Truly Scrumptious Baby: My complete feeding and weaning plan for 6 months and beyond. Holly Willoughby

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СКАЧАТЬ babies. It’s a good idea to start by cutting out one of the least ‘cosy’ feeds and replacing it with a solid feed. Distraction is the name of the game! Don’t attempt to spoon-feed your breastfed baby on your lap, as he’ll immediately associate it with breastfeeding. You need to try to gradually diminish breast association as you continue to cut the milk feeds.

      To begin with, your milk feeds won’t change. A six-month breastfed baby will continue feeding on demand. A six-month bottle-fed baby should be having 4–5 formula feeds with a total of 840–960ml/29fl oz – 1¹/₂ pints during the course of 24 hours. Once you start weaning your baby, the most important milk feeds of the day are the waking feed and last feed before bed, so make sure your baby takes full bottles at these times.

      WEANING MYTHS

      There are a fair few myths associated with moving your baby on to solids sooner rather than later, and I’d like to dispel them!

      ‘The quicker you start him on solids the quicker he’ll sleep through the night.’

      Babies – just like adults – wake for all sorts of reasons, and it doesn’t necessarily mean they are hungry. Their tummies are so tiny in the first few months, you can’t possibly hope to stuff them full enough to keep them going for hours on end. It’s also worth noting that weaning coincides with a huge number of new things your baby is experiencing in his first year of life: growth spurts, teething, sitting up, crawling, walking, etc. You can put sudden changes in sleep/waking patterns down to any or all of the above. Sadly, weaning isn’t a miracle cure for any of these.

      ‘She’s a big girl for five months. She needs more than milk to fill her up.’

      ‘That baby needs to put some weight on! Give him some solids.’

      ‘That’s baby’s so hungry, she’s chewing her hands off! She should have some solids!’

      During the early weaning stages, milk is and should still be the main source of nutrition for your baby. Whether breast or formula, milk has more calories in it than the limited amount of solid food a baby’s tiny stomach can hold. Between four and eight months, weaning is more about the introduction and exploration of food and getting your little one used to the physical act of eating, rather than satisfying hunger and aiding development. If your baby appears starving at four months, try an extra milk feed before introducing solids if you feel it’s too early. It might just be the top-up he needs for the moment.

      VERY FIRST FOODS

      At six months, keep offering the usual milk feeds. Food is merely a complement at this stage, rather than any sort of sustenance, so your baby still needs the calories and nutrition in milk.

      Once you start weaning, you’ll need to start giving your baby a little water at mealtimes. It’s a good idea to get him used to a sippy or free flowing cup at this stage. This is a beaker with a lid and a hard spout (see here). It’s the first step to getting your baby used to drinking from a normal lidless cup, so what better time to start than at a meal.

      The following are some ideas for first foods you can try:

       Baby rice

      These fine, powdery flakes of rice, which you mix up in a bowl (never add to your baby’s bottle) with breast milk or formula, are the perfect first taste of food. As a first solid, it’s not too big a leap from what your baby will be used to flavourwise as you’re mixing it with his milk. It’s also gluten-free, so allergy safe, and is fortified with vitamin B1, which helps little bodies turn the carbohydrate into energy. In the first few days, he might not take any rice down, but day by day you’ll notice him take a little more, building up to a few teaspoons and maybe rejecting a milk feed completely.

       Baby Cereal

      Baby cereals are fortified with vitamins and minerals, and most are low in sugar and salt, although be careful to check the label. In fact, be careful when selecting cereals for your children in general. It would be healthier to give them a doughnut for breakfast for all the sugar that’s in some!

       Vegetable purées

      All the vegetables included in the recipes in Chapter 1 (see here) are jam-packed with health-boosting nutrients. They are all excellent first foods, and most are naturally sweet and appeal to young palates. You can experiment by mixing two vegetables together, then thicken with a little baby rice or thin with your baby’s usual milk, which will give it a familiar flavour. And if you’re struggling with certain vegetable flavours, you can try adding a dash of apple purée or another sweet combination. This might just take the edge off any bitterness. But remember that, generally, it’s best to get your baby used to vegetables before introducing sweeter, often more appealing, fruit.

      Fruit purées

      Babies love fruit purées (see here). Fact. They have a naturally sweet tooth and will be drawn to all the deliciously sweet flavours. Just be careful not to overdo the fruit! It can result in a few upsets – upset tummies and the rejection of blander, savoury vegetable flavours, which is the last thing you need! Always start with a veggie purée over a fruit one.

      no-cook purées

      There are some fruit and veg that you don’t have to cook before serving – they make wonderful first foods and are super-easy to mush up for families on the go! I’m talking about things like ripe banana, avocado, cucumber and melon. (See here and here for a few easy no-cook recipes.) It’s a good idea to offer these even if you’re not on the go to get your baby used to different textures and temperatures. You might not always have the facilities to make your baby a hot meal, so get him used to eating cold foods to avoid fussiness further down the line.

      SINGLE FIRST FOODS

      I’ve put together a few sample feeding routines for you, starting from six months. If you are weaning before then, consult your GP or midwife about what’s appropriate for your little one. How you proceed safely will depend on your baby’s age, weight, whether they were premature or late, etc. It’s best to get medical advice, if only to confirm your gut feeling that your baby is ready.

      WEEK 1

      When weaning day arrived for each of mine, I tried a little baby rice at breakfast to get them started. I’d wait for them to wake up – usually around 7am – leave them with Dan for Daddy cuddles, then go to the kitchen and make up their usual morning milk feed. I’d stopped breastfeeding by six months with all of my babies, so when it was time to start weaning, they were all on formula.

      Mid-morning, I’d mix up a little baby rice in a bowl, using some of the milk from the bottle, so as not to go over the quota for that feed, and prepare a sippy cup of water. For the first week, just a couple of teaspoons of baby rice is enough. When I had everything ready to go – AND HIDDEN THE BOTTLE OF MILK from hungry little eyes – I’d put them in their high chair, give them a sip of water to quench their new-day thirst and offer a little baby rice on a spoon. Not all of my children were immediately receptive to the baby rice, and I made sure I caught on camera every delicious face they pulled, but every day their interest grew, to the point that by the end of the first week, they would all manage СКАЧАТЬ