Weaning - how to start?

[noonoo32]

My DD has just turned six months old so I’m planning to start weaning. The problem is, I don’t even know where to begin!

What are some good foods to start with and do I need to purée everything? I know it sounds idiotic but I’m not a big cook and don’t even know how to purée things - do I need a pestle and mortar or a food processor? Is it best to purée my own fruit and veg or can I buy those sachets of baby food, like Ella’s?

How much food do I give her each day and is it best to stick to puréed and mashed food only to begin with? I have seen threads about finger foods, but she doesn’t have any teeth yet so how’s she meant to chew her food and swallow without choking?

Also, do I begin giving her water to drink at this point or continue to stick to milk?

So many questions!

Your HV is the perfect person to ask about this - they'll have lots of information for you. Ours is doing virtual classes, yours might offer similar?

If you do baby led weaning you don't need to pure a thing! Search for baby led weaning groups on fb, or buy one of the books from Amazon: baby led weaning, wean in 15 by jo wicks or what mummy makes are all good.

You essentially give them finger food from day one from the same meals you have. YouTube will have some guides as well.

However if you want to purée that's entirely up to you and is a valid choice.

I would do your research though, BLW is very popular right now and most people I know do it this way, but it may not be right for your life style (if you eat a lot of ready meals or are already back at work for example).

Good luck and enjoy

I chose not to do BLW and go down the old fashioned puree route. My friends are 50/50 on it, with varying successful toddler/pre-schoolers when it comes to food. Theres doesnt seem to be a trend as to which leads to better eaters down the line. Id decide which you wanted to do before thinking about the specifics of it.

You don't have to do one or the other - just give what ever is convenient at the time.

And they don't need teeth to chew either.

Mine liked something to hold and 'eat' whilst I spoon fed.

Purees are a good way of introducing flavours - start with simple fruit or veg.

Finger foods are great if they like a bit of independence - anything from bits of bread/toast, cooked pasta shapes, pieces of fruit, steamed veg, strips of meat etc

Or just let them have bits off your plate if they are looking interested.

The key to weaning is not to overthink it. It can seem super daunting before you start, but it's not that bad.

The basic principle is that over the next 6 months baby should move from only having milk to eating food like you do. Nothing happens over night. As they increase solids they will decrease milk (this is natural and what you want to happen so ignore anyone who says food before 1 is just for fun)

You can either give them bits of what you're having (BLW) or purée up meals and spoon feed. You can give pouches if you want.

You must not give them honey until they are one or whole nuts until 5. Nut butters are fine. No blue cheese and don't add salt to their food.

We had dietician help with my eldest. She told us to start with breakfast because you're usually at home. Keep this meal simple like porridge and keep it the same.

Give a few spoonfuls and watch baby. When they've had enough they won't take more. As a rule of thumb a portion is the size of their fist but baby will let you know.

When they are happy having breakfast introduce tea again as you're often home. Keep lunch until last to put off having to do food outside the home. Snacks come later on around 10 months as they drop milk.

Food should be before milk (see above about wanting food to take over)

Try not to stress though. Baby won't starve themselves so don't worry if they don't eat much

Even if you start with purees you should introduce finger foods pretty quickly especially if they are 6 months old already. They don't need teeth as their gums are pretty hard as the teeth are underneath.

Porridge/ready brek/weetabix are good for breakfast
Soft fruits, mashed/chunks of banana, cooked veg as chunks or mashed are also good
At 6 months they can have most things except whole nuts and honey

And I did milk first and food an hour or so later
I also did breakfast last
Depends what works for you tbh

Agree with PP about over thinking it. I keep in mind that the aim is to have my son down to an early morning bottle and a bedtime bottle by age 1. Then anything that comes inbetween is just working towards that - but dont drop the day bottles too soon. My son is coming on 7 months and hes less and less interested in his 10am bottle, so I think that'll be the first to go and be replaced with a snack and water.

