TW - (Traditional Weaning) Support Thread

We are traditional weaning too!

I had those feeders & threw them away - I was so sick of trying to get the tiny pieces of food unstuck when washing them - I'd wash them 4-5 x's before they would look 100% clean. Mushy fruit worked well in them (banana, peaches, pears).

Megan loves food. She now could care less about her formula which is a constant battle as I dont want her to give up her formula yet. I give her formula in sippy cups with meals to try to get another 1-2 oz in her.

We started with baby rice- then added jars of veggie. She still has lots of jars though I try to blend up my own. She used to gag or spit out anything with a lump or any finger food at all. Then one day a few weeks ago she all of a sudden "chewed" and swallowed! She's now picking up foods to feed herself but she's mostly still spoon fed. She would love to feed herself with the spoon as well - she doesnt want a spoon to play with as if theres no food on it she gets mad! She's too dependent on spooned foods to not have them - she wont just have finger foods as a meal as she doesnt get enough to fill up and she'll get frusterated if I dont offer the spoon after a few bites of her finger foods. She is honestly the messiest eater I've ever seen- and its because she's so into her food. (And I used to do daycare - so have traditionally weaned multiple children!) She's on stage 2 gerber foods (here stage 2 is just thicker - no lumps). Thinking instead of stage 3 just doing more homemade food for her since she's ok with lumps now.

She eats rice cereal or oatmeal(porridge) 3'xs a day. She has veggie or fruit with each meal. She has yogurt sometimes for lunch & then less cereal. I plan to keep offering the cereal since its one way I can get formula in her - since she's decreased her bottles so much. Her dr said she doesnt need meat yet since she's getting iron in the cereal so we arent rushing to offer meats yet.

Finger foods she's tried: Gerber puffs, breads, english muffin, banana, green bean, broccoli, grapes (cut in tiny pieces), blueberries (3rd), cottage cheese, cheddar & string cheese, cheese curd.


Someone mentioned strawberry- and another mentioned eggs. I was told no real strawberries til 1 year - that processed strawberries were ok though. Also was told no eggs - no scrambled eggs- boiled eggs, etc til 1 year. Was told eggs were only ok as an ingredient in baked goods,etc. Must be a u.s. thing?

I was confused about the strawberry thing too!

As far as I know eggs are OK as long as they're cooked properly??

Zach has alot of trouble with eating lumps and gags even when holding some foods! I spoke to my HV who has said to me i need to sort this out before he gets too old as it could become a real problem she said i need to let him feel foods so just put them on his high chair which i havent done as i am so funny about mess (which i know is stupid but its just one of my things lol) so i let him loose with some pasta tomatoes etc and while he mainly just played with it he did bite some bits of pasta off and sucked the tomatoes etc so hopefully we are getting somewhere!

Yes i did want to cry at the mess lol!!

Originally Posted by PreggoEggo

okay just read this all, this might sound dumb, but two of you were saying things about it maybe being too hot,
but I didn't know you even had to warm it up? which purees do I warm up?

rome, you can heat any of the purees up i just put them in the microwave for 10 or 15 secs

hey iv only just seen this thread alice has started having food properly for about a week now and i cant seem to find anything she really likes. the first thing she had was sweet potato which she seemed to like but then when she had it a few more times she wasnt bothered atall. she also has banana and pear pudding which she was opening her mouth for wanting more bu then when she had it again she wasnt fussed and just pulled faces.
i know we have only just started properly but im just gettin worried that im doing something wrong, when i gave her a bit of toast to chew she was fine and ate it and the same with a bit of banana but when i give her stuff off the spoon she gags and pulls faces.
is this how they all start off? how long does it take them to actually really want the food? xxx

Originally Posted by JoJo16

rome, you can heat any of the purees up i just put them in the microwave for 10 or 15 secs

hey iv only just seen this thread alice has started having food properly for about a week now and i cant seem to find anything she really likes. the first thing she had was sweet potato which she seemed to like but then when she had it a few more times she wasnt bothered atall. she also has banana and pear pudding which she was opening her mouth for wanting more bu then when she had it again she wasnt fussed and just pulled faces.
i know we have only just started properly but im just gettin worried that im doing something wrong, when i gave her a bit of toast to chew she was fine and ate it and the same with a bit of banana but when i give her stuff off the spoon she gags and pulls faces.
is this how they all start off? how long does it take them to actually really want the food? xxx

Mine wasnt so eager about purees or baby food. I thought I have a picky baby. But when we started proper weaning at 6.5 mnths he really enjoyed eating real food. Now he eats what we eat, & have pieces of fruits in his yoghurt & cereals.

