Come talk to me about when, why and how you started weaning

[NellyBluth]

DD is 5mo and I'm starting to think about weaning. So far this has mainly involved giving her odd bits of food to lick and suck, rather than eat, such as cucumber, tomato, bread etc. I have also tried baby rice and one of the Ella's Kitchen sachets but she's not really ready to start swallowing, though she enjoys sucking a bread crust. However her sleep is starting to get a little mucked up so I'm thinking that she might soon need some solid food.

Our HVs do give a talk on weaning but I can't get on to one until DD is gone 6m. I've done some reading and I'm not entirely sure pure BLW weaning is for us, I'm happy to try purees first. But I'm feeling a bit lost about it all... So basically, I'm after some practical advice about how and when other people started!

1. What made you think your baby was ready to start weaning?

1. What foods did you try first? I'm really curious about this as so far it's really only been baby rice which I don't blame her for not liking, its vile. However DP and I don't really eat many of the foods that I think we could easily put aside a little and puree for her (sweet potato, brocolli etc - we're salad people). I'm happy to start buying these and pureeing/mashing them for DD, but I'd rather wait until she was actually eating the food before wasting a whole sweet potato for two spat out mouthfuls!

1. Did you freeze any foods? I've heard about freezing ice cube sized portions, which sounds handy. But what foods freeze well? And how do you defrost and heat them (especially without a microwave). I tried freezing the Ella's Kitchen puree as it said you could, but it didn't come out of our plastic ice cube trays

1. How many mouthfuls did your baby take at first? How long did you keep going if they didn't seem overly keen, or did you just stop and wait another week or so? How did you know to go from trying a little once a day to trying 'breakfast', 'lunch' and 'dinner'?

Any and all helpful advice very gratefully received! (And a plea for this to be a helpful thread, and not descend into a bunfight or accusations about people weaning their baby too early.)

Well started weaning at 4months on Dr's advice. Tbh her first food was a bit of carrot cake that my nephew was caught feeding her. The first food I gave her was rusks and baby porridge.
Didn't freeze any foods, used jars.
Never had a problem with dd not being keen, ate anything put in front of her.
I did dinner first, then added breakfast then added lunch in a few weeks.

Maybe mums in my group (actually all of them) uses Annabel Karmel. So if you are after a structured plan, you can try her recipes and timetables.

Otherwise, the NHS has most of the information you want on their website.

Q1: the when, see the 3 signs of readiness
www.nhs.uk/start4life/pages/babies-introducing-solid-food.aspx
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx

Q2: What to try
www.nhs.uk/start4life/Pages/babies-food-variety.aspx
www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx

Q3: What to freeze. Annabel Karmel has a ton of recipes. But mine hates all purees, including baby rice. She wants real food. So I freeze pasta sauces (pesto, tomato), little burger patties, mini savory muffins, veggie nuggets, veggie patties. You are only limit by your imagination! Instead of ice cube trays, I use silicon mini muffin trays. I've already got them and it's easier to pop each one because each cup can even go inside out!

Q4: I started at 24 weeks, and tried two weeks on veg purees and DD took maybe 1 mouthful or less each time. Other babies in my NCT group ate a whole of those tommee tippee tubs by 6mo. And they open their mouths like little birds. You know to cut your losses when you see this happening. It's very very soul destroying. My HV recommended BLW and we never looked back. DD was very enthusiastic about shoving brocollis, roast veg, toasts, meat balls into her mouth. We went to 3 meals in a week after switching. Basically you know as a mother when your LO is enjoying the food. And it's important to be guide by them, not strictly following a method.

HTH

1. We started weaning at 24 weeks as DD met the 3 signs of readiness that OneLittleBabyTerror refers to.

1. After a lot of reading we decided that BLW was the way to go, so first foods were broccoli (very messy!), pear, pasta, toast and porridge on loaded spoons.

1. I have made batches of tomato pasta sauce and frozen them in ice cube trays so that if I am cooking pasta for DD I just need to defrost two or three ice cubes of sauce for her (I always found a sharp knife down the side of the cube worked well for getting them out). I have also frozen little mini toad in the holes and mini vegetable pasties. Gnocchi and tortellini are also useful straight from the freezer.

1. To start with DD sucked on a lot of stuff but very quickly got the hang of chewing and swallowing. We very quickly got to the point where she was having three meals a day - probably a couple of weeks in. I really just followed her lead. She is 10 months old now and is generally a really good eater. She has days where she eats less than others but I just trust her to know what she wants and needs. This was not easy to do in the early days and I did worry about her eating enough but in hindsight I really didn't need to. Try to relax about the whole thing is probably the best piece of advice I could give, but I know from experience that this is far easier said than done!

All of the other mums in my NCT group have gone the traditional weaning route with purees and finger foods and all swear by Annabel Karmel to different degrees and used her recipes and fod plans.

I should also say that my DD was a great sleeper until we started weaning...... Her sleep became more erratic once we introduced solid food!

HTH

Just started weaning last week at 23 weeks. Held out till 26 with dd1 and intended to do the same this time. But dd2 was getting agitated when we were eating, and snatching things out of our hands as well as the other signs. She gets bits of fruit and veg to suck plus the odd Ella's kitchen and some baby cereal and she's well able for it, swallowing well so far. I find it too confusing with all the things they're not allowed yet but in 2 weeks it'll be bits of everything on the highchair table and let her get on with it!

