Friday 27 May 2016

Our Weaning Journey - Ophelia's First Tastes

Towards the end of our trip to Australia, Ophelia started showing signs that she wanted some real food. At the time she was 4 months old. I must admit this really alarmed me (even though we weaned Eva at that age). It felt as though she was growing up too quickly and my newborn baby was not so newborn anymore. 

She would frequently stare at whatever we were eating and drinking. She wouldn't take her eyes off it. She used to grab whatever she could get her hands on and and aim straight for her mouth. She was also breastfeeding more frequently. This was one ready baby.

We made the decision to not wean her until we were back in our own environment so we began her first tastes at just over 5 months old. Even though I had done this all before I felt I had forgotten everything. I found the whole experience with Eva quite stressful, rather than fun and enjoyable. This time around I wanted a more relaxed approach to it. 

Luckily we are part of Babymoov's weaning team this year for their campaign for #stresslessweaning. I now have a fantastic support network around me which includes other bloggers, peers and a nutritionist. Having people that you can talk to about anything, no matter how silly it seems has been so beneficial. Ensuring you have someone to share you weaning process with is a great piece of advice. You can bounce off ideas with each other and also have a giggle at the not so great moments.



For Ophelia's first tastes we started with porridge. We decided to use formula milk even though she's breast fed as that would be a good way for her to get used to it if ever I had to stop breastfeeding. We were all around the kitchen table when she had her first taste of solid food. Eva thought the whole thing was fab. I think having her around made Ophelia enjoy the whole experience even more. She did the usual funny faces at first but then loved it. 



Next up we tried fruit and vegetables on their own. One thing I've learnt from my support network is that you can try a new taste every day. I hadn't realised this with Eva as I used to make her eat the same thing for days to get her to try and like the taste. 

I've been preparing all of Ophelia's purees in our amazing Nutribaby. It's made the whole weaning process so easy. It's a 5-in-1 machine so it really does everything for me. It can defrost, steam, blend, sterilise and warm bottles and jars. I've been busy chopping up fruit and veg, throwing it in and it's as simple as that.

Ophelia's favourite vegetables are sweet potato and butternut squash. She wasn't fussed on carrot. In fact we had quite a few faces of disgust with that.



She pretty much likes all fruit. I'm guessing she has a sweet tooth already. She adores apples and strawberries.

After a couple of weeks we combined fruit and vegetable flavours and this opened up a whole new world of tastes for her. She loves a combination of things such as broccoli, peas, spinach and apple. Very weird but she thinks it's great. I tried apricot mixed into veg but she isn't too fussed on that.

We are looking forward to giving her meat, fish and dairy which is the next step. I think it'll make the whole weaning process much easier as I won't feel like i'm making lots of different meals for the different members of our family.

Have you started weaning? What has been your favourite flavour combinations to use?

I can't wait to share our weaning journey with you. Our next post will be up soon. If you have any questions to ask me or the nutrionist please leave them in the comment section below.
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29 comments

  1. What lovely photos especially the one with both your kids - very cute x

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  2. What cute pictures, I remember loving the kids faces and expressions when they tried new foods x

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  3. Those photos are amazing, I love the carrot face ha x

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  4. I always started with vegetables first and found sweet potato and butternut squash a hit

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  5. Lovely photos of Ophelia! The look of the face of babies when they try new foods is so funny. My son used to like stewed apple and pear when he was a baby.

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  6. aw lovely pictures. I loved seeing my ones little faces react to the new tastes, so funny!

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  7. All of mine loved banana and avocado! Strange but easy to do and easy to introduce lumps that are still squishy. xx

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  8. Lovely pictures! I don't miss weaning tbh! Hope It goes well x

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  9. I love the picture of Eva feeding Ophelia, gorgeous! The Nutribaby is amazing isn't it? I use it for my smoothies too when I don't need to make loads and I also made a batch of pasta sauce using sweet potato, plum tomatoesand herbs which went down well. It sounds like Ophelia is doing a great job, I hope it continues to go well xx

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  10. Ah weaning, such an exciting adventure. I'm doing BLW, very lazy haha. Just give babog what I'm eating. The cleaning up part isn't so fun. Good luck introducing the new foods :)

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  11. Such cute photos. I did adult lead weaning with my first and she's such a fussy eater. With the other two I did baby lead weaning and they eat everything.

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  12. Ahh such lovely photos! I loved the weaning stage and all of mine were ready at totally different stages. My youngest had no interest in food until gone 6 months! All of my kids have loved sweet potato and butternut squash

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  13. Ahhh she looks so cute trying all the new tastes. That sounds like a great network to be a member of. Always good to have support of others.

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  14. Fabulous report and some good products to make the task easier. Loving the pics

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  15. Loving the Harrods Bib!! My weaning days are well and truly over thank god haha but good luck with it.Love the pics esp the one with Eva.

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  16. Loving the Harrods Bib!! My weaning days are well and truly over thank god haha but good luck with it.Love the pics esp the one with Eva.

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  17. Loving the Harrods Bib!! My weaning days are well and truly over thank god haha but good luck with it.Love the pics esp the one with Eva.

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  18. Awww, so cute! I especially love the fourth photo :) I remember this so well, how we pureed a lot of fruit and veg for T. Happy days :)

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  19. Gorgeous photos! We are through the weaning stage, but I remember their first tastes so well. It's a real sign of them growing up. X

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  20. What cute photos, it seems so long ago since I was weaning my son but it was only last year xx

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  21. Ah they grow up so quick. I rem giving my baba a few spoons of some food around four and a half months and she was violently ill! Waited for weeks then go give to her again!

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  22. I like that Ophelia likes veggies like sweet potato and butternut squash. She has clearly got great taste in meals!

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  23. She's so cute!!! Ophelia such a beautiful baby girl. I like the faces she makes when she eats. I was told my mum i was a picky eater haha. Aww bless her

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  24. Such adorable pictures. I loved the weaning stage. It's so cute seeing their faces when they try different flavours they like and don't .x

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  25. Oh I loved the weaning process with my little ones, especially second time around with my twins. They were just so hungry and excited by it all and I found I was much more relaxed with the whole process. Enjoy the fun messy journey!

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  26. I remember weaning very well! Fun but lots of cleaning! All the time! Lovely photos too Kerry x

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  27. We are just about to start weaning with Piglet and I'm quite anxious about it but I'm sure that it will be fine once we get the hang of it

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  28. Aw, she is so adorable. So helpful that you have a strong network to help support you, sounds like they are being so helpful. I did baby led weaning with my three, so we started when they were all around 6 months old. It was such an exciting time as they realised they could eat and food had flavours. Like you say, seeing their big siblings definitely helped with numbers two and three, copying. I think it also helped the bigger ones too, because my toddler will eat anything, it encourages the older ones too. x

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  29. Weaning can be a real mind field so it's good to hear you have such a great support network. So exciting to see hat they like and don't like and trying new things. With my first we mainly did purees although with my second we did baby-led weaning but they are such different children and my second just loves eating everything, although he does love mashed banana and greek yogurt :)

    Laura x

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