How long can I keep a homemade purée and other weaning questions

[Pinkted]

Hello everyone. My name is Andrea and I'm a 40 year old single (and first time) mummy to Ella, 6 months tomorrow , and we live in Paris.

This week, I started introducing spoonfed veggie (lunch) and fruit purees (tea) - and I have a few questions I am hoping you will be able to help me with. Here's the context, please bear with me!

Ella was a lot tinier at birth than expected (5.5 lbs) and her weight is still a source of some concern. I breastfed exclusively for 3 months and then switched to mixed feeding when Ella stopped putting on weight. Since then, she has been putting on weight, but never as much as the doctors would like (at 5 and a half months she weighed in at 12lbs), so I am a little anxious about weaning as you can imagine!
On top if this, the Parisien equivalent of the health visitor has made me a little paranoid about hygiene...

And finally, to my questions:

• Today, day 3 of weaning, she had about 7 mini spoonfuls of brocoli at lunch but then cried all afternoon. It reminded me of the colic cry, could she be in pain while digesting?

• Eventually I would like to freeze homemade purees. But during the first couple of weeks while she is just taking a spoonful or two, and while we are working out which fruits and veggies she likes, how long can I keep a homemade puree safely in the fridge? Can I use it for 3 consecutive days or should I throw it out and make another after 24hrs?

• Once we are freezing purees in icecube trays, what's the best way to proceed? Should I defrost the cubes overnight in the fridge, or at room temperature an hour before use, or simply in the microwave when needed? Or I am catching the health visitor's paranoia!

• Ella has only been drinking an average of 650ml milk a day, mixed breast and formula, (that's 20 fluid oz I think), but since introducing a few spoons of veggie puree at lunch and fruit puree at teatime just before her bottle, her milk intake has already gone down to 500ml a day.

I am onviously very eager for her to maintain milk drinking levels until she is taking more than a few spoonfuls...any tips?

Sincere thanks for your patience and advice!

Hi. I think when I began weaning my daughter I kept it really simple and followed some advice from the Annabel Karmel book - There is a website too. Try with one kind of puree over a few consecutive days or meals to establish that your baby doesn't suffer any ill effects. Her digestive system is very young and everything is new and somethings will not be as easily digested as others. Try and use root vegetables first, sweet potatoes are great and full of vitamins and most babies seem to like them. If you are pureeing broccoli is it mixed with potato or something else? Avoid acidic fruits and berries and some fruits should still be lightly stewed to help digestion. If you are trying to maintain that drinks more milk, I would give her solids well before her feed. As for using purees, they should keep ok in the fridge for 48 hours, just make sure that any not eaten in a serving is thrown away. I filled my ice cube trays half depth at this stage. As for defrosting, you can use a microwave although some MNers would definitely say not, to just allow to cool. Or get the ice cube out an hour or so in advance and sit the bowl in another bowl of hot water - it will defrost quickly. Good luck, everything will be fine I am sure!x