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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Weaning 5 months

15 replies

DocsOddSocks · 10/07/2021 08:08

I'm starting to wean our 5 month old daughter (baby porridge/puree veg) but just wanted to know what the consistency of the pureed veg should be like? Smile

OP posts:
WeAllLikeVindaloo · 10/07/2021 08:14

Like a thick smooth soup. Just blend with a little water.

Your baby won’t need much more than a spoonful at this age.

DocsOddSocks · 10/07/2021 08:15

@WeAllLikeVindaloo Thankyou so much for responding Smile

OP posts:
Cormoran · 10/07/2021 08:35

Cook your vegetables in 3 cm of water in small pot and let simmer at low flame for 10 or until soft that you can break them with fork, blend them with whatever water is left. It is tastier than when veggies are steamed. You can control how much water you add.

The first time offering spoon, just dip the spoon in the puree, and offer, and then fill only half of spoon.
Please do consider soups, which can go from very clear to very thick as she gets use to the different mechanic of swallowing vs sucking.

Consider also a rich vegetable broth, in which you can later cook baby pasta (the dots to start with) and even add a bit of real parmiggiano reggiano which is very high in calcium.

Careful with baby porridge as it is often sweetened. You can blend your own rolled oats instead of the highly processed baby one.

Soups and puree will ensure the greatest variety of vegetables. When you have your meals, have her with you. Ideally have your meals together.

You can cook apple and or pear in a bit of water and make apple sauce. Apple will need more time than pear, and again make sure there is water left. You can add this apple sauce to the porridge if you want.
Banana often gets a bit stuck, so you try poaching slices in boiling water for a couple of minutes, and they will slide more easily. You can crush the slices with the back of a fork. But take advantage of summer and watermelon , juicy peaches (peel them),

Think also about lentils and chickpeas in a month or so. Make a little stew with several vegetables diced as tiny as you can. Lentils are small and when in a sauce of soup, there is not really the need to blend, but the chickpeas needs to.

If you can, avoid pouches, as they have a predominant sweet taste (sweetcorn, fruits, carrots, ...) and the weird combination such as spinach and blueberries create a taste for food that is not real, the heating process also makes it taste different than the real one and might make accepting the real one difficult.

Avoid the ultra processed baby food such as rusk, wafer, puffs, cereal bar, ...

Have fun in the kitchen and have her next to you when you wash , chop and cook. Eating is a five senses experience, you see the veggies, hear the sizzling of the pan, smell the onion melting, and then of course taste and touch.

Soon you will be able to offer a small piece of something on a baby fork which she will handle better than a spoon, and also small pieces for her to take with her hand. A piece of bread dipped in an egg for example.

Think about what you want her to eat growing up, and think also about how you eat. Some food, you eat with a spoon, other with a fork and other with your hand, and teach her that. Plenty will land on her, you, the floor, the house pet, but soon she will be sucking the tip of an asparagus and you will find half of it insider her nappy.

Enjoy, it is a gorgeous phase.

DocsOddSocks · 10/07/2021 20:06

@Cormoran It sounds like you've done this before Grin

Your post is very informative, thankyou. Even though we have a blender, some of the veg stays slightly lumpy. Is that normal? Is that okay? I'm a first time Mum if you cant tell already 🤣

OP posts:
squirrelnutkins1 · 10/07/2021 20:09

You could buy a couple of the first taste pouches to see the consistency. I struggled to get it right!

DocsOddSocks · 10/07/2021 20:10

@squirrelnutkins1

You could buy a couple of the first taste pouches to see the consistency. I struggled to get it right!
@squirrelnutkins1 Thanks for the idea Smile We have some baby jars but still struggling to get it right Blush
OP posts:
squirrelnutkins1 · 10/07/2021 20:13

Think the pouches are different to jars, like the single veg ones. It's def hard to get it right! Xx

Ohshitiveturnedintomymother · 10/07/2021 20:14

Just to add, if you wait a couple more weeks you can bypass purées and liquid and just give them actual food. It’s way more fun! No faffing about with blenders and watching babies gum down food is hilarious! As long as nothing is the right size to choke on (basically grapes/sausage rounds etc) then they can go to town.

DocsOddSocks · 10/07/2021 20:27

@squirrelnutkins1 I thought they'd be the same consistency. Thanks for letting me know. I'll be buying some tomorrow Smile

@Ohshitiveturnedintomymother The reason I'm doing it now is because she's drinking so much (8oz every 2 hours through the day). I can't up it because then she throws up everywhere so hoping the food - even just a taste - will help Smile

OP posts:
Cormoran · 10/07/2021 21:38

@DocsOddSocks done three times. I am Monegasque (Monaco) and we don't take food lightly! You should see the menus at nurseries! Weaning is serious business and paediatricians (kids are not cared for by GPs) insist on its importance as introduction to good food. Never prepare something you wouldn't eat yourself. In French. we don't have a word for "fussy eater" or "treats" and snacking is consider a national crime.

