Monday 14 September 2015

WEANING: Making batches of stage 1 purées

 
Weaning begins for us at the end of this week, therefore I started making batches of purées in readiness. I was really nervous and feeling pretty overwhelmed about the whole thing, but after attending a local weaning class I feel assured that you can't really go wrong. As long as we know the foods that Isabella shouldn't have until she's older (e.g. honey) then we should be ok. In fact I'm pretty excited about it now, hence the purée making on mass! 

We wanted to mostly use organic fruit and vegetables to start with, just so that Isabella isn't getting any nasty chemicals at this early stage of eating. I have spent a good amount of time look at various stage 1 weaning recipes, reading about the importance of introducing a range of foods early on and when/how to introduce texture into the purées. Yet I still don't feel completely confident - I'm anxious to get started. 
The first set of purées I have made are in line with the weaning plan I made for Isabella (see more about that here). These include: sweet potato, apple, pear, parsnip, spinach, butternut squash, broccoli, leek, mango, blueberry, nectarine, and cauliflower. Initially I want to introduce one food at a time, so that I know that Isabella doesn't have an allergy to anything. By the end of the second week we're going to be combining vegetables/fruits, so it's pretty quick paced. Our Health Visitor said that nowadays we wean at 6 months which is a lot later than they used to, meaning we can give our babies almost any food. She also said that we can start with lumps from the word go and very quickly move to three 'meals' a day. I'm doing smooth purees to start with, as I want to reduce the risk of choking while Isabella is learning how to eat. 

I've decided to not do too many fruit and vegetable combinations (e.g. pear and potato), just because on the weaning course the lady said that the only reason you would really combine fruit/vegetables into one purée is to sweeten the vegetables. As adults we don't eat fruit/vegetables combined, so babies don't need to either. I'm not against doing it and we will give Isabella some combined purées from companies like Organix, Ella's Kitchen and Hipp Organic when we're out and about.
Now that I've made all of the stage 1 purees I can think of I've started making some little meals up, like plaice with tomatoes and carrots. I need to stop soon because our freezers are jam packed, but I'm just enjoying preparing and cooking for Isabella too much!

Did you make purées in advance for weaning your little one?

Feel free to leave me a comment :) 

Helen x
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5 comments

  1. Aww the fun times of weaning. I did make purees a lot but I wasn't good at storing them so I just ended up making them every other day. I'm a stay at home mum so I had the time to do it that way. #mummymonday

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  2. Ahhh I remember all this like it was yesterday (as opposed to three years ago). I much preferred purée weaning to BLW, it just suited me and my boy. I found a decent silicon ice cube tray was great at the beginning and I made bags and bags of different ingredients. It meant dinner time was easy peasy as I just grabbed a few to combine and microwaved them.

    No word of a lie, his absolute favourite was a combination of chicken liver fried and puréed there and then, mixed with pre puréed carrots, swede and a bit of baby rice. What a combo, but it was the thing he gobbled up without question, every time!

    I hope it goes well for you my lovely (and like you suggested, I also used pouches when we were out and about. I tried taking my own food and it was a disaster!) #mummymonday

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  3. aww what a great read! I remember doing this too, aww i kinda miss thoes days! Suz x beauisblue.com

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  4. I'm about the start weaning too. Where did you get your steamer basket from? This could save me some space instead of the tiered ones! TIA x

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    1. Aww such an exciting/nerve wracking time isn't it?! It was from TK Maxx though I wouldn't recommend it, it's really hard to clean and the side parts keep falling out. A similar design but made of silicone would be a lot better but I'm yet to find one for a reasonable price.

      Helen x

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