so, in the next month or so ( ) i think we will start weaning - elijah seems fine just now but it's time to start thinking...is there anything that you really need??

we have some little baby spoons - but do you need things like freezable portion pots? some kind of mashing device for veg? one of those perverse looking food-net-on-a-sticks?

is there anything you can think of that is actually necessary??? or even just cute but also useful!

I used Avent Via pots, as great for everything from freezing, heating, also for putting milk in to warm for cereal - but you don't have a microwave do you so maybe not so useful?

Bowls of course,

I never got a net thing, Izzy just has it as it is and has never had a problem

i just put the food into ice cube trays and transfer to freezer bags, at first I used the hand blender but now i just mash with a fork to make it more textured.

the microwave always seems to stick in peoples minds maybe i can warm stuff in a glass of hot water though, in the tub, if its little bits and already defrosted???

i bought a 5.99 hand blender from tesco, a wee pack of TT bowls, spoons and a TT sucker pad!!! ice cube trays are just as good for freezing foods but the likes for the quid shop has loads of portion sized trays, rather than pay thru the nose in a supermarked. if u have a pound stretches, look in there. great for bargains

i warm mine in hot water, the microwave is great for defrosting but I avoid it for heating her food.

Mari - i wud invest in either a hand blender or a blender/smoothie maker. Makes life very easy as mashers arent very good for first puree food. I also have some weaning spoons and a couple of bowls split into two halfs. So when eli comes to dropping a feed he can have once side for food and the other side for desert.

Apart from that theres nothing else u really need. I use jars quite alot for now but do make my own stuff now and again. Once alfies 6 months old itll be alot easier to just puree wat we eat (as long as its not a meat feast pizza!!) as they can eat alot more variety of food once they hit 6 months.

And OMG -no microwave?! how do u makre ure super noodles?!!

x

Ive just done a 3 week weaning course in which i got loads of stuff at the end of it - recipes etc. I got told that a microwave is the best way to heat up baby food but if you are going to use it over heat it and then let it cool down - that way it kills bacteria.

also, i think ive mentioned it before but theres no need to sterilise bowls, spoons etc - as long as u wash them in hot sopay water should be fine!

x

This time round, I didn't puree anything. Just mashed it with a fork from the off. Then went on to finger foods. Sooooooo much easier! x

hopadom wrote:

This time round, I didn't puree anything. Just mashed it with a fork from the off. Then went on to finger foods. Sooooooo much easier! x

I'd agree with this, we started with finger foods as well as purees and it's worked really well

Im going to start on finger foods soon.Jo wat is ava eating finger food wise? Ive just managed to drop a bottle with alfie for the first time today so hopefully il be able to fill him up on proper food now x

Quote :

as long as its not a meat feast pizza!!

hahaha you mean he can't have my beef chow mein and haagen daz????! bummer!

oh god, this post has made me realise that i really have NO idea what i'm doing...any good book recommendations?

my h.v is very useful but i can't find any classes and i'm paranoid i'm going to do it wrong! (although my husband just informed me he would go into the kitchen right now and make elijah a sandwich...)

hopadom wrote:

This time round, I didn't puree anything. Just mashed it with a fork from the off. Then went on to finger foods. Sooooooo much easier! x

I very rarely blended stuff - just used a fork for veggies etc, I also used alot of pots early on, as I found that having a decent selection in the freezer/fridge of stuff I made myself was really hard - using post meant that early on she got to try a huge variety of tastes. Swings in roundabouts though cos now I wouldn't give her a pot!!

I too introduced finger food as soon as she could pick it up

amyLVZalfiebear wrote:

Im going to start on finger foods soon.Jo wat is ava eating finger food wise? Ive just managed to drop a bottle with alfie for the first time today so hopefully il be able to fill him up on proper food now x

strips of steamed veg, she loves carrots and brocolli , fingers of toast, finger sandwiches , chunks of cheese and rice cakes.

You can just use a sieve to puree foods, cook till soft and push through a sieve, thats what i did with H. I like Annabel Karmel books x

hasnt it been 2 days till peecosy day for like a week now??!! im getting impatient!!

oh yeah back to the topic.....

i know wat u mean about worrying doing summat wrong.i worried so much with alfie but u just take it as it comes. i started with offering him a few spoonfuls of porridge after his first feed of the day (that way if he had trouble digesting it wouldnt affect his sleep). Then as he like it started building up for about a week and then i introduced a dinner - again a few spoonfuls and built up. After another week i introduced tea building up. Once he had 3 meals a day i worked on trying different food - but only one at a time and then once id tried a few things i started building up each meal.

