Weaning Advice

[mariaricho85]

Hi all, I have 7month old twins (born 7wks prem) who I started weaning at 6months. It’s been quite a slow process but we’ve made good progress & are now having 2 meals a day. They have porridge or some fruit for breakfast & then I have been giving various vegetables for dinner. I started with purées although tend to mash more now & they are ok with some lumps but don’t like too many. My question however is how to introduce meat, I’ve tried giving cod a few times which I shredded as small as I could & mixed it in with some mashed vegetables I know they like however they both spat out the first mouthful & refused to eat anymore. I’ve also tried chicken which again I’ve torn into tiny pieces & mixed in with vegetables but again they just gag & refuse to eat it. I don’t think it’s the flavour particularly the chicken as they’ve had the jars of chicken based dishes which they eat no problem so I think it must be the texture. Does anyone have any ideas on how to introduce meat?
I’m finding weaning so stressful!! Any help would be appreciated many thanks!

I think you’re all doing great, try not to worry too much as they may pick up on your anxiety

Have you got a hand blender? If not you can usually pick up cheap ones in supermarkets or Argos. I’m just thinking that if you blitz the mixture and make it smooth, they might take it.

Just make sure that if they refuse food, you never, ever offer an alternative. If you do this they learn pretty quickly to turn their noses up at anything unfamiliar and Mummy produces something much nicer instead. It’s fine to do this as they should be filling up on milk at this age anyway.

Have you been given any guidance on Weaning preterm babies? I know the usual Weaning guidelines are for full term babies

How are they doing with finger foods too?

It takes ages for kids to enjoy and be able to eat meat properly - don't worry! I'm talking like 5+ years. Baby teeth aren't great at tackling it - hence the popularity of sausages and chicken nuggets! Try making gravy from meat (liver is great for this) and pour over their veges.