[Das Kitty]

I thought there should be a thread here where we can ask questions and share tips on weaning. Whether it be spoon feeding, baby-led weaning, finger foods, recipes or just to share the mini triumphs of your baby starting on "people food"

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So I have a question.

James has been on solids for about a month and he's been really quick on the uptake. He's now on 3 meals and 3 bottles. A couple of weeks ago I tried him on toast and he loved it. He could dissolve it in his mouth and then swallow. In the past week any finger food I give him (Organix rusks, toast..) makes him gag and be sick. He seems to try to swallow too much at once.

My question is: Should I keep trying it with him or should I leave it for a while?

He's coming up on 7 months now but has no teeth yet.

[January]

Maybe leave him for a while and try maybe once a week with some dry finger food? He should get the hang of it!!

My problem is with Saoirse, I have been trying her on solids on and off for the past month and a half. Mostly savoury stuff (sweet potato or carrot puree) but some pureed apple or pear too... tried some baby rice at the start. She gags on EVERYTHING (now I know this in itself is not a problem, but even the tiniest bit of puree is being gagged on), sometimes I persevere and she gets a bit (maybe two or three teaspoons of the puree) and sometimes I have to give up as she gets so distressed and the next day she is literally in bits, crying all day and just in bad form, could be teething but it could also be linked to the food.

Now I'm not too worried about her at the moment, she's still on five bottles a day and sleeping through the night, she also seems to be gaining weight, I was just so used to Addison starting solids at four months that this is a bit new to me! Might do baby led weaning, she seemed to like the bit of rusk she had in my mams last week!!

[Das Kitty]

Is she sitting up yet Adrieanne?

I know some of the babies in my Mum and Baby group were gagging before they could sit up and got over it when they could.

I think I'll keep trying James in bits of finger food but maybe give it to him before a feed so he won't be losing a lot of dinner! His puke is starting to smell like the real thing now too, yeuck.

[January]

No she's not sitting up unaided yet so that may be it

[RunForestRun]

I think there's a trend towards kids moving onto solids sooner than recommended by the World Health Organisation's guidelines, although they do seem a little too conservative. Certainly the district nurse was constantly trying to hurry us along with it even though our little one clearly wasn't ready, gagging and throwing up.

Around 7 months, I think we were introducing Liga/Rusk mixed with a little of the formula to get our baby used to the taste. A few small bits of white bread or scone or toast is good too, I think it was around 8 months we started that. Brown bread is not as good for young babies as it doesn't digest as quickly. We were giving a little bit of mashed up banana around 7 months also, but some babies can get either loose bowels with this or constipation so keep an eye on it.

Every baby is different in this regard though so it will be individual to each of them. My nephew was eating all sorts of grown up food when he was six months whereas we were just starting to wean our little one at 6 months and only at a year is she properly happy with a lot of things.

[mohawk]

Originally Posted by Das Kitty

I thought there should be a thread here where we can ask questions and share tips on weaning. Whether it be spoon feeding, baby-led weaning, finger foods, recipes or just to share the mini triumphs of your baby starting on "people food"

-----------------

So I have a question.

James has been on solids for about a month and he's been really quick on the uptake. He's now on 3 meals and 3 bottles. A couple of weeks ago I tried him on toast and he loved it. He could dissolve it in his mouth and then swallow. In the past week any finger food I give him (Organix rusks, toast..) makes him gag and be sick. He seems to try to swallow too much at once.

My question is: Should I keep trying it with him or should I leave it for a while?

He's coming up on 7 months now but has no teeth yet.

He doesn't have to be sitting up unaided. If he can sit up well in a highchair then he should be fine. I followed baby led weaning with my son. Sometimes they can manage a food fine and then they start gagging on it because they start putting too much in their mouths. Gagging can help them learn not to stuff their mouths. If they are continously gagging then they aren't ready but you said you already gave your son toast no problem so it sounds like he is ready.

[Das Kitty]

Yeah I think he needs to differentiate between purée and lumpier stuff. He was fine to begin with because he was tentative about all food and took it slow, he now just swallows purée like water and finds it hard to switch between that and lumpier stuff.

He has been sitting unaided since he was 5 months, a month before we started with solids.

