Weaning competitiveness!!

[kazza31]

Hi

I just need advice on weaning please. To be honest,I have no idea what I'm doing and have friends with babies of a similar age who seem to have it "mastered" and I now feel a failure. They constantly ask me if I've "done it yet" and I made the mistake of saying I was struggling. My lb is 6 months old & I've just started him off on porridge and a jar at dinner time. When do you up this to 3 meals a day and what sort of things should they be having? What sort of finger foods are best? Does he still have his milk as normal but I'm just introducing food at this stage? How long does this go on for? Sorry for so many questions but I've given up asking at my baby group as I just come away feeling very inferior.
Thank you.xx

Hi there, it's a minefield so you have my sympathy. I started with porridge, then introduced fruit, so I pureed some apple, then pear, then banana, then followed with veg. Then started combination of things. Your baby is 6 months so realistically they can have anything now so you could give then potatoes, chicken, veg etc.
I used to add ds formula or if you're breastfeeding a bit of expressed.
By about 7 months ds was able to feed himself finger food, basically what we were having for dinner.
There's a big weaning debate online regarding traditional and baby led weaning, to be honest I did a mix of both with both my dcs and they both love their grub. Just do what works for you, if you make stew, Sunday dinner, spaghetti bolognese or any meal just keep some to whiz and freeze for baby, I used the little tommee tippee pots.
If I was out and about I'd used the ellas kitchen pouche, now I just order a bigger lunch for dd and her and ds share ( he's 11 months).
It's not a competition, just about finding your own way, you can't really go wrong with nice home cooked food!

To anyone thinking you're going too slow.

At 6 months they should just be starting out, one jar/puree meal or 1 finger meal (BLW) being perfectly normal!! You're doing nothing wrong, and in fact have progressed quickly to 2.

Most sources I researched said 3 meals were for 8 months plus!! Milk is still the main food before that and "just fun till one".

The NHS page has everything you need to know www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/solid-foods-weaning.aspx

And the competitveness never goes away.

But with BLW I don't think you need to wait for months to get to 3 meals squizita. They barely eat with self feeding. Even with ready brek I was doing 1 tsp (of ready brek). Most of it ends up in DD2's hair and face anyway. The reason not to push to 3 meals too quickly is you might end up giving too much solids and replacing feeds. I'm still on every 3 hours at nearly 8mo so not a chance with that!

Some babies do get to grips quickly with BLW, depends on each child really. There's no hurry though, as food should be in addition to milk not instead of for a good while after 6 months.

OP, you're doing fine. Do weaning your way, at your/your baby's pace. People who try and turn it into a competition are insensitive and haven't got their brains in gear.

You could add in any fruit or veg as finger food, plus other things like toast, cheese, strips of meat/fish/omelette, pasta and so on. Well steamed veg in batons the length of your finger are a good place to start, or you could try a broccoli "tree" - they're often popular. Roast root veg (sweet potato, butternut squash etc) can be a good one too.

What do you eat? Try him with nuts of that? It's not a competition!

I think I started off with purées of carrots, parsnip, sweet potato, apple, pear (& baby rice as it's so thin). I just gave one meal a day at lunchtime. Then I added in breakfast (porridge and fruit). Baobab and avocado are really easy to mash on the fly. I just froze cubes of avocado as I hate the stuff myself.

I like Annabel karmel complete baby and toddler meal planner. It gave me some good ideas first time round and how to step it up and when to give milk.

Just give milk as normal. You can do it after a meal so they actually eat the food but they should only be getting bits of food, tastes if you like, so their main nutrition still comes from milk.

There's a lot of support for Baby led weaning in here but personally I liked to give purée plus food to play with so they get some to eat and some to learn to chew and handle.

I was always a bit judgy of people who rush to wean. It doesn't always guarantee a good night asleep and they all get there eventually.

There's an argument that the most relaxing way to wean for everyone involved is to hand them bits of whatever you're having - and include the DC sitting up with you at the table. If she doesn't eat much it's not a problem.

Thanks a lot, these threads of advice are really helpful. I'm going food shopping today so will stock up on things you have suggested,
Xx

There's no rush, many babies don't start until 8 months anyway as you should look for signs of readiness. DS is nearly 8 months and on one meal a day, I found going too quickly upset his stomach so slowed down. Mainly puree here as he was premature which makes BLW difficult, although I'm now starting him on some finger foods.
I puree things into ice cube trays then can mix and match