At first, we just upped his milk to the recommended levels, figuring it was a growth spurt. But his high chair brought him into a whole new world of staring at food. He would stare at our meals. He would watch strangers in cafes eat their soup. He would even look at the cat as she was eating. This was a boy who was interested in food.
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| Oh hi. I'd really like to eat your food right now. Kthnxbai. |
I started researching. The thing is, although you can feed from 17 weeks if it's recommended by a health professional- and in our case, it is- all the advice is geared up for babies from six months old. So it's a bit of a minefield, really. Thankfully, I have a health visitor who doesn't seem to mind if I ring her to ask what I'm sure are daft questions.
Anyway, I decided to start D last Wednesday. We'd been told that baby rice was a bit depressing on its own, so to consider adding something to it to make it more palatable. In Boots the other day, they were randomly giving out sachets of Plum purees. So D's first meal was a rather grim looking mixture:
You're jealous, right? It's a mix of baby rice (about a teaspoon), a squirt of sweet potato and squash puree (YUM) and some of his formula. And as gross as it seemed- he loved it. He gobbled it up and, at one point when I wasn't apparently feeding him quickly enough, used his limited motor skills to grab the spoon and shove it in his mouth. He's four months old. I'd say this is a kid who's going to enjoy food.
The health visitor has said because of his size, we're probably going to want to give him regular meals pretty quickly. I've tried with porridge, but on its own, it's a bit of a no-no. I don't blame D, it looks like glue. So I'm going to try a bit of puree to entice him.
So, for now, I guess we're going to experiment with mixtures. I'm being encouraged to give him what we're eating (as long as it doesn't have salt/sugar in it.)
Any tips/advice on weaning? I'll be posting an update next week- maybe someone else who is weaning early will find it useful!
I think as a mum you know when you need to start weaning and you know when milk on its own just isn't doing it for them anymore. I started weaning Thomas at 17 weeks too, (I have lots of blog posts about it if you want ideas)
ReplyDeleteI followed the cow & gate weaning plan I think you may still be able to request the free book on it off their website?
I agree, you know as a mother when to start. Mine wasn't weaned until 22 weeks but she was and still is tiny. I mean, we have never looked back since the day she started eating solids, it's the easiest thing I ever did with her. She's a bloody brilliant eater now and will try everything. Having your kid ENJOY food is half the battle imo. However all babies/adults have their likes and dislikes! Little Miss was like D that she didn't take to porridge, even now she still cannot stand the texture (we tried proper porridge with the squeeze strawberry and she still hated it) but she enjoyed baby rice and now she eats a bowl of puree fruit for breakfast and a slice of toast. My nephew on the other hand LOVED baby porridge and he now eats ready brek.. so it all depends on your kid!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to your weekly updates, I still find food and babies so much fun!
If you're going to use sachets and "real" food (ie you cook it and mush it up etc) I cannot recommend Ella's Kitchen enough, it's all my daughter ate and it actually tastes nice! The spag bol one tastes so good I used the rest on a bowl of pasta and ate it. I know i'm not the only one either ;)
Amy x cocktailsinteacups.blogspot.co.uk
A mother always knows. Rio wasnt big, hell he was only 18lb12 last time we got him weighed (10months+) but we also started at 17 weeks with permission of the weaning lady. He was clearly ready so why not? Rio loved the fruit baby porridges. He's adorable!!!
ReplyDeleteNew follower on bloglovin :)