Weaning advice - 5 month old

[Greenfrog2427]

Hi!

I have a 5 and a half month old and have recently started weaning her as she was showing all the signs of being ready and wow, I am astonished at how ready she was🤣

She absolutely LOVES eating it seems and I tried to start with the few spoons of homemade veg purées but she throws a fit and wants more so I have been giving her a little more and trying to follow her lead but I don’t want to give her too much? I know for the first year milk is still the main source of nutrients and food is just for fun but my god does this girlie like to eat.

So far she has tried sweet potato, cauliflower, courgette, broccoli, peas, carrot, mashed potato and strawberries and bananas. She also has some of the Aptamil baby porridge type mix for breakfast. All have been absolute hits but I don’t know if I’m going to fast?

I was hoping to move on from just the veg purées and serving a little of what we are having for dinner instead (like spaghetti Bol etc - obviously unsalted etc) but unsure if it’s to early for this and I should just stick to the veggies?

It’s all a bit of a minefield🥴 any advice welcome!

Is everything okay at home? You’ve been on here starting arguments for days.

NHS guidance is “around 6 months”, not strictly the day they turn 6 months old. They don’t just magically change overnight the day they turn 6 months old. Are you telling me a baby born at 34 weeks and a baby born 2 weeks over their due date are going to develop EXACTLY the same?

Hi OP, next I’d introduce one allergen every few days to check for reaction - dairy; egg, peanut, gluten/wheat, seafood etc. then keep giving each regularly once no reaction is seen. Also ditch the Aptimil porridge, unnecessary; just give porridge oats or Ready Brek. Once allergens have been trialled, I’d give her what youre eating but just no honey or salt. But also be prepared just because she started eating well, it’s very normal for things to change and their appetite drops after 12 months anyway as their growth slows.

Oh my god, what happened on this thread? 🤣

My baby was slow with sitting up (frustrating as she was already crawling!) so we weaned 2 weeks late, causing irreparable damage, I’m sure 🙃

Loads of my NCT group let babies try things before 6 months. You are not the only person doing this! It’s quite common!

Anyway, on the allergens we found info from health visitor frustrating as we ended up getting tested for allergens and getting better advice further along that would have been great to one at the start!

Get a list of common allergens. Take the first one.

Day 1: Rub the allergen on the baby’s skin and leave for 30 minutes. If no reaction, rub the allergen on gums. If not reaction, proceed to day 2.
Day 2: serve the allergen at a meal
Day 3: serve the allergen at a meal

The Next day you repeat the process with the next allergen.

A good tip is to take a photo of your baby before each exposure so you can compare if something looks a bit funny. You are looking for a rash, hives, swelling of lips or tongue, any breathing difficulties. Some babies will have a delayed reaction so be aware to keep monitoring. We also worked a Monday-Wednesday; Thursday-Saturday cycle as the biggest risks were on days we could get to the GP. We also did the exposures during GP opening hours.

Speak to your pharmacist about whether they recommend you having antihistamine at home on stand by. Advice varies on this by age and risk.