I started with dinner and breakfast was the last to be added. Do whatever works for you really.

I started with pureeing up single veg or fruits and introducing them one at a time - mainly to watch out for allergies. Yesterday I made roasted veg with rosemary and garlic, pureed that up and froze portions. Ive made salmon, leeks and sweet potatoes and pureed that up before. Ive got the ingredients for Ratatouille in the fridge, which is the next batch to be made. Anything really except honey and whole nuts. You can add formula or breast milk to purees if they're too thick at the start of weaning.

I started with jars & packet stuff like baby porridge & complete meals, then I added things like pasta, rice & potato. I always tried to do a portion of veg puree & some protein, once he had got used to textures & flavours I gradually introduced things to chew. I didn't do BLW, just slowly introduced foods, after about a month I gave him a spoon & I had a spoon, I did the greatest part of the feeding but he started to do bits himself. I carried on bottle feeding as well until he was at least 1 & he carried on having a bedtime bottle until he was at least 2.5 as it helped to settle him for bed, I know this isn't advised but we had terrible problems getting him to sleep which turned out to be autism.

Thanks everyone. How do you serve Weetabix to a baby - with normal semi skimmed cow’s milk?

If formula feeding you can use some formula. Its normally full fat cows milk that you'd use in food/cooking for babies (over 6 months).

I used to break the weetabix into a third or half and then add warm milk until it turns to mush. You need quite a bit of milk

Thanks - is it worth buying a blender or food processor for pureeing do you think?

I used a hand blender for some stuff. Other things can just be mashed with a fork or a masher.

I have a nearly 8 month old. From the start we've offered him a mix of finger food and puréed/mashed stuff. To begin with we gave him e.g. some well-cooked broccoli florets to practice picking up and chewing, along with some veg purée that we'd offer him on a spoon.

We then gradually started introducing more variety - porridge with stewed fruit, toast fingers with mashed banana or avocado, pasta shapes with Bolognese sauce, stews and soups, small pieces of cheese - and increasing the coarseness of the mashed food. Yesterday he had risotto thinned a little extra compared to ours and mashed with the back of a fork.

I have no idea if we're doing it right to be honest! But he's enthusiastic about eating and getting better and better at feeding himself the finger food. We still spoon feed things like yoghurt mind you

No need to buy a blender as at six months they can deal with some tiny lumps and textures so a knife and fork or just mashing with a fork are fine. Having said that I use a stick blender really often in the kitchen for soups and sauces and wouldn't be with out it.

I wouldn’t bother with a blender if you don’t have. Although a basic hand one can be bought for about £5 off amazon.

We have just started weaning. I’m frankly too tired to make baby purées right now. I have bought the basic single fruit/ veg jars. So just plain parsnip, a pumpkin, pear, carrot. He takes 2 days to eat one small jar anyway. I figure it will only be for a few weeks max anyway before he doesn’t need it puréed.

We also give others bits mashed, or just broken up for him to try from our food. Like sweet potato, avocado, banana, broccoli florets.

We tried baby porridge, with milk powder in and he seemed to come out in a rash. So staying off dairy a few more weeks until it’s been looked into.

He basically eats a few baby spoons of puree, then mashes something into his face and all over the table!

I found researching weaning a bit of a minefield! I was recommended the Ella’s Kitchen book, which has been incredibly useful. They give you a plan to follow for the ‘first tastes’ and then there’s loads of ideas for after that. There was a handy wall planner too which has been my saviour for what to feed and when.. good luck!

It’s been 9 years since Iv done this weaning stage 🤦🏻😩 some help please would be great

Use whole milk or you can use breast milk if you have it stored.
They should have whole milk for the first couple of years.

Don’t worry about teeth. My 1yo has no teeth and can eat everything.

You can use purées or just give her finger foods to try. No honey, no added salt, no whole nuts, no mould ripened cheese, careful with fish that has high levels of mercury. Pretty much all else goes.

Water is fine to drink, she can have tap water at this age.