Weaning tips with food prep advice please

[4658Lou]

Uncooked oats with banana blended and put into baby glass jar for the morning breakfast?

cooked or uncooked broccoli purée put into baby glass jars for next evening meal? I don’t know if i can blend uncooked broccoli and oats. Just trying to find abit of time saving? Any advice please x

Have you already started weaning?

Mashing cooked broccoli is easier than blending raw broccoli.

Why are you even considering blending broccoli and oats? Would you like to eat that?

give the poor love some porridge with banana and cinnamon and lob him a soft broccoli floret with butter to gum on

Yeah this

Just give them the food that you eat, appropriately cut or mushed. Zero extra prep time and no vile-sounding food.

I’m sorry I didn’t mean oats and broccoli together I meant separately.

oats puréed for breakfast
and
broccoli purée for dinner

two separate meals

Oats and banana* I meant to say (for breakfast)

Why do you want to puree food?

Just feed the baby what you have as it comes. You don’t need to faff about with separate food of mush it up. That’s the biggest cost and time saving. My DD was knocking back chillj and rice on day 5 of weaning.

@AlltheFs onkt just started weaning? I thought you need to start off with puree fiod first so I’m blending the oats etc just for now

I agree it sounds vile!

Just give the baby some of your toast or porridge for breakfast with a banana cut into thirds length ways.

Give them some of your cooked broccoli.

broccoli puree doesn’t sound very nice. Have you read any weaning books or follow someone like Annabel Karmel on Instagram? Make a nice puree eg carrot, apple and pear, potato and freeze tiny portions in an ice cube dish for example.
not sure you need to prep uncooked oats? Make a porridge in the morning, or try a bit of weetabix or greek yogurt w apple puree

@Icanseethebeach i clarified of course I didn’t mean blended broccoli and oats together I meant separately prepared for the jars. I mean seperate meals. Oats and banana for breakfast and the broccoli purée for dinner

@WhatWouldYouDo33 i got the idea from weaning receipts from Ella kitchen the broccoli purée. Because baby weaning. I thought you stick to bland foods before moving to mixing lots of different foods.

The signs of readiness are-
Able to sit up unaided
Lost the tongue thrust reflex
Able to grasp and lift items and bring to their mouth.

If your child has all these signs, no need for purée. Read up on motor skill development, the difference between choking and gagging, baby-led weaning.

If you’re just starting weaning and your baby is 6months you can do a mixture of puree/mash/finger foods. (And then quickly move on to a baby safe version of whatever you’re eating.)

Start with one meal a day and move on to two when they’re ready.

There are some REALLY helpful books. How to Wean your Baby basically gives you a stupidly easy day by day menu.

The Solid Starts App is good to tell you how to safely serve finger foods.

https://amzn.eu/d/j2SOTqJ something like this handy.

yes I did single flavours first (fruit or veg) and then mixed. Not very popular on here, were babies apparently eat Sunday roasts at 8 months.

It would depend if baby was a premature baby the official guidelines say purée. It’s all down to personal choice. I did purée for first few weeks I had one premature child and one late premature child. Youngest one had puréed food until he hit his corrective age of six months. Other just for three weeks.

its easier to steam veg and then freeze one puréed into ice cube trays then you can just take out what you need day before. I would just use the veg I was making for myself.

one thing I found is I added loads of flavour and wasn’t afraid to use spices both my children eat anything still now.

go with whatever makes you comfortable.

This book was my bible when weaning DD.

You'll need to cook the broccoli I think before blending it or you'll just get broccoli crumbs. Dd used to love cooked broccoli but I just gave her whole florets and let her gnaw on it.

Buttered toast fingers
Scrambled eggs
Banana
Porridge just made with milk as usual not blended
Pancakes made with banana

Anything they can grip in their chubby little fingers and gum on is fine.

My boy weaned well thankfully, tricky customer in other ways! I bought a couple of ice cube trays with lids to have some meals ready for when things run away with you and at least you know there's some there. After the first tastes where i gave him individual foods to try id do a mix of root veg, peas and mash etc and just defrost several ahead of time and mix a fat like butter into it. Handy in the beginning in puree/mash days. Now he gets a dairy free (allergy) version of our food.

You're right to try individual ingredients first especially when they're a potential allergen to narrow it down if they have an allergic reaction. I did weaning the "old fashioned" way that has fallen out of favour probably with lumpy purees first and then mashed and finger foods but it's been an easy and unremarkable journey so I'd do it again. He's 9 months now and I love making him more complex food and assembling his meals now he has more variety and textures.

In the early days you’ll probably be trying a different food/s every day. So I found there’s not a lot of point freezing lots of portions of only one type of puree ahead of time at this stage. Eg they may eat broccoli on their first day of weaning but then they’ll have a different veg every day after that, so you won’t use the broccoli again for a while.

Bulk freezing is helpful but maybe for later? Batches of mini meals (curries, stews, etc) are great for freezing.

Like PP I also use ice cube trays with lids (the type that make large ice cubes).

@YellowHatt i just ordered the book thank you x

Agreed we did singles using ice cube trays then these tubs and then mixed them together adding a 'new' thing every few days. I can't stand BLW and DD seems to be thriving just fine with 'trad weaning'

OP puree brocolli is fine! Oats wise I whizz them up to a powder then add milk from DD bottle (4 level formula scoops to 7 scoops of milk) with a cube of fruit puree. Another favourite of DD's is yoghurt with fruit puree and baby rice mixed in

ETA cook the brocolli before puréeing or mashing it!

First steps nutrition has a brilliant free book on weaning. Lots of practical information too.

You could prepare the porridge the night before but there is no need to blend it.

Broccoli for ease and speed but frozen the steam while making your dinner. Serve as is or with butter, hummus, Greek yoghurt.