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[AngelieMumsnet]

We've been asked by baby and toddler food brand Organix to find out about Mumsnetters' experiences with weaning.

So, when did you start weaning? How did you feel about it? What were your questions and how did you get the answers? Was there anything in particular which surprised you about weaning? 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 £200 John Lewis voucher.

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

Well, the advice at the time was no solids before 6 months, so we stuck to that. First solid some pear williams purée in the December sun in Faro! She never looked back. However kept breast feeding till 2 years old. Mixed mode here. Always incorporated her in our meals, lots of finger food and fun.

I started weaning DD1 at 5 1/2 months. I had been to a talk from the health visitor who advised us to start as close to 6 months as possible but then move up to 3 meals a day quite quickly.

I gave my daughter a mixture of purées and finger foods. She was bemused for the first two weeks but then suddenly showed a lot more interest in food and trying different things. She loved fruits initially and cereals. Around the age of 1 she would eat anything but now 20 months she is a lot fussier. Has never been a big fan of meat, even now she has all her teeth.

DS is now 4 months and I am looking forward to starting weaning. Considering a more BLW approach after reading some success stories.

I started weaning at 6 months and at the beginning it was difficult to introduce new foods but after a few weeks of being patient it started going smoothly.

You need lots of patience and cloths, and just keep trying! Its a gradual process with no fixed pattern and babys will pick their own pace and habits!

So, when did you start weaning?
Six months.
How did you feel about it?
Happy, excited.
What were your questions and how did you get the answers?
I read about BLW and we did that - felt right, and worked for us.
Was there anything in particular which surprised you about weaning?
Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?
Courgettes, carrots, satsumas, porridge, broccoli, potato, sweet potato, corn on the cob, houmous. He does still like all of these. I don't remember him not trying anything.

I started BLW just before six months with DS and it was lovely, so nice to see him grabbing veggies and shoving them in his mouth! We started with courgette which he sucked to death and butternut squash. He still likes his veggies and he's two now.

With my 1st daughter I followed the guidelines but with my second daughter I started weaning at around 4 months. I would mix up some of our dinner and also used pre-pared jars if I was going out.

I waited until after six months for both DC. DD was fairly reluctant and took quite a lot of convincing. DS took to it very quickly, probably because he was copying his older sister and also maybe because we were more relaxed knowing that DD had eventually got it.

Baby rice, followed by apple and pear together - she loved it

We really enjoyed weaning. We did BLW as I wasn't willing to spend so much money on jars of food and the fact they were all so similar looking really put me off. Jake took to it like a duck takes to water. He has just turned two and regularly suprises people with what he will eat such as sushi, smoked salmon, cockles, mussels, seafood sticks, pickled onions.

Then again they do say that whatever you eat when pregnant flavours the amniotic fluid and the baby develops a taste for it. Certainly true in our case.

My first child was around 7 months when I started weaning and she was a very small baby I breastfed her until she was around 24 months my second child is a big baby and I thought he would be quicker to start weaning however he was around 8 months and also breastfeeding.He is now 21 months and eats anything you put in front of him but still loves breastfeeding. Both babies never had bottles and both babies took a few months probably until around 9 months to get to grips with a beaker.
Both my children were very independent when weaning and liked finger food rather than me feeding them as they enjoyed feeding themselves.
Every child is different and I found taking my time and letting my children guid me made weaning much simpler and pleasant experience.

DD just wasn't ready at 6mo, so despite all the excitement she just smeared Petit Filous all around the tray! At 7mo or so, she just grabbed a roast potato off a plate and munched the lot

She loved spicy food as a baby, especially chilli and rice but doesn't really like it too much now. She eats lots of stuff though, but her tastes have changed a bit.

We did BLW but also used jars/pouches sometimes too.

So, when did you start weaning? At 24 weeks, so a couple of weeks of the full 6 months but he seemed ready.

How did you feel about it? I was excited at first but soon got fed up! I'd exclusively breast fed, and suddenly I had to actually spend time preparing extra food and doing extra washing up - even one extra plate and spoon several times a day is annoying when you don't have a dishwasher!

What were your questions and how did you get the answers? Can't really remember what questions I had, but used the internet for answers :)

Was there anything in particular which surprised you about weaning? Not really, DS was a good eater.

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now? DS loved most things during weaning, including cauliflower cheese, which he won't countenance now for some reason, which is strange as he loves cheese!

So, when did you start weaning?

I started both babies at 6 months.

How did you feel about it?

The first time around I was very nervous about choking and things. I hadn't heard of baby-led weaning so by the time my second baby came around I was a lot less nervous through experience and because I had learned about BLW and it made so much more sense to me.

What were your questions and how did you get the answers?

The first time around I just read all the baby manuals and sought advice from the HV and friends. The second time around I went looking for research and ran across the popular BLW sites. I think I might have heard of BLW from Mumsnet!

Was there anything in particular which surprised you about weaning?

The mess! I knew it would be messy, but not THAT MUCH.

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now?

Well, with BLW you give them everything, and they still love everything!

So, when did you start weaning? At 5 months & 3 weeks, we were on a family holiday as DH wanted to be there for her 1st foods.

How did you feel about it? Excited, DD had already show interest in food and had experienced tastes of things

What were your questions and how did you get the answers? Portion size, recipies, things to avoid. A friend gifted a copy of Annabelle Karmels weening book which helped with the recipes. Friends, HV, family all helped with the questions!

