just as a mini "rough" guide..in terms of months

[bumbly]

how long do you gived purees for?

how long do you give 2 meals a day for?

when can you start protein?

when can you give mashed food?

whne can you go onto 3 meals a day?

finger foods best started when?

feeling a bit lost in world of weaning...

Try this for some ideas

We started when DS was 6mo, one meal a day of vegetables for about a week, then quickly up to breakfast and tea, within I think a month we were on 3 meals a day.

He is BLW as in hunker's link, so no purees or mashed food, just finger foods from the start. He has toast for breakfast; cheese, fruit, bread, etc for lunch and for tea vegetables, bit of meat, potatoes or whatever plus fruit and sometimes organic yoghurt which he feeds himself with a spoon which I load up for him.

bril thanks for tips but what about a timescale for babies that are not BLW!!!

ta!!

Bumbly, I think you will find it all depends on the baby. Some seem happy to move from purée to mashed to just chopped fairly fast, others take ages to get used to different textures. Same for the number of meals per day. Just play it by ear. If your baby is happy doing one thing, try moving on to the next

Even if you aren't doing BLW (not every one does by the way!), most people still give finger food from about 6 -8 months, once they have got going with other stuff. Don't necessarily expect much to head mouthwards at first. (None, in our case, even at a year despite a lot of opportunity. Imagine how far we would have got if we had done BLW!). At 6 months you can more or less give your baby whatever you are eating, with a few execptions, no added salt, etc. etc. etc.

[Whispers in case the BLW crowd are around] The Annabel Karmel book gives a reasonable summary of stuff from the perspective of a purée lover. She'll give you timescales, meal plans for the week, etc. if that's what you want. Personally I'd get it out of the library as I have no desire to cook an entirely separate menu for mine, and so don't find the receipes a great deal of help. But it could give you ideas, or you could opt to follow it just for a few weeks.

HV told me that at six months you can go straight to mashed. I did pureed veg for a couple of weeks just starting out, but he started to refuse. So HV suggested moving onto protein (spag bol etc.) at 6.5months. He can manage mashed food at 7 months no problem.

He still feeds a lot during the night (a story for another day!) refuses breakfast so he is still on 2 meals a day at 7months and 5-6 weeks into weaning. But thats because he has a nice full tum in the morning!

HV said as AC suggests above, pretty much anything goes once they get to 6 months.

Also, although not pure BLW I have been giving him toast and as much finger food as possible as he most definitely prefers to eat this way rather than spoon it in. In fact, even with "normal" food I let him get his hands in and muck around to feed himself if he wants. He is far happier this way.

how long do you gived purees for?- as short a time as possible. If you start at 6 months and don't want to blw go straight to mashed food. Mashing is loads easier!

how long do you give 2 meals a day for? - Until you want to introduce 3. I think we had 3 solid 'meals' at about 7 months.

when can you start protein? - 6 months

when can you give mashed food? - 6 months

whne can you go onto 3 meals a day? - when you both want to

finger foods best started when? - from the beginning. Offer them all the time

feeling a bit lost in world of weaning... There are really no right answers! the above is based on NHS guidance (which is good btw)