I am so excited to start weaning Eleanor next month. We are waiting until she is 6 months old so we can follow baby led weaning (BLW).
I am fully expecting it to be a complete mess and I don’t suppose much will be eaten for awhile but it does look like lots of fun. I’m not going to go into the pros and cons of BLW versus traditional weaning (purees) here. I’m sure if you google it there will be lots of information out there. Also, I have read Weaning Made Easy by Rana Conway which does cover both methods and is really useful, especially if you plan to do a bit of both.
I’ve decided to do BLW because I’m a bit lazy to be honest. As well as all the positives behind BLW, it seems to much easier just to cook for me and my husband and then share our food with Eleanor. Her first meal is likely to be a roast dinner. I don’t know yet if I’ll give her the meat on her first attempt, but she can definitely have a play with the broccoli, carrots and parsnips.
The one thing that does scare me about BLW is choking and gagging. I really want to go on a first aid course to learn how to deal with choking. For now though Channel Mum have a really useful video on how to stop a choking baby.
I always try and meal plan for us so I know what I’m buying, so it makes sense for me to continue while weaning her. It’s going to make us a lot more healthy too. The Baby Led Weaning Cookbook is amazing. All the recipes have servings for adults and a baby which I haven’t seen in most weaning cookbooks.
I’m going to start introducing one meal a day for a few days, then add lunch and then a few days later add breakfast. I want to introduce vegetables before fruit so she doesn’t just want sweet tasting food all the time. Here’s my meal plan for the first two weeks.
Sunday: Roast chicken, steamed carrots and broccoli and roasted parsnips
Monday: Pie for us with steamed broccoli and mange tout
Tuesday: Burger for us with sweet potato fries and banana
Wednesday: Salmon teriyaki for us with broccoli and green beans
Thursday: Chicken, roasted cauliflower and carrots
Friday: Banana pancakes // Avocado pesto pasta for us, salt-free rice cakes with avocado mash
Saturday: Cheese on toast // Avocado pesto pasta for us, penne and an avocado slice
Sunday: Cheese and pesto pinwheels and banana // Stew with broccoli and cauliflower
Monday: Pizza toast. Leftover stew with mashed parsnip and broccoli
Tuesday: Stew soup with bread for dipping and porridge fingers and pear // Beef, broccoli and pepper stir fry
Wednesday: Baked potato with cheese and tuna // Meatballs in tomato sauce with penne.
Thursday: Porridge // Hummus with warm pitta and cucumber // Homemade pizza
Friday: Porridge with squashed blueberries // Cheese and ham pinwheels // Lemon and tarrogan chicken with pasta
Saturday: Scotch pancakes with mashed banana // Carrot muffins and apple // Grilled salmon with mashed potato and asparagus
Sunday: Scrambled eggs on toast // Roast dinner with carrots, parsnips, broccoli and baby corn // Scone fingers with crushed raspberries
You can find out more about why we’ve decided to do baby led weaning in this video.
