Share your advice and top tips for weaning with Organix: you could win a £150 notonthehighstreet voucher! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We've been asked by baby and toddler food brand Organix to find out your top tips and advice when weaning your LO onto food.

So, what single piece of advice would you give to another mum just about to start weaning? If you were weaning again, what would you do differently and why? What 3 words would you use to describe your weaning journey? Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?

Share your thoughts on this thread and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £150 voucher for notonthehighstreet.com/

Please note your tips and comments may be used, along with your MN nickname in an email MN will send out. They may well also be used elsewhere by Organix.

Thanks,
MNHQ

So, what single piece of advice would you give to another mum just about to start weaning?
Expect mess

If you were weaning again, what would you do differently and why?
Next time I won't waste time worrying about how much is actually getting eaten or reducing BF.

What 3 words would you use to describe your weaning journey?
Messy. Fun. Messy.

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?
Broccoli was an early favourite, but not now. DD1 has always loved bread, breadsticks and sausages.

Advice: don't worry about how much they are eating, offer a variety and don't make any fuss about what is eaten or left

Wouldn't do anything differently

Three words: baby led weaning

Dd loved tomatoes, went through a phase of refusing them but loves them again (age 3) after getting to puck and way her own in the garden

Ds (12 nth) eats everything - not yet found anything he won't eat. Particularly loves bananas and yogurt

I would recommend being open & broad in tastes & flavours, in the food you make and the food they try.
My children like lots of world foods etc. because we have eaten them and let them experiment with their taste buds! For example, at 11 months my DS ate sushi in Singapore airport as he wanted to try it and has loved it ever since! There are numerous examples like this.
Consequently I try & flavour my cooking with many herbs & spices to keep it interesting.

Don't get caught up with all of the claptrap surrounding BLW... Just feed your child as you see fit. If they are hungry they will tell you!

Finger foods and chunky mashed up soups were always a favourite over here.

Enjoy seeing your little one getting enjoyment out of new tastes

Our strategy was this: write a list of everything we eat in our usual diet. This is the target list. The idea is to have the baby eating everything on that list by age 1. So remember spices and all! Then introduce everything on that list one thing at a time. Start with pear and go from there. It doesn't take long to have enough tastes that you can cook decent meals. Introduce lumps as soon as your baby can cope. Give as much finger food as possible.

It works wonderfully for child 1 when you have loads of time. Subsequent kids... As soon as you can puree what you are eating and give it to them the better.

Best kit: raw food puree board by amadeus. I just chucked this, a spoon, and a pear or carrot in my bag and it was an instant snack.

And final tip? It doesn't matter how great you are at weaning and how fabulously varied your baby's diet is now, they will be the fussiest eater on earth by the age of 3.

Advice, resist people mil with raised eyebrows who expect you to drop the breast feeding before you and your child are ready.

Try not to get stressed at the mess and the refusal of food that baby LOVED the previous week - they can pick up on it and that makes life harder for both of you.

Introduce variety asap and make trying new things a family treat.

Three words, Bulk Buy Wetwipes

So, what single piece of advice would you give to another mum just about to start weaning?
Don't panic. Applies to lots of things, if they won't eat anything, if they eat everything, if they gag, if they'll only eat yoghurt for a week, if packet food is their favourite, if your kitchen wall is now an abstract of pasta sauce and smooshed banana...

If you were weaning again, what would you do differently and why?
Nothing, I mixed lots of finger food with some spooned purée from the start. Worked well for us.

What 3 words would you use to describe your weaning journey?
Fun, squishy and avocado-y (never eaten so much in my life!)

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?
DS devoured anything put before him, enduring favourites are strawberries, petit pois and weirdly curry. We were sent the organix paste pots for a test session and they have gone down very well.

Single advice: Do not buy into the Parenting Expert Book bollocks. When they say their babies loved fish cooked in banana juice (or whatever weird combos come up in those mad books) or liver, they lied.

What would I do differently? See above. I would burn the books first. Then let dd get her hands in.

3 words: A bloody Nightmare (see above re books)

Foods she loved: bizarrely, leafy green veg, curry, avocado -basically things with a v strong taste. She still likes curry.

I had my babies before the 6 month 'rule' was advised. I actually weaned my first baby early as he was sooo hungry. I think my piece of advice is to trust your own instincts and use information as a guide.

My three words to describe our weaning experience would be, 'feed me faster!'

Oh and my DS always has to have a breadstick/carrot etc in each hand,when eating, otherwise they would be grumpy!

My single piece of advice is don't assume what they will like/ not like. DD2 loves stilton, curry, kale, all sorts of weird things. She also changes her mind a lot about what she likes. Put it in front of them- multiple times if necessary- while you eat it with gusto too, and see what happens.

Single piece of advice? Relax! Kids pick up vibes, so the more relaxed you are, the better!.

My three words, messy but fun!

I would do something thing differently. I would go more down the BLW route, I was a bit scared of it.

Finally, my ds will eat anything, so I'm glad I was fairly adventurous!

I would say to use those advice guides about "start with one teaspoon...then by x weeks, increase to x teaspoons etc" as a guideline but not set in stone!

My little girl could eat virtually a whole jar at each sitting within the first few days of weaning so it is more important to be led by the child and see how hungry they are.

