As your little one gets ready to try solids, it’s up
to you to decide how they’ll experience their
first taste of real food.
Hollie Allman
explores
the different trends in infant weaning to help you
determine what’s best for you and your baby
What are the options?
Food for your baby can either be
pureed and spoon-fed or cut up into
manageable chunks to pick up as
they like. The term ‘baby-led weaning’,
coined by midwife Gil Rapley, is often
used to refer to this simple act of
allowing your child to feed themselves
from the moment you start providing
extra food. Weaning is used here in the
English sense of the word, meaning the
addition of complementary food, rather
than the American sense, meaning to
give up breastfeeding.
When should I wean?
It’s definitely worth letting your baby
take the lead here. Watch them closely
at mealtimes and take note of if and
when they start showing an interest in
food. Some babies of eight months will
sit quietly at the dinner table playing
with their toys or watching the world
To Feed or let
them Lead?
go by, while others of five months will
be frantically trying to grab everything
off your plate! The age you choose to
wean can also depend on whether
you’re happy to continue breast or
bottle feeding. Most babies will receive
enough nutrition from this until around
a year old, so there’s no rush to get
started if you or your baby isn’t ready.
If, on the other hand, your little one
seems keen to give it a go, then this
is the perfect opportunity to begin
weaning of some kind. If they don’t take
to it, there’s no harm in going back to
milk and giving it another try later.
What do I feed them?
It’s generally agreed that babies can
have anything that we can if you leave
out the salt, but a full meal may be a bit
daunting to them at first. To start them
off, try steaming some vegetables until
they’re nice and soft (but not falling
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