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Weaning

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

Original poster

Weaning 6 Month Old

28 replies

bl0ndie · 22/05/2006 17:00

My dd is now 6 months old and I'm starting weaning. She's had a few first tastes of baby rice and fruit/veg purees since she was about 5 & 1/2 months and seems to like most things esp veg. But as I know 6 months is what is recommended I've just given her a teaspoon or 2 and not really taken too seriously, was more to get her used to different tastes.

I've read a few weaning conversations here to get some ideas and I see some of you ladies recommend feeding finger foods at 6 months. Please could somebody tell me more about this, what foods are suitable etc. I'm trying to imaging giving some to dd and have nightmare visions of her choking. I gave her a baby rice cake at the wkd which she seemed to like, until she dropped it on the floor :)

Also, at what age are you meant to give protein type foods like fish/chicken? By the way she's fully breastfed.
TiA x

OP posts:
Ledodgyherring · 22/05/2006 17:51

I'm in the same boat my ds is now 26 weeks and I started BLW today. I offered him a piece of pear and he grabbed it and stuck half of it in his mouth he had 3 good bites which he did chew and eat despite having no teeth but he did seem to choke a bit on the way which cause me a bit of panic. I'm not sure whether to start him on purees like I did with my dd or continue with blw. I'm just worried he seems so eager that he puts loads in his moth and will choke.

Ledodgyherring · 22/05/2006 17:51

*mouth

NotQuiteCockney · 22/05/2006 17:53

LDH, are you sure he was choking, and not just gagging? Gagging is normal and not a problem (they're still breathing when they gag), while choking is a real problem.

I'm a big fan of BLW, did it with DS2, having done mush with DS1. BLW is a lot less work.

You can give fish and chicken from now. Chicken breaks up nicely into the chip-shaped chunks that are best for early BLW. Your baby can hold onto one end, and gnaw on the other.

Ledodgyherring · 22/05/2006 17:56

He may have just been gagging tbh. It's just that I honestly didn't expect to get anywhere with blw the first time as I heard it can take weeks for them to actually eat so it took me by suprise when he stuffed half into his mouth straight away! He did seem to know how to chew though which I suppose is a good sign.I'll give it another go tommorrow. Thanks.

RedZuleika · 22/05/2006 18:05

My dd is now just over seven and a half months. I've been doing BLW - with varying degrees of popularity - since 26-ish weeks.

I've found that she does cough and gag on things she's got into her mouth, but manages quite easily to cough up the bits that are too big. If I've 'cheated' and nudged a bit into her mouth that she hasn't got there herself, then she's more likely to struggle with this than the bits she's got into her mouth herself. So I've stopped doing this.

With something like apple, she'll munch bits off a piece and move the bits round her mouth - then spit out the pieces which are too large.

I try to have confidence in her and her ability to sort herself out. Being able to lean forward is key, though, I think - as you would if you gagged on something you'd eaten yourself.

I use toast (brown, without seeds) as a vehicle for getting other things into her mouth (mashed fruit, for instance, applied like jam) or butterfly pasta. Broccoli and cauliflower florets are also quite popular and relatively easy for her to pick up.

Original poster
bl0ndie · 22/05/2006 19:03

Thanks everyone, I might give it a try and just try not to be neurotic about choking. With things like brocoli and cauliflower do you have to make sure they are well cooked and soft?

I might try the chicken as I've got some left over from tonight's supper. Ledodgyherring, pear sounds pretty good as it's quite soft. Actually, the other day, I was eating a peach and giving dd a few licks and she actually but a big piece off, I pulled it out of her mouth as I thought there was no way she could chew it enough (even though she's already got 5 teeth - all at the front though!) So maybe she was trying to tell me she wants to eat more independently. Whenever I feed her as well, she always tries to grab the spoon from my hand, and I was SO surprised when she loved drinking water/juices from a beaker as previously she has steadfastly rejected bottles!!

