Yes, it is that time already.
Baby is bored with just drinking milk, so the time has some to start weaning.
This is both an exciting time whilst being at the same time scary…
Will he like it?
Will he eat it?
What to try first?
100s of questions and a bag of mixed answers… should we just play “eeny, meeny, miny, moe…” to pick the correct one?
It was time to look for some help.
Cow & Gate offers an online Five Step Weaning Plan with lots of useful information and tons of great tips. The program (as per its name) is split into five steps:
- First spoonfuls
- Introducing breakfast
- Introducing Variety
- Meat, Fish & alternatives
- Establishing 3 meals a day
Each step has a clear description and a lot of tips to make this step of the journey as easy and as pleasant as possible for both the baby and the parent. My favourite part of the website is the recipe collections perfect for each step. As we are on step one, we have 10 quick and easy purees to pick from.
We’ve made some Carrot Puree using the quick and easy instructions on the Cow & Gate website:
Ingredients:
1 medium carrot
Your baby’s usual milk or cooled, boiled water
Method:
Peel carrot, and cut into slices ½ cm thick.
Steam them for 8−10 min until soft.
Cool slightly, then add 2 tbsp of the water or milk.
Blend with a food processor or hand blender until runny and smooth. Add more liquid if you need.
It is important to experiment in the beginning. Let your baby pick the flavours he or she likes; let them discover at their own pace what real food tastes like.
For us it wasn’t very hard. Leo was eager to try something new. He opens his mouth and waits for more yummy “mash” to arrive. I think he is enjoying this time, despite making really funny unhappy faces at times.
Do you have any weaning tips for us?
Something you do or did in the past which made the whole process easier?
* We received a small goodie bag from Cow & Gate containing feeding spoons, sipping cup and a food selection to help us start the weaning process.
Bark Time = everything and nothing 
Gosh, this brings back memories! My daughter loved carrots and parsnips as I recall. Now she has an appetite like a horse!!
I hated making my own baby food but my children both loved their food at that stage.
Aw bless he doesn’t look too keen!! Takes me back to when mine were younger. I think its just a trial and error thing, you can;t go wrong with following their recipes and advice though used to love Cow & Gate when my two were young.
Make in bulk and freeze puree into ice cubes. My kids were not big fans of solid foods until almost 8 months, by that time we had a freezer full of baby food! good luck!
I also used to make in bulk every weekend and freeze for the week ahead. It’s fun introducing them to new tastes and experiences.
We love the little packs that are filled with baby food. And you can buy your own to put your homemade babyfood in. They are not as messy as the old spoon, and can let the baby feed them selves.
Very great posts especially for new moms!!
What a cutie! I do baby led weaning and really don’t use baby food but as a nurse I love that you are educating the masses on a great way to wean!
We do BLW and it’s so fun watching them explore and start new foods!
These are great tips!! It’s very informative.
Awwww, what a cutie. No tips I’m afraid it was too long ago for me now! I do remember trying them with pretty much everything though and freezing lots of portions.
The face when they first taste something new always amuses me :o)
His face is an absolute picture bless. I do love the faces they pull as they try new things, I remember my eldest nephew being given some dry bread for the first time and it wasn’t a huge success as he spat it out with some force, sticking to to the adjacent wall x
My kids were super easy to wean. They were eager for new stuff I suppose.
Great info! My son never liked purées. Went straight to table food. I think it’s the texture.
Oh! he is so cute!! You are doing the right thing by feeding him veggies at this young age.
Wow – blast from the past. I’ve still got a pack of Cow&Gate weaning recipe cards knocking around somewhere.
Great post! We are doing half purée and half baby led weaning! I mainly just blitz up the meat and veggies we eat normally for him. He can eat an entire orange in one sitting now and loves cucumber! He hates papaya though! I think variety is the key! 🙂
I think making your own baby food is great to do!
Great tips here , he is such a beautiful baby . good luck with the weaning.
I remember sweet potatoes always going down very well. Good luck with it all!
My boys ate sweet potatoes with everything, I was concerned they would turn orange, but I read that they contained everything a little one needed and was a little obsessed!
Love this post for new moms. Thanks for sharing!
My kid is so peaky when it comes to food, I think this is very helpful. Thank you
The baby looks so cute! This post is informative as well. I am sure this could be so helpful to new moms for sure. Thanks for sharing this.
My two were really easy to wean and ate anything and everything – one still does but the other is a lot fussier these days x
Sorry I have to say all that sounds like so much faff. I did baby led weaning with my youngest 2 and just gave them what I was eating and it was much easier.
I used ti make up big batches of food and freeze them in an ice cube tray
oh happy days. I loved weaning my girls and once I’d introduced a few veggies to them I just used to give them what i ate and they used their hand to shovel it in 🙂
My son absolutely loved sweet potato pure when he was little. It was one of the first foods, besides potatoes, carrots and apple, that I gave him. And it was our go to after that.