What can I use instead of baby rice for early stages of weaning?

[LDNmummy]

My DD is 5 and a half months and I started weaning her yesterday night. Yes I know it is recommended to wait until 6 months, but I feel she is ready. She sits upright unsupported, she eyes up and drools over my food (for almost two weeks now), she grabbed some bread off my plate and started munching on it almost a week ago (i took it away though), her tongue thrust reflex seems diminished and she wakes frequently at night to feed (about 3 or 4 times).

So I gave her roughly mushed avocado last night and she was really eager and ate at least half a tablespoon of it if not more. I picked avocado because it is not sugary and has a lot of goodness and the right kind of fats. I did give her a rusk biscuit (only a quarter of one) too and she loved it but will not be making a habit of that as it has sugar in it and will leave that as a once in a while treat after she hits the 6 month mark.

I don't want to give her baby rice as even though I have bought a box, I have read some research that suggests it is not a good starting food for various reasons.

Does anyone have any suggestions for foods I could give her to start with? I am thinking of a little steamed, mushed broccoli mixed with breastmilk for this evening. I am cautious of giving her banana and other sweet fruits and vegetables until she has become accustomed to more bitter tasting foods.

Give her what you eat. As long as you're not eating lots of salt, you're away! The only other stuff to avoid us honey, whole nuts and whole grapes.

No need to start on a particular 'type' of food, or to introduce sweeter foods later.

At 5.5 months if DD is showing all the signs of readiness, I'd not worry about 'early' weaning - she's near enough 6 months and there's no magic switch that goes off at exactly 26 weeks

Agree with Fliss that it's much easier to give her what you eat..

Carrots, butternut squash, sweet potato, peas mushed with potato - anything you've cooked / prepared for yourself that doesn't contain too much salt or honey, you're away.

Baby rice, since you've already got a box, can be quite useful for 'thickening' anything that gets a bit too runny, like really juicy pear or stewed apple.

I started on veggies, steamed and mashed a bit from a bowl, with bigger pieces for her to hold and chew on. So broccoli, carrots, peas, sweet potato, potato, butternut squash etc

I would also offer fruits, mashed banana and apple sauce mostly. With pieces of soft fruit.

Once that was going well, I would do toast or bread and butter, cheese, yoghurt etc, just adding a new food every couple of days to check for any reactions, then offering a varied diet from all of it, eventually working up to mostly feeding her what we had.

Your BM or formula is generally sweet so don't worry too much.

I'd be wary of green veg in the evenings because of it's wind inducing properties - keep those for lunch.

Sweet potato, parsnips, carrots, potatoes are all great. My friend used to slow roast vegetables up then mash and mix with sweet potato.

Thanks for the advice, weaning is really exciting but really daunting for some reason.

Honestly I was a bit worried about being flamed for starting now but I know she is ready and it feels right

I am worried about her getting a sweet tooth like me

We don't eat much salt so cutting it out won't be a problem.

Any advice on meat at this age?

Ooh slow roasted veggies sounds yum!

I had only considered steaming.

I gave chicken (roasted thighs are nice and tender) cut against the "grain" so broke up easily. Plus lamb burgers made from mince - they can chew them if you give in fist sized chunks that they can hold.

I also made chicken burgers (blend chopped chicken with herbs, salt free stock cube, breadcrumbs and oil) - again use as finger food.

Weaning is fun but definitely daunting!

Oh fry the burgers obv!

Finally 1 I took a BLE approach so didn't purée but we started just before 6 months as ds could hold food and stick it in!

BLW!

Thanks Iggly

How exciting!!!

Pears and carrots are good first foods. i started at 17 weeks don't worry about it. Whoever thinks all babies are ready at the same time is clearly bonkers. i read and read and read about it and it became abundantly obvious that my DS was ready, especially when he wrestled a necatrine i was eating into his mouth and had a good old suck on it .

I just gave what I eat. My HV us very big on giving family food instead of weaning food. (She is pro BLW). Even if you spoon feed, you can mash up your normal meal with a fork or a hand blender. This way they get introduce to the flavour of real food. Obviously we adapted what we eat a bit as to accommodate a baby's diet. For example lettuce leaves are nigh on impossible for a 6mo to chew.

As for meat DD had no problem with meat at 6mo. A lot of standard classics are easy to spoon feed. Spal bol, shepards pie, fish pie, stews, chillies.

We did BLW so DD completely self feeds. But I understand it's not for everyone. But even if you spoon feed, there is no need to cook a separate meal just for a 6mo baby. (17 weeks is different as they can have no dairy, gluten, meat, eggs, etc). It can get quite soul destroying to see your lovelingly created meals rejected. It's much easier to relax if you just give what you are already cooking anyway. As you said, you are only giving 1 or 2 tbsp. What if he wants more? Do you have more to give? If you cook up a bowl, what do you do with the left overs?

Weren't you guys worried about choking with the BLW route?

I gave DD broccoli and carrot which I blended this evening. She didn't seem very happy with the flavour but seemed to enjoy it more towards the end.

Terror I gave her a bit more this evening till she appeared full enough but am still breastfeeding for the rest of the day so I follow up her meal with some breastmilk too. As its early stages I'm happy just introducing different foods in small amounts and topping her up with breastmilk. I cook very little so there is only about four tablespoons of food to begin with.

DD much prefer cauliflower (broccheese or

Phone!!

I mean she much prefers cauliflower cheese and cauliflower in curries. They should blend well for spoon feeding. I found steamed veg really bland so we never cook that ourselves. Roast veg otoh is very very nice.

Nope I'm not worry about chocking on food at all. I'm more worried about the random stuff she found and put in her mouth, or her falling over and bump her head, or her entangling herself with a scarf she found in my drawers.... Basically mischiefs she get up to when I'm not looking.

Btw I cook broccoli and cauliflower interchangeably.

I was thinking about trying cauliflower next but not sure if I could give her a cream of cheese sauce with it. I think I had better google some recipes

Ha ha @ mischiefs, luckily my DD hasn't quite hit that phase yet but I can see it on the horizon.

Yep wait till she can crawl . For some that can be just over 6mo.

This page tells you all the food you can give to your baby, when to start finger foods (if not BLW obviously). It's from the NHS so it's the same thing as your birth to 5 book.

And dairy is fine from 6 month. My cauliflower cheese is normally just a cheese sauce baked with cauliflower. I seldom bother with infusing the milk etc.

Aargh! I think I had better invest in a playpen with really high guard rails.

Thanks for the link, I love Cauliflower cheese, might give that a try next week.

Her face today when she tried the broccoli was funny but I did feel bad giving her plain old green mush two days in a row.

Thanks again!

Some people love her, some hate her but I have found the Annabel Karmel recipes really helpful. I bought the book 'What to Feed When' but have sonce found out that her website has almost all of her recipes for free.

She has a fab recipe for an Apple-Strawberry-Blueberry-Peach puree, its so nice I ate tasted tonnes when I was making it and DH pinched a few portions to add to his morning porridge.

I guess we are doing it the wrong way round and are making baby food for the whole family rather than family food for the baby

I like the Karmel stuff too. Her recipes are great!

Oh - yes I was worried about choking but clued myself up on first aid and it was fine actually. Ds took care of things with his gag reflex (not nice to watch but choking is actually silent whereas gagging is not!)

LDN I didn't worry about choking with BLW - it's very rare, gagging is more common. Purée fed babies can choke too anyway.

Meat's fine even at the start.

Have a look at this site - even if you 'traditionally' wean, there's useful ideas and advice that you will be able to use