OP posts:
NotQuiteCockney · 22/05/2006 19:38

Most chewing is done with molars, which babies never have. But they do have quite hard gums, which are really entirely able to do the job.

suzi2 · 22/05/2006 20:54

My DS has had almost all finger foods from 6 months. Some things he manages better than others. At 6 months he gagged loads. I found that fairly well cooked broccoli made a nice mess (but he ate some!), toast went down so nicely that there wasn't a crumb left. With some things such as cooked carrot batons and baby corn he would chew off (with his gums) big chunks and make me panic a bit. But he would just chew them and swallow or spit them out, pick them up and try again.

My mum is paranoid about the choking thing and we're going on a baby CPR/first aid course on Saturday. Hopefully that should help her.

I've found that very soft things like pear and peach are more likely to make DS gag as he chews off very big slippery bits. When he chews off big bits they come out the other end almost intact BTW - totally freaked me out when I first saw it. I thought he didn't have a stomach or something Grin

Just give things a shot, stay close by and find out what to do in the event of choking. Although I still firmly believe that a 6 month old can handle far more than we think.

RedZuleika · 22/05/2006 20:54

DD doesn't appreciate any attempt to feed her, either. She likes to play with the spoon and is happy to put it in her mouth, but won't be fed at all.

Re: broccoli and cauliflower. I microwave them until they're soft, but not so soft that they disintegrate when they're picked up. I also cut the bottom big stalk off the floret, so that they become lots of little florets, rather than a big one.

suzi2 · 22/05/2006 20:55

I think I've sort of echoed RZ... Grin

RedZuleika · 22/05/2006 20:56

Things come out of dd untouched as well. The aforementioned cauliflower is a particular culprit...

RedZuleika · 22/05/2006 20:57

Glad someone else is having the same experience. Grin

Hadn't thought of trying baby corn, btw. Will give that a go.

sandradee · 23/05/2006 20:12

Annabel karmel's book about baby weaning is a real bible - it gives you the stages of weaning and lots of lovely recipes. She really inspires confidence in the weaning process

Eulalia · 23/05/2006 20:28

Not doing BLW weaning as such but ds isn't keen on being fed. So I give him lots of finger food and also make up thick sticky purees. Mashed potato or pasta is good for stickiness and mix in with a protien such as chicken or fish. Then I give him some of this on a spoon and he feeds himself albeit a bit messily as he often pulls it off the spoon onto his fingers but at least it goes down. I have to do this as he tends to just pick at finger food and he's already dropped down on the weight gain and I felt he was hardly eating anything. He's only really taking solids properly now and is 9 months. Hardly drinks anything either but seems to be doing OK with lots of breastmilk.

Good luck with the solids.

RedZuleika · 23/05/2006 21:30

Annabel Karmel's book may be a bible for conventional weaning, but not if you're doing baby-led...

sandradee · 24/05/2006 09:00

sorry, what's baby led weaning?? I found the book useful to give you an idea of the types of foods they can eat at the various ages, plus it gives recipes for healthy meals. DS seemed to enjoy them and has never been picky. In fact at 13 months he is now able to eat both finger foods and with a spoon and I don't do anything at mealtimes - he does it all himself. There is nothing he does not eat either.

I also think that feeding baby finger foods, especially raw fruit like apple too early can be a hazard for choking. The book is good in the way that it offers guidance for introducing these types of foods safely,. as does the NCT book.

hunkermunker · 24/05/2006 09:09

You do need to be careful about giving finger food - I used to give DS1 "squashy" things, not "pingy" things - so sticks of steamed carrot, but not raw apple - the carrot would "squadge" when he put it into his mouth, the apple might've pinged to the back of his mouth when he bit a lump off (iyswim!).

