Simple Baby Weaning Ideas

Moving your baby on from milk can be emotional and exciting. It’s wonderful seeing your baby grow and develop. Introducing them to new foods and flavours can be so much fun. It can also be a little daunting. What should a babies first food be? How do you make sure that your baby is exposed to lots of new flavours? How many vegetables should they be eating? How thick or thin should their food be? What is baby led weaning? What if your baby doesn’t want to feed themselves?

Honestly, just like so many aspects of mother hood, first foods can raise a lot of questions! Having weaned two babies now, I can honestly say… don’t over think it. It does not need to be complicated or stressful. If they’re gaining weight, developing normally and having plenty of wet nappies… then you’re doing fine! I know a lot of mums stress about exposing their babies to every possible vegetable and fruit! I personally didn’t put that pressure on myself. My two girls eat well! They like an extremely wide range of foods. But I introduced new foods to them very naturally, following both the seasons, and what we were eating. Although not all your own evening meals will be suitable for your newly weaned baby, one aspect or another will be. If you are eating a varied and healthy diet so will your baby. As long as your baby is still having plenty of milk (breast or formula), then they’re not reliant on food for their nutrients. That being said, both my girls definitely showed an interest for food from about five months. So that’s when we started introducing food.

Our first foods included yogurt, mashed banana, apple sauce, pureed sweet potato and porridge. The one food type that I did consciously introduce early was nuts in the form of nut butter. I tried to include most types of nuts, and just did a little at a time. The general advice is that its best to introduce potential allergens earlier rather than later. Nut butter is very easy to include in your baby’s foods. You can simply feed it to them on a spoon, or add it to porridge, yogurt or even fruit puree.

In terms of baby led weaning verses feeding your baby pureed food off a spoon… again I wouldn’t worry about it! My two girls expressed their preference early on. Both eat well, and can feed themselves appropriately! My first born did not like baby led weaning. She simply wanted the food to enter her mouth as quickly as possible. Having get food from plate to mouth herself was considered an unnecessary obstacle! My second would literally take the spoon from my hand, her strong preference is to feed herself. Honestly, your baby will let you know. Just roll with it. My first born is now two and uses a knife and fork (with a little help from her fingers) absolutely fine. My youngest is already using a spoon (somewhat messily). Personally I much preferred feeding my baby with a spoon, rather than bay led weaning. It was a lot less messy! That being said, with two kids now, its good that my youngest likes to feed herself. It means I can engage more with my oldest while she eats.

Overall don’t over complicate weaning. Follow your baby’s cues. In this section you will find lots of ideas to get you started. Ideas to introduce new flavours, spices and textures. Bon appetit!