I think I’m scaring myself to start weaning... where do I start please?

[BabyCJuly]

Hello,

I would like to start weaning our daughter at the weekend. I’m so stuck!! Do I start with baby rice first? Or hand her a banana to see what she does? Or purée carrot? I keep reading too many things!

Also I read to add some milk to things?

Some advice/help please on how to start would be amazing!

Thanks :)

First of all is she ready? Sitting unaided, grabbing things etc? If so then either finger foods such as banana, soft cooked veg like broccoli or carrot sticks. Toast fingers are good too, you can spread stuff on like avocado or nut butters.

There is the purée route if you prefer that but I didn’t do that with any of mine so maybe someone else can advise.

What age is she? This will determine what sort of texture/foods you would offer. If they are 6 months then you can give finger foods alongside mashed or pureed foods or you could do BLW which means just finger foods.

Basically you can give her whatever you’re having. Be careful there isn’t too much salt for her age, or things that she could choke on - nuts, tough meat, whole grapes etc

Maybe have a look at baby led weaning? There's a great book about it by Gill Rapley. I really liked it as it was at baby's pace, not feeding them purées and seems very logical. My daughter age 2 now eats very well and a great variety, and I'll plan to do the same for my baby son.

But it doesn't suit everyone and some people choose the traditional purées route. All the best. Weaning can be a lot of fun!

Don't stress, it's simple.

3 options: 1, baby led: whack a load of stuff down in front of her and let her 'eat' what she wants. No much will be eaten, most of it will be a mess, she'll have a great time

1. Purée etc. Baby rice, puréed veg and fruit. I'd start with something like baby porridge made with her milk so it isn't unfamiliar but I'm sure many wiser than me would head straight to veggies.

1. Mix of the two. This is what we did.

With my first I would batch cook puréed stuff and freeze into ice cubes. I would then lovingly defrost the ice cubes in interesting combos.

With my second and third they basically weaned themselves on what the elder was eating.

Top tip: don't stress. They go through phases of liking and not liking. The key is not to make it a battle. Don't like something, no big deal. Oh and it's pretty much a universal rule that the longer you spend on cooking something the less likely they are to eat it

MN seems very blw focussed, but I did purees to get things moving/introduce new flavours quickly. They both then ate more finger foods as they went along. I found Annabel Karmel handy

I too made a million ice cubes at first ...

Wait until 26 weeks. No salt. No honey before 12 months. Avoid refined sugar.

I have weaned twice. Puree blw first time and a bit of mix the second time. Neither is best IMO. Remember to give finger food from 6.5 months at the latest.

Some people say to give veg first so they don’t get used to sweet food. Bf is really sweet so I’m not sure that’s makes a difference. There is no need to give baby rice or mix with milk. But neither are they the end of the world.

Banana and egg are constipating so I would only give small amounts and when your baby is used to food. When your baby is used to food (a couple of weeks in) make sure you introduce the top allergens and keep giving them.

The NHS weaning website is helpful.

Don’t panic if they don’t eat at the start of weaning. Weaning is a long process and milk should be their main source of nutrition they are one.

Remember to offer water with food.

Calm down, they don't eat much at the start just play with it.
Use the method your most comfortable with, don't bother with baby rice. Read the ingredients, it'll soon put you off.

We started weaning our 6m old a few weeks ago. We've gone BLW route. She's loving it, barely actually swallowing much but having a great time exploring the different textures and licking this.

We have chosen BLW because there's no added prep/stress/additional meals to make (we eat fairly healthy gone cooked food anyway, but this has encouraged us to diversify our menu), we can all eat together (she gets serious fomo) and it's lovely eating as a family, I don't have to wait to eat because I'm feeding her, I personally believe in the benefits of learning to chew and control amount she eats rather than force feeding mushy food.

However it's not for everyone.

I did an nct weaning course for £25 which calmed a lot of my nerves!

Lots of great practical advice here, I’d only add similar to others, try not to worry too much about it! I spent hours stressing and many sleepless nights about what she was eating and whether it was too much/too little/wrong times/not enough veg etc etc etc. Your baby will go at their own pace. I particularly felt bad because she wouldn’t eat any of my lovingly prepared purées but adored an Ella’s kitchen type pouch. I see now it’s no big deal and she now has a good varied diet but I actually shed a few tears about this at the time

I started mine with baby rice. They quickly moved onto broccoli and carrot etc

Also have a look at weaning books on amazon . Quite a few beautifully laid out and modern weaning cookbooks available now.

How old is LO @BabyCJuly? If the are showing the signs of readiness there's really not much to worry about.

There are some suggestions of first foods in this guide from the Caroline Walker Trust and some nice recipes to try in the Mumsnet Weaning Recipes section.

I'd just start slowly, just offer foods once a day initially building up to 3 times between 8 and 9 months. There really is no rush