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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

Annabel Karmel or Gina Ford?

68 replies

MrsWembley · 30/11/2009 15:40

Just starting weaning and have got DD used to baby rice. However, now two top teeth have appeared, I have realised that I need to get a wriggle on with the whole thing. Before I go and order any old thing from Amazon, what do yooze guys recommend?

OP posts:
reikizen · 30/11/2009 17:37

really famous libel case?? [hmm}

Original poster
MrsWembley · 30/11/2009 17:43

Ahhhh, yes, I do seem to remember something now...

OP posts:
lowrib · 30/11/2009 18:05

May I just remind you that Gina Ford is not a mum, nor does she have any formal childcare qualifications, as far as I know. (Source - BBC website.

She is however very accomplished at self-promotion and selling books.

Personally I wouldn't touch her books with a barge pole, but that's just my opinion.

2ChildrenPlusLA · 30/11/2009 18:26

Nah, - ask your HV to give you some basic choking advice to give you confidence and then just get on with giving your LO the same as you. You don't even need to cut it up (it is safer if you don't actually) they can just suck and chew the nutrients out of it all.

Get a Kidopotomus mat a bib with sleeves and off you go.

Also, it is a lot of fun to sit with your friends who have speng hours cooking up some much and who are desperately trying to shovel it into their lo's mouths whilst it heartbreakinly dribbles out, whilst you just hand your 7month old a cheese sandwich and a banana and offer to get the teas in.

PrematureEjoculation · 30/11/2009 18:42

BLW is a nice idea...i did plenty of finger foods as well as purees...it is easy just to shove it in front of them, though also purees can get the grub down them faster. you don't have to be all or nothing.

RibenaBerry · 30/11/2009 18:42

Do bear in mind that a lot of complicated weaning advice (start with pear at X o'clock. Add Y after Z days) evolved at a time when babies were routinely weaned well before they were ready (which is normally about six months, although can be slightly earlier or slightly later. Lots of threads on here talk about readiness).

If you feel you need a book for reassurance, I would go with a recipe book, not a weaning guide. Get them out of the library, or look up online.

Personally, I wouldn't touch GF or AK either. IMO it makes weaning far too complicated. It's giving your baby dinner, not rocket science.

colditz · 30/11/2009 18:44

I recommend give your baby mashed/chunked pieces of your own dinner. Giver her a wedge of potato, some carrot sticks, a home made burger. Just don't cook with salt.

I did this for ds2 and it was great. So much easier and better than fannying around trying to follow someone else's instructions!

colditz · 30/11/2009 18:48

It is VERY smug making to hand your 11 month old a fork and let him eat his own egg and chips while you eat yours. It's especially satisfying when all the parents are still trying to spoon revolting orange jars into their child while their own food congeals.

Original poster
MrsWembley · 30/11/2009 19:20

I do fancy being smug, I must admit.

Going to a lunch on Sunday to a restaurant which apparantly dishes out 'organic carrot puree', so I'm going to go with that this week, along with banana and pea (not together what would I do if she liked it that way!). The advice on choking is a good idea if I'm to go with finger foods early on. Wasn't planning to but most of you seem to say it's ok...

Thank-you all. I feel much more confident now. As I mentioned, I hadn't done too much reading up on weaning as I had thought it would just be purees followed by chunkier foods in stages as recommended by the HV (the Stage One, Two, Three sheet they hand out). It was only when my friends said about this book that I began to wonder if I'd missed something.

OP posts:
Misspaella · 30/11/2009 19:21

I really thought you had to follow a guide w/DS1 4 years ago and it turned out, I didn't. I ended up getting fed up with doing separate food for him and "us" so just stopped salting (or adding chili) to our food and took a portion out for him. I initially puree'd, then mashed, then cut up. DD pretty much ate what we ate from the start when we weaned her (no pure veg cubes for her) and progressed to finger food very early.

You only need to watch out for certain food you shouldn't introduce until they are a year old (and even then use common sense). No special recipes needed. Save your money and don't worry about a weaning book.

BornToFolk · 30/11/2009 19:21

It is entirely possible to wean a baby onto purees and for them to be self-feeding at 11 months, you know.

I think sometimes BLWers think that puree-weaned babies are on mush for months and months but it's not really the case. DS only had proper purees for the first month, then mashed stuff, and by the time he was 1 was on pretty much "normal" food, albeit cut up sometimes to help him self feed.

If you wean a baby at 6 months, the window for proper purees is really small.

Sorry, the BLW smugness annoys me sometimes.

Original poster
MrsWembley · 30/11/2009 19:31

Just checked out the GF thing (thank-you for the link lowrib). I knew I didn't like her. But I obviously can't say why...

