Weaning

[S1997]

Hi,

My son is 4 months old and I'm starting to think about how I want to wean him when he gets to 6 months old. I am thinking that I want to try led weaning however I'm looking to find out peoples experiences on this and how I should go about it I.e. different meals I can give him.

Thanks

I planned on doing a mix of puree and baby led, but my little one wouldn't accept a spoon lol so baby led all the way! I found things like mashed avocado, buttery toast fingers, soft berries, scrambled eggs, and things like melty puffs were good. Check your library for weaning books for ideas and done great ideas on you tube and Instagram

I stressed for ages about her not getting enough, not getting a good enough variety etc but now at 11 months she's doing great so try not to over think it! And check out local baby first aid courses if you feel you would like confidence with gagging/choking as this will happen at some stage! There's a free red cross all fir kids too

At 6mo add solids, a few mouthfuls at a time, after his usual milk feed at lunchtime. Most babies will balance their milk intake with their solid food intake well if you feed in this way.
At about 8-9 months, offer solids as part of breakfast, lunch and dinner. From 9 months start giving solids first, then milk.
Don’t overwhelm him with too many food options at the beginning. Just a couple of pieces of food, or a small portion of what you are eating will be adequate. To start off with, think chip-sized because it’s an easy shape for him to grip.
BLW is about making family mealtimes a social experience. While finger foods are important (particularly soft foods at the beginning), there’s no reason why you can’t serve him a portion of cottage pie, a mini roast dinner, or some salmon and roasted cauliflower. Just be sure to leave out the salt. If he hates it, fine, he’s getting nutrients and calories from milk anyway.
He will gag and watching it is horrible. Try to stay calm (or at least look calm) and let him do his thing.

Lentils and beans are suitable from 6 months, so you could try:
lentil stew ameliafreer.com/puy-lentil-stew
bean casserole www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/italian-bean-casserole/
Lentil Dahl www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spinach-sweet-potato-lentil-dhal
Mild bean burgers
Tuna and white fish can also be introduced at 6 months.
Try tuna balls with pasta www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1445/tuna-balls-with-pea-and-sweetcorn-pasta
Perhaps omit the salt and then salt your own food after you’ve served your 6mo.

I went to a free weaning workshop at a local children's centre, which was really useful. So it's worth seeing if there's something like that near you.

Make sure you introduce small amounts of the 8 common food allergens before they turn 1 as this will reduce the chance of them developing allergies to them later on.

& introduce as wide a variety of foods and flavours as you can before they turn 1 as this will reduce the likelihood of them being a fussy eater.

Honestly? All I did was reduce salt/ sugar in our meals and make things stick shaped then whacked a bit on his tray. Any time I made something specific 'BLW' he rejected it anyway

I just reduced salt in our meals and gave him what we had when we had it. Nice easy way :)