Anyone else find the actual weaning info out there a bit rubbish? What did you end up using?

[TheCalmViper]

Hi all - when we started weaning our girls, I found the actual advice out there pretty thin on the practical stuff, and a few friends going through it since have said the same. Wondering if it was just us, or a more common problem.

For anyone who's been through it (recently or way back) - a few questions:

• What book/app/website, if any, did you actually end up using, and would you recommend it?
• Was there anything that felt like a waste of money or time?
• If you could wave a magic wand, what's the one thing that would've made this stage easier?

Would really appreciate hearing how it went for others - trying to work out if this is worth doing something about, or if it's just been our own bad luck.

I used Gina Ford with a bit of baby led.

When my baby was a toddler she tried to feed me. From this I learned that having a full spoon repeatedly shoved in your face too fast and at the wrong angle is incredibly stressful - be super mindful of this when spoon feeding anything!!

Putting a cleanable mat on the floor and having someone else to puree the food would have made it easier. Also do NOT puree beetroot and use it as a weaning food, the mess is indescribable.

Babies have been fed for years we just fed what we were having after a little pureed fruit to start

People overthink weaning.

Give them small amounts of whatever you’re eating and copious yoghurt. DS loved fruit at that age - banana, papaya, etc. Brightly coloured things.

If they’re hungry they’ll eat it. If not it’ll be mushed up and spread somewhere ghastly. Either way you’ll know.

I read up on what they couldn't have. I also read some research which said that the more flavours babies were exposed to at a young age, the more they may tolerate later on. And armed with that scant knowledge (and a lot of MN advice) I just went for it.

Solid Starts is a great, modern resource for stress free BLW.

The market is flooded with weaning info. No opportunity for you

I feel like weaning has been hugely commodified! Giving food to a baby is a huge market as parents want to get it ‘right’ I feel like it’s a hugely oversaturated market.

Solid Starts is a great resource. We loved the moon and rue BLW book.

What is it you want you can’t find? Theres a million BLW recipe pages and lots of dieticians giving advice. Babies can eat basically anything besides honey under1 and excessive salt it’s about serving it appropriately to minimise risk of choking.

The free no rush to mush info from NHS was helpful when I weaned. I also found the baby led weaning books helpful.
I think someone on here recommended a washable mat for under the chair. And the cheapest IKEA high chair.

Weaning isn't stressful. It doesn't need to be done in any particular order. Avoid choking hazards, no honey til 1 try to stay away from added sugar and salt. That's honestly about it.

I just adapted what the rest of the family was having but without the salt or spices.

Mashed veg, finely chopped chicken or a little bolognese sauce, or raw food cut into fingers for ds to play with - apple, celery, peppers, tomatoes.

Having tasted pre-made baby foods, I never used them.

I don’t recall it being much of an issue. I didn’t seek advice other than general stuff. My kids ate bananas and homemade sweet potato based purées and had finger foods to try. They both liked a wide variety of foods and loved their veg. Both started on foods at about four/five months (both around 10lbs at birth and were ready; I BF my second for a year but she was down to one feed a day by then - she never had a bottle). My son’s first word was ‘nana’ for banana and my DD’s was ‘more’! We also travelled quite a bit when they were babies/toddlers so tried different foods I might not normally have given them.
My DD definitely liked and likes more spicy foods than my DS, who did go through a ‘only steak and fries’ phase at about 8/9.
I guess if you had a very fussy baby you’d seek advice but otherwise no need.

No books or methods, just a bit of whatever we were eating, pureed or mashed as needed.
We don't tend to use a lot of salt, but we do use a wide variety of herbs and spices.
Little ones are natural curious and want to eat what you have, as they see you eating it.

Very different in the late 2000s as we were told by HV to wean at 17weeks. I never read baby books so got all info from HV.

I started on baby rice/aptamil/banana on day one.
Then moved to Annabel Karmel and her fish pie recipe.

Lots of puree that I made with a hand held blender. Plus Sunday dinner pureed on a Monday! (minus salt)

Never did baby led. I fed mine until they were old enough to start spooning. Well they had breadsticks etc.

Are you marketing something? There are new weaning books out all the time! Eg Moon and Rue on tiktok.

