The prospect of weaning Bob terrified me! I read too many books and, as I am asthmatic, I became paranoid about food allergies. I ended up writing my own weaning plan combining the information from the books that I had read and my own opinions, as the books seemed to contradict each other.
I decided to wean Bob at 5 months as she had started showing a great interest in food. I held her off for as long as I could, but when she stole a piece of chicken off my plate and tried to eat it, I knew the time had come.
I prepared all of the food in advance and became a pureeing maniac! I bought a fabulous machine that would steam food and then blend it.. With my freezer full, I carefully introduced each food, one at a time and I made a note of any reaction at the time of feeding or later that day.
I am glad that I started weaning Bob before I was given the information from the health visitor. I know that there is a strong focus on baby led weaning at the moment and I can see the benefits of this. Bob, however, did not seem to like this method and until she was 7 months old she would gag when given finger foods and bring back any food that she had eaten. As I had already begun weaning when I was told that I should be following the baby led weaning method, I wasn’t worried. I slowly introduced finger foods over several months, alongside puréed meals.
I was quite strict about the food that I allowed Bob to eat until her hospital stay. (See The Wonders of Haribo.) Now that has gone out of the window. She still eats healthy food but that is accompanied by small pieces of haribo, chocolate buttons and bits of whatever other treats her dad and I happen to be eating. She hears a packet rustle and gets excited! Oh dear! I know that I am probably creating a sweetie monster but I only give her tiny bits and she enjoys them so much!!! She even makes yummy noises, which she has never done when faced with a healthy meal. She is obviously a child after my own heart!
I have put together a little video to share with you the things that we learnt along the way.
What a brilliant idea! We have had such a rocky road with weaning, and I have to say have gone from 90% lovingly homemade purees and snacks to about 90% readymade babyfood for a variety of reasons, and Plum are definitely one of my favourites if not favourite.
I know what you mean about having more help. We also had the BLW lectures from HV which were not helpful. I get the theory and can see the benefits (for some) but really, I think the most important thing is common sense and knowing your child, not strictly sticking by one “method”. Good luck with the competition!
Thanks hon. Would love to make the transition. Think health visitors can put too much pressure on you. Bob’s chart has been a perfect arc but when her graph went up by a millimetre I got lectured about baby led weaning. She would have lost a lot of weight if I had followed their advice! x
Plum Baby food saw me through an entire week on the beach – I was so lucky the Bug was prepared to eat it cold so I just fed him from the pot, stuck him in his buggy and he slept while we ate! And for me it was always puree. GG still gags on lumps occasionally, and the GP’s are at the stage of prescribing her antibiotics in a pill format – aaaaargh!
That is so convenient! When we went away feeding Bob was a nightmare. She really struggled as all of their vegetables were soaked in oil and they disagreed with her. Ready made food would have saved us a lot of hassle! Sorry to hear about GG! Hope they get to the bottom of it! x