I remember pre-baby I was one of those smug twits that thought they already knew exactly how weaning a baby would go. I thought I’d just make a load of veg based purée’s and boom my child would adore a healthy diet and no longer need my boobs. Ha! That girl has been well and truly schooled by a 6 month old baby.
I had all the gear and (as yet unknown to me) absolutely no idea. We prepped for the big food trial day over the course of a week leading up to him turning 6 months old. Then, the day arrived. I heated up my lovingly puréed broccoli, put Freddie into his high chair, put him in his Messy Little Things bib, got out the Bamboo Bamboo bowl and spoon and waited for the joy to ripple across his face…silly first time parents!
Instant tears, gagging and howls. I was so confused! How had this gone wrong!? I’d planned all of it. But the baby had not received the memo. He has his own ideas of tasty food, and his mamas boobs were all he needed or wanted! He was very happy to chew the (empty) bowl!
So we did a mixture of perseverance and insane googling. I tried leaving him in charge of everything (my god the mess!), I tried me being in control of everything, a combination of the two, pure baby-led and a baby-led/purée mix. In the end I conceded that actually all babies are different and for Freddie he hadn’t come around to wanting any food yet and did not appreciate my eager, quite forceful, approach.
We had a break over Christmas and have just casually started trying again now. It’s going well, but I’ve stopped myself from measuring success and started just appreciating the fun of the process. The more relaxed and happy I am, the more happy and relaxed he is (I know, seems obvious but I got lost in the excitement!!). As my mum helpfully reminded me, we don’t know any adults that refused food and remain breastfed!
I’ve just got to get him to stop using my nips as teething toys-that one little tooth he’s got is unbelievably painful considering how tiny it is!
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