So today I gave my 20 week old some baby rice and she loved it. Eeek - haven;t read about weaning yet. What do I need to know?

[yellowflowers]

It was just instinct - she seemed very hungry and has been putting things in mouth and intently watching us eat for a few weeks and she has good head/neck/back control, so today I gave her a little baby rice with her evening milk, about a teaspoon of it which she sucked happily from my fingers and seemed very excited by.

But... I had planned to wait. So haven't read anything about weaning. What do I need to know?

My instinct is baby rice in same quantity in the evening for a couple of weeks, then add breakfast perhaps and make it fruity, then start pureeing veg combos and offering three times a day - is this right?

Department of health weaning guidelines showing true signs of readiness (not hungry or watching you eat but you're right about ability to sit up plus loss of tongue thrust reflex and ability to pick up put in mouth, chew and swallow food) and some advice on starting solids. They're very good I find if you're floundering and not knowing where you are.

I come from the blw camp of weaning whereby when dd was sitting up and ready to do it, I let her. No puree, spoons or mush involved. I'm very lazy though.

My ds was a couple of weeks older when we started, but I skipped the babyrice/puree phase (didn't seem necessary really) and gave him pieces of banana, broccoli, sticks of steamed courgette and carrot, mashed avocado, mashed potato, sweet potato wedges and roast veg.

I sort of just gave him a couple of bits while I ate lunch for the couple of weeks. Then around 24 weeks I started doing a bowl of porridge for tea, then after that started doing bits of toast, fruit, yoghurt for breakfast.

Basically I just gave him some food while I was eating, tried to give him "proper" food (just with no salt) and the same we were eating - either stuff he could feed himself or off a spoon if it was easier.

At 20 weeks I'd suggest starting straight away with simple flavours. Apples, vegetables, baby porridge, mashed banana, yoghurt and so forth. Purees were originally recommended for 16 weeks onwards so you can work up quite quickly to lumpier foods and also offer things like crusty bread, chunks of banana. Encourage your baby to hold a spoon while you're feeding them. Then move up to filling their spoon and encouraging them to put it in their own mouth. If they're keen they get the idea really quickly :)

Best to avoid bread til 6 months as it contains gluten.

If I were you, I'd chuck out the baby rice though- have you tasted it?

Bananas are the best weaning food - you will end up carrying a banana in your handbag though :)

YOu will get all sorts of conflicting advice here, depending on whether they believe in BLW, or waiting till 6mths, etc.

Go with your instincts - she is your baby. What you are thinking of sounds fine - just go at her pace!

A few hints aren't recommended until 6 months. Dairy and gluten I think are the main ones but the guidelines above will tell you. Apart from that have a read about baby led weaning and decide on that or purees or a bit of a mix and just follow her lead.

Oh and have fun with it, it shouldn't be stressful!

No gluten, dairy or protein until 6 months. Be careful with acidic fruits (inc tomatoes) - wait until she's a bit older.

I actually found gina ford's book really useful as I tried BLW, floundered and GF's very prescriptive approach gave me more confidence with DS.

If she enjoyed the rice and YOU are comfortable with your own knowledge that you think she's ready, then I would start on some purées such as peas, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, bananas, mangoes etc. All four of mine weaned at different ages. The oldest two I started at around 16 weeks (this was 16 and 17 years ago though when general advice was 4 months), DS was much later as he was born at 28 weeks, and DD3 who's now 2 started at around 6 months because she just wasn't ready for it (imo). They (whoever they are!!) recommend not giving berries/tomatoes until around 8m, and full fat milk can be used in cheese/white sauces from 6m. Once she's a dab hand with the basics hard boiled eggs, 'overcooked' scrambled eggs can be given, but it is not advisable to give soft yolks until they reach a year. Honey is a no no until 12m also as there is a higher risk of botulism in smaller babies - never quite understood that myself, but didn't give it just in case.

Much as I am not a huge fan of Annabel Karmel, her books for baby and toddler recipes are good and handy to refer to. And as TSG said - have fun with it, there is no need for it to be stressful. One week they're all for the grub you offer and the next they only want milk. So long as she's getting the right amount of milk, whether it be BF/FF, yogurts or cheese/white sauces, that's all you need concern yourself with. And offer drinks of water as well (boiled and cooled to start with) once she's on at least two meals a day.

id stay away from protein /dairy /gluten until 6 months.

All the guidelines suggest you should wait until baby is 6months but i think they are being reviewed again.

Only introduce 1 new food at a time, with ideally a day or 2 before introducing another one... perhaps carrot mon / tue / wed, apple thur / fri / sat, pear sun / mon, squash tue / wed, apple & pear thur, Sweet potatoe fri / sat etc etc. By the time you have slowly introduced the 1st fruit / veg's etc baby will be 6months, then you can perhaps offer some apple mixed in with plain yogurt for a few days, and then chicken with veg etc.

It will all come together, but dont worry about it. Some days she might love it, other days she may not be interested. Dont reduce the milk though, the milk has all the calories she needs at the moment... these are extra flavours to get her prepared for "proper eating" when she is ready.