Weaning.

 

Tips and ideas of weaning.

I thought I would write a post on weaning, how we found it and any tips or information about weaning as for many this can be challenging, daunting and confusing. There are lots of information out there telling you want to do and not do, which can make the whole process frustrating for the baby and parents. So want to ease that slightly.

I will state I am not a dietian, nor a professional just a dad sharing experience. So please consultant a health professional with any queries or worries you have. But my main tip first and for most is have FUN.

It a huge milestone and big step for our little ones so explore, have fun and just make the whole process easy for everyone.

The offical guideline are to start weaning at 6 months. Despite this it depends on the baby, many parents would agree. Go with their ques and when they are ready. Check with health visitor (but sometimes they don't always give helpful advice). Our health visitor in London was basically non existent. But since moving she been amazing and a mum herself, which I think makes all the difference. Listen to their guidance, speak to other parents but trust your gut! Only you know you baby the best and what is right for them.

Ques that a baby may be ready for soilds.

• Bringing toys or hands to month
• Watching you as you eat and following food
• Trying to grab your food 
• Starting to wake in the night and wanting more milk
• Baby can hold themselves and sit. 
• Moves objects between both hands and have good motor skills. 
• Makes chowing motions. 
• Will open month when food is offered. 
• If they close there month they are finished. Or look away and not interest. 

Sometime you have to wean early for health or other reasons. For example because of reflux. This was our reason. 

We went against our health visitor because she just didn't really care. But took gp advise and advise from family and friends who knew from experience. As I have blogged abit about Ariyah eating you will know we started weaning at 3 months she was 14 weeks.

We started using baby rice, which we mixed with her precription milk. She ate 1-3 Spoonfulls, once a day for a long time then went to 5-10 Spoons. Sometime once or if she been really sick with her reflux we started give a few Spoons in the morning then a few in the afternoon. From 3 month we also mashed up rusks with her milk, then she would suck on the other half as it melted.

At 4 months she was holding the rusk and eating them, and start to have more flavour. We would give her banana which she actually hated and made her more sick. But she enjoyed Ella kitchen pouches and blended carrots. We quickly moved on to blended pouches because she showed all the ques. She has also been strong and could hold her head up at a few days old, she would push to stand or sit up very young too, she was stand and stepping support by us at 3/4 months. She would grab our food or food off family members like her nannies sauage roll. She was very interested in us when we were eating. Licking her licks, opening her month and bring hands to her month. She could sit up. Support at 4 months so we decided to give her pouch.

Once we moved, she was on boiled and  blended veg and fruit which we did ourselves as well as the 4+ months fruit and veg Ella kitchen. She had just turn 5 months at this point and loved her food. She Would have 2-3 meals a day. Nearer to 6 months we started giving her finger food like cucumber, soft streamed carrots, Brocoli, apple. Which she loved, she would hold them herself. She even got her first two bottom teeth so was able to chow.

At 6 months we introduced a lot more in terms of finger foods, wheat and meat. Though we weaned early there is certain things we waited to give her until she was 6 months. As there little stomachs and digestive systems are not ready for meats or wheat based foods until then. But again she loved trying new food, she would give everything ago. Even today there is not much we found she does not enjoy.

She doesn't like banana still, or peas. But loves Mince, chicken, sweet potato a roast is her favourite or Mince, chicken curry too. She not keen on pasta we tried giving it to her blended alone, then mixed with mince and whole finger size to chow, however she spites it out. We brought some baby pasta from boots which are small shell shapes, making it easy for them to swallow. She seemed to like it but definitely not as much as other things. She likes egg, beans, toast and her oginic snacks (rice cakes or veg sticks.) Ice cream dairy free of course is a treat where it has been so hot and she is teething bad.

Anyways I could go on and on of what she has tried and what she enjoys but we will be here all day. Main thing I am getting at was people say if you start weaning early using purree it can put baby off food, thus also making them stay on blended foods longer and hard to transition to them eating finger food independently. This in our case is not true again from other experience also false. I believe because we introduce food, and different flavours and texture early on she is a great eater. She will feed herself finger food as well as letting us feed her with spoon like beans and her yoghurt. She even takes the spoon now to try feed herself. Which is very messy but fun.

Going back to that fun part, let baby make a mess explore the feel of the food, they may eat some or throw it around and eirther is okay. Touching, play and tasting is all part of weaning and all equally important. Some babies wean and take to food early, other do not and that is okay too. Do not get stressed or force your baby to eat. Introduce new flavours slowly in order for them to taste and get used to different things. Explore with textures, thin blended purree or slightly thinker ones, but go with the baby. If they do not like something hold off and try again in a few weeks then introduce this thing again. Their taste bubs change a lot and it may take time to get used to this new world of eating for your little ones.

Sensory food play is great, to get baby comfortable around the feel, smell and taste of food. Peas and Spaghetti are great yoghurt or baby rice with food colouring makes great ediable paint. There are lots of things you can do. So relax and have fun.

