Starting baby led Weaning tomorrow and advice needed

[Jobelly]

So DD2 is 6 months tomorrow and I've hung on to do baby led weaning (did DS at 17 weeks and DD1 at 20 weeks both with purées) but thought this time it might be easier to do baby led weaning so she can more or less go onto eating our foods. However all the websites have got me confused. Can I go straight into 3 meals a day and all varied or do I have to stick to carrots batons for a few days and then another type of veg for another few gradually introducing more and more.
My sister and dad have asthma and cousins with eczema but no food allergies in family.
My kids are so excited for her to start having food and can't wait for her to have pasta and melon etc. I do know I intend to do a slight mix of baby led weaning and spoon feeding as no way will I have time for DD2 to feed herself weetabix or porridge in the morning so she will be getting some help there. I go back to work in 3 weeks unfortunately so need to start some kind of routine and have everything established.

We haven't really taken a "one or the other" approach to weaning, my daughter (6.5 months) has a mix of finger foods and mush spoon fed by me, sometimes with her "helping". We started a little early (5.5 months) and at that point just gave puréed fruit, veg etc, and batons of carrot and the like. But once we hit 6 months, I decided to just offer something at each meal and see what she made of it all. Only 2/3 weeks down the line, and she is having 3 good meals a day (plus the required quantities of milk). I offer her a real mix, I didn't worry about doing just one thing for a couple of days, then gradually introducing other items. Not sure if this is "right" or not, but it's working for us.

With DS1 I carried on BF and just offered him food a few times a day. As to what I offered and how often, it depended how much of a sense of humour I had that day; little sense of humour meant broccolli or pasta or something 'tidy' at dinner time, feeling more easy going meant weetabix at breakfast, a sandwich at lunch and bolognese or something with a sauce for dinner that would need chipping off in the bath later! I'm asthmatic but to be honest, didn't really factor that in to anything!

We started at 6 months (or a week before, can't remember exactly) and less than a month later we went to friends for New Year's Eve and he muddled his way through roast beef, yorkshire puds, roast potatoes, horseradish sauce and a bit of stilton for afters. The stronger the flavours the better! I went back to work when he was 7 months and my husband just offered him some food every few hours, drinks of water from a sippy cup and I BF before I went to work, when I got back and through the night. He was fine with that routine.

With DS2 we'll be doing the same; the only things I'll try to remember is no honey before he's one and I'll probably keep away from whole nuts and chunks of apple. Other than that, he'll get what we're having or what I fancy cooking. For breakfast, I find that toast with peanut butter or something similar and a bit of cheese, or mini shredded wheat soaked in milk, are good to grip so that might help you avoid having to spoon feed if you fancy trying them.

To be honest, I'd ignore the websites - you'll be fine and you'll find a way that works for you very quickly - enjoy!

Thank you. The thought of just going straight into food such as bolognese is frightening compared to the other two but I can see DD2 being fed bits of garlic bread and such by them when my back is turned.
When I go back to work I'm hoping she will take bottles of expressed when I'm doing my full days, that's stressing me even though I've done it twice before.