My next piece of advice would be don't be afraid of combining baby led weaning / finger food type weaning with traditional puree type weaning. We did a mix of both for our third child and it worked really well. With out first two we stuck more rigidly to the purees first and then lumpy food / finger food.

Finally keep some nutritious healthy snacks with you when out and about so if your little one gets hungry to know you've got something healthy to give them.

My advice would be take one day at a time, don't get stressed! And be patient.
3 words would be messy, fun, interesting!

second time weaning we did less blending more baby led / finger food. I don't think it has made much difference to food choice, but ds2 is much more independent in eating :)

3 words, messy, messy, messy :D

Like various others, my top tip would be to look into Baby Led Weaning. And buy a mat for under the high chair!

If I could do it again I'd do BLW with both. Had heard of it with DS1 but it was still very rare and discouraged.

Both boys ate practically anything while they were being weaned and much more conservative now.

On the one hand, home-cooked food is much cheaper than jars etc but I ended up feeding DS1 a lot of jars because it saved heartache if he rejected something I'd lovingly prepared.

Oh, and DS2 who was at least partially BLW, is more picky than DS1, who wasn't. Whatever that proves.

3 words. Baby led weaning.

It's not complicated, fancy or difficult - it's literally just give them a bit of whatever you're having! I just don't get why people are still determined to use purees when there is literally no need for them. Cook one meal, serve it up. Job done. Baby eats? Fine. Baby doesn't eat? Fine.

What single piece of advice would you give to another mum just about to start weaning?
Relax. It might not all go in. You might not manage to feed to a strict schedule. Not every meal has to be home made from scratch.

If you were weaning again, what would you do differently and why?
Actually, I'm pretty happy with how I did it, I wouldn't change!

What 3 words would you use to describe your weaning journey?
Messy, Adventurous, Fun

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?
We did primarily baby led weaning with a few pots of fruit purees when we were out. She loved everything and still does! Blueberries are the worlds best food apparently. The only thing she has gone off is pear, that often gets hurled.

So, what single piece of advice would you give to another mum just about to start weaning?
Cook what you like to eat, and let the baby eat the same.

If you were weaning again, what would you do differently and why?
I'd puree less, spoon feed less, and let the child lead the way.
The reason being that I think this led to DS2's issues with food.

What 3 words would you use to describe your weaning journey?
Each child different!

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?
I wish they did! A favourite was sautéed mushrooms and courgettes, served over buckwheat. Totally delicious, but would cause a riot if I tried to serve it now!
One thing that took me by surprise was DS2's dislike of certain textures. To him, it's he texture, not the taste of food that puts him off, and I think that is down to being weaned on pureed foods (as the guidance was at the time), but not getting the timing right on moving on from purees to lumpy and so on. He is now very picky indeed, which makes mealtimes very hard

Advice - Relax and enjoy this next part of your child's journey into the world of food. You can play a vital role in the kind of eater they will be in the future. If you are happy and relaxed, they will pick up on that and be more receptive to trying new foods. (That's what I've found from my experience, anyway)

What I would do differently - Perhaps have given my child an even bigger variety of foods to try earlier on. And gotten something to put on the floor to catch the inevitable thrown food and spillages (although, having a dog does help with that!!)

3 words - Frustrating, Messy, Fun. (Not in that particular order!)

My LO's first ever bit of 'real' food was banana which he still loves now. He actually kicks his feet in excitement when he sees a banana! Haha and fromage frais he still loves. As well as mashed potato! He does have days when he just doesn't want what I put in front of him, so always have back ups of finger foods to give them! That's their way of saying 'Actually Mum, I don't want that today. I had that 2 days ago. I want something else!'

My main advice is: don't be afraid of big flavours. DS eats what we eat, including Balti, loads of garlic, chillis etc. Last night he ate beef teriyaki, so food doesn't have to be bland. I would also advise a drop cloth or shower curtain under the high chair.

I wouldn't really do anything differently, except maybe to overthink less. Everything got easier when I stopped trying to make him separate food and gave him modified versions of what we eat.

3 words for weaning? Food. In. Hair.

DS is just a year old, so still technically weaning. He loves cheesy toast, corn on the cob (he can gnaw it so also good for teething) and gazpacho soup (honestly, it makes him stink of garlic but he is obsessed with it. It's a really punchy flavour too). He also loves raspberries, oranges, bananas and loads and loads of melon.

My single piece of advice would be not to worry too much and see it as something new and fun to do together rather than stressing about it.

3 words to describe my weaning journey would be: messy, adventurous and fun!

If I was to wean again I would probably try more finger foods and go down that route a bit more rather than focusing on purees, then moving on to slightly lumpier food. I wouldn't focus so much on the stages but instead give my child lots of little bits of finger foods to try.

My son surprisingly loved curries and chilli con carne and still loves spicy food now. He didn't like veg at the time but loves it now.

The one piece of advice i would give to someone just starting to wean is take it day by day if your baby is not hungry dont worry try again your baby will let you know when they are full. Its what they eat in a week that counts. Let your baby explore and get messing trying as many different foods as you can but make sure its what you eat as a family to make your life easy.
3 words to describe my weaning journey - messy fun emotional

tha thing i would do differently would be to make sure
my baby had the same food as everyone else to make life easy