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Weaning your baby is an exciting stage in their development. You’re opening up an exciting new world of flavours, textures and tastes for them to explore.
But, before you begin weaning, it is important to be prepared and to ensure you have everything you need to ensure the best kick start to your weaning journey. Here are a few of our favourite baby weaning essentials!
An Important Note
We are not professionals, however we advise a few things that are stated on the NHS website. It is recommended that you start weaning with single vegetables and fruits – try blended, mashed, or soft cooked sticks of parsnip, broccoli, potato, yam, sweet potato, carrot, apple or pear. You could also try baby rice mixed with your baby’s usual milk. Make sure any cooked food has cooled right down before offering it to your baby.
It’s important to introduce foods that can trigger allergic reactions one at a time, in very small amounts, so that you can spot any reaction. These foods can be introduced from around 6 months as part of your baby’s diet, just like any other foods:
- cows’ milk (in cooking or mixed with food)
- eggs (eggs without a red lion stamp should not be eaten raw or lightly cooked)
- foods that contain gluten, including wheat, barley and rye
- nuts and peanuts (serve them crushed or ground)
- seeds (serve them crushed or ground)
- soya
- shellfish (don’t serve raw or lightly cooked)
- fish
Once introduced and if tolerated, keep offering those foods as part of your baby’s usual diet (to minimise the risk of allergy). Read more about food allergies and what signs to look out for.
It is also advised NOT to give your child Honey until they are over the age of 1. This is because, it has been associated with a rare, but serious, condition called infant botulism.
We also advise that if you go down the Baby Led Weaning (BLW) route, that you take the time to do your research. Learn the difference between choking and them needing help and a baby’s natural gag reflexes, as this will happen a lot whilst weaning and is completely normal and can be scary if you don’t know what to expect.
Please please PLEASE chat to your Health Visitor if you have any concerns, or questions. They are there to help and guide you.
First Aid Course
Our first and most important thing we feel all parents should do, no matter how you decide to wean your child, is take a paediatric first aid course. You learn life saving skills that hopefully you’ll not have to use, but learning what to do in an emergency could help save lives. There are so many different courses available, from St Johns Ambulnce, to Daisy First Aid. So have a look and see whats local to you.
Highchair
The Stokke Tripp Trapp Chair is an amazing purchase. Yes, It is quite a hefty lump sum, however I feel that the fact it grows with your child from birth until child, makes it worth it. You can also push this right up to the dining table, meaning your child can sit and eat with the rest of the family. Plus, an added bonus is that it comes in an array of different colours and added accessories.
Floor Mat
Weaning your little one can will get messy. That’s half the fun of it! But this TotsAhoy! Floor Protector will help to make cleaning up a lot easier. This floor mat will ensure that your flooring and carpets are protected from any food splatters. What we love most about this, is that if things got a little crazy at meal time, you can throw the whole thing into the washing machine!
Cutlery
A great thing about the Doddle Baby Spoon and Fork Cutlery Set is that it is ergonomically-designed to help little ones improve their grip as they learn to feed themselves. The Doddl cutlery is designed for babies aged six months and over and is free-from BPA and phthalates.
Plates & Bowls
This gorgeous set is from Bamboo Bamboo. It’s made from natural bamboo with BPA-free silicone. I love that this weaning set features a non-slip suction base to prevent food from being knocked over, as well as being incredibly long lasting if looked after! We have had ours for over 5 years now and they are still going strong!
Cups
These Munchkin 360 cup are the perfect cup to give to little ones learning to drink from a cup. They can drink from any side of this cup without their drink spilling! The handles either side make it easier for them to hold and use independently.
Bibs & Coveralls
There’s no denying it, weaning is messy. There is a saying, and a general rule of thumb, and that’s “Food before one is just for fun”. Meaning, the first 6 months or so is all about exploring new taste and textures, and as little ones are still having milk ( breast or formula ) they aren’t relying solely on food for the nutritional values. The best coverall we found was from BIBaDO. This coverall straps to your highchair to catch all the spills and rouge food, keeping your little one clean and dry. They are wipe clean, and can also go into the washing machine!
Bib wise, these silicone bibs ( we got ours from Kidly ) are amazing. They are soft, clean like a dream and catch anything your little ones drops. They are also adjustable, so will last and grow with your baby until they are older.
Food Storage
If you decided to make your own purees, these silicone cube trays are perfect! You just fill them up, freeze, and then you can either pop them out when you want to use, or if you make in batches, you can pop them out and pop them into stashie bags to keep in the freezer.
On The Go
One thing I remember about weaning, is that you can end up spending a small fortune on specific baby snacks, pouches and pots. These reusable silicone pouches from Hakka are perfect for making your own purees to take on the go. Even when you are past the weaning stage, they are fab for carrying fruit purees as a snack!
Clean Up
Clean up is inevitable when you have children. One of the best thing we purchased were these reusable wipes. They clean up so much better than disposable wipes, are softer on littles ones skin and are kinder to the planet.
When introducing a baby to foods for the first time, the key thing to remember is that milk is the main source of nutrition until at least the age of one. So do not be worried if baby doesn’t immediately take to their meals, AND you don’t need to make Pinterest-worthy plates! Baby will enjoy tasting and testing a variety of temperatures, colours, tastes and textures: both with their mouths and hands. Our list of must-haves above are suggestions for making the experience easier: mess is a big part of weaning, but remember to have FUN!
Have you introduced solids to a baby? What were your must-have products and solutions? Let us know in the comments below!
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