Combing blw and pouches

[raspberrylaces90]

Starting to wean DS at the weekend who will be 6 months. I plan on mainly doing blw/finger foods but will probably spoon feed things like porridge and spag bol so not fully blw. There is just me and him during the week as DP works away and I rarely cook for myself so will mainly be for DS. I have bought a few pouches to have in the cupboard but I want to know if it is ok for me to give mainly finger foods but with a pouch here and there too? For the days I don't have time or can't be bothered cooking, which will probably be a few times a week. So basically it's combined weaning. Does anyone do or have done this? Not sure how to schedule this? I am so dreading this as I am clueless and a useless cook!

I’m not really sure what you’re asking. Are you saying is it okay to give him pouches where you’ll be spoon feeding because you want to focus on blw and finger foods? If that’s the question then yeah ofc it’s okay. You don’t just have to stick to one way forever

Sounds like traditional weaning where you give puree/mashed foods alongside finger foods. Yes its fine

I'm just looking for advice on combined weaning really or whether it will confuse him at all? It's mainly the evening meal I will struggle with I think!

Absolutely. That’s how I weaned all of mine x

Of course it okay, you can feed your baby however you like…only thing is baby might not like it. Only my very limited experience as we only started weaning 3 weeks ago.

We are doing baby led weaning, however even if I wanted to, DS absolutely will not let me spoonfed him. What we do is I pre-load the spoon and then hand it to him, he eats it while I pre-load a second spoon and then we swap as he won’t let me take back the first spoon without a second spoon to take, if that makes sense?

He does really like any savoury purées or pouches so we just have the fruit ones and I usually mix it into Greek yogurt for fat and protein. We also do the 2 spoons thing for anything like curry, porridge etc.

If we are about to have a bath anyway I just give him the bowl and spoon and let him go to town! Very messy but good fun ☺️

All our meals during week are just me and DS so it is tricky prepping, feeding, then clearing up but it all works out. Don’t worry about being a good cook, but I definitely find DS eats significantly more if he isn’t eating alone, they like to copy.

Sorry for long post!

Doesn’t really like any savoury pouches or purées that should say

It's fine - my DD is 7 months and gets a mix of homemade purees, pouches, finger food, mashed up home cooked food etc. All depends on what else we're doing that day or what else I'll cooking. She doesn't like being spoon fed though, and takes it off me to feed herself.

Thank you for the replies. We are going to start tomorrow and I planned on steaming some broccoli and starting with that (not puréed). Those of you who have also done similar what other foods did you start with that weren't puréed?

If your DC has only had milk up to now is there any reason you’re not starting with purées? Even something like porridge would be good to start. Just because they will have never had food up until then so starting with something like steamed broccoli may be a bit much? They may like it tho so just thinking out loud.

I started off with porridge for around a month or so just so DD could get used to textures, then I moved onto fruit and gradually started doing 3 meals a day

@dementedpixie

Sounds like traditional weaning where you give puree/mashed foods alongside finger foods. Yes its fine

And yeah I agree with the traditional weaning comment. Sounds like you’ll be doing a bit of everything which is great

Go for it if it's going to work for you! We did mixed weaning with eldest and just about to start the same with number two, was happy with doing it that way. I gave the usual sensible BLW finger food options but by using puree too I could give her tastes of things I wasn't happy to give whole, or that were tricky (spinach for example). In the end she got the hang of spoon feeding herself fairly quickly. We also used pouches sometimes as dipping sauces, so she'd have say a pitta bread and a savoury pouch, and also later used the pouch as the sauce over a carb, eg a savoury meal pouch with 'proper' rice- I refused to buy pouches with pasta in as that's just as easy to do 'properly' for me but if you had a spag bol pouch you could team that up with real solid spaghetti too.

Just follow your babies lead. Some like purees. Some like to do stuff for themselves. Some like both.

My younger DD started wearing by nicking a sandwich off my plate. She would not accept spoonfeeding. Her elder sister just wanted food as quickly as possible... so spoons at first, then fed herself as her motor skills improved.

Both ear a reasonably varied diet now. They tried squid earlier... one liked it, one didn't.

It's not too much to start with brocolli. I always started with solid foods for all three of mine because I liked the BLW theory that if they can handle it externally (hand control, mouth) then they probably have the requisite development internally (gut closure). I do know it's just a theory but it made sense to me. Then once they were consistently eating, I added spoon feeding as well. DS2 immediately preferred spoon feeding, DS3 hated it and rarely tolerates it. DS1 I can't remember TBH (he is now a teenager).

I would just get a few to start with because you don't know what they will tolerate. BTW, always use a spoon with a pouch. You don't want them sucking it straight from the pouch as it's terrible for their teeth and really bad for appetite regulation (they are basically drinking it like a smoothie).

Good early foods were:

Steamed carrot batons
Toast cut into long strips - can put peanut butter, hummus, butter on it.
Roast sweet potato cut into chunks
Chips - no salt
Cucumber sticks
Garlic bread! (Occasionally because salt)
Pizza crust

Beware:

Raw apple - it breaks into chunks and can be a choking hazard
Melted cheese e.g. cheese on toast - because you give it when cool, it tends to lift off in a plasticky layer and stick to the roof of their mouth
Banana, melon - seems nice but it's much too slippery for them until more like 8 months
Untoasted bread - it clags up and gets stuck in the roof of their mouth

Oh and pears are a great first one, because the skin makes them not-slippery but they are softer than apples.

I don't think it really matters that much (although I remember it being a big deal with my first!). You might find he takes to one thing more than the other, though.

My friend's DC would not be spoon fed at all, she wanted to do it all by herself, all the time. My own DD would ONLY be spoon fed, and refused to do it for herself. My DS didn't care either way, as long as the food was going in his mouth! He picked things up, opened his mouth for the spoon, tried to spoon things himself... whatever got it in the quickest!

You’re overlooking your baby’s opinion in all this. I weaned DS at 6 months, he absolutely point blank refused to eat purées. It was finger food all the way for him. He still hates the texture of yoghurt/puees/milk puddings etc now (he’s 13). We used the chunkier pouches, but he held the pouch and sucked it.

Be led by your baby!