Was there anything in particular which surprised you about weaning? I wasn't prepared for DD to be allergic to most fruits - thankfully she has grown out most.

Which foods did your little one love during weaning, do they still love the same tastes now? Broccoli & cauliflower, still obsessed with them today. I know if she's uncertain of a new food if it comes with broccoli she'll eat it

My ds was fab at weaning, we have pictures of him at a year old sucking on lamb chops and ribs

He would try and devour anything which made me really rather smug.,

7 years on and he eats like a bird! Won't eat 1/10 of the food he would wolf down as a baby. Still it's the age old MN mantra "this too shall pass",

My twins were premature and everyone around me, family, doctor, health visitor etc insisted that I started them on solids at about three months. I knew they weren't ready, (getting them to drink milk was hard enough), but I felt so pressured I started them on baby rice. They hated it and mealtimes became a complete nightmare, as I was told by my health visitor to persevere. They were well underweight for their age and it was a constant battle to get them to eat.

Lumpy foods were also a problem for a very long time, although they took to eating finger foods fairly quickly. All in all, weaning is something that I look back on with horror where they are concerned.

DS3 was a different matter altogether. He loved milk, loved rice, then other solids and finger foods - it was a joy to watch him eat!

BLW - easy but also did a first aid course as worried about choking. He now likes normal food -recently I tried to give him a free sample of the organixs strawberry porridge and he pushed it away and asked for his normal (un branded porridge oats that I buy at the health food shop in bulk and eat myself) with his usual cinnamon. I was very proud and tried some of the sample myself and it was horribly fake and sweet - it went straight in the bin. Strawberry and banana are also some of his favorite fruits so it wasn't an issue with that either.

Started weaning DS when he was about 5 months old - I'd heard about waiting until 6 months but to be honest, DS just seemed ready and I couldn't really see any harm in starting a few weeks early. He was very interested in food, eyeing up what was on our plates & trying to grab it!
We started him in baby rice but he didn't seem too keen (don't blame him as it always looked like wallpaper paste?!). So we moved on to pureed fruit & veg - carrot and apple were particular favourites.
DS loved it! He would try to hold the spoon himself and was too hungry to throw much of it on the floor - obviously didn't want to waste it!!
I enjoyed it too; I liked making homemade purees for him and watching him try new things.
He's now 2 and loves his food!

6 months both times. First time, she wanted to be spoon fed and we did a lot of specifically baby type food. By the second one we were more confident, and used to low-salt cooking, so he shared our meals and loved it. Think the biggest difference was possibly communal eating, and we'll be going down the family mealtime, all-eating-same-food route with DC3 next year.

We started at 5.5 months and I was so excited to offer ds some pureed pear but he was completely uninterested! He tried a few tastes under duress for the next couple of weeks, while I got increasingly stressed. One day I really needed a break and left DH and DS to it while I went out for the afternoon. When I got back, they were both roaring with laughter and covered in what appeared to be orange Polyfilla. DH had taken ds to the chemists and got a jar of baby food - ds loved it, and from then on he really got interested in all foods. There was a long patch when he had three meals and five bottles a day - he was spherical!

We started weaning at 6 months and all in all it was a really fun process - we all ate together from the off which I think is a great positive and we did BLW which was as messy as it was successful! It meant DH and I could both eat our meals before they got cold and (I hope) that our son could learn about mealtimes as an opportunity to experiment with food, discover his likes and dislikes and to view eating as also a social occasion.

We have never had battles over food and I hope that we'll be able to keep it this way (he's 2 now and so far, so good). I had the BLW cookbook which had a perfect balance of information and recipes without seeming too much like it was trying to sell one approach over another - it also answered all of my queries about BLW. My son loved most foods during weaning and continues to do so - including some that surprise me still like olives and mustard! I love that he has such a relaxed and happy approach to food and hope it will stand him in good stead in later life.

My children are both teenagers now, so I'm going back a bit!

Started weaning at around 6 months for both DD1 and DD2 (who was 9 weeks premature). I had one of those parenting manuals which were popular in the 90s and used that as a guide and to answer any questions I had.

I tried to make my own purees but DD1 hated them (she home cooked food now) and she preferred bought jars of baby food. DD2 liked my simple veggie purees and particularly loved puddings. They both loved chocolate, and DD2 still has a sweet tooth (DD1 less so now.)

DD2 has always hated spicy food, and is not as adventurous as DD1 with foods. In fact, they have always seemed to prefer the foods the other doesn't like or want! If I served lasagne when they were toddlers, one would eat the meat, the other the pasta and cheese sauce.

DD1 is now dairy free, which has been a preference for some time, I just didn't really spot it when she was small.

I found it quite hard to begin with as my daughter was always being sick & doctors couldn't get to the bottom of it, stuck with it, starting on baby rice & purees, was a long road but we got there eventually now she's pretty much on most solids & loving it

I weaned my DD1 at 5 months at the HV's behest because she wasn't putting on weight (my DD, that is, not the HV ). All went swimmingly with purees and she moved onto lumpier stuff plus finger foods with no problems at all. She would eat everything except carrots, but that was fine. Then suddenly, at seven months of age, she started refusing everything. She literally only ate raisins, breadsticks, yoghurt and bits of cheese for a few weeks when suddenly the penny dropped: it wasn't that she didn't want to eat, she just didn't want to be fed. So it was fingerfoods all the way from then!