Cook the veggies in a little water, not steamed, cook them for longer if they don't dissolve (the carrot should break when you stab it with fork) , or if you add water, add boiling hot water (then let cool!!!) . Pouches are extremely runny. Taste one and maybe put it in a bowl, because in pouches kids don't see the colour and when they will see a similar food in a bowl they will refuse it as not very appealing. Eat a spoonful yourself and judge if a real - insert name of veggie - tastes the same or if it tastes "processed" . If taste is not real because of high pressure and pasteurisation, it might be difficult to introduce the real one later.

Think about your oven. Roast pumpkin with some quality extra-virgin olive oil. Slice a zucchini in long stripes , brush with oil, put some garlic cloves in the corner of tray and let them cook at very high temperature. They will dissolve under pressure of fork.

Buy a book by Bee Wilson called First Bite, it is not a cooking book but how humans interact with food from the first taste and she is strongly in favour of early weaning because there is a taste window in which children accept new food.

Seriously consider soups, from pumpkin - carrot, to pea-potatoes, red lentils, blended minestrone, and all the "ratatouille" type of dishes, veggies that cook in their own juices.

A child will accept a sweet tasting food - and the majority of pouches are very sweet - after the first attempt. It will take a dozen for a savoury food to be accepted. If you start giving "sweet " tasting meals, which have a dominance of sweet potato, sweet corn, carrots, fruit, the child will develop a preference for sweet.

Risottos with equal amount of veggies and rice and a lot of water, make a soupy dish, add a knob of butter.

Have her next to your when you and your DH are having meals at the table and if she is interested, let her have a taste of yours (unless it is fried, salty, spicy, ...).

Offer a variety of taste, sour and acid included. We do salads before the age of 1, because kids will pick from their parents' plate, and at first we don't put too much vinegar or mustard in the vinaigrette. The biggest classics being grated carrots with fresh parsley and of course, salads Niçoise.

At the same time, weaning must fit your family eating habits. So, you can have some adaptation both ways. You can add more veggies in your adult life and more " adult" food in your kid's life.

When you start fish, have real fish and not fish finger or other industrial preparation. Make fish that tastes of "fish" . IN France first fish is a sole cooked in generous butter 3 minutes per side or a piece of frozen cod cooked in boiling water. When cod floats it is ready. Add two spoonfuls of the cooking water, a piece of butter, a sprinkle of fresh parsley and give every piece of fish with a bit of liquid.

Enough for now!

DocsOddSocks · 11/07/2021 08:51

@Cormoran Very informative so thankyou! Smile looking forward to it! X

OP posts:
Cormoran · 11/07/2021 09:43

I can't understand how such a critical phase that will determine life long health is not given by doctors in UK leaving mothers to forage for clues on internet, some very slim content on the NHS , instagram and so on.

In continental Europe (France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland ...) paediatricians oversee the weaning process, with very specific instructions, booklets, recipes, ..

One ends up being guided by the industry and buy baby processed food that is engineered in the same way as adult processed food to be highly palatable and addictive. Such as the melty puffs (exactly same ingredients as adult puffs, corn flour and oil, and instead of salt, nutrition void vegetable powder so they can put the name of the veggie on the label.

Have you watched the recent BBC documentary what are we feeding our kids?
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000wgcd/what-are-we-feeding-our-kids

Jujujuly · 11/07/2021 10:13

@Cormoran - that’s some of the best weaning advice I’ve read. I also second the Bee Wilson book recommendation. OP take note!

I didn’t blend any of my babies’ food and weaned both at 5 months. I mashed some things like chickpeas but otherwise just gave them real things. I’ve used some Ella’s kitchen pouches when out and about and they taste nothing like the real versions. However the 100% prune one is useful (stirred into porridge or yoghurt) if they get constipated!

squirrelnutkins1 · 11/07/2021 20:26

Yes get a couple of prune ones for the cupboard!

Cormoran · 11/07/2021 22:02

Prune puree is sooooooooo easy to do and way cheaper than pouches. Buy a bag of pitted prunes. Put 3-4 in a bowl. Add warm water, let soak, blend, adding a bit of water if needed..
Or even better make pear-prune. Cook a very ripe pear (that pear that is so ripe nobody wants to eat it) in some water making sure there is water left after 15 min, add soaked prunes, and blend .

Quite tasty too. Pear when cooked has almost a vanilla taste.

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