exclusive bfing till 6 mths - what next??

[MissChief]

my memory with ds1 fails me - still just bfing ds2 and reaching 1/2 yr mark, what to do weaning-wise? Most of my friends and all of my (outdated) books refer to weaning at 4 mths therefore starting with baby rice 1x a day, grad building up to purees. But for starting at 6 mths what's the current advice??

the same, just starting at 6 months.

You can miss out a lot of the "mush" and offer finger foods or mashed up "normal" food. (I think!)

ok, thanks. better get boiling those veggies lingering in my box...

MissChief, I've only just started giving ds baby rice and have been weaning him for a month (and only mix it in with stuff). I started him on apple, pear, parsnip etc so he got strong flavours from the start.

Don't bother! Go straight to table scraps! If you have no allergy concerns, you can give normal food from now.

I did the tiresome 4 month puree thing with DS1, but DS2 was exclusive bf to 6 months, and then rejected purees and spoon-feeding entirely. He wanted finger food. Ok, it took about a month before anything went down, and he probably would have got more food down faster if I'd managed the purees etc, but it was much less work, and meant he was just on grownup food right away. (We don't salt our food, at least not significantly.)

Now, at 16 months, he eats really well, has a very varied diet, and uses a spoon brilliantly!

Oh, it's not just me doing this, by the way, it's a whole "new" style of weaning, called baby-led weaning. Lots of people on here are big fans.

like the sound of that!

It is so much less work.

Steamed carrot sticks are a good starting point, as are rice cakes, bread sticks, etc, etc. You can start with chip-shaped objects, or whatever tempts really. Initially, your DS will just be eating the bits that stick out of his fist, until he learns to open his fist to get the rest out.

It will take a little while before anything actually goes down, but purees are often that way, too. It does feel so natural and relaxed, just giving your kid bits of your food. DS2 will still not really accept being spoon-fed. But he feeds himself brilliantly, and really loves his food.

How utterly simple and logical! Wish I had done it that way for my 3. Will definitely do if we have a 4th!