Let The Weaning Begin!

Well, it’s time to start weaning now. I can’t believe it has come around so soon. It seems like only yesterday that I wrote this post about becoming a Dad. I can’t believe we are now over 19 weeks. How time has flown by. Thankfully we have really cherished the past four and a half months so we have so many good memories from it. However, now it’s time to start the process to give him solid food!

How do we know he is ready? He is having 9oz of formula five times per day now and really really wants to eat our food when he sees it. He is staring at us when we eat and moving his mouth like he wants to eat it, sticking that lower lip out and his tongue. Quite cute really. Reaching for our food every now and again too…all good signs that he is ready. The main thing though is that we are hoping the food helps with his reflux. We have been told by the health visitor and learned through our research that this should help. Fingers crossed it will!

We are aware it’s a little earlier than the guidelines of six months, but you have to do what you feel is right as a parent, and he is having so much formula, giving us really good signs to say he is ready and it should help reduce his reflux. Who knows how much formula he would be on by six months if we didn’t try this out in a very careful and controlled way.

The Plan

This has taken quite a bit of research, including a visit from our Health Visitor which was well timed. Apparently Health Visitors will go round to everyone and give them a weaning visit at about 5 months which I think is great. They’re a great source of information, just think through the questions you want to ask before they come over.

I’ll talk you through what I believe are the essential pieces of equipment in a moment but for us, given that he is under five months, there was no doubt we were starting on veg purée. We felt anything more solid was just too risky, but everyone has different thoughts.

We decided to start with carrot purée and add in broccoli, parsnips, peas and cauliflower later (all in purée format of course). To enable us to do this we bought a machine from Tommee Tippee Steam and Blend machine which steams and blends/purees the veg (or fruit or meat) all in one handy container, rather than creating loads of washing up. It also meant that once programmed you just turn it on and leave it to do its thing. I’ll write more about that shortly. I appreciate this sounds like an ad of some sort but it really isn’t.

We felt it important that we try and feed him when he is in a happy mood, not when he is full, not when he is really hungry and not when he is tired. As such, timing is key. We felt that in weaning him the first few weeks he has anything are just for fun and not nutrition (he is continuing to have formula). Later down the line it will replace formula, but not yet.

We plan on making some frozen cubes of veg so we can simply defrost and reheat. Two minutes in a microwave does the trick.

Weaning Equipment

So here is a list of the weaning equipment we bought for N:

• High chair – a must really! We got this one from Ikea for £14. Inexpensive and dishwasher proof, can’t go wrong. Also, it’s easy to take apart so you can travel with it. Not really sure what else you want in a high chair really? We also got an insert that we blow up to give some extra support to N
• Under high chair mat – we have carpet in our dining room so any method of preventing mess on there works for me! I fully expect food to go on the floor so a mat to catch it is a fab idea (plus Charlie will no doubt be nearby to eat anything that drops! He will be over the moon!)
• Tommee Tippee Steam Blender – this is brilliant, simply brilliant. I will write a more in

  

• depth review of it in time when I’ve used it a bit more on different settings and for different food other than veg, but my first impressions are great. I appreciate this probably feels like a sponsored post how much I’m raving about this, but it isn’t. We read the reviews and just went ahead and bought it. In essence you put in your food, add 450ml water to a container, set the steam time (the guide tells you how long), set the blend time (again there is a guide) and press go. Veg purée in 17 minutes. Amazing.
• Baby spoons – rubbery, soft and small. Perfect for baby hands. We are happy to just let him hold a spoon to be honest so he starts to get used to it
• Freezer bags – we decided to prepare purée in advance and freeze it, hence needing freezer bags
• Ice cube trays – before you need freezer bags you need something to put them in to freeze the puree! In the second picture you can see the tray we’ve bought for quite a bit of food for him, but I suggest normal ice cube tray to strt with are enough. You can always defrost more than one cube at a time if needed
• Microwaveable pots – once you get the purée out the fridge you’ll need to heat it up! Two minutes in there and you’re ready to go

That’s about it in terms of equipment to buy (assuming you have basics like a microwave).

Wish Us Luck

So, we’ve now started and tried it a few times. He is gradually eating more and more and seems to be really enjoying it, having the new texture in his mouth and experimenting. As I say it’s about trying it out, having fun and smiling a lot. We are not expecting him to gobble it down like a starving dog yet, just to try it out.

How have your weaning journeys gone?

Any tips?