The weaning minefield

I didn’t realise until recently what a minefield weaning can be. I naively thought that there wasn’t too much to it but boy was I wrong. My Auntie kindly gave me Joe Wicks’ wean in 15 book which has been a god send. Whilst reading that and doing some research I found out how controversial feeding has now become since baby lead weaning (BLW) has been introduced instead of purées. Truth is, there are benefits to both, so we have decided to have a combination approach. Give Ivy purées for her to get the taste, and do the same food as finger foods for her to experience the textures alongside it. We’ve found that doing it this way has allowed Ivy to experience the different flavours and still have the fun of messy play with the food. The gagging is not fun though and really tests my nerve but it’s a necessary evil that comes along with weaning.

Her favourite foods so far have been avocado, peas and parsnips - the only thing she hasn’t been a fan of so far is cauliflower! We started weaning Ivy slightly before 6 months because she was showing all of the signs of being ready. This has given us the time to slowly work our way through vegetables one at a time before we start combining flavours and introducing fruits. She’s really enjoying the process so far.

One thing I will say is please don’t offer any judgement to a Mum just trying to feed her child. I’ve spoken to other Mum friends with older babies who’ve said they’ve experienced judgement too. No one knows your baby better than you, so do whatever you need to do to make the process as smooth as possible! Most importantly, have fun with it.