drinks
We very rarely reheat food... meal times are just planned around times people are going to be home

I’m not buying a microwave to soften butter

You don't need one, but they do make it a lot easier. You could ask on freecycle, or Facebook for one, then pass it on once you've finished weaning. It doesn't have to be permanent.

I loved my microwave when weaning, I used it to defrost and heat up tiny portions.

It’s not a necessity, but it made my life easier

I rarely used our microwave, I used to heat purées up in a pot of boiling water.

You don't need one but I did find it very convenient. Ours was probably used more in the first six months of weaning than in the preceding six years. You can heat small amounts in the dish it will be served in rather than dirtying a saucepan. I wouldn't have been happy that things got hot enough with the boiling water method mentioned above.

I was told by my health visitor not to use a microwave when weaning as it can heat the purees unevenly and leave hot spots that can burn the babies mouth, she advised me to boil the kettle, pour boiling water into a bowl and then float the bowl of puree in that, yes it takes longer but you can get to stir it, so it heats it evenly. Better yet do BLW, it is so much easier, we did it with our second, you just give them bits of what you are having. No need for a microwave at all.

Of course you don't need it, but babies eat small amounts of unprocessed food; it's very convenient if you're preparing the food yourself. In my experience with BLW, our baby eats what we do only about half our meals because his dinner is earlier and you won't give up spicy or processed or salty or sugary food (hot chillies, quorn, shop-bought houmous, granola etc) for every meal. Also when the baby has a sore throat they want soft cold food only. When the baby is hungry one day, they suddenly want twice as much as you planned and you need to very quickly make an extra course. We have a drawer full of plastic containers of batch cooking leftovers to pull out for all those other meals.
It can make life very much easier:
5 minutes to steam veg in it or 6 minutes from frozen (very efficient). We use it for giving the baby veg and to get veg that's then chopped / mashed into omelette, burgers etc.
25 seconds to defrost pre-cooked fruity oat bar for breakfast.
1 minute defrost and 20 seconds to warm up mini veg bites / lentil burgers / etc you've batch made in the oven and frozen.
1 minute to defrost/heat frozen chopped fruits from the freezer to add to yoghurt.
1 minute to reheat chicken and veg noodles.
30 seconds to defrost the slice of last week's veg omelette to take out for packed lunch.
1 minute to cook a tiny portion of porridge oats with milk and frozen fresh fruit bits.
Etc etc etc etc. I could live without it, butt the 2 days when the old one died and we were waiting for the new one were so inconvenient that we talked about the hassle of it constantly.

Vampiratequeen What if what I am eating is leftovers from the previous evening’s meal, and it is convenient for me to reheat it in the microwave? Obviously I follow food safety guidelines regarding reheating for the baby as I do for myself anyway

I use my microwave a lot but you definitely don’t need one to reheat baby food. Put it in a jar or ramekin and stand in hot water - just like bottles used to be reheated when made up and kept in the fridge.

No it is impossible which is why you see everybody born before the 1980s sucking on baby bottles all the time

You have a choice with the baby's food; reheat fully and cool before serving (e.g. meat), or warm to a cooler temperature. Or try to do the latter, fail and then leave it to cool a bit while serving up random bits of the meal as they cool down. BLW is easier that way; separate food onto the baby's ready using your fingers, keep a plate on what's still hot separately and gradually transfer to the tray as it cools down. It's not always elegant, but it works and the baby enjoys seeing a parade of vegetables even if he might wonder why he always gets some veg like broccoli and thin slices of turnip before the fat potato and carrot chunks make it over from the plate.

For food with fruit - be sensible, check the fruit bits in the food with a finger (or eat a bit / touch some on your lip to check) and let it cool as needed.

Vampire, or you could just, you know, stir it? Another bit of shit advice from a HV.

DS is 14mo and I weaned with no microwave @newmun ! DP and I haven't had one for the 5 years we've been together and I've never missed it.

I would put a small pan on with an inch of water in the bottom and melt a cube of frozen purée on the upturned lid (so handle of the pan lid in inside the pan iyswim). Either that or melt the cube in the pan itself with a little water thrown in too.

We mostly did BLW with a few pouches and it worked really easily.

Some people can get weirdly offended if you say you don't need/want a microwave, like your judging their choice to have one. For us it just never crossed our mind and, like you say, they just take up so much space in our absolutely tiny kitchen.

It is handy- I used the microwave to steam veg and heat up purées that had been in the fridge as my fussy baby didn't like them cold (Yes you get hot spots but you stir thoroughly and they are gone). I occasionally defrosted purées in it when I wasn't very organised. Not necessary at all but when you're short on time or you are a bit busy and disorganised like me it is very useful.

MRex I (try to remember to) keep a plate in the freezer which I then put the baby’s portion on so it cools quite quickly. He is a bottle refuser who has always been outraged by fridge cold food 🙄

Re hot spots - you get this with any food heated in microwave whether for baby or not. Do most people not heat for a minute or so, then remove (possibly stir if not solid food) and replace and do another minute or so to make sure it is heated through. I don’t think people understand food reheating guidelines. I wouldn’t want food that was only reheated in spots for myself anyway

?? What do you need a microwave for? I've never owned a microwave and managed to wean 3 dcs. My mum had 5 kids and never had a microwave either.

You don't need one but if you have one it is very useful.( Like many non essential useful things, e.g televisions, boiling water taps, Kitchen Aids and hot water bottles. I could survive without them but I like having them.

As long as you’re organised, cook from scratch, and don’t use ready meals you’ll be fine. If you use ready meals then cooking without a microwave is unsafe.

What a dopey question!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Motherhood was not invented by MN, believe it or not.