I started at 16 weeks and he is now nearly 26 weeks and he has porridge for brekkie with fruit, a jar of somethings fruity for dinner with a yoghurt for desert for dinner and for tea he normally has a jar of mixed veg. hes also on 3 bottles a day ( until today - before he was still taking 4 bottles a day)

Just follow eli and how he takes it. its all about baby led weaning these days - let them guide u x

pinkyd wrote:

amyLVZalfiebear wrote:

Im going to start on finger foods soon.Jo wat is ava eating finger food wise? Ive just managed to drop a bottle with alfie for the first time today so hopefully il be able to fill him up on proper food now x

strips of steamed veg, she loves carrots and brocolli , fingers of toast, finger sandwiches , chunks of cheese and rice cakes.

this is such a usefull post and i dont mean to hijack .

theo is a good eater and have been able to drop some of his bottles , i seem to have lots of trouble with the finger foods everything i give him he takes a chomp off and then seems to near choke ( which gives me heartfailure) does ava gag on the finger foods u give her ??
theo is just starting lumpy food so he seems to still gag a little on the lumps but i know he wont choke on them as they are so small im just terrified that he will on the other things i give him ??

I mashed with a fork too. I did buy some bowls but most of the time used any bowl.

Ellie always preferred finger foods, especially cheese omlette or cheese on toast cut into strips.

chickadee22 wrote:

pinkyd wrote:

amyLVZalfiebear wrote:

Im going to start on finger foods soon.Jo wat is ava eating finger food wise? Ive just managed to drop a bottle with alfie for the first time today so hopefully il be able to fill him up on proper food now x

strips of steamed veg, she loves carrots and brocolli , fingers of toast, finger sandwiches , chunks of cheese and rice cakes.

this is such a usefull post and i dont mean to hijack .

theo is a good eater and have been able to drop some of his bottles , i seem to have lots of trouble with the finger foods everything i give him he takes a chomp off and then seems to near choke ( which gives me heartfailure) does ava gag on the finger foods u give her ??
theo is just starting lumpy food so he seems to still gag a little on the lumps but i know he wont choke on them as they are so small im just terrified that he will on the other things i give him ??

she has gagged a few times but it comes up easily, rice cakes are a good start because she sucks them until they break off, you can get a big bag of unsalted ones for 99p from holland and barrett.

that brilliant thanks pinky , i will give them a go !

iv tried everything but he just gags and scares the crap right out of me !! will defo giev those a go xx

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hasnt it been 2 days till peecosy day for like a week now??!! im getting impatient!!

haha! no, the ticker started at 6 days...and as mario pointed out i counted wrong and that is sunday...so it should really say 'some days depending on if mario has posted it til peecosy day'

i wonder how breastfeeding fits in??? eli is exclusively bf now (he was having formula once a day but we stopped cos...well cos bf is easy and bottles are effort ) but he is fed on demand....i wonder if he will just stop demanding??

and do i need to give him water if he is bf but starting to wean??

god almighty, the more i read the more questions i have...maybe we should have a weaning forum lisa!!

mari i'm still bf and just feed on demandl, ava's up to three meals a day and i've only introduced water this week because she wouldn't cut down her milk feeds. It's so much easier when you start weaning though so don't be worried!

If i can hols out til 6 months with the next one im going baby led weaning with a bit of puree chucked in. With c i did puree from 4-6 then mixed blw and puree. She was on chopped up normal food by 8 months i think and quite happy chamming xmas dinner with us xmas day.

But yeah some spoons, some pots, i just got tiny tupperware rathe rn ice cube trays and some bowls. And lots of splash mats and bibs

See this is a good weaning post! Everybody does things differently and every baby is different - just follow Eli's lead.

I am really looking forward to weaning this time. Like Mario I am gonna hold out as long as I can and try with the BLW. I believe I started too soon with Thomas out of sheer desperation to get him to sleep better and because I listened to too many busy bodies telling me he was hungry and should be on tatties! I got all confused

I am so much more relaxed this time, I will be using a mixture of my own cooking and jars for convienience and variety. There was this other forum I used to go on that was very good at making you feel crap for even mentioning the word 'jar' infact I'm sure if you typed it there it would have come up [censored] and the weaning police would have been down your throat before you could hit send! I got myself all stressed out over flippin purees and finger foods and what he could and couldnt have and when blah blah, I swear it caused some of Thomas' food 'issues'. I am so much more relaxed this time, I'm really looking forward to it - it's like a little adventure.

I'm also secretly hoping Thomas will pick up on the fact Hannah is having something he isnt and want to try it too - maybe we could finally broaden his horizons from cheese on toast and chicken pasta .

Oh and Mari - I think maybe a microwave may come in handy

xx

ohh Deb I think I was a member of that site b and b by any chance???

Food police, breast feeding police, cloth nappy police....nice!