Help - first few weeks of weaning, a bit of advice please

[MrsSprat]

DD is 6 mo at end of week, got some baby rice, got a grinder, got some root vegetables

I know you should follow a baby's pace, but I'm finding the books a bit vague.

What's the general advice on when/how to progress with things, so i can get a bit prepared (shopping/cooking-wise and mentally!). I'm away from home at the moment, so need to be a bit more organised and less go-with-the-flow.

e.g Week 1 - just baby rice
Week 2 - introduce one/two? veg

Help!

No advice - but watching this too. Any good book recommendations that tell you what to do rather than recipe ideas?

Not a popular choice but the Gina Ford Weaning book is actually very good if its a prescriptive approach you want.

Tells you which foods to introduce and when in the usual 11am do THIS 2.30pm do THIS etc style

you've waited until 6 mos so you can please yourself tbh.

Ugh, doesn't sound my style at all. Any half-way house options?

Literally, suggestions of what to do initially, what to do a few days later etc

So I can make/freeze a few things ahead of when needed and plan for longer days out.

I'm sure I'd feel far more confident at home with Sainsbos round the corner...

Found Gina ford weaning guide fab if ya dont have a clue,im using it but my ds after 3 weeks has decided to not eat babyrice anymore, so now im back to square one with not knowing what to give him for tea.

But i will def still follow it, but will just have to adapt it slightly to fit my ds's needs!

give the baby what you're having, seriously. what do you eat that's going to poison a 6 month old? too much salt? cut down. peanut butter... don't. apart from that you're fine to go full steam ahead.

Go here .... www.babyledweaning.com

you don't want to faff about with all that PITA wonderful timeconsuming interesting puree palava stuff.

BLW is SO much more FUN !!!

and sooo much easier

You don't need baby rice - you can just go straight to fruit & veg. There is nothing concrete, really - just very, very gradually introduce baby to solids, a little at a time. Start with a teaspoon or so, increase to a tablespoon or so, then add another meal, move to 3 meals after a few months... it's really just a case of going with the flow, as unhelpful as that is! Get baby's weight checked once a month or so - if s/he's happy and is putting on weight at a sensible rate then you're doing fine. There are so many different ways of doing it - some babies are on 3 medals a day by 7 months, some not until a year. Weaning is very frustrating if you're a person who likes clearcut guidelines, like myself

Also read up on Baby Led Weaning

Not 'ugh' to you Aitch, to a prescriptive stylee.

I did have a book, but left it at home, along with 'colour catcher' and various other home comforts, so just hunting a few tips from people with more experience

I'm sure I'll get into it, just a bit daunted about kicking it off

Its great for that initial introduction of foods, what foods when, how much and for how many days, it sets it out like a planner, but u can adjust it to suit your own day!

Week one I just did baby rice , firstly just a spoonful after lunchtime bottle moving on to a spoonful after breakfast, lunch and tea bottle when Dd was ready.
week two I introduced a root veg and a fruit.
Week three I tried another root veg and fruit.
From there on in it was a case of mixing what I'd already tried (e.g. swede and sweet potato together). Then I just followed recipies and let her try whatever!

Sorry, crossed posts

where on earth are you? what do you eat?

LOL, "3 medals a day" - I meant 3 meals a day

I have had great success with a mixed approach - from 6 months dd2 has had purees AND finger foods.

Quick example - breakfast - porridge and fruit puree. Or toast and chunks of banana.

Lunch - sandwich - eats it herself.
Yogurt (spoon fed by one of us).

It works well. Some days she is independent and loves the diy approach. Other days she is tired or impatient or whatever and wants more help.

With the spoon feeding I keep it simple. (in fact I might offer cooked carrot sticks and if she is reluctant sometimes she will accept them mashed with a fork)

From 6 months mash plus finger foods is fine rather than pureeing everything. Aitch has some fab ideas on her blog.

Do what works for your baby and your family.

in fact, what lollipop is suggesting is what the NHS recommends from 6 mos. (although clearly she is too much of a wuss for hard-core BLW. )

Oh I'm somewhere very civilised indeed (where aubergines are eggplants), but the local supermarket is a bit wierd and un-European IYKWIM

I didn't bother doing any sort of staged introduction - my DS just ate whatever I did largely (although he has revoltingly soggy weetabix for breakfast while I have muesli). Other than that - few sticks of veg, sticks of cheese, odd jar of Hipp if you/he fancies it (out and about when a mess is not a good idea it's quite useful)

Lol at Aitch. Yes there is a leaflet about weaning on the doh website and it makes a lot of sense to me.

We intended to try blw. However with dd1 (now 4 years) we did purees for a very long time. In fact we had a struggle to get her on to finger foods - she was over a year old.

We relied heavily on baby rice in those days. (I have now seen the light. )

I think that because of the way things were with dd1, we were used to spoonfeeding big bowls of mush. So with dd2 we were a tiny bit impatient and in retrospect if we had hung on for a few weeks she may have taken to blw.

Still, I have some gorgeous photos of her at 27 weeks using broccoli florets as drumsticks and nibbling on them eventually.

if you mean america then you'll just have to get cooking, lady, and avoid the weirdy processed stuff.

now. what do you eat?

Also DH and I have fallen into a bit of an unforgivable takeaway rut in the last couple of weeks too. Time to turn over a new leaf, me-thinks.

yep lolly the latest leaflet is good imo, just a shame that so many HVs haven't seen it.

HAH! i knew it!

They've been nice takeaways! Thai, sushi etc. But, that's no way to to bring up a bubba, I agree. There's some grim grim baby food in the shops, so MUST COOK

I have actually just written a mini article for a local well known parenting charity. I have written about my weaning experiences (purees for dd1 and the above description with dd2). Another person is describing her blw approach. I have referenced that doh leaflet.

MrsSprat I like an easy life sometimes. I find that you can easily get through a day or two without any proper cooking yet still eat healthily. (things like avocado and banana are very nutritious and work as mash or finger foods) Jacket potato and cheese...

(adults can add wine/chocolate as necessary to spice things up. )