Help with weaning - what foods to try?

[sunseaandme]

My baby is 6 months old at end of feb and was wanting some advice on how to start weaning him. Am going to go down mixture of BLW and purées etc too. Where do I start? I know you can buy lots of purée pouches and pots, as well as the melty puff type things, which I am happy to use, should I just use those at first? Or yoghurts? Or mashed banana or will be be too little for that? Any advice appreciated as I really have no clue! Do I start just giving him little bits here and there to experiment and same amount of milk (formula fed) ?

Check with your health visitor if there are any courses in your area! I joined an online call with someone from the local children's centre and it was really useful!

I’d avoid pouches especially in the early days they are expensive first of all and secondly They are strange mixes of flavours and once you start with those your child might not want homemade stuff (up to you of course what you want to do)

I literally used to steam a load of veg - broccoli, carrots, potato etc and just blend to a purée then froze it on ice cube trays so I had lots of things in freezer

loads of yougurt and mushed up banana

mashed avocado

ready break

wheatabix

don’t worry too much as milk is the main thing they need until they are 1

Don't make work for yourself doing purée.
Read up on baby led weaning, it's pretty much offer baby what you're eating in suitable shapes (basically cut into adult finger sized bits) and let them get on with it

No added salt, no honey, whole nuts and obvious choking hazards (e.g. whole grapes). Other than that they can have whatever! Mashed banana with a spoon of natural yoghurt was very popular with mine for breakfast so yes they can have both of those. Melty puffs are best left for when they’re older, they have zero nutritional benefit but are excellent as an emergency keep quiet snack that can stay hidden in your bags for as long as necessary. Purée pouches I used to use for ease when out, because again you can just throw them in your bag with a spoon and feed at room temp but at home I tried to do homemade.

There are a bajillion resources for weaning and few rights or wrongs - except as mentioned the specific 'don't give' foods that are choking hazards. And some general principles like introduce common allergens one at a time so you can monitor any adverse reactions.

Check out reputable sources like the NHS guidance: www.nhs.uk/start4life/weaning/what-to-feed-your-baby/around-6-months/

If you want to try finger foods they can serve themselves early on then try softish fingers of toast, cooked pasta, soft cooked sticks of fruit and veg. The food should be soft enough that they can 'gum it' into a swallowable texture, you should be able to squish it between your fingers.

I personally avoid the pouches / snacks. So expensive and wasteful packaging. Just give them what you’re eating but soft/mashed up (without salt!)

I had the book How to feed your baby by Charlotte Stirling-Reed and found it really useful. It gives a plan for the first few weeks to get you started. It also has lots of useful information about introducing allergens etc.
Also found it helpful to all eat together so that your little one can watch and become curious around food. We started that a few months before weaning so that our wee one got used to a sort of routine of being at the table.

Beware of fruit pouches Some including the big name ones have 4 teaspoons of sugar in them once baby gets used to sweet stuff it's hard to get them off....even the veg ones have sweet veg.