Choking is v different from gagging. The latter is to be expected.

sandradee · 24/05/2006 09:15

Eulalia, not sure what foods he likes but when I started out my DS loved parsnip - sweet and a good texture for feeding mushy. Also sweet potato.
Another thing might be to sweeten the chicken in a pot with some skinned tomatoes, garlic and organic apricots (all pureed) as it makes the meat taste nicer. You can do that for Lamb as well. From what I've read, meat still really needs to be pureed until they are well over a year - makes it nicer for them to eat.

hunkermunker · 24/05/2006 09:16

The first meat DS1 had was a stick of organic beef - he held it in his fist and chomped away at the end that stuck out.

He growled when I tried to take it off him because I thought he'd finished with it! ROFL!

sandradee · 24/05/2006 09:18

OMG! For real?

hunkermunker · 24/05/2006 09:20

Yes! He was about seven months, I think - possibly eight, but no older. Was v funny.

sandradee · 24/05/2006 09:32

Perhaps I am too cautious then. DS is 13 months and has 15 teeth but I'm still quite careful about what foods I give him since I'm paranoid about choking. I've even done a baby liefsaver course so that I know what to do if he does choke, I'm that paranoid about it.

Should I be a bit more adventurous? He has toast and chopped banana and fish fingers and peas and other things like that but when it comes to raw apple, I either grate it or give it to him slightly steamed. I'm also very wary of raisins since I've been told by a paediatric nurse that they can cause choking, as do nuts (not to give them until they are five) and never grapes - perfect for blocking a windpipe. What do you think?

hunkermunker · 24/05/2006 09:37

Raisins are fine, IMO and IME - grapes, give them halved or quartered, never whole - I still wouldn't give a whole grape to DS1 and he's two.

Don't know about apple - DS1 won't eat them, though he is fascinated by them in the fruit bowl!

Rach69 · 24/05/2006 19:13

Hunker - did you do the whole BLW thing? I am becoming fascinated by it - I know from my experience with my other 3 (weaned at 3-4 months 8-12 years ago cos that's what you did then) that it might fill them up but the calories and nutrients are poor compared with breastmilk and that it affected my milk supply dramatically (had dreadful migraines as my hormone levels dropped suddenly). Also it's great spoonfeeding a baby puree at first but before long the poor mite is gagging (as you would) on lumpy pap and finger food is the way to go. Ds3 was 17lb at 17 weeks but doing fine exclusively bf, I'm going to hold out till 6 months and try BLW from the beginning. I am fascinated by the rationale which seems to make so much sense, I always gave them finger food but felt somehow that I was being lazy! I also love the Guardian piece on the Government not backing weaning at 6 months until maternity leave changed!

Some really good practical stuff I found on a yahoo site here:

Rach69 · 24/05/2006 19:14

Sorry! here:

\link{http://f6.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EJF0RFaZmibvDxGTedVl4in0dLkjCmtSk9qKXqnCV4jRAl_IL4he3WP40yFg6HhwUH-opP9RL0YHE-ta-cbG6IlcLjkEQyODXWc/Baby%20Led%20Weaning%20FAQs.doc\BLW FAQs}

\link{http://f3.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EJF0RN7UolvvDxGTTBWxq5bFWfgKXxBAo6hqCAm6QQYVdUfgyCnR5Daj7Phnenp2qsJO806Ib_dUV5-_6B-SzY7eL0O-rBMLANU/embrace%20the%20mess.rtf\NCT article on BLW}

\link{http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EJF0RJuGC1vvDxGTl6B5A1E6EP4qK8kiHFvIQxPp2p2F1R3EvzNkXZtLzmgm07FLWhQ9k7u664pJ6UxQBgh5I7bF8QfIVwIQ8NI/Guardian%20article%2010%20Nov%202004%20To%20wean%20or%20not%20to%20wean.rtf\Guardian article on BLW}

\link{http://f3.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EJF0RGiEW-LvDxGTQyBXLxnYSicDl-ajnNwXE482rFgzAKE9p8F2v3RSbicqmvcCbmcx-R80Z_C9aaqOodtn4F7c_7qLpHrmfTM/Guidelines%20for%20baby-led%20introduction%20of%20solids.doc\Gill Rapley's paper for UNICEF}

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