I’ve been procrastinating on the weaning front, largely because I’m not the best cook in the world and largely because I can’t believe my baby girl is growing up so quickly! However with baby staring at us longingly as we ate I decided I had to stop putting it off and start weaning her. She’s 5 months and certainly showing signs of being interested in food so I am going with the flow and letting her lead the way.
I went up into the loft and found some of my old weaning pots, gave them a good wash and headed out to buy myself a small worktop blender. The lovely people at Stokke also very kindly sent me the baby seat set to go with our Tripp Trapp so I had everything I needed so there were no further excuses to be had and it was all systems go!
I intend to do as I did with my eldest daughter and start weaning by introducing a a few vegetables and fruit gradually, over 2-3 days each to ensure she has no allergic reactions and to see what tastes and flavours she prefers, I’ll then gradually introduce more and after a few weeks some fingers foods too. I’ve invested in a few of Ellas Kitchen first taste pouches, such as Pear, Mango and Banana, as they are small and offer basic tastes, as well as making a few of my own home made purees, including broccoli, carrot and sweet potato. I’ve made very small pots, having learnt from my mistakes first time round, where I threw an awful lot of puree out in the first few weeks, simply because their little tummies don’t need a lot.
I’ve started with food at tea time and after 3-4 weeks or so, I’ll introduce food at lunch time and then in another 3-4 weeks I’ll give her breakfast. I do it this way as it seems easiest for me and breakfast is when we are most rushed so I like to know we have got things well under way with no problems before I introduce meals at this time of the day! lol!
We started the process with my own home made puree of carrot, which we introduced over the first 3 days. Baby girl was certainly interested even if the majority did slide back out of her mouth! I am putting this down to the whole new nature of solids though and not my cooking! ahem!
Next up on day 4 we introduced broccoli, which was a huge hit! She loved it and most of it stayed in her mouth! Not something a lot of babies “chow down” but both my daughters seem to be fans!
After 3 days of broccoli we moved on to sweet potato (day 7), which was another of my home made purees. This again went down a storm over 3 consecutive days!
On day 9 I introduced banana. It was funny to watch her face as it was one of the sweetest tastes she had had. I started by mashing my own banana up but some of it did come straight back out her mouth, probably due to the texture, so on the 2nd day I tried an Ellas Kitchen Banana pouch, which she loved and she soon devoured over half of, polishing off the second half the following day!
Day 11 we tried a Plum pouch of Broccoli & Apple and boy oh boy did that go down well! Her little mouth was chomping at the bit for more and she yet again devoured half a pouch in one evening, with the other half the following day! (Have to say I sampled some to see what it was all about as it’s not a combination I’ve ever had and it was very nice!)
The following two days (days 13 and 14) we tried an Ellas Kitchen Pear pouch and I have to say this has to be the biggest hit yet! She went crazy for it and actually told me off quite vocally for not feeding her fast enough! She was kicking her little legs in excitement and opening her mouth wide in anticipation. Should she have been able to break free from her high chair I am fairly sure she would have grabbed the pouch straight from us! She loved it so much she had a whole pouch in one evening and the second the following night!
I have to say I am so pleased that so far she has taken well to weaning, it’s made me realise that it was the right thing to do. I had my reservations also about her being premature and starting weaning too early, but she’s proving to me that it’s what she wanted and she appears to be handling it well. She’s grabbing at the spoon, trying to feed herself (or chew on the spoon for her teeth!?) and is really seeming to embrace it. Happy days!
The lovely people at Plum and Hipp Organic have very very kindly sent us some of their first stage pouches to use, so I am looking forward to trying some more of these out over the next few weeks as there’s some fab flavours that I am sure baby girl will love! I’ve also got some brilliant food pouches from My Pouch, so now baby is starting to eat a little more I am looking forward to trying these out too for our food on the go!
Bring on the food fun!
Disclaimer: This is NOT a sponsored post, all views are my own.