Taking the first weaning step…

Up until the age of 4 months, you will have only given your baby breast or formula milk. Finding your groove with your newborn, getting the burping under control, perhaps establishing some sort of sleeping and feeding routine has been your everyday challenge the past 4 months. You feel like you have just got it under control when someone pops the first weaning question: “Has your baby started with solids?” NOOO! The dreaded question rocking the “milk” cart! We’ve even once had a sleep-deprived mom ask us: “Do they really need to eat food?” YES, they do.

When is the best time?

The advice varies from paediatricians to your local nurse, from your nosey neighbour to your sister who has 4-children-and-knows-the-drill, not to mention Google. Such a lot of information to process! Any time between 4-6 months is a good window to start, as research also shows that between 4-7 months your baby will be the most open to trying new tastes. This gets referred to as the “flavour window”.

When your baby is struggling to gain weight or has cholic, usually advice from doctors would be to start from 4 months. Our advice in general, for a baby gaining good weight and without any known allergies, would be to start weaning between 5-6 months. Most importantly, make sure your baby can sit upright in a high chair and has control over their neck. No need to rush this if your baby is not ready, they have the rest of their lives to eat!

What to introduce first?

Petit Purees
The advice has changed dramatically over the years, with loads of experts and doctors each following their own set of guidelines when it comes to what to give a baby first. We would suggest that you follow the guidance which suits your lifestyle as a family best, as your baby would need to fit into your eating routine once they are fully weaned and ready to take their seat at the table.

We find purees to be great for first foods and have developed our own two breakfast meals perfectly suitable to start your baby on solids. They are high in nutrients, protein and a great kick-start for the day ahead! All our Petit Purees are suitable for babies 4-6 months and to start their weaning journey. We have two brekkie meals, two fruit meals, two vegetable meals as well as 3 protein-based main meals (lamb, chicken and lentils).

The Petit Purees range will introduce your baby to 30 unique ingredients.

Additionally, you may also introduce any soft fruit that could easily be mashed for in-between flavour exploring – like avocado, paw-paw and banana. Once you have given all of our meals to your baby, you can get creative by adding plain, full-fat yoghurt to our fruit meals, or nut butter to the brekkie or fruit meals. Leftover fruit purees could also be mixed with rooibos tea to make a healthy iced tea drink for babies from 6 months. When finger foods get introduced, our vegetable purees or Dinky Dinners could be added to any batter to make flapjacks, pancakes or muffins. They could also be added to eggs for tasty scrambled eggs or mini frittatas.

We have developed our meals to be nutrient-rich and to consist of various ingredients so they could easily be mixed and matched, ensuring your baby gets exposed to a balanced variety.

Umatie Love x