Stupid question alert: how the heck to I wean a baby?!

[ManchesterMummy]

You're all going to laugh at me.

Mixed-fed DD is 20 weeks old and not really near weaning (still satisfied on milk) but seems a bit bored with milk at the mo - we cannot ear near her when she's feeding. So I don't intend to start yet at all but I think I could do with having some knowledge.

I went to a "weaning group" facilitated by a hv with the charisma of a coffee table and switched off when she started to dictate tell us all about blenders.

I'm now totally confused and feel as if I'm going to fail spectacularly at this. What do I do about cups etc? Does baby eat with you?

Can anyone help me?

To start with MM, you'll only be giving her little tastes of purees or if you don't wean until much later (after 6 months) then she could potentially go stright to finger food (lots of different thinking on this one).

I started DD with apple puree, then carrot (she went orange as she loved the carrot!)

I started by giving it mid morning after a milk feed so she's not starving and couldn't be bothered. If they're desperate for milk they won't concentrate on having the food.

As the quantity increases, you can try a little breakkie and lunch and then tea.
It's quite easy to be led by the baby - she'll let you know if she's eager for more food.

To start wwith, you're not decreasing her milk at all, just introducing her to the idea of solids.
Try getting hold of a good weaning book, like Annabel Karmel or similar which has a range of recipe ideas for small babies, through to toddlers and cooking meals for the whole family.

You wait til 6 months then chuck a bit of food at them off your plate whenever you have some (bit of broc, some mashed potato, toast, other veggies....)

Some babies I know ate huge amounts right off, some like ds ate very little. She will let you know how much she wants (grabbing more of your food generally means 'more please mummy')

Don't worry about how much she eats and don't worry about making purees specially for her. We ended up doing a mix of puree and finger food but the puree is just a roughly chopped/blitzed portion of what we eat.

Oh yeah, chuck the food at her at meal times but keep feeding milk on demand (if that is what you do now). Milk will decrease when she is ready. As for eating with you or not, depends on her bedtime really. Ds eats with me during the day but has dinner at 5, any later and he is too tired and screams at it. That is what suits him.

Cups, I gave ds a cup of water with food but it was ages before he did more than just wet his lips with it.

yes very scary when you start but it gets easy fast which is nice to look back on. you don't have to drop any feeds for a long time - there was a patch with ds when he was on 5 milk feeds and 3 meals a day - that's my boy though we had to drop a milk feed to get him to take a bit more interest. It was actually dh feeding him a jar that helped him 'get' food - I remember coming back from a walk, looking through the window and seeing them both literally covered in tomato glop and laughing their heads off. Great memories

You can make it as easy or as hard for yourself as you like - try this site for making it easier

echo Indith - it is wonderful to go out for lunch and just pass them the crusts off your sandwich and the end of your banana while all your mates are mashing avocados, fannying about with thermoses of slop and dishes and spoons and smearing carrot from here to Sunday...

Thermos of slop?! Fools. ds loves bread dunked in soup. Though he did have a puree fiend spell and still likes some help with a spoon (he gets bored and frustrated before he gets full bless him). Actually a lunch fave with us is a nice thick soup, usually with something like leeks, sweet potato, a handfull of red lentils and whatever else I have (parsnips, peppers etc). It tastes great warm for eating on the day it is made for both me and ds and freezes well so if I'm going out I often grab a tub from the freezer, by lunchtime it has defrosted and ds loves it cold.

Actually, that is my top tip for weaning. Don't bother heating stuff up all the time, being able to take cold stuff out and about with you means freedom. Ds loves things like broc and cream cheese puree with breadsticks or those organix crunchy sweetcorn rings to dunk in it. Means you can do picnics and not worry about having to eat somewhere that will let you warm baby food.