To ask what was the first food you gave your baby?

[nobodylikesacockwomble]

DD will be 6 months next week so will be starting weaning her onto solids.
What's the best food to start her on? We will be doing a mix of baby led and pureed food so have some of the pouches, but is it best to give her the meals first or just some vegetables? Or is it best to give her fruits first rather than savoury things??
I know I'm completely over thinking this whole thing but can't stop myself! 😂

I started with anything green that I could throw in the steamer and then purée and freeze into an ice cube tray.
Also avocado when out and about is really handy.
Once he’d got the hang of green veg I moved onto other vegetables and then fruit, protein and dairy.
He’s now 1 and the only thing he won’t eat so far is eggs but he turned his nose up at those pretty much immediately it didn’t matter how I made them. Hoping he’s going to continue to be a good eater as I’m ridiculously fussy and I wish I wasn’t as life would be a lot easier.

Hi !
With both of mine I started with oats.

I then would puree fruit and with my daughter she wouldn't eat anything else!!!
So defo start with veg or puree veg and potatoe etc. . Because it was an utter NIGHTMARE.

I don't remember how long it took her to eat other things bar oats, yogurts or fruit but it felt like a life time lol.
She's now great with her veg but I would say leave the fruit for a few days.... or weeks lol.
Enjoy I found it so much fun finding new things I could make or buy for them x. Good luck x

A floret of broccoli.

I followed the advice in the Ella's kitchen cook book - the purple one. You might be able to get it free from Boots Parenting Club. Also read a bit of Annabel Karmel. We did a different vegetable every day for 2 weeks then fruits then started meals. I only introduced 1 new food a day so I could keep an eye out for allergic reactions I even wrote down if things were liked or not liked. It's worth looking up common allergens and intolerances- my daughter was a bit sensitive to egg but has grown out of it, I would stop giving egg than try again in a few weeks if there was a reaction. Oranges and tomatoes also caused nappy rash and bananas caused black strings in her poo which looked horrible!

Don't rush it either with lots of food as it can lead to constipation, I had to limit the amount despite my daughter loving food until her digestive system caught up. Passing hard solids for the time when constipated isn't nice!

Be careful with baby rice as there is quite a high amount of arsenic naturally occurring in rice.

We started on Christmas Day... so roast parsnip and carrots as he could hold them. We did baby led so no purees or pouches - he ate bits of my salad, sandwich or cake when we were out. Lots of sweet potato fries with no salt in cafes/pubs. I only ever spoon fed yoghurt. He’s 5 now and eats almost anything!

30 years ago, at just less than 3 months old, my mum fed me parts of a New Year’s Day dinner, then apparently I stole sprouts. Then liver and onions

Dd1 started with what all my mum's grandchildren started with
Potatoes mixed with full cream milk. They then moved on to whatever we were having.
Dd2 first had stewed apples.

We bought a huge selection of the jars and pouches. Some they liked better than others. It doesn’t matter whether you start with savoury or desserts, just try different foods so they get a variety of new flavours and textures.

Supposedly you should do veg before fruit to stop them favouring sweet things. I did things like carrot, sweet potato first.

Which, alongside peas, are the sweetest vegetables there are.

We BLWed. DD helped herself to a handful of watercress at 5 months. Was given marmite on toast on her 6 month birthday.

Ooh not mentioned so far is to have a look at what to do if your baby chokes- it's not likely to happen as babies have a good gag reflex but it helped me feel more confident knowing how to do back blows to dislodge any food and baby cpr. There are good YouTube videos and courses out there.

I never came across these pouches mentioned here.

Are they pre-prepaired fruit/vegetable purees in packaging?

If so, they sound a bit bad for the environment (and I sound a bit preachy, I realise). But I can see they would be convenient.

images.app.goo.gl/L2UCy4xB25uVGNak8

The pouches are brilliant. I never had time to make my own baby food ( went back to work when DT’s were six months).

But you don't need to make 'baby food', they can eat the same food as you pretty much!

@Jingleganlefish - we didn’t eat our meals at the same time as DT’s when they were little and we rarely ate meals which were suitable for babies.

DD1s first food was a bite of bacon and avocado sandwich which she grabbed and crammed into her mouth before I could stop herShe wasn't quite 6 months.

DS started with bananas I think and chunks of cooked veg.

Both my kids nicked a hot chip off my plate as their first food. Mum of the year.

They were old enough to eat low-salt versions of table food so that's what they ate. A chunk of avo can make a nice test-food if you want to check their readiness.

The pouches are brilliant. I never had time to make my own baby food ( went back to work when DT’s were six months).

Oh, right.
I went back to work after sixteen weeks (four months approx?).
After both of mine.

I found the time somehow to prepare food for them, but doubtless could have done something more interesting if I'd just opened a pouch and thrown it away rather than peeling, cooking (if necessary) and puree-ing food in the early days. But, to be fair, you had twins. Hence double the work. I'm sure I couldn't have prepared twice as much baby food without being exhausted.

First actual football was probably a cucumber stick each time, but eldest first meal was roasted parsnips and carrots, mash and Yorkshire pudding and youngest I think was some sort of cheesy pasta.

*food, have no idea why it says football.

A gingerbread man, she stole it right out of my hand!

We did baby-led weaning and I found it to be a very relaxed approach. No fussing over the order of food, no mashing, no expensive jars. Just gave her pretty much what we had, without the salt, and let her crack on with it. She’s 17 months now and a great eater.

(If you do go for BLW though, avoid the Facebook groups- it’s all avocado beautifully presented on bamboo plates and it’ll make you neurotic)

Broccoli is a good thing to start off with, it's got the stalk for them to hold and then the top is easy for them to munch if its cooked til soft.
Mashed avocado is good
The middle bit of the cucumber
Any veg really

We did baby-led weaning and I found it to be a very relaxed approach. No fussing over the order of food, no mashing, no expensive jars. Just gave her pretty much what we had

"Baby led weaning" is just a fashionable semantic. Any kind of weaning can just be from a selection of what you are eating, particularly at 6 months. If weaning earlier at 4 months puree it, if weaning later, leave it whole.

"Baby led weaning" is just a fashionable semantic. Any kind of weaning can just be from a selection of what you are eating, particularly at 6 months. If weaning earlier at 4 months puree it, if weaning later, leave it whole.

I find it a convenient shorthand for “giving babies whole foods instead of purées and allowing them to feed themselves at their own pace, when they’re ready” but apologies if it bothers you?

Don't get caught up in 'names'. We just do whatever suits at the time. Some meals she has what we are having, other times she'll have an Ella's Kitchen or Babyease pouch, sometimes she'll just have some vegetable or fruit while we have something else.

Just do what works for you!