What foods did you give your baby when starting weaning?

[Lemonelderflower]

My baby is six months in mid June so thinking about weaning then.

I want to avoid jars and pouches if possible. Did anyone else start with mashed carrot? I was thinking baby porridge to begin with but have read veg is better. Would appreciate any guidance!

All mine had banana first!! Easy for out and about!

Mine had mashed carrot!

We're about to start weaning with our youngest. It'll be whatever we're having as long as it's baby appropriate

We gave DD whatever veg we were having that night in pureed form. Starting with broccoli.

Highly recommend the Joe Wicks Wean in 15 book, recommends starting with pureed veg so their palate gets accustomed to the more bitter as opposed to sweet stuff from the start and they will accept veggies more happily in future. It's worked for us.

Start with veg no taste (carrot, potato, sweet potato). One at a time, add next one week later. Just boil/steam, mash, eat.

We did veg (1 month) with little fruit (about 3 weeks in) and yoghurt, then meat (little).

It is a lot of work, a lot of waste too, but with time you get used to it. Our one eats everything now, even things I do not (I still cook it for him).

If you start with a banana, you may (not must, but may) get him to like sweet and then will want everything to have sweet taste/taste. Hence I was told veg only first (which worked for us). I was clueless, so I just followed what I was advised too (also I am a no-cooking person so this was so so hard..). Good luck :)

DS loved mashed banana and avocado.

Whatever we were having. As long as there's no added salt or sugar, approved by NHS and its healthy, it's fine. My eldest first food was curry, middle one was cheese and onion pie and chips! Homemade. My youngest roasted veg sticks with a bit of olive oil and cumin. No need to avoid flavour.

I started with baby rice and then plain veg purees, it was 20 years ago though!
We very quickly moved to mixed purees, then mushed versions of my food, plus finger foods.
It worked for us.

Thanks - eliza I think that must have been where I got it from!

The problem with eating what we eat is I’m dieting and Dad’s diet is a bit meat and chips based!

Mashed up banana.
Mashed up sweet potato.
At the beginning he had just one thing, one time a day but for 2 days in a row to give him the chance to get used to it. After a couple of weeks I started to combine foods together and experiment a bit more.

I had a horrendous experience with baby porridge. No history of food allergies / issues at all then out of nowhere ds came out in hives all over and it was very scary. Turns out he had a dairy problem and we were referred to an nhs dietician. He's now nearly 3 with no issue at all and loves drinking cows milk so thankfully he outgrew it. I'm not trying to scare-monger and I'm sure this won't happen to your baby so by all means try the porridge - but it's at least worth being aware that it's a thing as I had no idea and it was a real shock!

Can't recommend SR Nutrition enough (she has a really informative website and Instagram & worked with Joe Wicks on Wean in 15). Giving them whatever you're having is all well and good but the theory is you should start with green veg to introduce them to bitterness, then gradually work towards sweet things like carrot and banana which they'll naturally like. Also have to gradually introduce allergens, which SR Nutrition writes a lot about too. We followed her technique and our DD eats everything.

Blended carrot mixed with formula I think.

I'm just starting weaning, first thing my LO had was strawberry, then we went to mashed broccoli and sweet potato. Its gone a bit downhill since then - I gave him baby porridge with pureed pear and I think I've introduced him to sweet too soon. He'll have raspberry in his porridge too but much prefers pear. I tried giving him broccoli and spinach yesterday as I'm working in a second meal and he ate it ok to start with but refused to finish it for the first time. I'll try again today. He is just shy of 6 months, can I ask, should I wait till 6 months to introduce dairy? I want to try him on cheese. I wanted to do BLW but he still isn't't picking things up so have to hold fire yet.

We did aptamil porridge for like 2 days in the morning then puréed carrot with formula and puréed broccoli. Broccoli is now her fav and tries everything. Banana isn't a hit, I don't mind using pouches sometimes if I run out of time or if I make something that's not appropriate for baby (chilli, spicy foods, Quorn, etc). I use the Ella's pouches and sometimes the Heinz jars, they're different with no added salt or sugar compared to years ago! But that's only if I run out of time or not got food in or she naps when I just made it!