Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Weaning novice - lots of questions :)

3 replies

Loislane78 · 03/01/2013 20:17

LO is 20 weeks so we'll probably start weaning in a few weeks. Doesn't seem interested in food ATM, but can sit well and grab things/put to mouth.

So.... I was planning on giving some fruit purees to start as well as offering finger foods.

  • Do I start offering food once a day to begin with and see what happens
  • Assuming she eats something, do I increase the variety of food over time and also offer more times per day?
  • if I need milk to mix with something and don't have any expressed, can I use full fat cow's milk?
  • do I milk feed before or after offering food?
  • what's going to happen in the nappy department?
  • I BF so assume no need to offer water with 'meals' yet?
  • Can I skip bottles and just go straight to sippy cups for juices etc.

TIA :)

OP posts:
BettyStogs · 03/01/2013 21:17

Hi Lois, with DS we started weaning a few days before he turned 6 months. We didn't do any purees,just finger foods, so can't reall advise on how to introduce different purees - we basically gave him whatever we were having. His first meal was a roast dinner - a bit of chicken, potatoes & some steamed veg. We gave him 3 meals a day to start with, and introduced snacks later on, but I don't think it really matters if you start with 1 meal a day & built it up, they don't really eat much to start with, it's more about handling food & doscovering tastes, textures etc. DS didn't really eat an awful lot until around 9 months.

From 6 months you can give pretty much anything, except for honey, and whole nuts due to the choking risk, although things like stemed veg, pasta, bits of fruit may be best to start with. Bigger chunks are better as easier to pick up, once her pincer grip devleops you can try things like peas & raisins (DS now shovels these down by the handful!)

You can use full fat cows milk in cooking or on cereal, just not as a main drink till 12 months. I think it's recommended to offer milk about an hour before food, although I found this tricky as DS was bf on demand, so wouldn't necessarily want any at that time, and then want milk shortly before dinner!

Nappy-wise, you'll notice a difference quite soon, although a lot of food doesn't really get digested to begin with & comesoutmuch the same as it went in.

We never gave DS bottles, he uses sippy cups for cows milk & water. We offered water with meals straight away but mostly to get him used to a cup.

It's a fun but messy process - I have spent more time than I care to think of picking food up off the floor, but we seem to be at the end of the really messy stage (DS now 15mo)

Sorry for any typos - have cat on lap!

Loislane78 · 04/01/2013 02:47

Thanks Betty, that's helpful :). Kind of excited but weirdly over thinking it - just BF is easy I guess as don't have to do/think about anything else!

OP posts:
JiltedJohnsJulie · 04/01/2013 10:44

All good advice from Betty. Have you had a look at the babyledweaning site and at the Mn information on weaning? Your local la Leche league might do talks on weaning or the leader will be able to answer your queries Smile

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread