Should I start weaning with calorific or watery foods?

[KikiShack]

DD is 5 months and huge- 22lb7 yesterday! Impressively my HV has told me I shouldn't start weaning early (other mums with large babies the same age in my mum club were told they should wean, one at 15.5 and one at 16 weeks, neither baby were as big as mine) but she did tell me to stick to the more watery foods- fruit and carrots etc rather than avocado/porridge.
I don't really trust HVs when it comes to anything food so I wanted to check with the mumsnet experts.
Should I stick to fruit and streamed veg as DD clearly doesn't need to be stuffed with loads of calories, or will this mean she is still too dependent on breastmilk for calories and therefore won't start dropping feeds, or should I feed her a more mixed assortment of foods so she gets used to everything from the start?
I know that she will be dependent on my milk for her main nutritional needs for a few months yet, but I'm getting confused with the advice I got! Grateful for MN wisdom. TIA xx

Weaning is just about introducing first tastes to start with. They will be eating such little amounts that bf'ing won't be affected initially and it's just getting them used to different tastes and textures so ideally you'd give as wide a variety as possible as per your second suggestion and if it was me, that would not include paying the slightest bit of attention to whether foods are 'calorific' or not. Also, all 3 of my DS properly plumped up a month or so after starting weaning (whilst still having all bf's) but seemed to settle down again just as quickly so don't panic if your DD does the same.

Def not. Babies need fat/ energy/ calories to grow and develop. Just offer what you would to any sized baby.

Have you looked into baby-led weaning?

I have a book on weaning and it really suggests fruit and veg purées for a while

rocky and art thanks for that advice, I think I will go with a mixture of things in that case rather than sticking to watery things. I don't want DD to get the idea that food is just flavoured drinks, I want her to get the idea that it can be substantial too. I'm at the thought of her plumping up though, there is no more room to fill with more podge!
poor I'm planning to be more on the BLW side of things but am not averse to spooning some stuff in occasionally. DD is an ardent bottle refuser and a strong willed little madam at times so I can't imagine her sitting back letting me shovel food in, she's much more likely to be up to her elbows in squashed fruit putting mucky little fistfuls into her mouth. However I think a helping hand sometimes is likely to be good.
mrswelly do you know why fruit and veg are suggested initially rather than eg porridge? My parents are always going on about how I was raised on porridge and its super nutritious. I think they stirred things like nut butter, soya flour etc in to make it more nutritious. Or is this more of a 8-10 month old food?

Doesn't really matter what weight your baby is. Readiness for weaning is all about when their gut is ready. Similarly, unless there are medical indications otherwise, you wean the onto foods which are sensible for babies (no whole nuts, no salt and sugar laden foods) and provide balanced nutrition. In the beginning it's all about taste, texture and exploration.

So, if your baby is sitting up with support, can reach out and pick up things accurately, bring them to their mouth, chew and swallow (doesn't just push them back out with the tongue), then you can start to introduce food in the way that makes sense to you.

We did blw so both dc just ate what we did from the beginning. They sat with us and we gave them food to play with/mouth/suck/eat. DD started with a roast dinner iirc and DS had vegetable soup (messy!).

Oh and no honey.