The Only Guide to Weaning You'll Need To Produce A Perfect Eater

 

After canvassing much advice and as mama of two, here's the definitive guide to raising a baby to be a non-picky, adventurous eater..

One who hits the scales at weight 'perfect' and turns pale at the thought of refined sugar. You've bought the best weaning gadgets... so follow these steps, and you will have an adventurous eater on your hands in a mere 12 days.

1. At the start of the weaning process, remember that your baby will only be used to drinking sweet milk, so ensure their first foods are soft, liquidised sweet fruit puree such as apple mush.

2. This is true except if you want your child to be a sociable eater when older - one who enjoys eating out in restaurants and gobbles everything put on their plate. In this case, never offer a baby pureed foods - doing so is pandying to their inexperience, and lack of teeth. 

3. Instead, opt for baby-led weaning (BLW): foods like soft vegetable batons, yogurt and home-made houmous. 

4. BLW works wonderfully - although, think twice if you want your child to sleep at night. Because if so, you'll want them to be full so you'll definitely need to opt for easy-to-eat purees, with you helping spoon your (exclusively homemade, sweated-over) purees into their mouth.

5. But - watch out - don't spoon-feed your baby if you want him or her to be an independent eater, or to be doing their homework themselves by the age of 17. A baby who doesn't use their own cutlery by aged 193 days will turn into that Little Britain 'bitty'-loving character demanding milk feeds during their lecture breaks at uni. 

6. So, a great way to encourage a baby to turn into a quinoa-guzzling toddler is by popping the food in front of them for them to explore themselves. Watch your baby smear avocado into your new white cashmere throw and hurl gently-steamed tomatoes into your cream carpet, then smile serenely and channel a handy Instagram slogan, such as '#letyourpossessionsgo'. (Obviously, the 'go' refers to 'go manky.')

7. Whilst doing so, remember that weaning is a fun, relaxing process for you and your baby. Always fun and relaxing. Even when you're facing another clamped-shut baby mouth, who literally refuses to eat your slaved-over baby-friendly-organic-vegan-clean-food-healthy-green lunch dish (that smells so compost heap-y you'd never eat it.)

8. Meanwhile, NEVER worry about your baby's eating progress - babies can pick up on any concerns that you're stewing over, and become anxious, and then refuse to eat. Anyway, you can always find some sensible, non-contradictory, non-emotive advice online that will help....

PS Seriously, though, remember that the real weaning mantra is 'fed is best'... BLW or purees or shop-bought pouches or homemade goo ALL help to make happy healthy babies!