Weaning tips

[Hales]

My daughter is nearly 5 months old and is completely breast fed.So far we've had no problems and she is thriving. I want to start weaning her soon and would love to hear tips from other mums on how they got started.

Hello Hales, I don't think you will go too far wrong if you start off with pure baby rice mixed with a little bit of breast milk. This is what most books and HVs suggest and from my own experience it worked really well. I kept to just the baby rice for about a week or two and then very gradually introduced some pureed veggies and fruit. Pear and carrot seemed very popular with my dd. Banana is a great favourite as well. 10.30 or 11am seemed the best time to introduce the solids as my dd was usually quite happy in the mornings whereas by tea-time she was quite a bit more irritable (as I was!). I think the recommendations are to move onto new foods reasonably quickly, but in my experience be guided by your dd, if she is happy with this fine, but if not don't worry too much.
The other thing I found was that it wasn't nearly as messy as I thought it would be. The first time I gave my dd solids, I bibbed her up covering everything, put on a apron, covered the floor etc, but need not have bothered because she eat the lot without wasting hardly any! In my experience the mess and fun (?) starts at about 6-7 months
Good luck, hope it goes well for you

I agree with Melly - baby rice is the stuff! Pureed brocoli was a favourite with my ds - added to the rice, also carrot & swede. He didn't really go for fruit to start with, so I just stuck to the veg. I started weaning him at 4 months as he was a very hungry breastfeeder - and I was exhausted!

My daughter is also nearly 5 months old and last week decided to try and start weaning her. I started on the pure baby rice. I would give this to her once a day after letting her have some of her milk to take away her hunger. To be honest, she is not that interested at the moment. I know there is no great rush to get her weaned and will let her do it at her own pace.

One good thing I have seen (for us working (part-time) mothers) is that Heinz have bought out a range of pure pureed food (carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, pear and (something? can't remember what). These look really good as they taste EXACTlY the same as home-made but are ready made. They have no additives, preservatives - in the carrot one, there is only carrots.

We quickly found that the Organix Banana Rice porridge stimulated interested. The taste thing made the texture thing less of a point. Petit filou et al will prob have a pre-booked place in your shopping trolley from now on. Don't be too anxious if savoury tastes are not taken to immediately. Disguising with yogurt at least reassures you that they are getting a range or things and it doesn't have to last forever.

As Melly. said, around midday is a good idea, not too hungry, not too tired. If you don't get a good response, try again another time. Hovering with a spoon doesn't seem to restimulated interest. If you daughter can put things in her mouth, try her out on baby rice cakes.

Hope it goes as well as you have done on the bf

Neither of mine liked baby rice on its own but enjoyed it with a bit of pureed fruit or parsnip mixed into it. I started with lunch time solids, then quickly progressed to tea time too - this seemed to make them sleep better through the night!! It was only a few weeks between starting weaning to them being on three 'meals' a day. I started with milk first to ease the hunger but soon swapped over to food first (doesn't take junior long to realise that this spooned stuff also seems to fill them up), then reducing the milk. Once I got going I used to make batches of a veg or fruit puree and freeze them in ice cube trays - transferring the cubes into labelled and dated freezer bags once frozen (apple, parsnip and potato all look very similar!!) - this way I could mix and match and increase portions when needed - and later add a cube of chicken & pasta or fish & rice, etc. when larger meals were required.

Sorry - one other thing I forgot to say is that it may be worth introducing one new food at a time - this way if there is anything that does not agree with him/her (either gives them belly ache or even an allergy reaction) then you know what it is!!

Hales. I've just started weaning and here are a few tips from the stuff I've read:
1.Organic baby rice 1st, then pear, then carrot.
2. Introduce each food 3 days apart to spot any potential reaction / likes / dislikes.
3. Don't mix 2 new foods for above reasons.
4. I think banana and avo. are meant to be for a little later - hard to digest.
5. Steer clear of cows milk products and protein for at least 6 months.
6.Introduce veges before fruit and encourage veges to help sweet tooth problem later.
7. 11am good place to start, then 6pm as well.
Making your own in ice trays - top tip.
8. Buy discounted organic fruit and veg and puree and freeze even if you don't need it quite yet - save money.
9. The annabel Karmel book on baby & toddler food has everything you need to know: what to introduce and when, what to avoid and recipe suggestions up to 2 years.
10. Always give most of their milk first as at this age that is their primary source of nutrition. There are recommended daily amounts in books, but I try and give all except 1oz first, to make sure it's inside ds. Even if he loses interest in the milk, he's happy to go on to baby rice or pear. After all, it's new and exciting for them, isn't it? Good luck.

I've just got back on line after battling with viruses on my computer which is why I haven't responded sooner!
Thanks for all the tips, I'm going to print them off and keep them on the fridge for reference.
I'm acutally living in Germany where they do everything as naturally as possible and my midwife said today to wait till she's at least 6 or 7 months old!!! It seems a long time to wait.

I did try giving dd a tiny spoonful of banana the other day, she was no more than midly interested so maybe I should wait a bit longer?