Weaning tips

[croft85]

Hello

I’m about to start weaning my 5.5 month old. Been doing some reading but wondering if anyway has any good tips on what to start on. I think I’m going to cook up some purées and freeze, what ones are the best/easy?

Thanks! Any tips would be so helpful xx

There's a useful Weaning Section under the "Feed the World" bit where you can talk to other MNers who are also getting used to this new stage

There are some good weaning recipes on on MN here.

And this guide is good as it suggests first foods to try, gives examples of some good finger foods then moves on to portion sizes and suggested menus.

Abs don't forget to take lots of photos!

Decide if you want to do puree and finger foods or just blw, although your child may make that decision for you.

Decide if you want to do puree and finger foods or just blw, although your child may make that decision for you.

My DC2 certainly did

I just started too! Was stressed initially! I have heaps of veggie purree made - been trying porridge as well - she doesn’t eat much really off the spoon - however she loves feeding herself 😂 she dips hands in purée and puts it in mouth and tries to use the spoon

I gave slices of apple and some toast yday and she much preferred that to me spoon feeding

My top tip is to just include the baby with all meals so get them in high chair and give them something whenever you are eating - my little girl just loves being involved

Follow SR nutrition on Instagram - scroll back on her feed a bit - she’s recently weaned her second baby and did a kind of step by step guide (also has a book called how to wean your baby which I’ve heard is great but I didn’t bother buying as got what I needed from Instagram). She’s a child and baby nutritionist worked in the nhs. There’s also a Facebook group where you can talk to other mums and she often answers questions too.

From memory she suggests doing a mix of puree and finger food to see which works best for you/ baby and starting with single veg tastes - the more bitter/ savoury veg at first eg broccoli but she’s also supportive of doing what works for you and so doesn’t say any other way is ‘wrong’.

We got some of those silicone ice cube trays with lids - bigger/ deeper than normal ice cube tray - although we moved on from purées really quickly and just stuck with finger foods the trays are still handy - I usually stick a load of mash or pasta sauce or whatever in them whenever we’ve made something and then I’ve always got an easy option in the freezer.

Definitely learn about the difference between gagging and choking and watch some first aid videos on what to do for choking - helped me to feel much more confident.

I like the bibado bibs, have seen mixed reviews but we’ve found them great. We also have loads of cheaper versions and hand me downs but only the bibado ones cut it if we’re having something extra messy.

Also a mat or shower curtain under the high chair is quite handy. As is a helpful dog to snaffle up any dropped bits 🙂

Oh just thought - we sat little one in the high chair at the table and gave her spoons/ bowls to play with for a while before we started - so she was used to it.

And there’s a good website called solid starts that have a database of foods and you can look anything up and see how best to serve it according to age. I find them maybe a tiny bit over cautious now my daughter is 14 months but definitely at the beginning I followed it.

GREAT tips thank you so much! Xx