Info on weaning please!

[Fivebyfive2]

Hi! First time mum trying to get as much info as possible in advance 🙂

My ds is 14 weeks so way too early to wean, but I'm just looking ahead, trying to prepare. He's breastfed, but will take bottles also.

At 6 months I'd like to be mostly bottle feeding and trying him on food as the guidelines say he should be ready by then, however he was a month early, not sure if this could make a difference?

Also, I'm a bit nervous about baby led weaning! I know this will sound so stupid, but due to medical things, my earliest memories of food involve getting food stuck, so the thought of my tiny baby choking /gagging terrifies me! He is the first baby in the family for donkeys years too, so no one in my family knows about baby led weaning, my parents and in laws did the puree /mashing up before giving proper solids later.

Can anyone give me any advice? I'll speak to my hv of course nearer the time, but I'm worried they might be funny with me if I say I want to stop breastfeeding And am reluctant about blw, as I know these are things they can be pushy about?

I started my boy on mashed up banana and let him pick it out of the bowl to eat. That way I was happy he wouldn't have large bits to choke on but he could do it himself. It's a messy affair!

I used the Ellas Kitchen single fruit and veg pouches to introduce first tastes, then added in porridge on a morning after a month or so. I found it really tricky and still do! We’re now at nine months and still majority spoon feeding because I still find blw scary, but I’m getting braver haha!

Start off with purées if you want, there's no rule you have to do BLW. After all, we were all raised on purées and we can eat perfectly well, can't we 😉

I found weaning made me really anxious so followed the Ella's Kitchen plan in the purple book. Once I felt a bit more confident I did my own thing, but it helped with those first few weeks. I think the first finger food I gave was a stick of toast. Some babies take to eating better than others - don't worry too much, just keep offering it.

My son was 5 weeks early we still started solids at 6 months (not adjusted). We didn't do baby led weaning but there is a good Facebook group called baby led weaning that has some helpful info! Don't worry about what the hv says about breastfeeding and whether you do blw or not it's not their baby it's yours! If you're worried about choking I'd suggest looking for a baby first aid course. We started with purees and mashed food and he naturally moved on to feeding himself at about 10 months when he mastered his pincer grasp. Now he won't let me feed him! (14 months).

Just go with what you are comfortable with and try not to worry about what others think!

Echoing what others have said- within reason (e.g. not giving honey, choking hazards or too much salt) how you choose to wean is up to you/ your baby.
"Traditional" weaning always included finger foods anyway; have a look at the nhs guidance but bear in mind that your baby moght have different ideas about how he wants to be fed (i had visions of BLW, my wee one disagreed and liked purees, one of my pal's baby wouldn't let a spoon near her).
Boots often do a free Ella's kitchen book which is helpful but unsurprisingly focuses on purees.