Baby Weaning: First Tastes

Tinnie has now been weaning for four weeks and things seem to be going very well. For the first two weeks we started Tinnie on solids by introducing him to baby rice. Baby rice is a good food to use as a starter because of it's smooth but bland taste. This was a challenge at first I found that even with the tinniest of spoonfuls he would be happy for it to be in his mouth but gag when he needed to swallow it. Tinnie was sitting in my arms which made it easier to comfort and interact with him when needed. This was because he needed to get used to swallowing something thicker than milk. Within a week Tinnie was getting used to the texture and trying to dive forward for his spoon. So after two weeks we took the plunge into introducing fruit and vegetables. 

It was important to me that Tinnie was comfortable and calm while trying new food's. I was worried that with Tinnie's reflux he would experience more pain while eating and become distressed. I choose to sit him in  his Tripp Trapp new born seat which he still fits. This meant he would be at my height and I could sit and feed him comfortably. I have found that after milk feeds his Tripp Trapp kept him at a great angle to stop him bring milk back up and the acid in his chest rising.  

When introducing fruit and Vegetables I like to start with individual flavour's. This helps to introduce more flavour without overwhelming them. During the following 2 weeks we tried 

We have also since tried apricot, parsnip, apple with cinnamon, cauliflower and banana.

With the vegetables, these were steamed until soft but you could boil them if not. The apple and pear were both peeled and the boiled for two minutes to soften them up. If they became a bit watery I then added a little baby rice to thicken these up. When making the apricot puree I use dried apricots which can then be stored for longer. I took three or four and placed them in a bowl of water over night to re hydrate then blended them down. 

Tinnie is now doing great with his food and seems to be putting on a healthy amount of weight again. I plan to now start doing mixtures of fruit and veg and will be sharing these soon with you on the blog.