Wow it seems like forever since I’ve posted a blog on here! Sorry guys, the last week has been a whirlwind of gas men and holes in our living room.
I wanted to write a little bit about our experiences with Charlie and his transition from Bottles to solid foods. He eats near enough everything now but when we first started to introduce solids to his routine we worried and to be honest I debated just keeping him on the bottles to save my anxiousness.
We realised at about 5 months that Charlie was ready for something a little more substantial that milk. Out came the food processor and hand blender and searches on google for baby friendly recipes took up most of our evenings. It was a minefield! Every recipe we found had questions.
“Is this too bland?”
“Will it be too much flavour?”
“How will we blend that?”
“Is it too runny?”
“Is it too lumpy?”
“Can we batch make this recipe and freeze it?”
Ill post some recipes in my favourites section here
So, how did we know Charlie was ready for the wide world of food!
1. He could hold himself upright instead of looking like a weeble wobble.
2. He would show interest when mummy and daddy were tucking into their meals.
3. Bottles just weren’t cutting it. (we got to a point where we were feeding him 7oz every hour).
4. We would get the death stare off him every time we ate anything
The first time I batch cooked a meal for Charlie was an absolute fail! I decided it would be a great idea to use our soup maker. After all it cooks the food and blends it at the same time, all in 20 minutes. I was so excited to be making my own food for him to try and hopefully enjoy. Well it didn’t exactly go to plan. I used the smooth setting and we could have literally put the ‘slop’ in his bottle to drink! It goes without saying the soup maker only comes out for me and daddy now, but it was worth a try!
We were so excited yet extremely anxious about solids. We would stare at him after every mouthful to make sure he wasn’t going to choke. It took us at least 30 minutes to feed him just because we wanted to make sure every bit of food went down without a problem. Looking back, I may have panicked a bit too much. Apparently, babies have quite a good gag reflex, but Charlie’s seemed to be supercharged!
Although he ate my mushed up slop quite well, he just didn’t seem satisfied. That’s when I found out about Baby Led Weaning. To be honest I had never heard of it before!
If you’re like me and are not sure what Baby Led Weaning is or involves I’ll try and explain it the best I can! When your baby can sit unassisted in a high chair, has good neck strength and be able to use their jaws to move food around their mouths they maybe ready. Every child is different though and each child eats at different stages and months so just see when you are both comfortable at trying it. Then let your baby lead the way! (For more information on Baby Led Weaning checkout this website https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a1007100/baby-led-weaning)
We tried Charlie with soft foods at first, bananas were always stocked up, and cutting the foods into manageable sizes and shapes to easily hold and chew were a must. As he got more confident with his grip and more adventurous with what he wanted to try, we moved onto slightly harder foods like boiled carrots and broccoli etc. Although he was never a big fan of veg when he could see it in its full form! #fussytoddler
Recently we found an amazing company called Baby Led Spreads. As a mum there’s a constant worry of getting your baby or toddler to eat the right sorts of food but Baby Led Spreads help to take away this worry by providing all the nutrients they may need in a handy sized jar.
We received 6 different flavours including: -
Spicy Pumpkin & Chickpea
Green Pea Rocket & Dill
Red Lentil & Sweet Potato
Carrot, Apple & Hummus
Avocado, Red Pepper and Tomato
Ricotta & Bean
One of our favourite recipes and Charlie’s too was an amazing pizza using the Avocado, Red Pepper & Tomato jar, a tortilla wrap and ham slices. The jars are perfect for handbags and changing bags for trips out as you can spread them on toast, use them as a pasta sauce or even just as a dip if your toddler is feeling fancy. Go on over to Baby Led Spread’s website to order and check out their recipes and blog.
All in all, I’m so glad we tried Baby led weaning. Its helped Charlie’s confidence and food adventures. It’s also been a great way to help fine tune his motor development and hand eye co-ordination. The only downside we have found to Baby led weaning is the mess that's made during the feast. If we could take a dustpan and brush everywhere with us we would!
Let me know your experiences! Drop me a comment on here or come over to my Instagram page @the_unicornmummy