My son is my first born, so I have no prior experience with any other baby. I know I get quite anxious from time to time but like every other mother I just want to get it right. Sometimes the anxiety does get a bit much and although noone has actually said it, I get the impression when I'm having a mini panic people want to shake me and say, calm the hell down. This has been particularly the case for weaning.
There are so many books, forums, blogs and general advice from the medical professionals, family and friends of how to do it. I have spoken to numerous other mums and everyone is completely different because, here's an eye opener, every baby is different. I have been backwards and forwards in my mind unsure of how to go from step to step with my son, how long should I do vegetable purees for, when should I start mixing the flavours, when should I start upping the feeds to twice a day then three times etc. there is so much to think about. In the end I appear to be doing a combination of what every other mum is doing!
We are at the end of week 2 now and I have decided it will be two weeks of vegetables. On the suggestion of my mum, I upped the feeds to twice a day starting from yesterday. Tomorrow will be the last of the one vegetable only purees and I will start on fruit every morning next week and introduce porridge (as suggested by another mum) so I can then start setting out proper meals at the times they're meant to be eaten. The evening feeds will consist of a mixture of vegetable purees. Then the following week I will up the feeds to three times a day, porridge for breakfast followed by a puree mix (veg/veg or fruit/veg) for lunch and for dinner. I should mention, against my mum's beliefs I am pureeing and then freezing the veggies in ice cube trays to make it easier particularly for the mixing stage. It also helps me keep track of how much I'm actually feeding my son which is at the moment two ice cubes worth per feed. I do not reheat the veggies once defrosted, I just wait for them to get back to room temperature and feed them that way.
The two week rule was what I had thought seemed right and having spoken to another mum, confirmed for me I should definitely stick to two weeks. I have asked for first foods advice from google and every mum I know and so far since my last post about health my son has had broccoli and peas. Tomorrow he will have cauliflower and red pepper followed by swede and a fruit the day after. The first fruits will consist of: apple, pear, peach, plum, more banana, blueberries, blackberries and when I can get hold of a nice enough tasting one, a papaya. I feel exhausted typing it all out but I feel a little more confident I'm doing the right thing.
As mentioned previously, my diet is shocking and I want to make sure even if I don't eat whatever it is my son is eating that he gets to try everything for health reasons and because I don't want him to stick to the same foods. He cannot be allowed to become like me and once I have removed all of the lazy food from our freezer I will start making a conscious effort to cook from scratch so that my son can see what a real meal looks like. I figure I might even grow to like some of the things I'm making him try!
For reference, I will be using the following sites for mixing recipes as they seem awesome (especially the chicken, chickpea and apricot puree which I will also enjoy eating) but more importantly are free:
http://www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/category/baby-6-9-months
http://www.heinzbaby.co.uk/en/recipes?age=Month_4_to_6&keywords=#filtertop
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a546645/baby-food-recipes-from-six-months
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