I have 7mo twins

Won't repeat all above but re the freezing - I have lots of little pits with kids that a friend gave me, about the size of 2 ice cubes. I also use ice cube trays, then once frozen, pop them out and put in freezer bags labelled. If you take them out of the freezer for 5 mins before trying to pop them out they should come out easily.

I have lots and lots of frozen stuff, I then defrost a few different cubes and mix them instead of cooking actual recipes. I also use fruit puréed in the porridge and yoghurt. I take out whatever I need the night before and defrost overnight in the fridge.

Fruits- strawberries, raspberries, mango, peach, pear, apple, plum
Vege - sweet potato, mashed potato, butternut squash, spinach, courgette, parsnip, carrot
Sauces - cheese, tomato. I have also frozen a few pots of cooked rice ( this needs to be fast-chilled before freezing due to food poisoning risk)
Meat - I save a bit of roast chicken and put in freezer bags. I also have bought frozen chunks of salmon and cod which are the perfect size. I tend to try and save a bit of whatever we had the night before if possible.

So today for lunch they are having a bit of last nights chicken with some rice and butternut squash = risotto!

I started off with baby porridge at 25 weeks(4 grain plum organic) mixed with some pear purée. Gradually increased portion sizes and introduced different fruits. After a couple of weeks I started giving tea which was just a cube or so of vege. After another couple of weeks I introduced protein at tea, then I have just started giving lunch (they are 7 months) (and moved the protein meal to lunchtime , with a veggie/pasta meal for tea)

I was given a babycook which is a Steamer/reheater/blender and it's been a godsend. They are expensive though, do you have a blender already? I think you could reheat in a little pan or put the food in a plastic container in a jug of hor water maybe but to be honest I would struggle without a microwave

Pits with kids = pots with lids!

Thanks everyone, loads to think about. I thought we had a little while to go but DD decided to start eating the offered food a few days ago! Currently mixing one of the 4m+ baby porridges with pureed melon, which seems to be going down quite well. I did succumb and buy some jars today which was never the plan for weaning, but I feel at the moment as if she is eating before I have really stopped and thought about what I can make for her, and now she has started eating I don't want to stop, I want to keep encouraging it.

She won't/can't eat off a spoon, though (so I am feeding her using my finger) - did anyone else find this? Should I persevere with the spoon, or just keep finger-feeding her and reintroduce a spoon later?

What size of spoon are you using? I have got tiny spoons that are more v-shaped when you look down on them than curved, so the puree kind of runs down the spoon as DD3 gobbles it into her mouth. I hold the spoon more upright towards her mouth rather than horizontal.

About freezing food and reheating without a microwave you could make one or two ice cube trays of the same thing eg. pear or sweet potato then pop the cubes into freezer bags when set to free up the trays for more things. Then each morning take out a few cubes for lunch and put in a small tub and few for dinner and put in a different tub. Over the course of the day they defrost in the fridge so take much less effort to heat. Then you can just sit the tub in a cup of boiling water (I have even asked for the tiny teapots of boiling water when out and about) to reheat it.

It is good to get them use to eating things warm and cold though as it makes things easier if they are a bit flexible especially when out and about. My DC1 was still only eating warmed purees at 12 months and had to be encouraged onto lumpy food. I'm currently weaning DC4 so have worked out for us purees combined with lumps of finger food worked best with DC2 and DC3.

A lot of foods they will eat fork mashed with a bit of boiled water to make it a softer consistency rather than always making specific purees for DC.

Thanks fresh. I'm using a small curved spoon but I think she might want something that tips into her mouth more - is there any chance you could link to something like you are using?

Hi, mine are a random find of supermarket own brand spoons from a rural supermarket when on holiday a few years ago. I have had a look around the internet and can't find a similar thing to link for you. They are very flat so the food sits on top of them rather than within a scoup. I think I saw similar in Tescos or Sainsburys own brand spoons once but it isn't coming up on the internet.

Thanks for looking though! I'll have a search myself, I think she might like them as it is getting the food 'out' of the spoon that is a struggle at the moment.

I worried about weaning as DD approached 5 months, mainly because DM and DSis were telling me I was being an idiot for breastfeeding past 4 months. I tried baby rice and yoghurt once but DD hated it so I gave up and waited for her to tell me what she wanted. At 5.5 months she stole a pesto tortellini from DH's fork and that was the start of her weaning.

She loves texture and flavour so has never been into yoghurt and bland mush. Loves broccoli florets, chunks of meat, pasta, roasted sweet potato, savoury stuff basically.

I'd say stop worrying and see what happens!

DS hit 23 weeks and suddenly there wasn't enough milk in the world, it seemed, like the worst growth spurt ever, so HV suggested it. His first meal was mashed banana. I did Annabel Karmel slavishly and did freeze purees in ice cube trays, then some small lidded containers as he ate more. I just threw away whatever he didn't eat so I can't remember portion sizes in the early days.

If I was going to do it again I'd do BLW TBH.

When dd and ds started helping themselves to our food, I just dished up a portion for them too. They both ate what we eat from the beginning, at the table with us, joining in. DD was 27 weeks, DS was a few days younger. I knew they were ready because they were able to do it.

Thanks everyone. DD is starting to show a real interest in us eating so I might wait for her to just grab something! We're getting a high chair tomorrow so I think I will also start sitting her in it and putting food in front of her.