Remind me how I start weaning

[Murtette]

DS is 22 weeks so I want to start weaning him in the next couple of weeks. I thought I'd remember all the weaning stuff from weaning DD but she's now 3 and, given how blankly I was staring at the baby food bit of the supermarket earlier, I appear to have forgotten everything! So, please bear with me and remind me...

i) I recall starting with baby rice. Is this different to baby porridge? I seem to think it is but whilst there were umpteen different brands and flavours of porridge, there was no baby rice.

ii) DS is ebf. Do I have to express of breast milk to mix with baby rice? That's what I did with DD but then I had got into a habit of expressing with her in an attempt to persuade her to take a bottle. I haven't even bothered trying to get DS to take a bottle so haven't bothered expressing or finding the pump. Can I go straight onto mixing full fat cows milk with the baby rice or should I use formula or express off some breast milk. I'm thinking perhaps breast milk would be best as then, if DS reacts in any way, at least I know its the breast milk he's reacting to. Perhaps I'd better go & find the pump. Sigh

I'm hoping that once I start weaning it will all come flooding back. I'm also hoping DS actually opens his mouth for food...

I would't bother with baby food at all. I would just wait till 6 months and offer bits of normal food. (Following guidelines e.g. no honey or nuts.) You can Google Baby Led Weaning for more info on the advantages.

Sorry - should have said that I know lots about the theory of BLW having fully researched it and planned on doing it with DD but realised that the practice was very different, hence why I'm asking to be reminded about these particular points of weaning. Obviously, I will offer DS finger foods & if he takes them more willingly than DD did, then he will eat a mix of them & puree but if, for example, DD is having cottage pie for tea then DS will have a more mushed up version of that as otherwise I'll end up doing a meal for him, a meal for her and a meal for us which is excessive.

Yes to expressing, but other than that, in hindsight I wouldn't bother with most of the faff i did for ds next time around! DS didn't take to weaning properly until 7mo, he was EBF too, and I didn't get my head around the process for ages. He's 17mo now, I think I stopped expressing milk after a month or so once I was sure he didn't react to cows milk.

Plum do a really good four grain baby porridge, I wouldn't both with plain baby rice tbh. I still keep some of the Plum stuff for thickening up runny meals as DS doesn't like stuff that falls off his spoon too easily! :)
If you want to tho, Organix do a decent powdered baby rice which seems less processed than others - the Cow and Gate one is bright white, it looks bleached!

Stew a pear, whizz it up and offer a tiny bit to your baby.

If that goes well, after a couple of days maybe try an apple or a carrot.

Then the world is your oyster... you'll soon be adding cinnamon to the apple and pureed peas to the carrots.

Keep up the volume of milk for the time being though. The food is just for taste, texture and building muscle control to begin with.

re Cottage pie example you gave - I would give it as it is, on the tray, and let DS have a go with it. i.e. not bother with the mushing, just put out a small portion in front of him. If he eats it, he'll be fine, if he doesn't, he doesn't. That's how BLW works in our house. No stress and works well with an ebf baby.

I would wait until 6 months though. Is there a reason you are planning to start early? Genuinely interested, not wanting to start a bunfight. It could affect the advice people give you, is all.

Tiddly - I had that Plum one last time I think & it was DD's favourite food for a long time. I'll get some of that for DS too.

Pookamoo - other than the current official guidance, there's no reason not to start weaning DS. He can hold his head up, appears to have lost the tongue pushing out reflex, there's no history of allergies in the family etc. As he's ebf, I'd rather start a little early and take it slowly (as I did with DD) so he's onto second stage before his iron supplies get depleted. It also happens that we're really quiet over half term so I will have plenty of time to try DS on some food rather than try & fit it in around the pre-school run & classes DD and DS do.

Re expressing, have you tried hand expression before? It really is v easy, esp as you're not looking at huge quantities, and far less faff than pumping (particularly if you've not yet found the pump )

Ooooh, I hadn't thought about hand expressing enough off. V good idea. What do you hand express into? The only time I've ever done it is in the shower when DS had skipped a night feed.

I have ebf my DD but bought some ready made formula for her early meals.... apparently full fat cows' milk is fine in food. Currently recommendations are not to give dairy until 6 months old... but there are thoughts that early exposure to allergens may actually inhibit allergy development (in bf babies).

I started out with the porridge (not being able to find 'baby rice' either- it doesn't seem to exist any more!) and then purees but then DD had other ideas! We are now BLW out of necessity, although I do load a spoon and give it to her for foods such as yoghurt or risotto, and then she decides whether she puts it in her mouth or not... she wouldn't have it any other way :)

Over steam some veg/fruit. Dump on to high chair. Let him get on with it.
Personally I can't be arsed with this business about mixing milk in to baby porridge.
Dd turned out on without it

I hand express into tommee tippee milk storage pots (generally while DS is feeding on the other side and insistently grabbing at the pot [sigh]).

Oh, ok, good luck with it all. It's lots of fun. and a lot more kitchen floor mopping

I agree re looking for physical indicators, as the 6 month guideline can only be based on the "average". I guess they are just pretty certain that by 6 months they are ready. Although no doubt the advice will change again when they have done more research!