Weaning...

[Cluelessfirstimer]

Baby is 5 months. Before anyone kicks off I am waiting until he is six months - I suffer with anxiety in the fact I have to be ahead of myself in terms of preparation and knowing what I'm doing, and worry about things that are wayyy in the future (it's exhausting. Im already stressing I don't have any 9-12 clothes yet... i am seeking support for it)
But it brings me peace to just be miles ahead of myself.

ANYWAY...
I've got or ordered most of the gear so no issue there, I have a book of recipes but I literally have NO idea how you start!!?!

I know you don't replace anything with the usual bottles, but wondering if anyone can point me or advise how you actually start and when you give the food. My HV has yet to get back to me, and considering it took them 3 weeks to reply last time, I'm not holding my breath.

Any advice or good sources? I've got 2 books and both literally just list recipes.

Sorry if this sounds stupid... 😬

I know how that goes. I was the exact same. I honestly don’t remember why I got so stressed about it now but it was very real at the time. Try not to plan to much to the letter because it may not go to plan.
Did you ever hear the phrase “food before one is just for fun?” That really helped me.
Are you planning on doing spoon feeds first or baby led?

Thanks Hun. It really is exhausting isn't it.
Was thinking I'm going to do spoon feeding first

It really is.
So, what I did was I say dd up in the high chair when we were having meals. I started her on baby rice (I mixed it with breast milk but you can use your usual formula if you’re ff). After a few days, I did apple purée. I stuck with apple for 3 days, then did carrot for 3. For a while I just tried out different fruit and veg. You probably don’t want to be constantly trying different things especially at first. Let them get used to one thing a bit then move on. Then I started mixing foods. Baby rice, milk and apple purée. Yoghurt and fruit purée. Carrot and broccoli. Banana purée and a little peanut butter. Then puréed cooked meat. I went straight to mixing the meat because it’s pretty disgusting haha.
Eventually I made the purée less smooth and built up to soft lumps once I knew she could manage. Scrambled eggs and well cooked baked beans. Mashed potatoes and minced beef.
Then I tried combining them so they were more like a meal. Puréed beef, tomato sauce and cut up soft pasta. Baby porridge and sliced banana. You can introduce herbs and spices like cinnamon to add different flavours.
When she was ready I gave her finger foods like well cooked carrot sticks and eventually fingers of toast and butter, strips of soft meat like roast chicken, crackers with cheese spread.
Only then I started cooking meals like spaghetti bolognese or recipes from weaning books.
She didn’t have much appetite at first. It built up slowly.
For the first year, I spent a lot of time cooking and preparing her food myself but it can be very time consuming and hard going especially if you’re not used to cooking from scratch. One thing I will say is the books tend to give a bit of a false impression that they’ll be sitting up eating a baby lasagne in no time but at first it’s all about getting them used to different tastes and building up the textures.
Try to have a bit of fun with it and take it as it comes. Don’t be surprised if you spend ages making something and it ends up all over the floor! They are all different, some of them get into solids really easily, some take a while. Look up nhs guidelines on safety and nutrition if you haven’t already (there’s a lot of stuff I forget at this point even though it was only a couple of years ago). Give them a free flow baby cup with cooled boiled water to practice drinking. Eventually try them in the open cup.
That’s just what I did anyway.
Good luck and have fun 😊

There’s a book called ‘how to wean your baby’ by Charlotte Stirling that literally tells you what to feed baby baby at each meal and on each day for the first month or so. Sounds like it would be good for you!

We did baby lead weaning and I’m so glad we did, baby could get used to foods at their own pace as they were very much in control of what and how much went in their mouth. It also really improved their fine motor skills. It was also very low effort baby was just offered bits of whatever I was eating.

This is amazing! Thank you so much for taking the time to write it out. Its so appreciated and this is exactly the sort of advice i was looking for ❤️

I do spoon fed then when baby was a bit older do a bit of baby led weaning as I was much too nervous after a gagging incident.
Started with baby porridge then built up to more textured foods.
Solid starts Instagram page is amazing tells u how too prepare foods for different age groups, allergen advice etc
It's brilliant.

Thank you hun! Just added that to my amazon basket x

I agree, if you like planning and structure, the How to Wean Your Baby book has shopping lists and day by day.

Thank you! Ill give solid starts a look x

Joe Wick's Lean in 15 book is good. Didn't follow it to the letter but it was a good, simple guide. The first thing she ate was puréed broccoli and she really enjoyed it!

I would say keep offering baby the same amount of milk and let it reduce gradually. Do not worry about 3 solid meals a day. One is fine to start with and there's really no rush to get them to 3.

This is a great free online resource:
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59f75004f09ca48694070f3b/t/5efa3797c8ae1024ed8d6596/1593456555402/EatingwelllthefirsttyearJunee20forrweb.pdf

But honestly, don't go too mad with prep. I made a load of purées and our daughter turned her nose up at all of them! We went for a mixture of trying purées and finger foods but quickly swapped to all finger foods as it became clear she wasn't going to eat the gloop and it was a waste of my time! Also be prepared that plenty of babies have little interest for the first few months. We didn't really get going properly until nearer 9 months despite offering food every day. 'Food is fun until they're' 1 is the saying I think!

It sounds as though you are nervous, so it may not be for you but I do baby led. We did single veggies for about a week/2 weeks and I did mushed and whole at the same time so broccoli, green beans, corn on the cob etc. Then sweeter veggies then fruit! My baby loves to explore, and wouldn't be happy been spoon fed, but does like a pre loaded spoon! We use whole cows milk for cereals etc but not for drinks only formula and water. If introducing an allergen do so singly and then don't introduce another for about 3 days I believe is the recommended guidelines!

I downloaded an app called solid starts which shows you how to serve food to babys according to their age too which is really helpful!

We about 5/6 weeks in now and he is trying everything toast, pastry twists, pasta, vegs, fruit etc!