Community Questions - Starting weaning tips!

"Can you please share any tips for starting weaning? My daughter is just over 6 months and has been showing signs she is ready but not sure where to start?"

When starting to think about weaning, we would recommend that you get as prepped as you can, although you never really know how it's going to go at first, making sure you have a range of vegetables in the house ready to cook, decide if you want to start with baby-led or purees. Remember that no one weaning journey will be the same as every baby is so different. It's very normal for babies to not actually eat any of the solid foods in the first few weeks of weaning whilst they are exploring the texture, smells and tastes of solid foods.

We all started our weaning journey with our little ones with veggies and would recommend doing the same - starting weaning with more bitter tastes has been shown to encourage babies to become more used to a wider variety of flavours as they grow up!

When starting your weaning journey with your baby, you want to start to think about how you want to establish a new routine with your little one that includes solid foods - including allowing your little one to explore new foods and become familiar with different types of foods, exploring first tastes of new foods. We want to encourage our little ones to enjoy their weaning journey and make it as fun and positive as possible with little pressure on you and your baby!

Some of our top tips for starting weaning that have worked for the Carol App Team:

- Offer your babys' first solid food meal when they have had a little bit of milk but aren't too full - around 45 minutes after a milk feed may be a good time.

- Offer your babys' first solid food meal when they tend to be most calm - this could be early or late afternoon depending on your little one and their schedule!

- Try to keep the weaning environment as relaxing and stress-free as possible

- Sit with your baby whilst they are picking up and playing with the food and be present with them with lots of smiles - this can help them feel more comfortable in this new journey.

- Show your baby how to use a spoon and how to attempt finger foods - modelling goes a long way, especially with weaning.

- Try to stick with a vague routine for weaning, if you start solid foods at a certain time, try to stay with that time as closely as possible so your baby starts to understand when they will be getting solid foods and milk.