Hey hey beautiful people, I hope you’re all doing well!

As many of you have seen on my FB and IG stories, I often share snippets of my day to day life. A big part of that is life with my 9 month old daughter.

I like to share the highs, lows and everything in between and one big milestone that I’ve gotten A LOT of questions about is baby weaning. I introduced food to Amber at around five and a half months and have found that many new mums have asked for recipes / foods I give her, how it was going, what I have found helpful and so on. Which is why today I’m going to share some of the most helpful tips and easy recipes / food combos that have helped in weaning Amber over these past few months.

I like to let her guide me in terms of what she need and wants and try not to be too rigid with types of foods and meal times meanwhile making sure that her diet is as healthy and balanced as possible.

Here are some of my ‘rules’

• No force feeding – when she refuses to eat any more, I stop trying
• I will offer the same food many times before deciding she doesn’t like it
• I always offer water with meals
• Meal times are kept the same from one day to the next as much as possible
• Mix fave foods with less enjoyable foods
• Always try new foods in the morning

I never try to “force feed” Amber. When she doesn’t want any more or refuses food I just go with it. Some days she may be teething and not want to eat much, other days she will want a second helping. We don’t always need the same amounts of food from one day to the next and babies are no different. Having said this, keep in mind that if your baby has lower weight, this may not be an option so a bottle or breastfeeding is ideal when baby refuses food.

When it comes to food Amber doesn’t like, I will offer it several times, on different days and mix it in with foods I know she loves. Her favourite foods are Greek yoghurt , pears and bananas. I often make a big batch of boiled or steamed fruits, including pears, and add veggies such as carrots, marrows, baby spinach and so on. This way, whenever she has a serving of fruit, she gets some veg too.

Trying new foods in the morning, especially high allergen foods, such as gluten, dairy, nuts and so on is imperative, this way, if she has a reaction to the food in question, we can monitor it throughout the day and avoid any reactions at night when we are sleeping and less likely to notice any change. So far, the only food that didn’t sit well with Amber is sweet potatoes. We tried them and seven months and again a couple of weeks ago and every time, after eating them she seems unsettled and uncomfortable and throws up so I will not give her any more sweet potatoes before she turns one.

Meal times are kept the same as much as possible; Amber tends to want to eat / have milk every three hours or so. We’re also early risers, which is true for our daughter also. Her bedtime is between seven and eight in the evening and Amber wakes up between six and seven in the morning. I breastfeed her at night and offer food around 7.30am and every three or so hours from then on.

Initially, we started with one meal in the morning. For a full month, until Amber for six and a half months old, she was totally uninterested in food and Rocky, our dog, ate all the baby food I’d make. She also refused to have any water whatsoever – she would try it and spit it out. This has changed drastically, she now loves food, will try anything, and drinking from her beaker or out of our glasses is not her favourite thing. So, if mealtimes are difficult for now, don’t give up home mamas. They really do go through phases and change constantly so keep at it.

Amber also already has 6 teeth and more coming out as we speak. When teething I find that cold foods, like fruit and yoghurt are more soothing and she’ll happily eat that instead of anything else I offer on those sore teething days.

Food combos / recipes

Initially, I tried baby cereal, single fruits and veggies and added on gradually. For example, if baby’s first food is boiled and pureed carrots, try that for three days in a row, once you know that baby didn’t have any adverse reactions, add another fruit or vegetable on day four. This can be apple and carrot puree and so on.

Once Amber turned eight months, I was told by her paediatrician that we can start letting her try our foods in larger quantities even if they include oils and salt. At this age, they can start handling small amounts and now, we let her try any food she seems interested in while we’re eating. Always in small amounts if she’s never had it before.

Here are some winning foods combos and recipes that Amber loves and that I make on repeat at home.

Cooked and pureed:

Apple + Carrot (+ split lentils)

Pear + Marrow (+ baby spinach mixed in at the end)

Mixed fruit and veg puree using apples, pears, carrots, marrows, broccoli and dried apricots.

NOTE: try to find natural dries apricots. These are darker in colour (often dark brown) and are far less processed than regular dried apricots. Good Earth have them and that’s always what I use for Amber (and us too).

Raw:

Avocado + banana

Avocado + kiwi + banana

Banana + prunes (no more than 2 dried prunes per day)

Avocado + chickpeas or beans (with a drop of olive oil)

Greek yoghurt with mashed fruit or fruit and veg puree.

I often mix these with some warm water and blend. Now that Amber is getting older and learning to chew, I mash them with a fork.

Since Amber loves Greek yoghurt, whenever I’m stuck on what to give her or she doesn’t particularly like the puree I made her, I mix in some yoghurt and she will happily eat it.

Cereal:

Baby rice cereal + banana

Whole grain mixed cereal + any fruit (mashed banana, berries, puree)

Oats + raw cacao + banana

Complimentary foods / snacks:

Whenever we’re out, I always make sure to pack plenty of snacks. They tend to keep her busy and happy and there are lots of good options to choose from. The organic food pouches from both Ella’s Kitchen and also from Lidl are great and so are the melty sticks and snack packs that you can find from either Organix, Ella’s Kitchen and Kiddylicious.

I do pack the food I make for her myself in a small thermos when I know we’ll be out for a while or going on a picnic and that sort of thing however, when I’m in a pinch or just out for a long walk I like having these items on hand in case we need them.

Recipes:

Lentil or bean stew – this is Amber’s fave savoury dish and I make a new batch for her at least once a week. I make it using different veggies and whatever I have on hand. This way she gets a vast array of different veggies and in turn nutrients and I ensure that she tries different things. The base is always the same.

A teaspoon of olive oil

1 small onion (or half a large one)

1 clove of garlic

1 small white potato

Then I add whatever veggies I have. Normally it’s:

Carrots, marrows, a couple of florets of broccoli or cauliflower, about 1/4 of a veggies stock cube (I use the very very low salt stock cubes from Kallo) and split or while lentils, beans or chickpeas together with enough water to cover and a little extra.

I cook this over medium heat until all the veggies / lentils are very soft and then portion it out for the week.

TIP: You can always make lots of extra to freeze and use whenever you don’t have time to make a fresh batch. Freeze immediately once cooked and cooled and leave them in the freezer for about six to eight weeks. Thaw in the fridge and use whenever you need to!

I also always make sure we have plenty of avocados, bananas, kiwis, cereal and dried fruit which take little to no time to prepare and are easy to prep at a moment’s notice.

That’s it from me for today – I’ll be back with a new blog post Every Single week

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Thank you for taking the time to be here and read this ❤️

Until next week, be well xXx