I?m going to share my personal experience on weaning Mole. By no means is this the only correct way on how to wean your baby. But, this way worked for us.

Weaning is challenging. You think your baby would automatically love food and never let themselves go hungry. No haha.

I was amazed at the lack of information there was online on how to wean your baby. There is so much to learn too, from first tastes to baby led weaning. How does a first time mum know where to start?

Weaning

Is my baby ready to wean?

I attempted to wean Mole at 4 months old with baby rice. Although she displayed the signs of being ready to wean and I felt that I was holding a bottle of milk to her mouth 24/7 she was not ready. A part of me also though that if she was on solids then we both would get a full nights sleep but that wasn?t the case either.

Signs a baby is ready to wean

  • your baby can sit up straight and hold their head
  • Good hand to mouth coordination
  • An interest in food
  • An interest in your food
  • Requiring more milk feeds
  • Not feeling satisfied after a feed
  • Opening their mouth to food on a spoon

Signs a baby is not ready to wean

  • Keeping their mouth closed tightly for food
  • Messy and frequent poos. (Not related to teething or other health conditions)
  • Under 4 months
  • Can not support themselves in a high chair.

First tastes

Baby Rice

I first gave Mole baby rice, just a couple of spoonfuls mixed with her usual formula milk. I made sure the first few times it was very runny and smooth just like honey.

I gave her this just once a day in the morning to see how she coped with it before I tried anything else.

Rusk

I had tried Mole with rusk mixed with her milk. If you use a fast flow bottle you can give it to your baby that way.

Porridge

I kept all of Moles very first tastes similar so she could get use to the food. Porridge was a massive hit and we continue to use porridge for breakfast with a mix of fruit pur?e to keep it exciting.

Weaning 3

Stage 1 of weaning

Once we had breakfast nailed I moved onto trying her with?real?food. Vegetable or fruit pur?es are brilliant for their first tastes.

You can start off with doing a different vegetable a day or week and then swap with fruit. Be cautious as babies already love a sweet taste so fruit pur?e will go down much easier.

Portion control

I knew that I wanted to make my own homemade pur?e but I had no idea on the portion size or the consistency of the pur?e.

I bought some of the supermarkets own brand of first taste pur?es e.g just Parsnip and a popular brands. I then could see the portion size similarities and the consistency needed for my own.

Stage 2 of weaning

Once your baby has become use to the taste of one blended vegetables or fruit then you can begin to mix and match. This is where you have the chance to be super creative. You will get to know what flavours your baby loves or hates. Mole loves pumpkins and carrots but hates peas!

To make your own pur?e all you need to do is mix your chosen fruit/vegetables, add a little water and strain out any big lumps as the texture has to be very smooth and runny.

If your baby is 6+ months you can now introduce dairy.

WEANING 4

7 months +

Moles appetite has increased so I have introduced a pudding to her evening meal. Some of her favourites are a natural yoghurt mixed with fruit or Ella?s Kitchen apple crumble pur?e.

I have made Moles pur?e thicker now with soft lumps of food. To achieve this you can mash food with a fork or masher instead of blending.

Baby Led Weaning

Now Mole has got the hang of pur?es I am introducing a baby led weaning approach.

I started off on Ella?s melty puffs so I wasn?t worried about any choking.

I now let her try bits of banana, carrots and broccoli cut into small pieces or finger size for her to grab.

This process is still ongoing with her and she has good days and bad days. If she is not feeling BLW then I give her pur?e so she isn?t going hungry.

WEANING 7

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Zoe
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