Weaning query...

[muppet73]

...I know this sounds a bit daft but dd doesn't seem to need weaning yet at 22 weeks. But I heard/read that you need to wean after 6 months to replace a depleted iron store (?) Now my question is does this mean 6 calender months or 24 weeks? I would hate for dd to miss out on what she needs as I have left it too late.

Errr... don't worry yet muppet73 - 6 months is 26 weeks.

Not sure about the rest.

26 weeks - plenty of time then
Thanks

And iron stores don't just run out either - don't worry too much about making sure she's on three square meals a day by 6.5 months - some babies don't fancy eating much till they're much closer to one (my great aunt was very surprised to hear that DS was going to eat anything before he was one and it used to be very common to leave weaning until nine months).

Thanks - very reassuring - seems like all around me are people with babies much younger than dd who are woofing down 3 bowls of baby rice before lunchtime!!

Loads more info on iron levels here

And poor babies Have you ever tasted baby rice?!

HM good article thanks baby rice also looks like wallpaper paste

It's just grim. What a bland way to start children on the adventure that is food!

Think I am going to go straight for normal veg (mashed or pureed of course) and miss out the baby rice.

If you wait till she's six months or older - you can probably go for lots of finger food too. Steamed veggies are great to start with. Have fun!

I skipped the rice cereal. Tried for a few days, but everytime DD gave me that "you must be off your head if you think I'm going to eat this muck," I left it and started on pears and sweet potato. She will now eat the proper baby cereal which is much nicer.

As HM says, you can skip mashing and pureeing altogether - just give finger foods! Save yourself the hassle! Well-steamed spears of carrot are popular and reasonably easy.

My DS1 did purees and all that (started at 16 weeks, as was the advice then), and it was an enormous faff. DS2 just went onto finger foods - I did try purees but he wasn't interested unless it was meat!

Thanks again for all advice - I will try and wait for the 26 weeks - see how I go - she is definately giving me that look as if to say "where's mine" when I'm eating. But giving her a baby spoon to play with seems to distract her enough

so some q's about finger foods - how do you know your baby is eating enough? don't you worry about them choking? I ask because seems to be much happier to have a chunk of apple, banana or a biscuit to play with than for me to feed him purees but most of it ends up on the floor, in his hair, on his clothes..... and dh sits sweating with worry that he will choke every time I give him something unpureed.

Good question Leo about finger foods - dont have an answer but does anyone else?

if they know how to feed themselves they will not starve themselves, and they'll soon let you know if they'r hungry, they dont just have to have food at mealtimes just remember to give them snacks in between.

as for choking, dont worry, your lo will gag on some things, dd still does sometimes and she's 11mth and has been eating solids for 6 months (i mean real lumps), just keep a plan in your head, if they gag more than 3 times its a pat on the back, any more after that you get them out the highchair and wack them (you know what i mean), then when they gag first you wont panic so much because you know how you'll deal with it. gagging is a reaction that they need to learn, and if you panic they will and it'll prob put them off solids.

hope i helped!

I did find it a bit puzzling in the early days with finger foods, not knowing how much DS2 was taking ... but as he's breastfed, I've never really known how much he was taking.

My DS2 did gag a bit, but what I would do was, sit still, watch for a second to see if he's breathing. If he's breathing, I'd just let him sort it out. If he's not breathing, then you have to pat on the back etc. (He always was breathing, so just gagging, not choking.)

You do have to give them non-pureed food eventually, and some say the choking risk is higher if they've got used to food they can just suck off the spoon.

That being said, neither of my kids is or was very inclined to choking, so it's not a big worry of mine. Of course you have to supervise mealtimes, but that's inevitable.

Oh yes gagging normal. DD does it. It's just how she brings food from the back to the front of her mouth. Obviously you have to watch them, butyou have to do that anyway. I do feed her some mushed stuff, but also let her do her thing with lumps of cheese, bananas, bread, biscuits etc.
BTW how do you get banana stains out??

never had problems with banana stains, prob best to try lemon juice that seems to work on most stuff!