Weaning

[ChocolateFanatics]

My little girl is six months old today. We started her off today with well mashed peas, she wouldn't let us spoon feed her and the only time she got a tiny bit in her mouth she gagged and was sick twice.

We encouraged her to hold the spoon but she wouldn't put it in her mouth and her mouth was firmly shut when we tried. We had been giving her spoons the last few weeks to get used to them.

I'm going to try a bit of baby led weaning and give her a soft stick of carrot to see how that goes but all my family are saying I should be completely pureeing things not mashing them, it's making me feel stupid.

Am I going about this completely wrong?

She may struggle with things mashed. You need to either purée stuff and give finger food or just give finger food. I did blw with my oldest and with my youngest I tried to do finger food and purées but she wouldn’t except the purée. I found blw required a lot less thinking and working out the different stages than people who did traditional weaning seemed to talk about.

Please don't worry it is only day one! There is so much for babies to learn for weaning - how to chew/bite/swallow, all the different types of taste, the feel, the texture etc. It must be a bit overwhelming after only having milk for so long!

Neither of my two really 'ate' anything until at least 7/8 months old. I did a mixture of spoon feeding and finger foods but do whatever you are comfortable with.

Loads of good weaning resources out there if you need it - Start 4 Life is the NHS info, also loads of stuff on Instagram (I do like SR Nutrition on there)

Peas still have skins so arent the best food to mash/puree
Maybe try a smoother mash alongside some finger foods

With baby led weaning it can take weeks before anything gets eaten.

Played with, squished, rubbed on hair, licked. All normal. It's just fun at this age.

Don't worry about gagging. It's totally normal and how baby stops choking from happening.

Don't rush it Just try to relax and enjoy it.

Maybe buy a book on baby led weaning so you can reassure anxious family members.

I'm like a broken record on here but have a look at 'Solid Starts' website and Instagram if you have it. Puree is fine to get the food into them but won't teach them to explore food, chew, or swallow or manage different textures (so don't feel stupid and don't feel like you have to listen to the people telling you to puree just because that was the thing in the 90s!)