Baby led weaning or the traditional method
The Traditional Version
The traditional version, and still a popular choice, is using quite bland foods such as baby rice or porridge mixed with breast or formula milk. Use a soft spoon with some food on it and gently guide it towards your baby’s mouth. You could, if you wanted, give your baby a spoon as well and let them experiment at the same time. Remember this is unknown territory for your child, so it may take a while for them to get the hang of it. They don’t know what to expect and could be either overjoyed with the experience or equally repulsed by it! Whatever happens, try to remain calm. You start with one meal a day and introduce foods slowly.
Baby Led Weaning
More recently, some parents have started to do baby led weaning. With baby led weaning you don’t need to start cooking and pureeing foods and you don’t have to spoon feed your baby. Instead, you use your baby’s natural desire to explore and experiment and copy others by providing suitable foods for them to touch, pick up and eventually put in their mouths. You give baby the sort of foods you eat and let them decide. There are no set rules to baby led weaning but most parents offer food when they are eating and eat with their baby as it all about being relaxed and social at meal times. Over time, and when the baby shows interest, parents build up the number of times their baby is offered food.
To begin with you can cook peeled vegetables such as potato, carrot, sweet potato or parsnip mashed or in bite-sized pieces, mashed or sliced banana, avocado or cooked and peeled apple or pear or simply food from your plate. Your baby is in control of what they are eating and how much they want to eat. You can also offer a loaded spoon of food for them to try and get in their mouth! If your baby doesn’t seem to like something, don’t worry. There will be plenty of meals to come where you can try that particular food again. Remember we adults have certain foods we like and others we don’t - your child will be the same. With regards to how much to give them, recent studies have shown that allowing babies control over the amount they eat can help to prevent weight issues later on.
As your baby reduces the amount of milk they take during the day because they’re eating proper food it is a good idea to offer them drinks. Recommended drinks for babies are water (bottled water is not suitable for infants unless stated on the label) and pure orange or grapefruit juice, maybe diluted as necessary.