The process of weaning can seem overwhelming, but it should also be fun!
You are introducing your baby to the exciting world of tastes, textures and flavours! Here’s some useful tips and advice from Claire Burgess, Family Consultant, Bespoke Family Ltd.
Starting the weaning journey
“Very often when we start to introduce our babies to food, we think that it must be bland, basic and not very much fun! That is absolutely not the case. We want to show our babies the wonderful world of food. And how they can take time to explore new tastes, textures and flavours in all of the amazing foods we have!
New tastes, textures and flavours!
Babies need to touch, taste, smell and even hear their food in order to learn about what it is to eat and enjoy food. When first introducing our babies to food, one of the first decisions is ‘how?’. You need to decide whether you will introduce your baby to whole pieces of food (known as baby led weaning). Or will you puree the food and feed to your baby on a baby spoon, or will you do a mixture of both?
What foods to start with?
Once you know which approach you going to take, then you can start to look at what you are going to introduce first! Many books will say that you look at introducing a selection of fruits and vegetables. However I would highly recommend starting with green vegetables first. They have the most bitter taste, which your baby will need to adjust to. But this will work in your favour in the long term. If you start with sweet flavoured foods first, then you are encouraging your child to develop that ‘sweet tooth’ which we ideally want to avoid. By offering the green vegetables first and then introducing other vegetables, you will find that your baby will be accepting of these flavours.
Ignore the funny faces!
Babies will make funny faces when eating. Don’t think that this means that they don’t like it, this is very often not the case. It is them learning about the tastes, textures and flavours. If you watch cookery programmes, you will notice that very often adults tasting the food will make facial expressions. And then say how much they love it! Take care with your own facial expressions. Are you making a face which indicates that it might not be very nice or it is something that you don’t like to eat? If so, take care to hide this as you don’t want to influence your child and their preferences. Are you are a particularly picky eater with lots of foods that you don’t like? Then it is vital that you introduce variety into your child’s diet. It’s important to expose them to lots of different foods in order to help avoid them being particularly picky as well.
Keep ringing the changes
When you first start introducing foods it can be done singularly. So just broccoli or just kale. But do move on from this after a couple of weeks and start to mix different vegetables together. The key to the whole process is not to remain in one stage of introducing foods for too long. So if your baby is enjoying the experience and is eating well (whether this is through finger foods or from spoon feeding) feel free to move your baby on to different tastes, textures and flavours. If your baby is happily eating the initial introduction of vegetables, proteins and fruit then look at moving them on to meals. This is where all of these things are combined and further flavours are introduced. Perhaps with things such as cheese, herbs and spices and sauces.
Try to give home cooked food wherever possible
Wherever possible try to make all of your baby’s foods at home so that you know what is included in it. You need to avoid use of salt and sugar in your baby’s food. This is something that you are not able to gauge when using shop bought or processed foods. Giving home cooked food to your baby is also beneficial because it has very different tastes, textures and flavours to any of the packet or jarred food. Using packet/jarred food might be easier and more convenient. However in the long term it can be detrimental to your child’s understanding and appreciation of the food that they are eating. They are not able to explore the food in the same way that they can when it is home cooked.
Having your child in a high chair where they are able to sit up comfortably and are fully supported is essential. Always make sure that they are pulled up to the table. This starts their understanding of eating at the table. Also that food is very much a social occasion where they will learn to share, take turns and have conversations. Give your child cutlery (age and size appropriate) like doddl baby cutlery, or later doddl children’s cutlery. That can help them feel more independent whilst encouraging them to try foods on their own terms. When they are putting the spoon to their mouth they have control. They are going to be more accepting of what might be on the end of it than if an adult is putting it to their mouth.
Relax – food is fun!
Food needs to be enjoyable. The first experiences of trying foods, sitting up to the table and eating with others is essential in establishing this. Don’t worry if some days your baby eats more than others. Milk is still their main source of nutrition until 12 months – and we are all hungrier some days more than others. Don’t ever force or trick your baby to eat food as you must build trust with them. If your baby trusts that you will be giving them a food that it is safe for them to eat it then they will. If they are tricked into it then the trust is broken and very often this is when we will see more refusal of food. Stay relaxed, eat with your child (even if it is a little snack) and you will make the whole process an enjoyable one for you all.”
