Can I have your weaning journeys?

[GoldieLow]

I've been advised to wean my 6 month old and I'm lost. I've no mum friends and there's a lot of confusing advice on the internet.
I'll be feeding baby in a reclined baby seat because they can't sit up yet and they can't grab either so I'll be feeding them.

What are your journeys with weaning? What did you first give your LOs and how did it go? Willing to read long posts.

Your baby must be sitting up right when eating, you can sit them on your lap and support them or use a high chair with rolled blankets behind them - the IKEA high chair and insert are really good.

The NHS website is really good. You can do blw or start with puree and then in a couple of weeks introduce finger foods along side puree. Google/look on YouTube to find the difference between gagging and choking and how to deal with choking. Food before one is not just for fun, your baby need iron from food very soon as their stores of it will be running out soon.

If you have no history of allergies then wot your way through the top allergens quickly and give them regularly.

There's actually a Weaning Section which you might find helpful.

I wouldn't do a lot of googling though, lots of information aimed at parents isn't evidence based.

Start off with the NHS Guidelines as they explain the signs of readiness. If they are displaying the signs, they're not ready and you can just leave it until they are.

My last one demonstrated her signs of readiness at 23 weeks by grabbing and eating something from my plate

This Guide from the Caroline Walker Trust is also excellent as it gives suggestions for first foods and finger foods, meal plans and portion sizes.

There's also some great Weaning Recipes in the MN Recipe Section.

@Fitforforty

The chair is recommended for baby for feeding by their doctor so it's suitable and the doctor has said it's absolutely safe and baby doesn't need to sit upright just yet.

Thank you I've been looking through a lot. I just wanted some more personal journeys. Recommended and individual experiences are usually very different so I like to get a bitter picture.

We started with purees and finger food and quite quickly stopped the purees and just did finger food as DD took to it really quickly and she also started sharing in what we were having for dinner (get used to cooking without salt, if you do this!). There's so many resources for ideas online, but you can't go wrong with things like fruit and veg, bits of crumpet, scrambled egg, pasta shapes, etc. Baby gums are pretty hard so you'll be impressed with what they can manage even without teeth! Just don't stress about it.

I had Anbabell Carmel's cookbook it was great

Started with fruit/veg purées and baby rice

And finger foods once he got his pincer control

We started with breakfast, mostly baby porridge then moved on to Quakers rolled oats with fruit purées added to it. I mostly done puree veg at the start because I was terrified of finger food. You do get books like Joe Wicks, but give it a good look before buying it cause I haven't even used it for making tea because I don't fancy eating the stuff myself😂
I've started using the NHS weaning site that has loads of recipes and some tips which are helpful. She's 8 months and I've just started finger foods (cream cheese on toast, cruistless quiche, banana) and she doing great, even though most has been thrown at me or the floor (buy a splash may from Amazon, it's a must).
I might be the slowest at moving her on to some finger foods, but I definitely feel better since its our own pace. Some babies take to it instantly, others need purees for a bit so experiment and see how you get on. At weekends I do use Ella kitchen pouches for quick teas but not all the time.

What mummy makes is a great book that I've been using for baby led weaning with my 8 month old. She is also on Instagram & another one on Instagram that I've found useful is sr_nutrition. I think she may have a book as well but I'm not 100% sure, it might just be a blog type thing.

Our weaning so far has gone like this:
Month 1 - breakfast - scrambled eggs, toast fingers, banana pancakes (1 banana, 2 eggs, 3 table spoons of rolled oats, mixed together & fried.), porridge. During this month I had a bit of a wobble about baby led weaning and gave him purées for a week or so & he also got a cold so wasn't fussed on food for a few days!
Month 2 - we added lunch which was cucumber sticks, tomatoes (quartered), grapes (quartered), broccoli, fruit purée, pasta, bread with soft cheese, tuna & sweetcorn or courgette fritters (what mummy makes book).
Month 3 (this is the month we are in now) - we've added dinner which is basically whatever we are eating. Yesterday he has mild chilli & rice, today he is having a mild chicken curry with rice & tomorrow will be having jacket potato with cheese & beans.

There is also a website called solid starts which has useful information about how to cut/prepare food for different ages. Please feel free to message me, I've really enjoyed weaning this time round (second child)!

I started weaning at 5 months on advice of a paediatrician so my DD wasn’t sitting upright etc but I still fed her in a high chair. I had the IKEA one with the insert as she was a small baby (was about 12lb when started weaning) and she done just fine.

Started with purées as she wasn’t ready to feed herself. Done veg first (now at 14 months she hates fruit and loves veg). When she turned 6.5 months I started offering finger foods and by 10 months she was completely feeding herself.

We started with single veggies for about a week, all as finger foods, then moved on to more interesting things - cauliflower cheese, savoury pancakes, muffins, scrambled eggs on toast. However, if your baby can’t sit up yet I would be careful of anything that could be a choking risk, so you might want to stick with purées for a while until he’s sitting confidently.

There are some really good weaning Instagram accounts - Wean in 15 (Joe Wicks), SR Nutrition, Annabel Karmel, What Mummy Makes with recipes and suggestions.

I brought a few basic bits - storage pots for freezing portions of things, spoons, bowls, bibs, etc. I didn't get anything fancy to prepare food, just made do with saucepans, colander (to steam), and a cheap handheld blender stick thing to blitz food up.

I started my DD at 6 months with pureed fruit first (pears, apples, etc) then moved onto to veg (potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, etc). We started with giving her some tastes of different purees at lunch time for a few weeks, before introducing breakfast (toast fingers, banana) and eventually an evening meal. I followed recipes from Annabel Karmel's weaning books which were straightforward. We did some finger foods (cheese, fruit, toast, savoury muffins) but my DD was never the biggest fan of feeding herself so purees worked best for us.

There are some good recipe suggestions on the NHS website too.