Adventures in Weaning

Baby B has been on his weaning adventure for a month now and it’s going well. He’s not sleeping any better or boobing any less, but it's been fun watching him experience all those taste sensations.

I have to start with a confession - we’ve been giving him puree. I know, I know, it's very unfashionable, but he likes it. At first it was because I was so frightened of mess and choking, plus I got a huge amount of satisfaction from making bags of neatly labelled fruit and veg ice cubes. For the first few feeds more got on his face than in his mouth, but then my mum fed him and it seemed to click. He worked out how to gobble food off the spoon and now he wolfs it down. He opens his mouth in joyful expectation and helps guide the spoon in. In that sense I consider it BLW - I am following his lead and he’s enjoying his food. We are doing finger foods too so he’s getting all the texture experiences as well. This mixed approach is working really well for us. Don't feel pressured to be in one camp or the other.

To add to my worries, B has silent reflux which gets worse if I eat dairy or a lot of wheat so I’m assuming he may have intolerances. Hopefully he’ll grow out of them but it’s restricted our choices a bit.

A typical food day:

Breakfast: Ready Brek made with water, sometimes with pear or apricot puree - spoon fed. Fruit pieces or a fruit net.

Lunch: rice cakes, cucumber and pepper sticks, smoked salmon, blueberry and banana muffin, strawberry pieces.

Dinner: 2 cubes of veg or mashed banana and coconut yogurt - spoon fed.

I asked my group of yummy mummies what their little ones enjoyed as first foods:

• strawberries, broccoli, homemade breadsticks.
• steamed carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, yogurt.
• avocado.
• strips of steak, chicken drumsticks, roasted pork belly strips and spare ribs!
• roasted sweet potato wedges and roasted baby parsnips.
• steamed apple, cinnamon and porridge oats.
• squashed chickpeas, grated cheese and quartered tomatoes.

Other helpful tips:

• frozen fruits, especially raspberries, go soft as they defrost so can be picked up easily.
• peas and sweetcorn keep little hands busy and this is also good for developing fine motor skills.
• unsweetened nut butters are good to load on spoons to be licked off.
• CoYo coconut yoghurt is thicker (and dairy free) and also good for loaded spoons.
• do not try to puree potato with a blender - it will turn to glue.
• Doidy cups are more hygienic than sippy cups, easy to drink from and better for tooth health.
• roll baby’s sleeves up.
• get a dog to deal with the mess!
• if you sign up with Ella’s Kitchen online you get a gorgeous wall chart and stickers to record their progress. This is great if you have an older child who can get involved, or if you are a big kid and love stickers!
  

• if you’re worried about choking, little net bags are a safe way to give soft fruits. They just squish it out. It also keeps them occupied while you’re prepping other stuff. The pound shop ones are just as good as the branded ones and a lot cheaper.

Highlights of our first month:

The first messy but exciting meal of sweet potato.

Watching my husband whizzing the spoon around like an airplane and B’s delighted face.

Dismantling a muffin from this lovely blog but made with gluten free flour and almond milk. He put a lot of concentration into picking up crumbs.

The first taste of chicken. I gave him strips of thigh meat and he went wild for it! First he sucked it but then realised he could mash it up with his gums and ate it.

Now we’re looking forward to getting more adventurous and trying some recipes for meals for him and meals we can share. The next post on weaning will be a recipe swap with my yummy mummies.