Sorry to crash but I've never heard that about strawberries before! I was giving Charlie strawberrie's today (have given him them quite often over the past month)... Why is it they can't have them until a year? Charlie's 10 months x

Originally Posted by rosie272

Sorry to crash but I've never heard that about strawberries before! I was giving Charlie strawberrie's today (have given him them quite often over the past month)... Why is it they can't have them until a year? Charlie's 10 months x

Allergies. The same with eggs. but guidelines r not the same everywhere. IF u'r LO is fine with taking strawberries & no allergic reaction u can continue giving it

Daisybee, thanks so much - your post was so informative! My doctor also said no strawberries or eggs until 1 year, so I think it's definitely a US thing.

Ok, here comes my dumb question for you all - how much milk do you mix in with the rice or oatmeal? And then do you reduce the accompanying bottle by that amount? She has a 5oz bottle at a time right now while at daycare, so I freeze my milk in 5oz bags. So if I mix 2oz in with rice, then does she drink a 3oz bottle with that, or do I try to get her to take a 5oz bottle? Or should I space the baby rice an hour or so apart from her bottle/BF? I'd like to start freezing my milk into appropriate portions in preparation for beginning weaning in the next couple weeks. Thanks!

Originally Posted by cutie4evr01

Daisybee, thanks so much - your post was so informative! My doctor also said no strawberries or eggs until 1 year, so I think it's definitely a US thing.

Ok, here comes my dumb question for you all - how much milk do you mix in with the rice or oatmeal? And then do you reduce the accompanying bottle by that amount? She has a 5oz bottle at a time right now while at daycare, so I freeze my milk in 5oz bags. So if I mix 2oz in with rice, then does she drink a 3oz bottle with that, or do I try to get her to take a 5oz bottle? Or should I space the baby rice an hour or so apart from her bottle/BF? I'd like to start freezing my milk into appropriate portions in preparation for beginning weaning in the next couple weeks. Thanks!

How much milk I add in depends on how much cereal. When she first started with the cereal I made it pretty thin (more milk)- now she likes it thicker. I dont reduce any bottle - if she'll take a bottle then I'm giving it to her. She - on her own has taken less oz even though I offer the formula 1st. If I offer less bottles then she doesnt increase the amount taken in the next bottle so she's taking less but more often. I would continue offering what she is used to - and see how much she takes. She might slow down a bit with the ebm but if she's willing to still take 5oz I would give it to her. Her bm should still be an important part of her day. Megan has a bottle around 6, 10, 1, 3, 6. I'm still having to offer 5 bottles because otherwise she isnt drinking enough. She has her meals at 8, 12, & 4:30.

I was also told no cow's milk til age 1 (though cheese & yogurt is ok). Told no nuts or nut butters (peanut, almond, etc), no shellfish, & of course honey.

When I first started weaning at 6 months I just gave one veg for a week, then moved onto another veg for a week, just to test for allergies and stuff. Then I moved up to giving Chloe Porridge in the morning which she loves!!! and then lunch of veggy purée.

Now she is on 3 meals a day. She has Porridge for breakfast (mixed with her Lactose Free formula), a purée for lunch which I make and freeze, this week its Cod and Butternut Squash :-) (I am trying to do them more lumpier but it never works and always is too soft!!), then a yoghurt and some fruit for dinner.

Does that sound about right?? I'm so rubbish with this weaning! I was too scared to move upto 3 meals a day for minths and only when hv told me off last month I added in dinner. Don't ask me why I was scared........I don't know

I am still trying with finger foods but she doesn't care for them or she gets frustrated and crys Though I gave her bread on the weekend and she ate that all up...no problems Will just keep trying I guess.

Anyway, here is a pic of Chloe


First day weaning with Baby Rice - 6 months
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This weekend - 8 months
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