We used ”How to wean your baby” by Charlotte Stirling Reed - very informative and comprehensive.

Solid Starts app is also a very good resource, shows pictures of how to cut each food into safe shapes for baby to eat.

What are you trying to market? It really wasn’t a big deal. Dts loved fruit, pasta, pinwheels as finger food. Started them on tinned pear and purées. I just used a stick blender for purées, some AK ideas were good but I didn’t rate her ‘advice’. Spanish omelette, bite size quiche and tenderstem broccoli were big favourites from the beginning.

It would have been easier to have far less advice. There is an overwhelming amount of advice.

Some of the current weaning guides set totally unrealistic expectations / demands on the parents (and babies!). There seems to be an underlying thread that unless you get it ‘right’, your child will forever be a fussy eater.

The best thing I had for weaning was a giant ice cube tray for freezing portions of food. This meant I wasn’t blending stuff all the time.

No need for purées or books. Just no honey and reduced salt, then use the app solid starts to see how the food should be served by age e.g. fingers or bite sized pieces. I did this (BLW) and found it super easy, they just ate what we ate without the salt and appropriately cut up.

Just google the common allergens and make sure those are introduced early.

I like Charlotte Stirling-Reed - I think the book is just called How to Wean Your Baby. There's also a book just called 'Baby Led Weaning' with a white cover.

Then we had a couple of recipe books - Joe Wicks and Ella's Kitchen.

It's quite personal really though - food is very personal for us as adults too - everyone's different.

I agree it's been somewhat commodified and people overthink it.

We did a combo of BLW and spoon feeding for things that are just too messy (sorry but I'm not letting him eat a sloppy curry or porridge with his hands - we don't do that as adults, it's not a skill we need! 😅)

One thing I would not have done is bought four of those Bibado coverall bibs (which aren't cheap) - we only used them for 3 months and they are expensive for what they are. I would have got the cheaper versions from Next etc.

Now he's 1 we just roll his sleeves up and use one of those silicone bibs with a pouch.

I think people trying to monetise it means its overvomplicated.

What book/app/website, if any, did you actually end up using, and would you recommend it?

None. i ignored all the "advice" and just cooked/boiled and blended veg and mushed up various fruits. Then progressed to stuff like egg, blended toast dinner, big pieces of pasta etc.
I did follow the advice of the Dr's to introduce mixed nut butters early.

Was there anything that felt like a waste of money or time?
No because the only thing i bought was a cube freezer tray to batch prep, a catchy tray which earned its money and few bibs

If you could wave a magic wand, what's the one thing that would've made this stage easier?
My kids not having allergies.

Made food for me.
Dumped a bit infront of child.
Cleaned up mess afterwards.

Eats brilliantly.

I used Annabel Karmel books. Also the local children centre did weaning course which was really good.
I loved weaning but it helped the kids ate what I gave them.
I did lots of batches and froze them.

Fortunately the world has calmed down a bit since I weaned mine where it was the new target of the parenting purists - if you didn’t do BLW your child would only ever eat beige and be unable to chew FOR LIFE 😂. I agree with the people who say don’t overthink it. I did a mixture- more purees with DS and more finger foods with dd just because that’s how it worked out but happy to report they can both chew and eat a wide variety of foods.

Fair question - no, nothing to sell, no book or app of my own. Genuinely just trying to work out whether this is a problem worth building something for one day, or if it's mostly just been us. Answers like the ones in this thread (yours included) are making me think it's more the latter than I expected going in.

Fair question too - no, nothing to sell. Genuinely just trying to work out if this is worth building something for eventually, or if it's mostly just us - and hearing that it wasn't a big deal and a stick blender did the job is exactly the kind of answer making me lean toward the latter. In the end we just mushed up our food anyway (before we had added salt for us) and that seemed to have been ok

I read 'Baby-Led Weaning' by Gill Rapley, which was not about recipes and more about principles. It all made sense, so I just fed my babies normal food without added salt, which was great as I didn't have to faff around with blenders etc. Like the solid starts app mentioned above, it also explains what shapes to cut foods for different stages (and why). The only downside was I realised after a couple of months with DC2 that I wasn't eating enough salt myself and had to sneak medicinal crisps when the DCs weren't looking.