Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

finc

Karnam wrote:

i LOVE muslins! my little one is a dribbly breast feeder and dribbles spit when she gurgles. its so cute but so messy! my mum says i should try feeding her topless in a warm room rather than use a bib as food gets everywhere!!!!

lillibet - which annabel karmel book do you own? im so confused as she has so many!

Sorry I'm not lillibet but I have her New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner. I also had this for my older daughter but lost it so bought it again when I had my 2nd!

If you decide you want one I recommend getting it from Asda as this was the cheapest place I found it and it wasn't on special offer! It was even cheaper than some of the 2nd one's were going for on ebay!!

Gingham_Ribbon

If you can wait till 6 months before starting to wean, that seems to be what is recommended in terms of likelihood of developing allergies etc and breast milk will give your baby all she needs. So that saves a few pennies.

Make food in big batches and freeze in ice cube trays. It just needs mashing with a fork. There's no need to blend. If it's cooked till soft then it'll more or less puree with the fork anyway. I started with apples, pears, courgette, carrot etc. I didn't use baby rice. Expensive and unnecessary. (It also gave him terrible stomach pains the first time I gave him it - which incidentally was at almost 4 months on advice of a health visitor and it was FAR too early for him.)

I tried a new food every 3 days or so to keep an eye out for allergies, so it was easy to spot his allergy to strawberries and avoid them. One book I'd recommend if allergies might be a consideration for your family is Suzanna Olivier's What should I feed my baby? The down side is that she's quite over the top and you have to take the advice that suits you and ignore the rest.

Also, mixing foods that adults wouldn't consider worked well. He liked things like carrot and pear; apple and courgette etc.

As for stopping breastfeeding, I have no idea how to get them onto bottles as my son had a few but mostly rejected them even though they had breast milk in them. But cutting down on breast feeds is a natural part of the weaning process anyway. It doesn't matter if it's milk then solids or the other way round. We had no routine, sometimes he had both, sometimes just milk or just solids.

One thing I would suggest though is that soon after introducing solids, you need to introduce water from a cup. Our son wasn't interested at first and we continued with it until he got to the stage where he's not interested in anything else. He loves it. Cheap, healthy and better for his teeth so we're all happy!

Oh and sad ole me filmed him having his first solid feed. It's lovely to look back on.

Gingham_Ribbon

Sorry, I forgot. I got expensive weaning tubs to take food out. They leaked. 2 years on, I can still keep yoghurt in the 99p for 3 ones I got in Wilkinsons. They still do them and they're great.

And the ice cube trays just need tipping out into a freezer bag and you can mix and match from your bags for each meal. I stopped using ice cubes when I was needing 4 or 5 per meal. They tell you when they've had enough. He turned his head away, closed his lips or pushed my hand away. I wouldn't recommend making an issue out of it if you think she's not had enough.

And have fun. Very exciting time! (Amazing how many women I know including me who have burned carrots at this stage!)

mspig

I weaned my 9 year old at 3 months because he was always hungry,
My two year old was weaned at 2 months because of the same reason.

I have just started weaning my 15week old this week and he is loving it.

Speak to you health visitor about it as mine stated there is no paticular age at which to wean but you can usually tell when they stop sleeping through the night and drinking more milk than usual during the day.

I have always started on baby rice but found that they much prefer powdered rice pudding you mix with milk.

Try a small amount and see if he/she takes it, if they do there ready if not leave for a few days and try again.

If i had left my children until 6mths old until feeding i would have never of got any peace from them.

Also as what to use for the food did you get the free advent or huggies packs from boots as i'm not sure which one but you got little bowls with lids on they make great holders for food.
Also the best spoons i have found are the colour changing ones which are change colour when the food is too hot.

As for making food up i would not worry about that until he/she takes the other foods then once there ready you can think about making your own.

Do you live in a sure start area as they also give out free blenders.

Hope this information helps

Becles

Don't fall into the frame of mind that baby can only eat bland foods.

I weaned my first child at 4 months and the second at 3 months (very active baby!). I started conventionally with baby rice, apple then other fruits & veg, then meats. Once they get past 6 months, start introducing what you normally eat. Mine were eating Chinese, curries and all sorts mushed up with a fork. Do watch for hidden salt in ready prepared meals/sauces, and don't go OTT and give them a vindaloo!