[ebmma]

started baby led weaning he loooved gumming a piece of stake to death also had tast and beetroot

[Cat Melodeon]

I've been doing a mix of spoonfeeds and baby-led weaning with my lad and it's gone brilliantly. He was a week off 6 months old and I felt that it was the right time to start - he could sit (wobbly) unaided and was starting to pick things up between his index finger and thumb and put them in his mouth. His tongue thrust reflex had also completely gone, although he did still gag on new foods or lumpier spoon feeds from time to time.

I found the Anabel Karmel books great for ideas for first foods and I adapted lots of them to make finger foods. His favourites at the start were cubes of steamed apple and pear, grated cheese, the organix range of rice cakes etc, toast with melted cheese or jam, peas, diced ripe avocado, bits of banana, chopped up chicken curry (still goes crazy for it) and pasta of any kind. Sometimes I feel like we treat him like one of the dogs, giving him scraps off our plates, but that's when he's happiest, munching on broccoli from my plate or his dad's almost-finished chop bones.

[r3nu4l]

Great thread, we're thinking of starting into the weaning process soon enough. We'll start with baby rice and move on to purées. We have a book of purée 'recipes' and will be giving them a go.

So how did you all start out with purées? Did you start by giving one food type first to get the baby used to the different taste and texture?
What have people been using to store batches of purée? I've heard of some people freezing portions in ice cube trays and then defrosting them when needed. Good idea or not?

[Das Kitty]

I started on the rice the first day, then gave sweetpotato purée the next day. I waited till six months to start so I didn't see the point in giving 3 days per food (especially the non allergenic ones). The ice cube trays are a good freezing option to begin with but they start eating a lot more quite quickly. I used mini-muffin trays (silicone) and at the moment 3 of these is how much he eats now. That's about the same as a normal bun tray full.

Currently the freezer is full of frozen meals (from the Annabel Karmel book), puréed fruit and mash potato! He gets some jars too.

[Cat Melodeon]

I gave my lad rice once and never again. He hated it and to be honest I didn't blame him - it's like eating wallpaper paste and gave him awful constipation. We started straight off with pureed fruit, sweet potato and squash. He didn't like normal potato at the start but will eat it now. For breakfast, I don't buy the special baby cereals as they are atrociously expensive - I've found oatibix or readybrek to be the best in terms of digestibility and price. I usually mash up a bit of fruit in there too to meet the five-a-day target and take off a bit of the blandness. Whole milk is fine in cereal once they're past 6 months, but maybe use your normal milk (breast or formula) if they seem to struggle at the start (extra wind beyond what is normal, difficulty pooing or runny nappies).

[mohawk]

Originally Posted by r3nu4l

Great thread, we're thinking of starting into the weaning process soon enough. We'll start with baby rice and move on to purées. We have a book of purée 'recipes' and will be giving them a go.

So how did you all start out with purées? Did you start by giving one food type first to get the baby used to the different taste and texture?
What have people been using to store batches of purée? I've heard of some people freezing portions in ice cube trays and then defrosting them when needed. Good idea or not?

baby rice is nasty!! Babies can have very strong likes and dislikes. Babies have taste buds too!! If you are going down the puree route forget about baby rice and go for pureed fruit and veg its much tastier.

[Das Kitty]

God I think the baby rice is gorgeous, mixed with whole milk and some fruit purée warmed up. Mmmm

What's the adult version by the way? Is it Semolina?

[crazy cat lady]

We started Megan with baby rice mixed with breast milk, then moved on to purees. I did a sweet potato, carrot and broccoli puree and an apple and pear puree. I've since made fruity rice puddings and frozen them using baby rice and fruit puree.

Megan is now on lumpy foods and has been for about 5 weeks. We generally give her whatever we are having and just mash it down a bit. She also loves scrambled egg and cheese! She has ready brek with a little honey in the mornings and half a slice of toast. Other finger foods include sticks of cheese, bread crusts, carrots, organix rice cakes and organix finger biscuit things. She loves her food!

She also has petit filous (or whichever alternative is on offer!) or mashed banana as desserts, and occasionally a pot of some sort of baby custardy dessert.

Because I've given her homemade food from day one, she wont entertain anything from a jar!

I bought a bag of baby pasta stars in Tesco when I was moving on to lumpy food and added them to the purees which I think worked really well as she has never had any problems with lumps