Weaning advice - prep and storing etc

[owltrousers]

Hi all!

DS is 6 months, we've been weaning him for 4 weeks, slowly.

We're doing a mix of baby led and purees. He is doing really well and with the baby led aspect will generally munch down anything we give him.

A lot of what I've given him puree wise has been from pouches - ellas kitchen, aldis own and sainsburys own. He only tends to eat a few spoonfuls per session and they only last between 24-48 hours once open. Can you freeze the remainder? I feel awful about the waste and its getting quite expensive.

I know I should start preparing my own food for him, but I need to get a blender and I'm not sure where to start really, can I puree whole meals? Does anyone have any advice on this?

Basically looking for cheap and easy ways to do purees.

You would be able for freeze them at the beginning but can’t wait 48 hours them freeze them.

I was lazy and just did blw.

@anotherangel2 I never feel like he eats much that way? he mouths a lot and gets tastes for things but not sure how much actually reaches his stomach, whereas he will eat a fair bit of the purees.

It is fine for him to be on getting much yet. If you know from his poo if he has some food. He will eventually start eating more when he figures it out.

If he's still having plenty of milk feeds it doesn't matter if he's not eating very much. I find with babies who are eating finger foods/mashed up family food that they start to get very proficient at eating, as in swallowing lots rather than just licking and spitting out, when they start to drop/reduce their milk feeds, around 9 months ish.

I've prepped all my own purees and my LO (6 months) eats 1 ice cube (2oz) worth 3 times a day. We've been weaning for about 4 weeka now and she is doing well.

Its not actually that much effort to steam and blend myself and is so much cheaper. Get 3 weeks worth of meals for about £11

They just don't need purees at that age, especially expensive store bought ones. If you really want to give him purees just make some, but otherwise what's wrong with just giving him normal food?!

It really doesn't matter how much he's actually eating - milk remains the main source of nutrition until 12 months. If he's exploring, chewing, tasting - that's great! We didn't bother with purees at all, if they're still getting plenty of milk (formula or breast) they're being perfectly well fed.

Blw is so much handier, baby can just have what you have. It's not about shovelling loads of food in, it's about them learning to eat a range of flavours and textures. There is no rush!

Agree with other posters. If little one is enjoying BLW I don't seem why you'd bother with purees. We did BLW with our dd now 2 years 9 months and she continues to be a brilliant eater.

I did a mix of blw and a bit of spoon feeding and gas worked great for us. You will know what works best for your DC, but I didn't do purées at all we started with steaming veg fingers so he could just pick what he wanted, but I did also steam sweet potato, Normal potatoe, Made my own tomatoe sauce to pour on pasta, spaghetti and froze this in ice cube trays to start until about 7.5 to 9 months then moved into bigger tubs for portion size. I normally do a batch for a week or 2, I don't think I would like to freeze anything longer than that for him.
If you are doing purées though I've heard people steaming Apple pear, plum, I think you can purée anything although they wouldn't get to identify the individual tastes but ok to start with I suppose . If that's the route you want to take I think you can pretty much purée most things . I would give them a little taste first and only freeze for a short period , a week or so, to start with and see how you go.

We are attempting to start weaning my DD but I’m so scared of her choking/retching. She much prefers blw to purées (which she seems to just spit back out) but how do I keep her safe? She’s 6 months and we’ve been offering her things on and off all week - banana, pasta etc. She goes for it but takes big chunks and then retches. It freaks me out, she’s in the high chair and I don’t think I could get her out quick enough if I needed to. What finger foods did people start with/find successful?

I just bought a tommee tippee steamer and blender machine
It’s on offer on Ocado which I think you can get a first shop money off offer for

@jhb2013 I found this poster really helpful when starting BLW and was worried about choking.

Gagging and retching is natural when learning to eat. Choking is very different.

Our boy gags on anything bumpier than purée. I was all set on baby led, but he had other ideas - absolutely loves spoons. So our sessions are quite a lot about him waving a spoon around. @jhb2013 the finger food he’ll go for are either hard things that he can suck and gum and no bits come off (carrots, apples to an extent) or soft fruit like peaches where he can puree as he sucks. I hold the nectarine in my hand and he goes for it :). I have stuck a finger in and fished out when chunks looked too big for him. He’s also always vommed when choking, if that’s reassuring?

We got an Ella’s kitchen first foods book as a freebie, and although I thought it was a marketing exercise it was actually quite useful. They suggest blending single veg/ fruit first two weeks, then creating blended foods. You can blend meals but if I’m hoping that by the time I get to giving him our meals, I won’t be blending and he’ll grow out of the gag reflex/ get used to different textures

@reetgood but gagging is good for them! They shouldn't just have purée until the gag reflex totally goes or they'll never learn how to chew and eat safely. Pretty much all babies gag when weaning. Health visitors will repeat over and over 'gag is good' for a reason.

@bearcubx sure. A mix of things is good. Which is what he’s having. we made sure to give him a piece of omelette yesterday resulting in some spectacular vomiting, to make sure he learns how to eat. I also got fed mostly purée and somehow seem to manage eating.

You don’t get a gag without a vomit with my boy ;)

jhb gagging is totally normal and shows everything is working as it should. Their gag reflex is really far forward when they're babies, so although it's scary when they gag it doesn't actually mean they're anywhere near choking. So one of the great things about BLW is that they learn to control food in their mouths while they've still got that sensitive gag reflex to stop them from choking. There was a study published recently which showed there was no difference in risk of choking between BLW and traditional weaning, and that actually there was some evidence that there was a greater risk of choking later on for babies who were traditionally weaned. In terms of worrying about actual choking though, go on a baby first aid course or watch some videos so you know what to do in the very unlikely event that it does happen. Also I choose not to strap my daughter in her high chair (or to only use the bottom three straps if there's no bar between the legs) so that I can get her out quickly - obviously I don't leave her unattended.

OP I'd just stick with BLW if he's enjoying that. There's a group on Facebook that's really great for support and advice (baby led weaning U.K.). Also, no need to worry about whether he's actually swallowing food at this age, he doesn't need it yet, it's just about exploring tastes and textures and developing the skills needed to eat.

jhb2013 look on videos for videos of choking v gagging as they look very different.

British Red Cross have very good videos about how to deal with choking. If you are not confident to do first aid it maybe a good idea to do a course.

I would strongly recommend going on a little first aid course that teaches you how to react and get an obstruction out if your baby starts to choke. This give me a lot more confidence in trying things with my DS. We have had moments when I have thought "is he isn't he" in a split second, but you shouldn't over react (easier said than done )and my DS was just getting used to swallowing and his gag reflex.
If you looked panicked, they panic.
I little bit of steamed sweet potato, don't cut it in blocks, cut things in the width and length of your finger in order to be safe, or as safe as possible.

Thanks everyone! Have looked into the choking/gagging thing and do feel more confident. Thanks to you all for your help and tips.