when and how do you start to know when to wean your twins and how do you cope!!!!!

[carly20]

hi im 20 and first time mum and my babies are nearly 6 months old they have breakfast and farleys before bed but i just dont know when to wean them on to food and ive tried but there spitting it out and refusing to eat and im pulling my hair out its getting me down and i just feel hopeless any advice.

Carly, I tried the usual stuff with mine - bland baby rice and farley's rusk, but they never took to either of those (I ended up eating the rusks myself!). What seemed to interest them first was fromage frais - probably because it's quite milky in texture but it actually has some flavour to it. And pureed banana - that was their favourite.

I think I stop-started-stop-started for a while with mine because they weren't interested. Also, it does make a difference with two - everything seems to be twice the work, doesn't it?

Friends of ours have a ten-month old singleton and they've been trying for months and he's only just started taking food properly. He was a really healthy weight, sleeping fine and pretty happy, so they basically ignored the health visitors and did it under his own time and now he's happily munching away on most stuff!

Hello Carly,

Weaning your twins is no easy feat. Mine, during weaning would not accept lumps and would be sick. I was tearing my hair out and felt I was doing something wrong.

I started with a baby spoon of baby rice (same as estar),didn't do the the rusk thing though.

I would blitz together banana and kiwi fruit and they loved that. Really small amounts. Once they started to take just baby rice I moved to ready brek. Then I started to boil potatoes and puree them down to nothing, and add a small amount of mild cheddar...that was my key, mash, porridge and rice.

Once on that, I added different things to the mash, tuna, veg, etc, etc.

They are 3 years old now and strangely enough, love their potato!

If they are refusing, perhaps wait a week and try again, the key is finding something that they will take.

I had a book, Annabel Karmal - baby food book, it was really useful and gave me ideas of simply things I could try and about what time. They would only take a minute to prepare so it was really helpful.

After I had used the baby book, I went out and brought her toddler meals one.

It will happen, the thing is not to stress about it because they pick up on that and they will not co-operate.

If they see mummy eating it, they get more interested. My goodness how much baby rice did I eat!!

Good luck,
Nic
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Thanks for the advice its hard i dont know any one elses with twins and all my friends have singletons and they all seem to be sitting moving eating and sleeping i just feel im doing something wrong but thanks for the advice ill try some fruit and then some potatoes it may work xxxx did you give them breakfast maybe because im giving them breakfast and farleys wich are sweet they dont want savory?????

Hiya Carly,

The thing I found is that if they are hungry they will eat anything! Savoury or sweet, regardless.

I used to stress if mine wouldn't eat and was advised to make them wait till the next meal....

However, mine turned out to be savoury babies...so it could be they have a preference.

The other tip I would offer, is don't offer a drink first. Well not with the lunchtime meal, the morning is different as they would have not had a drink during the night, if they are sleeping through.

If they fill up on liquid first, you may find they are a little more fussy because they are not really hungry.

I was advised by a health visitor to only offer water and not milk. But make sure you try with them eating first, and drinking later.

Children/infants are very wise, the eat what the need and ignore what they don't, you have to let them take the lead...

I would be interested in how you get on, good luck with the potato, worked for me..

Nic
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Hi Carly, mine weaned at different stages, DT1 was great at the puree stage, DT2 not keen, but DT2 is by far the more adventurous eater now, so I wouldn't worry about it too much, they'll do it in their own time. Try just putting a few things in front of them and letting them take what they . I used Annabel Karmel's book too, some great ideas in there.

Hi Carly

My twins (4 in June) started on baby rice and a little pureed fruit mixed in - DT1 2 weeks before DT2, who is still not as good an eater as his brother. I just kept trying a spoonful a day until they eventually decided they liked it, I think at about 6 months - from then on it was one bowl and spoon and giving them alternate spoonfuls.

DS3 however was a nightmare and existed soley on milk (4 260ml bottles a day) until he was over 9 months. Just wouldnt open his mouth for anything other than a bottle, drove me nuts, but the HV said he would be absolutely fine and there wasnt any need to even change from SMA Gold to the enriched/fortified stuff. He was quite happy and sleeping through from 7pm to 8 or 9am. He going to be 2 at the end of April and is still a nightmare to feed - will only eat crunchy finger food and fromage frais, but he is perfectly healthy and weighs exactly what he should. However he still drives me nuts - I think it is something about food and feeding that pushes all your maternal emotional buttons!

Hope that helps

Hi Carly,

My twins are now 3 and a half. I weaned them at six months using baby rice, then purees. I froze lots of purees in small pots (all the advice is for ice cube trays but I found they weren't big enough for two). Then you only have to cook every couple of weeks. I bought twin-sided bowls so I could hold one bowl with 2 spoons in and feed them alterately. I put them in their car seats on the floor at first and covered them up with a big muslin cloth for spills. It does take them a while to master it but the main thing is to be unhurried and patient as it will get easier. This stage is quite tricky - if you can get someone to help you for some mealtimes it would be easier! It does all get so much easier though once they can feed themselves, I promise!!

Good luck and hope this helps a bit.

to be honest I kept putting it off with mine - I kept thinking - I'll do it tomorrow .

When I did finally do it I found it easiest to have them in two bouncy chairs with me between them - one bowl of pureed food and one spoon and feed alternate mouths.

Started with things like pureed apple and pear - sometimes mixed with rice.

Don't forget most nutrition is still coming from milk at this stage so don't worry too much about how much the actually eat - think of it more a learning and practise.

Beware pureed banana stains things black.

Hi carly, you say they are 6 months, and they are having breakfast and farleys before bed, so it sounds like you are doing great. Like throckenholt says, most of their nutrition comes from milk at this age, so don't feel pushed into rushing it, jsut because your friends' babies are eating more. I didn't introduce my babies to their second and third meals until quite a bit later, and when they didn't initially take to weaning I left it for a few weeks. So I don't think they were really eating lumps until about a year.
They didn't really take to savoury tastes ntil they were on lumpy food. After all, pureed roast dinners aren't that nice! So they mostly had fruit to begin with. Babies are all different, my eldest didn't like sweet at all to begin with, only savoury.
I agree, one bowl, one spoon - don't make things any harder for yourself than you have to. Old yoghurt pots are quite good for freezing purees in, or tescos do value packs of small pots.

Mushy sweet potatoes!