Last week, when BB turned 17 weeks old my friend pointed out something that I’d completely forgotten about. It was at 17 weeks old when I gave Lamb his first taste of food, yet it hasn’t even crossed my mind with BB.
Lamb was a very hungry baby. He fed every 2 hours and at 17 weeks old he still hadn’t slept through the night. I was feeding him with expressed breast milk so I was able to monitor how much he was taking at each feed. At one point we tried formula and even hungry baby formula to get him to sleep longer. Nothing worked. After reading up online I noticed the minimum age for weaning is 17 weeks, so as soon as Lamb reached this age I gave him his first taste.
Lamb was much bigger than BB is at this age. We have compared photos and BB is significantly smaller. I think this is why weaning seems so far away to me.
In 2 weeks time BB will be 20 weeks old (an age I know a lot of mums start to wean), but I just can’t see us trying him with food.
I wonder if, because he’s my second baby, I’m not in a hurry and want him to stay a baby for as long as possible. With Lamb I had undiagnosed PND and used milestones like first tastes to keep things exciting. Each development was like refreshing things and took my mind off the PND.
I definitely think 17 weeks is too early to wean for us. I know for medical reasons, parents can be advised to wean early, and that’s obviously what I would do if I was in that situation. But after struggling with Lambs eating for so long, the thought of weaning BB freaks me out.
I’m not thinking about it too much at the moment, but my initial thoughts are we will be doing baby led weaning this time.
The thought of making hundreds of pots of puree again doesn’t feel right. I believe BLW will be better for BB, and better for me.
It was always a dream of mine to share my meals with Lamb. Go to cafes or restaurants with a little bowl and spoon and give him some of my food. But that never, ever happened. Unless I had fries…
I’ve spoke with many health visitors about Lambs eating issues, we’re even waiting to be referred to specialist workshops. I’ve had a million things suggested and a million excuses for the way he is. After reading up online I believe he has selective eating disorder, and that’s something they are (apparently) born with.
I blame myself for Lambs eating issues as I didn’t find weaning very easy. I just couldn’t figure out what to feed him other than purees. This time round I’m waiting until BB shows me he’s ready to wean. That could be next week or in 3 months, but I’m following his lead this time.
I’ve realised there’s no rush with weaning. Certainly not with me anyway… I’m petrified! I just have to keep telling myself food is fun before 1.
If anyone has any tips or advice on weaning please feel free to comment and share. I’d love to hear from you! I wrote my own weaning tips and advice post which I’ll obviously read over to refresh my mind!
~A~
We traditional weaned my 1st and is such a fussy eater it drives me mad, with my 2nd we are doing BLW, OMG it’s been amazing, he eats so well so much easier than puree. Yes it’s messy but so rewarding to see them enjoy food. Gill rapley has 2 books on BLW which are fab xxx
This is exactly why I want to do BLW weaning with BB, it seems to be more successful. I do think purees made Lamb fussy (as well as the selective eating disorder) because he became obsessed with sweet food. I hated that all the purees are a mix of fruit and veg! I’ll definitely look at those books, thank you x
I am having so much fun weaning my daughter. From about 4 and a half months I started with some baby rice because she always seemed to be hungry,but I don’t know what good that did , but we swiftly moved on to giving her little bits of anything soft we could lay out hands on. She will eat pretty much any vegetable or fruit and while she is keen, we are giving her as much variety as possible. BLW is great and so satisfying to see them feed themselves. We are doing a mix of lumpy puréed food and finger foods and it seems to be going well. She will try anything. At 8 months her favourite things are breadsticks and scrambled egg.
Your daughter is the perfect example of why I want to try BLW this time! Glad it’s going so well for you xx