Mummascribbles – Oscar's weaning journey – the beginning – Mummascribbles

I started weaning Oscar on the day he turned six months old. I had tried him with a bit of baby porridge and puree when he was about five and a half months but had intended on going down the baby led route so pretty much left it until he was allowed proper solids. With those first few tries of puree, he wasn’t at all interested, spitting anything out and getting frustrated after a couple of mouthfuls. He rather liked chewing on the bib though – that to him was way better than food! 

On his six month birthday, we celebrated with toast. A couple of fingers with butter, and he thoroughly enjoyed gnawing on it but again, spitting any bits that broke off, back out.

The next day we tried banana – boy that is messy! He wasn’t fussed about it at all though and again got quite frustrated by it all.

I know it had only been two days but I was getting anxious that maybe I should have started him on purees a bit earlier like others had. Just to get him used to anything other than breast milk. I even went onto one of my Facebook support groups and mentioned how he just didn’t seem interested.  The responses I got were 100% reassuring and since then I have loved the following phrase…
 

Food before one is for fun!

We carried on trying new things – not every day though because I found that he absolutely had to be in the right mood to even attempt it. Broccoli was a big hit. Carrot less so. Banana the second time was better than the first and a second dose of toast went down well again.  I noticed that he had started to digest it rather than just spit it all out – we had banana poo and carrot poo (in case you haven’t experienced banana poo, it looks like they have worms!). I was relieved that at least something was being processed in that little mouth of his. 

This week I bought a new porridge, one that I know is loved by millions. On Wednesday, he wasn’t interested still. But on Thursday? Well on Thursday, something clicked. First he got excited, then he took some from the spoon, washed it round his mouth and swallowed it.  Purposefully. Then he took another spoon, but this time he leaned forwards for it. Then again, and again. He had a good few spoonfuls. 

Right I thought, let’s give another puree a go. And so I fished out a pouch of parsnip, carrot and apple. And again, he swallowed it, he was excited by it, and he ate another good few mouthfuls.

At lunch, he nommed on some cucumber too. It was definitely our most successful day so far in our weaning journey.  

And just this morning, he’s had more porridge. It is so lovely to see him excited about food rather than just getting frustrated by the whole process. 

I had intended on going full baby led weaning. But in all honesty, I think I’m struggling with it a bit. I think I’m going to do a mix. So that I’m not pressured into feeding him what I’m eating at that exact time (sometimes he is simply asleep or not in the mood when I’m eating). So that I have that back up there of giving him pureed healthy food. He knows how to chew, he knows how to swallow. And now he’s starting to enjoy it all, hopefully it’ll just develop into a good eating habit.

A couple of people commented on that post I wrote on Facebook and Twitter, that one day something just clicked and their babies suddenly started eating food for enjoyment. And that is exactly what has happened with Oscar.  On Thursday, it simply clicked into place and I no longer need to worry. So my message to you is, don’t worry. If your baby doesn’t seem interested, don’t worry. Just keep trying little bits day by day and one day, their little eyes will light up when you put that food in front of them. And from there on in, feeding is fun (well, maybe not the gag reflex part but you know, that’s part and parcel of it!).