Baby bible: the first year - weaning

We've talked about the dreaded first six months of feeding your newborn, but to be honest the challenges don't stop once you get to there.



You'll be judged at giving your child pre-packed food, scoffed at for having the time to make your own and in general there is no winning!!

So again you need to do you research and go with what suits your family.

These are just a few of the things that I did, but I'm not saying anything is right or wrong, it's just what I chose.

1. Wait for them to be six months old

Yes, that controversial bad boy! In my other feeding post I explained that weaning a baby prior to six months due to the fact that their gut isn't sufficiently developed to digest solids. With this in mind, and the fact that there are intolerance's in my family already, I chose to wait until 6 months. What's a few months over a lifetime of intolerance for my baby.

Some key advice I was given was, yes the baby will watch you eat but it doesn't make them ready for food. In the same way that because they watch someone smoke a cigarette you wouldn't give them that.

Things to watch out for are whether they are able to sit unaided and whether they can put the food into their mouth on their own.

2. Mix up with baby led and purees

Baby led weaning has got a bit of an 'airy fairy' name, but really it's common sense. Your baby chooses their food and puts it into their own mouth. This can include you pre-loading a spoon with some food for them.

I used a combination of purees that I fed to my baby and more solid food, for example banana, that she could grip in her hand and feed to herself. I also used to combine this so if I was giving a broccoli puree I would give a steamed floret of broccoli too so that the taste was associated.

3. Don't get stressed about what they're eating

In particular when you first wean your baby they are still getting their calories from their milk intake, and anything else they have is just a bonus. They're simply practicing eating.

As they get older and start to drop their milk, still look at what they eat over a week, rather than each day. So for example, Minnie will eat really well for one day and the next two will hardly touch anything at all. If they're hungry they will eat, don't let it get you stressed.

4. Enjoy meal times

I have a few friends who really rush through their baby's meal, shoveling in one mouthful after the next as though they can't wait to get it over with. To me this time is really precious. You little one is sitting in one place and you can look at each other eye to eye while you help them to get their nourishment - what can be bad about that?

5. Give them what you have

Another thing I did from the off was ensuring that I blitzed up our dinners and gave them to her so that she was used to the tastes and flavours that we ate, right from the off.