The youngest went on an all inclusive holiday aged 8 months. I brought most of the baby food back home, as most days there was something suitable on the buffet for him.

Sarahsaver

This has probably been said before, but just in case not, DON'T give up on a food just bcos your baby spits it out. That is a natural reaction and it is because they are learning what to do with this new stuff which has been put in their mouth. I didnt have any books, just went with my instincts as far as cooking was concerned, and the best containers I got were from the pound shop.
All my kids loved garlic.
Standby foods were mashed potato (the flakes which have no salt in) mashed bananas and weetabix.
It is NOT rocket science.
Re. The allergies I think theres too much faffing about these days, and think there are so many allergies because of people avoiding stuff in the first place. I ate nuts when I was pregnant. Go on food mafia shoot me down now! I sat ds in the kitchen and spread some peanut butter on the back of his hand to see if he would react. He rashed up a few years ago but now he is fine with nuts, same for melon, he used to get a rash 'smile' but thats eased off now.
You will get positive comments from old ladies who say how few people feed their babies proper food nowadays...

onestep

hi all

hold off as long as you can on the weaning!! It'll never be so easy to take them anywhere ever again!! some of the ways to tell if your baby is ready for solids is to see if they're waking up at night, if they've previously slept through; if they watch you eat like they begrudge you every mouthful; and if they try and grab at food. Keep it simple at first, just a little baby rice with milk, a couple of sppons at first, then gradually replace one of the feeds. A couple of weeks after that you could try pureed veggies, like carrot, or sweet potato. Hold off on the pureed fruit, so that they don't get a taste immediately for sweet things - that will come on it's own all too quickly!! Take it slowly, and be led by your baby - they will let you know how quickly they want to go on to solids. And don't take it too seriously either - it's all fun!

HTH
onestep

jellyhead

oooh, a weaning thread - excellent! splodge was ready for some food at 25 weeks but after a week he just stopped and didn't want it anymore. 8 days later he's just started again and is very excited about it all, it's ever so sweet :-) what's this about bland food - apple isn't bland lol! he hates it with a passion. he also hates mango. potato makes him vomit no matter how much formula it's mixed with. for ideas i looked at the ingredient list in the simpler foods - mostly just fruit/veg and water. i was having breakfast in asda when he suddenly started putting my food into his mouth so i got him a freebie jar of babyfood, it was around 80% water with a bit of banana lol!

Cath_S

Instead of lidded ice cube trays I use a bit of cling film over a regular ice cube tray.

I cook extra when I'm cooking for us and if I've got the steamer on then I stick some more veg in the top tray and then puree it up with a cheepo hand blender. Once frozen I decant into zip top bags.

I've just started weaning my 6 month old DD. I made one of Annabel Karmel's recipes - Potato, Courgette and Brocolli. I like the 3 ingredients but it tastes FOWL, but my DD couldn't get enough of it . She wouldn't take baby rice on it's own, not surprised as it's really bland, but i use it as a thickener. Fruits like pear can need it sometimes.

I got her a few sippy cups but the one she's just taken to yesterday is a cheepo Tommee Tippee one that has a flip top spout. I tried her with it a couple of weeks ago but she wasn't ready for it so I was really pleased when she took a fancy to it. I've heard loadsa people say take the valve out of these "no spill" cups, it's like sucking milkshake through a McDonalds straw, hard enough for an adult!

Good luck when you do start weaning. Don't be too disheartened if you bubba doesn't want to straight away like mine. Just keep trying and it'll happen

mercman_3

Have been weaning on & off now for around 3 or 4 months. DD has been ill so have had to stop / start it a few times.

She loves what we have done her thus far and is eating well, things like

Carrot
Pear
Peach
Apple
Sweet Potato


And recently did her Carrot & Swede as well as apple & pear

Question i have is it all is a little orange. it always looks like she is having the same thing. when does a bit of green come into her diet?

We have a book that stats that Brocoli & Califlower can be given together, trouble is isnt that introducing 2 seperate foods together at once?

Would welcome any suggestions on other foods for her

she also love rusk, baby rice & Banana Breakfast (porridge) aswell as fresh banana

She is 7 months old and has 2 bottom teeth well established


Cheers

Pete