Hi everyone
My name is Beth and I’m Mummy to Eloise (14 months) with another on the way.
Before E was born, I read so many books and so much conflicting advice about weaning, I dreaded the moment we would have to start. Baby led, not baby led, mush, jars – it’s just a minefield.
E has always been bottled fed and by 6 weeks was on hungry baby milk. Come 11 weeks however, milk was not filling her up for long enough and we were back to feeding every 2 hours! So going against all the advice I gave her some baby rice.
I introduced it slowly just at her dinner time feed and she was much happier. We then gradually introduced at breakfast as well before moving on to banana porridge for breakfast.
By 16 weeks, E was ‘eating’ 3 small meals a day. We used to use the Heinz powder food as it was tasty, she enjoyed it and it was easy to make. I also started to introduce small ‘adult’ food – sandwiches with dairylea cut into little teddy bears, cheese, cucumber sticks, breadsticks etc
By 6 months, E was eating 3 meals a day topped up with a milk as needed. Fingers crossed, we’ve had no real dramas and generally, mealtimes are a really nice event. At 14 months, she now eats anything. Can be a bit fussy with bread sometimes but we mix it up and always make food interesting with shapes and faces etc.
So my top tips for weaning:
- Go with your instinct and don’t be afraid to do it before the professionals say
- Relax. Don’t try and force it. They will only ever eat what they want
- Routine. Do the same thing. E always eats in her high chair at the same place.
- Make it fun. I always make E’s food look fun. Smiley faces, little people sandwiches etc
- Enjoy it. The more you worry, the more stressful it will be.
- Common sense. Don’t give anything too fatty, use baby size pieces, not too much sugar, no sharp food etc
- Family time. If possible make it time to all way together. That way you make a lovely event of it and can watch little one at the same time.
PLEASE NOTE: This is a guest post from another mum, based on her experiences with her baby. Current NHS guidelines recommend that a baby should only be fed breast milk or infant formula milk up until the age of six months. Before this age your baby’s digestive system is still developing and weaning too soon may increase the risk of infections and allergies. They state that if for some reason a parent wants, or needs to wen their baby earlier, then four months or 17 weeks, is the absolute minimum age to introduce solids. These guidelines apply to full-term babies and do not apply to babies born prematurely.
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