OP posts:
Misspaella · 30/11/2009 19:34

Borntofolk I am with you. I always started out w/puree's and both my DC's ate "normal" food well before they hit 12months. The only thing I wanted to reiterate was that you don't need to puree special meals.

2ChildrenPlusLA · 30/11/2009 19:46

It isn't (usually) that BLW are smug, but more than likely they did the puree thing with no. 1 and CANNOT BELIEVE why when no.2 is such a doddle.

BLW babies still have yoghurt etc.

Mrs Wembley, you have time to research BLW properly. It is more than being smug about how advanced your dd appears to be. It is about feeding on demand, trusting the babies to choose healthy foods and to regulate their own appetites, feeding them at a pace that they are comfortable with and thus avoiding fussiness and feeding difficulties later on, and above all ensuring they develop a healthy interest in food. You can have all this AND be smug too. What is not to like?

Be warned however, that you often have to revisit your own hang-ups about food and cook more healthily yourself.

jelliebelly · 30/11/2009 19:53

Have to admit to being a fan of AK's books for recipes (although some of them are to be avoided as imo they would take longer to prepare than a christmas roast!!). I used both this and this and both of my children eat anything they are presented with (ages 4 and nearly 1. We have had no "issues" with food at all. But then I am the kind of person who likes a book to point me in the right direction but will happily ignore the bits that don't suit.

2ChildrenPlusLA · 30/11/2009 19:58

The issues with food don't come from whether you BLW or puree, but rather the 'stuffing it in' approach that is so tempting with purees, and the adult controlling the baby's intake rather than them controlling their own.

The 'issues' don't manifest when the children are young, but as so as they DO get control iyswim.

I forgot to say, - both for BLW and others. Bananas and Avocados are natures fast food. No need for jars. Simply transport in a sterile containter aka their skin, squish before opening to create mush if mush-inclined, or leave if finger food inclined, then either break off pieces or spoon in. High energy, nutritious meal/snack.

HughRinal · 30/11/2009 19:58

'It's especially satisfying when all the parents are still trying to spoon revolting orange jars into their child while their own food congeals.'

you don't actually have to spoon it in these days Colditz. Why with mine, I just squeezed that Plum baby sachet right into their tiny mewling mouths. No spoon, no cooking, no fuss!. I also found it useful to tuck an open sachet in with teddy so that if they woke in the night they could suck their own supper and not wake me up!
Job done.

colditz · 30/11/2009 20:00

PMSL

have the makers of the bottle warmers rejigged them for pouches yet?

I'd have them making their own damn breakfast, that's for sure

HughRinal · 30/11/2009 20:04

you want to get on dragon's den with that idea colditz...

notcitrus · 30/11/2009 20:07

If you cook fairly healthily yourself, then your line about starting with purees and building up to more crunch should be fine, remembering that unlike adults kids need fat!
Some babies want to grab and feed themselves, others want to be fed thank you very much. Despite what some people say on the scary weaning threads, you can try both sticks of food and purees (I went for just mashing with a fork) and see what your baby goes for.

I recommend leafing through AK and other books for a few ideas and then spend your money on some nice food instead.

Or as a local HV said, "Just give them FOOD!"

puffling · 30/11/2009 20:17

I did all the purees and am generally pleased I did. it meant that DD had a good start eating a variety of fruit and veg. You don't need a book but I was happy to use GF and AK to give me ideas on when to introduce different foods. I wouldn't have known not to start with banana, for example, I'd assumed it would be a good first food. Also, If I'd given her what I have she'd have been on cups of tea and biscuits.

2ChildrenPlusLA · 30/11/2009 20:21

lol, what's wrong with banana?

If you're gonna say sodium then simply offer everything with moderation. If you're gonna say constipation then make sure plenty of water is available etc.

Nothing wrong with banana. AK is a fool!

Pingpong · 30/11/2009 20:29

banana is a good first food.
BLW rocks the website is better than the book
borntofolk your babies may have moved swiftly on from puree to lumps and then real food but many people seem to get stuck in the puree stage and worry about lumps. My nephew is 10m older than DD and at 8m she was eating roast dinner with the family and he still needed his put through the blender.

seventypercentcocoa · 30/11/2009 20:50

I saw the thread title and thought it was going to be 'if you only had one bullet...'

I'm with the neither camp BLW is fab, my BLW 11mo eats better than my toddler ever has.

BornToFolk · 30/11/2009 20:52

Only one baby so far Smac and I fully accept that I was really lucky when it came to weaning him. He ate anything and everything! It would have been just as easy to BLW him I'm sure.

I agree with Ribena that lots of the weaning books suppose that weaning starts a lot earlier than 6 months, which could be one of the reasons why some parents get stuck at the puree stage maybe?

What is wrong with banana as a first food? It was definitely one of DS's. Can't remember anything in the AK book about it.