Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

Juicy_Tube

abbecer wrote:

The bowls are really good. The one i had was divided into two, for dinner and pudding. It has a screw cap that you take off, fill with hot water and then replace cap. It heats the food from underneath. I got mine at Boots but you could probably find one at Mothercare or somewhere similar. They are fairly expensive but would work out cheaper in the long run than having to buy baby jars. In an emergency I also sometimes took the powdered baby food out with me, then used the hot water from the flask to mix it.

When they were a little older if we were eating out i would order baked potato and mash it with a little cheese and butter. Alternatively most places were happy to serve very small portions of veg and mash at a reduced cost, i would just add a little milk to make it smoother. Always check if they add salt in their cooking!!

Rebecca x :rotfl:

Hi Rebecca,

Do you by chance have a link for this product please? have tried to search to no avail on Boots!

Thanks for any help,

JT x

tankgirl1

pickledtink wrote:

My son at 4 months got hold of half a lemon and sucked avidly before shuddering and looking at it in astonishment. When I tried to take it away he protested mightily, hung on and had another go.

:rotfl: :rotfl: DS is at that stage now - he'll eat anything! and its soooo funny when they taste something new and when they start finger food, and kick up an almighty fuss if you try and take it away/when its all gone! :T

never tried him with a lemon tho :rolleyes: he loves gherkins though!

abbecer

Sorry i don't have a link, and to be honest i would know how to put it on if i did!!! I'm not very technically minded. Sorry.

Rebecca x :rotfl:

Spendless

I first started mine on baby rice but neither was keen, so I went onto pureed fruit and veg, just one at a time at first in case baby had a reaction to it.

My daughter initially wouldn't take baby rice from a spoon, so my son sugggested I pour some of her milk onto the spoon and let her get used to a spoon that way. It worked (son was 3 when he came up with that suggestion:rolleyes: )

As others have said it's health and safety regulations that don't allow places to warm up homemade food.

Mine always preferred food and milk cold, which as someone else has said made it far easier if you were out and about.

jellyhead

my baby didn't like baby rice at all, he had fruit or veg purees instead. just one fruit or veg to begin with, then later on he would have a mix of a couple of different foods. i think baby rice is good for getting babies used to the idea of solids, as you can mix it with their usual milk and it will taste of that, and then you can mix it with other purees for a gentler start to getting used to different flavours, but i don't know many babies who like baby rice.

hoob's favourite weaning foods were sweet potato, carrot, butternut squash, parsnip. he hated ordinary potato, it made him gag and he also hates apple. he's lactose intolerant too so i never got into the 'easy' routine of feeding from jars at every meal, because so many of them contain milk, apple or potato. i do think though that the baby jars and pots available nowadays are pretty good, not full of rubbish. so don't feel guilty when you use them

but my friend had her baby a few weeks after mine and he's always had baby products, never had family food. he drinks ready mixed baby juice (it comes in big plastic bottles) too, has never tried water. there are so many foods roo scoffs that my friend's baby has never tried, purely because they don't put them in jars of baby food.

don't worry if you have a fussy eater - roo hates apples and isn't keen on pears but will trough tomatoes, oranges, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, watermelon etc. - it seems that everyone feeds apple puree to their babies and both of mine hated it.

jellyhead

sorry, i forgot to add - for out and about i never had a problem with getting pots warmed up as long as i used the avent via ones, or a similar shape pot - not the really big flat dishes because if an establishment refuses to microwave baby food (i think they all refuse) your pot will have to fit into whichever container they are putting the boiling water into - in many places it's been a mug. so a thin container is best. avent via pots also stack and fit well into an insulated carrier, such as the avent thermabag but there are probably cheaper alternatives.

i find that food or milk stays cool in the thermabag for at least 4 hours, then i heat it using a flask. the fisher price bottle warming flask has an extra large lid designed for warming up bottles, the avent via pots fit into it too. so that's okay for food from the fridge or freezer. i admit to taking jars of food out with me if we're going out for the entire day, a banana works well too.

candygirl

my lovely neice is 4.5 months old, and i'm sure i weaned my own daughter at about this age, but her mum and dad are saying it's now advised to wean from 7 months!!anybody any views on this?it seems a bit late to me!!

cookiesncream

Is she showing signs of wanting to wean? (Irritable before next feed is due, chew hands, screams/looks for more, earlier waking times and doubled birth weight) The recommended is 4-6 months with all the above signs showing. I think 7 months is very late indeed!! My babies I have looked after are all on 3 meals a day (plus milk) by then. Do you know who advised them? If it wasn't the Health Visitor then they need to speak to her. HTH

Miss_Cinnabon

I weaned my elder two at 3 months as they were ready for it but lo was weaned at 4.5 months as the guidelines changed to 6 months but he was desperate for real food so weaned him then.

7 months is a bit too long even 6 months is!

Kyle

starlite_2

They generally advise 6 months now, but we weaned my baby from around 4.5 months on the health vistors advice.
I think they raised it to 6 months mainly to encourage people to breastfeed exclusively up to that point.

I would say 7 months is a little late..my baby is almost 8 months and is onto three meals a day and mainly finger foods.