Weaning

We started with a simple vegetable at a time as they're still learning how to put food in their mouth and chew and swallow. So if you're having say carrots as a side dish, pull a few to the side to keep cooking longer or not season with salt etc and then serve that while you eat your dinner. Eventually they start to get the concept and then I add more of what we're having, always making sure to salt after her portion is set aside.

It took some time to build up to having multiple choices on her tray for us but as we've ruled out allergens it's become easier.

Best thing I was told is ‘food before one is just for fun’. When you first start you don’t drop any milk feeds so it doesn’t matter how much or how little they eat. Also, starting with introducing one food at a time means that if there are any reactions you have a better idea which food has caused it. I think feeding them what you eat isn’t always easy at the beginning.

Simply steamed veg is great to start with. We’re doing baby led so I do a few chunks of the veg and some mashed up in a bowl so he can practice coordination but also gets different textures. We started with carrots, spinach, courgette, kale, parsnip, mashed potato, avocado, peas (all mashed) and broccoli. Fruits we’ve done so far are mango, banana, plum (peeled the chunks), melon and prunes. Tried some wholemeal rice with a tiny bit of cumin yesterday, as I want to introduce some spices and herbs in. Tonight is wholemeal pasta with a tiny bit of cheese which I’m excited about but a little cautious because of the dairy.

Download an app called solid starts it shows you at what age you can serve foods to your bubba and shows you an image with detailed info on how to cut and prepare it for your bub.

For us we started with purees then moved on to mixed solids and purees. Maybe watch a video on spoon feeding vs BLW and see which method you prefer. Haha we chose to do a mix.

Big thing is don't expect your bub to actually eat most of what you give them. At this age they're learning the skills of holding the food, putting it to their mouth, playing with in in their mouth. It's a completely new experience so most of it will end up on the floor and that's OK. Each day it's 'wasted' is one more day of experience your bub is getting