My little weaning friend, two must haves to make weaning EASIER!

Getting children to move from milk to solids can, for many people, be harrowing, scary and just another one of those "baby hurdles" that you'd really rather not face, particularly with the first child as it's uncharted territory. Fear not though, as help is at hand in the form of modern technology, the written word and some advice passed on from wise old birds.

It is very important to remember that ALL babies are ready for weaning at VERY different times, and just because mother nature at Monkey Music started weaning her child "with no problems whatsoever at four months", this does not mean that you need to do the same. The government recommend that you feed your child nothing but breast milk until they are 6 months old, but you can wean from 4 months. One of the biggest worries with early weaning however is that you might feed your child something that its immune system cannot handle the younger it is and then allergies can become a problem. I, however, am not a Dr or a Health Visitor and should you have ANY concerns these are most certainly your first ports of call. On the up side though, your child will let you know. Milk won't satisfy them for as long as it used to, if they are around you when you eat they will follow what you are doing intently and perhaps mimic your opening and closing mouth as you eat. If, in a routine, they might start waking at night for no particular reason as they are hungry etc. The time has come, baby wants solids.

Another thing to remember, babies are not born with prejudices for food. They are TOTALLY unaware that brussell sprouts taste like the devil and they will be forced (at some point in their lives) to eat at least one every year at Christmas. They are unaware that broccoli is delicious or that without peas most of the population would be stuck with very little vegetable matter. In short, you have carte blanche here to set them up until the time that they can make their own culinary choices. Be adventurous, feed them well and feed them panoramically and kaleidoscopically. The wider the selection you give them to start with the easier meal times will be in the future and the less of a quandary you will face when constructing your daily menus.



Anything you can read about this before you start is great, and this is where my first recommendation comes in. My bible before and during this period with my girls was Topsy Fogg and Janice Fisher's Truuuly Scrumptious book of organic baby puree. Not entirely sure about the name, but that doesn't affect the weaning of children, it is the content. There are tables on when and how to do it. Information that is simple and "truuuly" helpful and better still recipes that are quick, easy, delicious and, towards the end, recipes that you can feed the whole family. What more can you ask for.

My second recommendation comes in the form of the Babycook from Beaba. This is an electrical item that I don't think I could have survived without. It steams and it blends, which is really all you need at this time and best of all you only need one machine to do this with, so washing up is limited and mess is minimal. I jest not, I literally love this machine and still use it now to do vegetables or fruit puree for the girls and they are nearly 3 and 18 months. I keep thinking I should pass it on, but the moment I think that I get jealous of the person I should pass it on to, so I have to keep it. This, people, is the thing that you won't be able to live without you'll love it as much as I do, although sometimes I imagine that is probably quite hard to conceive. 


There you have it, the keys to success, and as the wise old bird once told me "don't panic, there's always tomorrow and your baby will have no qualms about starting again, the only person with worries about this is you". That sort of made it easier and I hope it does for you, good luck, although after all of this, I can tell you you won't need it.