Coco At Six Months - Ups & Downs Of Weaning

Coco At Six Months - Ups & Downs Of Weaning

Still can't get over the fact that were past the mid-point of the first year. The days are zooming past at a super shocking rate. Here's how we're doing with weaning and solid foods as part of the Coco at six months series:

Happy start with weaning
I wrote all about how we got started with weaning here. We started when Coco was about 5 months. It's pretty much a happy, healthy start story. And thats the thing, I was ready for something new, something different from our usual routine at that point, so starting was a welcome change, to mix things up a little.

Slow middle point 
I haven't written any more updates on weaning since the Day 11 post and thats because that update on things changed a bit. I don't know if it was that I was lazy or finding it tricky or maybe a bit of both. We started strong but then, it just started to feel like this big effort. I think I was surprised by what it all entailed or and I was back in new territory again, but for what ever reason, it wasn't really working the way I thought it would. I made some great meals she ignored. I spent what felt like days, picking up food from the floor and I was having to eat up what she didn't eat, because oh my gosh - more waste!?

Other mums would ask me how we were getting on and I may have seemed a bit hesitant to share but that's because I was in the process of working it all out myself and and managing my own expectations. I had days on which we slowed it down completely and did no solid food at all.

Bunged up
It's normal to have some constipation when you first start weaning as your baby's digestive system gets used to the new heavier food. But Coco seemed to be quite uncomfortable. She's always been good with water, and I was only giving her high finer at that point, so I was quite taken aback and a little annoyed with myself for not protecting her from this. Hence we had some days off and back to just nursing.

Puree to babyled
It was during the time when she was bunged up that I started offering her a stick of cucumber or an apple wedge, just to encourage her to still accept some food, even though I didn't want her digesting too much. She took to this well. So well, that she then refused to take baby rice cereal any longer or any other puree really. At the time I had only tried rice cereal, apple puree, apple & pear puree, and mashed sweet potatoes.

Now were back! I feel a lot more positive and I've got that energetic weaning spirit we had at the beginning.

First foods Coco has tried
I already shared on the first foods she has tried. She now also enjoys chicken. There's not much that Coco does not like. Yoghurt and mixed reactions with fish, eggs and kiwi.

First 'big girl' meal
Yesterday I gave her a first 'meal' - three different little portions of food and she surprised me with her attitude. She seemed to enjoy picking out what to eat next and when she dropped one on the floor by mistake (as she does), she would reach out and try a different thing on her plate. She did not just turn her plate upside down, which she tends to do when she just wants to play with her food. She even let me spoon a bit of minced meat into her mouth, usually she refuses to let me feed her and insists on taking the spoon from me and attempting to do it herself which usually means

I served three cucumber sticks, three pieces of brown sourdough bread and a bit of mince. I made the mince in little pot alongside mine. I had onions, fresh garlic, mincemeat, coriander, thyme and a little bit of curry powder just for taste. No salt. It tasted not too bad at all.

Cucumber sticks - she has this pretty much everyday, its one of her fail safes. So she munched away. She bites on it as I think it also helps soother her sour gums.

Mince - As I said, she let me spoon a little bit of this into her mouth. She then sucked the juice and then pushed the remnants out of her mouth. She didn't seem sure of the texture. She did chew and swallow a little bit but not much at all. Not going to get to bothered about that at this point.

Brown bread - She absolutely loves this and probably enjoyed this the most. I like sourdough and got the idea form lunch I had out at a cafe yesterday. She had some of my bread at lunch and was able to chew on the hard crust without it completely disintegrating and becoming a choking hazard. Its hard but does melt when it get soggy but doesn't completely fall apart. I don't know if I am explaining that clearly, but simply put, this bread is fantastic for weaning/babies who have just started solid foods.

Water - She still enjoys her water and has some after every meal. I am trying to introduce a little more actually, which would just require me to remember to offer it to her outside of meal times.

Todays meal
For breakfast today she had peanut butter and bread. Followed by apple wedges (skinned) It's official, this little one loves peanut butter. I went for a Waitrose branded smooth peanut butter (the only smooth on on the shelf) and it's nice. I had the same for breakfast, though I toasted my bread and she sat beside me in her chair. This seems to be her favourite thing, to eat while I or anyone else really, is eating.

For lunch, I made her scrambled eggs and salmon and she had orange wedges to start. She loved the oranges, not so interested in the eggs and salmon.

Weaning verdict
It's been an interesting weaning journey, with ups and downs as you can see. We're now on a baby led weaning route, with no puree. I would like to do a mix, ideally, so I will continue to introduce it in different forms and hopefully once she learns to feed herself with a spoon, she'll be more enthusiastic. On a whole, she is mostly adventurous and will try most things and like majority, but she also has her firm favourites. I bought another weaning/recipe books I now have two - River Cottage baby food book and an Annabel Karmel recipe one.

Have you seen our salmon?
As I type this (earlier this evening), we have just lost a piece of salmon. Could be hiding somewhere in the folds of the high chair fabric, waiting to be discovered in the next few days - haha, yuck.

That was a long one, but thats because its been a few weeks coming and mixed reactions from me and Coco along the way have made it a less than straight forward story. Here's to a more upbeat update to come in the next few weeks, but hey, one day at a time.

How are you getting on with weaning - any up and down stories like ours? What foods would you recommend we try? Mums from my antenatal recommended weetabix (we'll try this week) and peanut butter (gone down very nicely), so I am eager to hear from you on your tried and tested foods.

Have a lovely evening
x

Coco At Six Months - Ups & Downs Of Weaning