Hints and tips for weaning (merged)

jackomdj

Not part of your question but I have a friend who could not stand her LO being messy when feeding, & I am mentioning it due to your stating you don't want to do finger food, whenever she got the slightest bit of food on her she would wipe her. Her DD ended up having a lot of issues with eating, we do not know if it was in any way caused by the fussing (nor do the health professionals she ended up having to see) but LO's getting messy when eating is an important part of their learning.

A lot of foods they can suck on that you would not think of, eg toast etc. I would say get a book or two & get some ideas of foods that would fit in with your family. Our first we made a lot of foods for her. The second ended up with our food mushed to suit her age - although we did tend to move to food that was easy to do this with.

HTH
Nicky

LilacPixie

Baby led weaning is actually a genius idea. I did it with baby number two. Number one we did traditional purees. lunch was same as evening meal TBH tried pureed veg one at a time then started to mix them then introduced meat mixed with veg then pasta and veg. with a pureed fruit and yog for pudding. My LO loved carrot and swede, squash and parsnip. lentils and carrot, mince and potato, chicken sweet potato and apple, apple and pear, apple and cinnimon (nice in ready brek) pea spinich and leek.

I used to make batches, blitz then freeze in silicon ice cube trays until frozen then transfer to a freezer bag. Then take 3-4 cubes out the nice before letting defrost in a tub in fridge

MrsTinks

Babies and kids get messy - that's why someone invented bathtubs and wetwipes
I batch cook most of DDs foods - if I see a load of reduced veg (pref organic... but I'm fussy) I buy it and cook it up individually and then freeze as icecubes. As lilac I then just get a couple of cubes out when I need them - worst case I nuke them and allow them to cool down or stand them in hot water. I also got some tubs that are a little bigger so that I can batch cook her lunches and she has those sent to the childminders with her.

As for age... hunger has nothing to do with it in my experience (which granted is only the one kid so far!) but to do with the level of interest the baby shows in the food. DD was trying to eat our dinners from 4 months on but has always been an extreemly nosey baby - she even out noses an 11 month old that will be joining her at the childminders in the new year by miles! and she 6 1/2 months old...
Let your baby guide you on what they want... they'll let you know if you look out for the signs

Oh and emergency lunch? mashed banana!

I do buy jars for variety (and to get ideas of flavour levels...) and ease for when we go to see friends. It's just easier than arriving with a bunch of half frozen food if we're staying overnight

xmaslolly76

Ive just prepared my first batch of frozen weaning foods. ive done Mash potatoe, pureed carrot and pureed apple. He will be six months in a month and half and wanted them ready so i didnt have to fuss so much when the time came. I'm also going to get some swede as its quite sweet and babies apparently like it. I am really interested in this baby led weaning thing so might look that up for when the time comes as if i dont have to do all the maching and pulversing it would make life so much simpler. Thank you for the link who put that :-) x

MrsTinks

skintchick wrote: »

You don't 'keep them hungry'! You give them more milk. Your HV is going against Government guidelines and policy if she is saying to wean earlier than six months.

It is actually a sign of a growth spurt if they start to want more food, they have growth spurts at around 4 months and again at 6 months.

your HV is out of touch and is actually going against Dept of HEalth policy.

babies should not be weaned before 6 months. All the studies and research now backs this up.




your HV has misinformed you.

Really? Because all 5 HVs and 2 MWs here have said the guideline is 6 months but "follow your gut instinct and let your baby tell you when he'she is ready"... far more sensible IMO
Certainly they give you all the information and guidelines etc including all the leaflets - but they don't preach at you here. Just as well because I would have ignored them anyway if they had...

I do agree that you don't keep them hungry though. And quite correctly that being hungry means more milk, not "whack me on solids" - the signs for being ready for solids is fairly different - when they are ready they'll show you... I tried a little baby porridge first with DD and she immediately did a "starving baby bird" impression for more! And no she wasn't hungry or starving at the time As I say - they'll let you know when they're ready

skintchick

MrsTine wrote: »

Really? Because all 5 HVs and 2 MWs here have said the guideline is 6 months but "follow your gut instinct and let your baby tell you when he'she is ready"... far more sensible IMO
Certainly they give you all the information and guidelines etc including all the leaflets - but they don't preach at you here. Just as well because I would have ignored them anyway if they had...

