sideways! But any bowl that won’t smash if it ends up on the floor is fine.
The only must with weaning spoons is that they need to be made from soft plastic or silicone. This is to protect your baby’s gums as she eats. It’s worth having a couple of spoons as babies often respond better to being fed if they are also holding a spoon and feel like they’re doing it themselves. Giving them this sense of independence helps them develop their motor skills, too, and it won’t be long before they’re scooping up their own spoonfuls and accurately popping them into their mouths.
Sippy cup
From six months, you can encourage your baby to take a few sips of water from a spout beaker or ‘sippy’ alongside her new ‘solid’ meal. You can get ones with handles, to make it easier for little hands to control, and she’ll love the feeling of independence that comes with this new experience. I would advise investing in a cup with a lid, but one that allows the water to flow freely rather than the non-spill type. This teaches your baby how to sip and drink properly, and it will stand her in good stead for when it’s time to lose the lid and start drinking from an open cup with the sipping control they’ve unwittingly learned. Teaching your child how to use a straw early on is also a godsend. Once they master this, it makes things so much easier when you’re out and about. Mine learned by watching me and Dan. I’d suck liquid through the straw and then let it go and blow a few bubbles. I know this sounds as though you’d be teaching your children bad habits, but it’s enough to spark their interest and show them how to draw up liquid and watch how it moves up and down the straw. All of mine learned really quickly and it definitely helped with learning to sip and drink properly.
Bibs
When my babies were at the milk-only stage, I used those super-soft milk-feeding bibs with the padded ridge around the neck, which soaked up all the drips and leaks, helping to prevent rashes. But bibs for weaning are a totally different ball game. Essentially, you still want one to catch the excess – but this time you’ll want one you can wipe clean, or you’ll be spending a fortune on stain remover! You can get silicone ones with inbuilt trays. Inevitably they don’t catch everything – but I’ve always been glad it’s there.
Face cloth/muslin/wipes
You’ll need something to wipe your baby down once they’ve finished eating. Just make sure it’s something clean – and not the kitchen J-cloth! Equally, if you’re using baby wipes, try them on your own face first. Some are fine to use on little hands, but quite scratchy on their sensitive faces and you won’t know until you try it yourself. As a rule, try not to wipe your baby’s face too much mid-feed, even if she is covered in goo. You risk aggravating and distracting her before she’s full.
Sterilizer
You only need to sterilize your feeding equipment if you’re weaning a baby under six months old. Any work-surface or microwave-bottle sterilizer will work. After that, it’s fine to hand wash or put everything through the dishwasher.
HAPPY MEALTIMES AS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF HAPPY FAMILIES
The first few weeks of weaning aren’t really conducive to the conventional family meal, given the mess and your baby’s short attention span. Nevertheless, if you can, it’s still important to seat your baby at the table and let her experience the whole family coming together. The early days of weaning are more exploratory for babies in terms of food, but even if you just give them an empty bowl and a spoon to practise with while you eat, they can start to copy how you use the tableware and they’ll begin to feel part of the mealtime experience.
I guess every parent’s dream is to have the whole family seated around the dining table, all happily tucking into the same meal you’ve lovingly (albeit somewhat frantically!) prepared. Basically, not having to create half a dozen different dishes to please everyone! I was really lucky growing up to have both of my parents around a lot of the time. My dad was, and still is, a salesman. His working hours used to revolve around when his customers were at home, so most days it was he who would collect me and my sister from school. We’d then all have an early dinner together as a family before he had to go out to his evening appointments.
As with so many of the good things in your own childhood, I think you only properly appreciate them when you become a parent yourself. If I’m honest, it’s only since becoming a mum that I realize how lucky we were to have as much time with both our parents as we did, which is what I try to replicate for my own children. Sitting down together for a family meal is part of this. So even though Dan and my working days can be lengthy at times, we both make every effort to sit down to a family meal as often as we can and have tried to do so even during the earliest stages of weaning.
DEVELOPING GOOD EATING HABITS
In an ideal world, children will develop positive associations with everything they eat, and sharing family mealtimes as much as possible from the word go certainly helps. If you can establish this attitude from an early age, they’ll by more likely to enjoy a balanced, healthy diet as they grow up. Here are a few other suggestions to encourage a good approach to eating.
VARIETY
Variety is key – the spice of life, as they say. The wider the range of different flavours, colours and textures you can introduce to children when they are young, the healthier and happier they’ll be in life. Encouraging your children to be open-minded from the earliest age will help get them off to the best start nutritionally. Most babies begin with basic vegetable and fruit purées, but don’t be afraid to introduce herbs, garlic and spices to widen their palate. (Not hot spices! And remember that chilli should only be introduced once your baby reaches one year old). I feel so proud of Harry and Belle now in restaurants with how receptive they are to new foods, willing to a bit more adventurous and try out other dishes rather than sticking with chicken nuggets on the kids’ menu. Even when we’re abroad, they always try local foods and are as partial to a seafood paella as a (not too spicy!) Thai curry.
FUSSINESS
At some point during the weaning process, you’ll feel like you’ve got a fussy little person on your hands, and it can be frustrating, especially when the toddler stage is reached and your child suddenly realizes she can exercise control over her life. There are many reasons why this might be happening, depending on the age of your child, so before you fling some butternut squash at the kitchen wall yourself, ask yourself a few key questions:
Babies
• Is my baby hungry enough?
• Has she had too much milk at around the same time as solid feeds?
• Is she too distracted by other things at mealtime, such as the TV, toys or a busy household?
• Is she coming down with an illness?
• Is she teething?
• Is she bored of me offering the same flavours?
• Is the purée too thick for first tastes?
• Should I try mixing some of her familiar milk into the solids?
Toddlers
• Is the portion size too big and overwhelming?
• Should I try including her in meal preparation and cooking?
