Forewarning: do not take a shot every time the word weaning comes up.
Before I even began considering weaning Arth, I was in countless weaning Facebook groups eyeing up the organic home cooked meals on THOSE bamboo bamboo plates & dreaming up the 5 star dinners I was going to feed my kid.
These groups had two types of posts, there were vegan / veggie / organic recipients on tap (thanks middle class yummy mummy’s!) and the posts slating any parent who didn’t do it the same way. Every other post was about the dangers of early weaning and the horrific side effects that came later in life (obesity, gut problems etc). Some people would approach the topic casually whilst others would completely tear apart any parent that dared touch a spoon before 6 months, accusing them of intentionally harming their children. I mainly tuned out these posts and stuck around for the recipes & tips.
I didn’t have particularly strong feelings about weaning, I fancied trying baby led, but wasn’t completely sold on the idea. My approach to weaning was going to be the same as my approach to everything else, laid back, chaotic and last minute. I’d heard something about how weaning could help with reflux but hadn’t really taken much notice for fear I’d get laughed at for using Facebook as an information source on babies health.
When medication failed to help Arth with his reflux, early weaning was suggested to me by a plethora of medical professionals. But I couldn’t shake the fact that I’d be crucified by the armchair dieticians if I ever dared mention the fact that I had begun feeding my four month old. Obviously, it’s something I carried on with regardless, I’m not quite ready to sacrifice my son’s wellbeing to appease strangers, but it did weigh on me the first few times I fed him.
Baby led weaning became something I was interested in but I’d decided that I’d wait until 6 months to try it due to the choking hazard so we began on traditional purées with the occasional broccoli head. When we were using purées I always found myself dreading mealtimes & missing meals because I genuinely hated it so much. Mealtimes became a drag and I’d put it off as long as possible.
I decided that something had to change, if I literally hated feeding my child there was a problem that had to be addressed pretty immediately. Enter BLW: baby led weaning.
I started with easy things bananas, toast, muffins & once I was confident he wasn’t going to choke to death I moved on to more adventurous recipes (read: adventurous for me, not wildly known for my cooking).
Cooking & preparing food became something I enjoyed doing with Arth by my side. Watching him trying to shove entire pieces of bread into his mouth is now something I routinely enjoy.
Weaning has been a huge help with alleviating elements of my post natal anxiety. Spending time investing in Arth, and what he’s eating takes my mind away from the hundred thousand other things I’m usually focusing on.
Early weaning has been a massive help with Arthur’s health & my own once we got over the initial hiccups and judgement. I’ve since begun ignoring the regular weaning fb groups and have instead joined ‘early weaning support group uk’ which is a lot more welcoming & judgment free, I highly recommend it for new recipes and cute baby pictures!
The only real downside to the whole thing is that Arthur now expects to have anything he fancies from my plate!
Some of our favourite recipes include:
Banana pancakes
Ingredients: 1 banana, 1 egg
Method:
blitz together the banana and egg until completely smooth
fry on a low heat.
Low & slow is the name of the game with this one or your pancakes turn into a grey sludge.
Spinach & cheese pinwheels
Ingredients: 1 roll puff pastry, half a bag of spinach, loadsa cheese
Method:
unroll the puff pastry and coat with a thin layer of butter
Cover surface of pastry with chopped spinach
Grate preferred amount of cheese all over the spinach
Roll the pastry tightly
Bake at 200 for about 30 minutes
These pinwheels are great because you can replace the filling with basically anything and they’re still really good.