I do agree that you don't keep them hungry though. And quite correctly that being hungry means more milk, not "whack me on solids" - the signs for being ready for solids is fairly different - when they are ready they'll show you... I tried a little baby porridge first with DD and she immediately did a "starving baby bird" impression for more! And no she wasn't hungry or starving at the time As I say - they'll let you know when they're ready

Yes really. I posted a Government link that says so. It is Gov policy now to say not before 6 months. THe reason is because their guts are still leaky till then. Also, BLW is based on the premise that babies aren;t ready to eat till they can sit up by themselves, which is usually at 6 months although sometimes later. Again, the idea is they aren;t ready for food if they can't get it to their mouths and swallow it safely themselves.

Have a read but it makes sense.

But anyway, the 6 months thing is definitely Government policy.

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/baby/weaning/
http://www.dh.gov.uk/prod_consum_dh/groups/dh_digitalassets/documents/digitalasset/dh_084164.pdf (thi is the leaflet they give you at the weaning classeS)

emlou2009

Bear_family wrote: »

I really don't want to have to be cooking twice a day and I don't want to be relying on frozen meals of potatoes or veg cooked from previous meals or buying jars (as they are too expensive). I also don't want to do the whole finger food bit, as I'm sure most of it just ends up on the floor!

isnt that all the options exhausted before you start?

i started my son on baby rice at 15 weeks, then moved onto fruit and veg puree, fromage frais and baby cereals once he hit 18 weeks. he was draining 8oz bottles every hour and a half and not sleeping for any longer than a hour at day or night, he did suffer with reflux though. interestingly, most babies weight gain slows once weaning starts, but it was the opposite with seth, so i dont doubt at all that he needed it.

frozen meals are the way forward, just take them out the freezer in the morning and put them in the fridge, then nuke til the desired temperature!

MrsTinks

Hmmm obviously DD is older than 6 months because she's been sitting unaided since before she was 5 months! :eek: but I guess to a degree that might explain why she was so keen on food I know she was a week overcooked - and depending on how accurate you believe scans to be then that again might affect how old a baby really is? ie she could have been older than that if the conception date was actually earlier than the scan dates suggested IYSWIM?

Personally I would follow my gut again with any future babies if I have them... they don't come with manuals so at some point you'll go against a "current research" oppinion... same as when I was born it was dangerous to let your baby sleep on their back... now it's dangerous to let them sleep on their front It's amazing that we've all survived at all to make this planet so over populated I think

PurpleJay

Lunches for older babies/toddlers:-

Bread/Sandwiches/Toast with toppings - scrambled egg, beans, tomatoes, cheese, cream cheese hummous etc. I used to cut toast into quarters and put beans on or dip fingers of toast in tomatoes until he was old enough to use cutlery. Scrambled egg he did with his fingers!

Savoury scrambled egg - fry some veg in a little butter, stir in the egg/milk mix and add some grated cheese.

Crackers with cheese/cream cheese/jam

Breadsticks with humous, cream cheese

Soup and bread

Pasta and sauce (can be warmed up from another day if you like)

If you want to spoon feed lunches, soup is a good one, or scrambled egg/beans - or just cook a bit extra of whatever you are having so that it can be frozen/kept until the next day. I used to do this with things like mash but usually did veg fresh in the microwave which was really quick. Yes, he did mash with his fingers quite happily.

Worth a mention is that with baby led weaning you can actually eat at the same time as your baby without you having to spoon feed or even eat separately as I know some parents do. When you go out to eat, you can just ask for another plate (or take your own) and then order things for yourself that baby can have. I would probably order pasta, risotto, garlic bread, chips or something and hubby who eats meat would ask for his gravy separate so we could take a bit of veg off for M. Took him on holiday to Italy at 9 months and had no trouble at all - he ate what we did.

Hope this helps.

jackomdj

Another thought - go with savory food to start. If you start on sweet they prefer it & sometimes don't want savory.