Whilst that being said there are some things to be mindful of:

• Never leave baby or young child alone eating, 
• Always wash hands and surfaces. 
• Do not give baby big bits that they could choke on
• Know the difference between choking and gagging (will talk about this further down) 
• Make sure baby is sat safely to eat, in highchair preferably. 
• Always offer water with food. 
• Do not give babies honey.
• Cow milk can be used in food but not to drink until 1 years old. 

Health and safety

Gagging is healthy and part of the weaning experience where babies are learning how to chow and swallow food. Up until now they use a sucking motion to drink milk however eating require different movements of the tongue and chowing with their teeth or gums. It can be scary but its important that they do this to understand what they can swallow and make them learn to chow. Many parents get worried, I've done it myself where you think the baby will choke or is choke when they just gag. It can be scary., therefore it is important to know the difference between gagging or choking and then what to do if a baby chokes. There are lots of video and first aid training parents can do, so they feel prepared, in knowing what to in event that their babies does choke.

Again this will happen at some point and is very scary. I will go through what to do but also what to look for.

Gagging vs choking.

Gagging normally is noisy, while choking is silent. This is the main thing to remember, if your baby coughs or goes a bit red with possible gag noises. This is all natural and part of the baby development. They have a natural gag reflux, located more toward the front of their month and will bring the food forward away from the back of their throat themselves, having no discomfort or effect. Choking is silent, their ribs will pull in, as they struggle to breath. May start to go blue. This is where baby first aid is important by give back blows and chest compressions.

Baby first aid for choking.

If you baby is choking NEVER put you finger or anything in their months you could lodge the object further in. Instead follow these steps, as seen in photo below.

Place baby down on your lap, front ways on with their head down. (see on photo) then give 5 sharp blows to their back just between the shoulder blades. If this does not dislodge the object. Turn them over facing up and give 5 chest compress with two finger in the centre of their chest between rib cage.

NEVER give month to month for choking! 

So with that said there are lots of way to avoid choking and gagging. 

1. Do not leave baby or toddle unattended whist eating. Professional suggest right up to age 3, even better 5 and above alone with food or drink. 
2. Cut food into small manageable piece. 
3. Cut grapes lengh ways, 
4. Make sure food is in long stick piece for your baby to hold themselves and is big enough to not get stuck. 
5. Boil hard fruit or veg to make them soft. 
6. Make sure pips, stones, skin is off fruit and veg. Also that their no Bones or grissle in meat or fish. 
7. Use baby milk to blend or mix up foods
8. Ensure baby is sat upright, strapped into their highchair safety.

Types of weaning. 

There are two main types of weaning tradition and baby led.

Traditional also known as spoon feed, is just that, when a baby is spoon feed. Starting with smooth blends, building up to thicker blends and textures. Until the baby can eat whole foods.

Baby lead is where finger food is introduced straight away and the baby feed themselves.

There are pros and cons to both, which I will not go through them all as you can read alot online. but ultimately it come down to your preference and how the baby is. Do not let anyone tell you your doing it wrong or force you to go with a certain method. Baby led weaning is favoured by many and I know for myself on many groups and forums if you don't do baby led your made to feel like your doing wrong by your child. That it's the only way. But in fact sometimes babies do not take to feeding themselves therefore the tradition way works best. It could then led to baby led or not. But as long as the baby is getting nutrition, is calm and not stressed by weaning that is what matters.

We started with traditional as we had to start weaning Ariyah early she Was too young to self feed. We started spoon feeding, then around 5 months gave her soft boiled carrots, apple and pear. Also the bit melts veg stick. Due to her reflux as well as possible milk allergy it was hard because we had to be carefully what we were feeding her. She need the extra nutrition because she was not having big bottles and eat little and often. So was better for us and her to start with puree then built up to her self eating some stuff. She is an amazing eater not fussy at all. We did find however due to her love of food sometimes she get frustrated because she could not pick a bit of food up or she wasn't getting much. Where as when we spoon feed her she got more. We could keep an eye on what she ate and how much. Where as when she had finger food most of it ended up on the floor. She then got frustrated at us feeding her because she is so independent, she would grab the spoon and try feed self. Which she can do now. So we now combined ffeed, meaning she will have finger foods and some spoon feed stuff like her dairy free yogurt, beans and meat blends  that we feed her.

We have like I said above had people tell us we can't combine feed and it will confuse our daughter, that she choke because she won't know how to chow. That she be fussy and not eat well. However we experienced the opsite she loves her food. Ariyah will try anything and will feed herself and allows us to help (most of the time) this make it easier if we out or on the go, to use Ella kitchen pouches. Then she can also feed herself and we can all sit and have meals together. Just means we sometime have to change what we have due to her dairy allergy.

For baby lead weaning, cut food into long stick shapes which is easy for baby to hold and eat. 

So remember have fun, find out what's best for you and your baby, take advice but do not feel forced to do it a certain way. Be cautious but just enjoy and don't forget to document all the different tastes and textures your baby loves. 

(Written in June 2020)

Ref:.

https://www.babycentre.co.uk/x25022988/what-is-the-difference-between-gagging-and-choking

https://www.bounty.com/baby-0-to-12-months/weaning/what-is-weaning/baby-led-weaning