Win 1 of 3 Organix Weaning Bundles #RealFoodFace - Competition

I thought I would pick up where I left off yesterday where I shared Organix recent survey findings and weaning tips from the experts, you can read that post here or search the hashtag #RealFoodFace. 

We weaned Noah what feels like a lifetime ago when in reality it was only 2 years ago now. His expressions or should I say his #RealFoodFace played a big part in what foods I thought he would like and which he wouldn't but I didn't let that stop me introducing new foods to him. He's now almost two and a half and will eat pretty much anything you put on his plate and I think that is all down to offering a wide variety of food as soon as weaning begun. 

Organix has created weaning foods with a variety of tastes, shapes and textures to encourage your baby’s curiosity about food. For little ones at the start of their journey Organix offers a variety of simple and natural first tastes in baby cereals and fruit pots, to more challenging flavours and textures as your baby moves on. Their finger foods come in lots of different shapes and sizes to encourage your little one to pick them up and learn to feed themselves. All its foods come with the Organix No Junk Promise, a stamp of reassurance that they are made with the best organic ingredients, and contain no unnecessary additives so your little one gets great tasting food, without the junk. 

To help your little one on their very own weaning journey I've teamed up with Organix to offer 3 lucky winners a £20 bundle of their baby foods. To enter all you need to do is use the Gleam form below. Good luck and don't forget to enter my other blog competitions.

1 of 3 Organix Weaning Bundles

                                                                 t&c- 

1. 3 winners will each receive a £20 Organix weaning bundle.
 2. Prize supplied directly from the PR. 
3. Competition ends 29/05/16 
4. Incomplete entries with be disqualified. 
5. UK entries only.

Top Weaning Tips & Ideas with Organix #RealFoodFace

A survey, launched last week by leading baby food brand Organix, reveals that one of the biggest barriers to introducing new foods during weaning is baby’s facial expression in response to new tastes. It can be challenging to introduce new foods during weaning and the faces babies pull can be interpreted by parents as disgust or dislike at what they are trying, which can make it all the harder.

The Organix weaning survey reveals:
* More than half (55%) of mums say a baby’s facial expression puts them off trying to encourage their baby to like a new taste and flavour.
* 49% say it’s a struggle to keep babies interested in food.
* 42% say they find it hard to get babies to try new foods during weaning.

From sweet carrot to sour lemon and bitter broccoli, weaning is the beginning of a taste adventure, the first opportunity for your baby to explore and experience taste sensations. Evidence shows that it can take between 10 and 15 times to introduce a new food or flavour and that learning about food is all about familiarity and repetition. So by understanding more about their babies’ facial expressions, parents are likely to feel more confident about introducing new foods.
In response to the research, Organix has commissioned Vivien Sabel, Clinical Psychotherapist and body language expert, to help parents interpret and understand their little one’s facial expressions, rather than being put off.

Top tips from Vivien Sabel, Clinical Psychotherapist and body language expert:
* Look out for all of your baby’s non-verbal cues and expressions, they can support your baby and you through weaning and trying new foods.
* Observe your baby’s expression and mirror it back to your baby as a way of saying you understand their communication.
* Remember babies do what babies see! They are like sponges and soak up everything you do, if you look like you’re enjoying the food, your baby is likely to copy you.* The more time you spend observing your baby the more you’ll understand what they’re communicating.

It can be challenging to keep offering new foods and coming up with new and inspiring ideas to tempt little ones, but it’s important as those first tastes during weaning help define a child’s future relationship with food. The Organix survey found:
* 63% of mums say it’s stressful to think of different foods for your baby to try.
* 57% say it’s a challenge to encourage little ones to try a wide range of tastes.

To help inspire parents Organix’ children’s food expert Lucy Thomas has lots of simple, fun activities to help introduce new taste sensations to babies. Here you can see how vlogger Charlie O’Brien put some of them to the test with her son Noah https://www.youtube.com/user/Organixfood

Ideas for Weaning Fun – by Lucy Thomas, Organix’ Children’s Food Expert:
* Finger popping purée: have some fun with Organix fruit pots and explore new tastes and textures at the same time. Dip your fingertips into the pot so they’re covered in the brightly coloured purée (Organix Apple & Blueberry is lovely and bright), then suck the purée off your fingers with a loud popping sound followed by a big smile. Then help your baby do the same - if easier pop a spoonful of purée on their highchair tray for them to dip their fingers in.
* Matching pairs: match a finger food with a purée, such as Organix carrot sticks as a dipper with carrot purée, you could try a soft cooked carrot baton too. It’s a great way to offer the same vegetable in lots of different ways for baby to try without masking the real flavour.
* Tiny taste explorer: offer your baby small taste experiences throughout the day, to introduce them to new tastes. Try a lick of the lemon slice from your water, a sprinkle of cinnamon on their apple purée, a hint of curry powder in their parsnip mash or a pinch of nutmeg in some Organix banana porridge.
* Mirror image: babies are fascinated by their reflection, even though they can’t recognise themselves! Hold a mirror in front of them whilst they’re eating or holding a finger food, it’s a great activity when you’re introducing something new, watch how their expression changes.


Do you have any tips or ideas you would like to share? 

- In collaboration with Organix. 

First 1,000 days of nutrition. Your questions answered.

Two months ago I teamed up with SMA Nutrition to spread the word about the importance of nutrition in your child's first 1,000 days. It's beneficial to the health of you and the baby to have the correct balance of nutrients from day one of conception and throughout pregnancy, infancy and throughout life. Getting the right quantity and quality of protein is especially important, as this can reduce their chances of being overweight in later life. Most parents aren’t aware that the amount of protein your baby needs decreases as your little one grows. I also took the time to share some of my personal experiences with Noah. In case you missed the post you can read all about it here. 

I ended the post inviting my readers to leave any questions that they may have in the comment section below and Dr Ellie Cannon would answer as many as she can in my follow up blog post, which of course is now! 

When Pregnant are there any foods that are recommended to eat to help the health of the baby and mother? It is recommended that pregnant mothers should eat some protein foods (meat, fish, poultry, eggs, beans, pulses and nuts) every day. Also, Starchy foods (such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta) should be the main part of every meal as they are an important source of energy, vitamins and fibre, and are satisfying without containing too many calories. Choose wholemeal instead of processed (white) varieties.  Similar to normal dietary advice, it is advised that expectant mothers should eat at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day. It is also important to make sure you keep hydrated, and that you are taking folic acids supplements each day from before conception (ideally but not always possible) to 12 weeks into pregnancy. Vitamin D is a key requirement for pregnant women, as vitamin D is essential for growth. 

I always puréed food for my first two children when weaning began but I'm interested in baby led weaning for the next child. Can you recommend any good and healthy finger foods? Unfortunately, I am unable to give you advice on this topic due to conflicting medical opinions on weaning. Therefore it is best to contact your health care professional. 

My son had a tongue tie which made it impossible to breastfeed, he was also born seven weeks premature, so my milk supply was barely existent! If I have another child, and the same problems occur, is there anything I can do to try and avoid this problem? Unfortunately, I am unable to give you advice on this topic. For more information on this please contact your health care professional.

I breast fed Rosalie until she was 14 months old, she didn't have a bottle ever. Is there an age that you should breast feed till? Do they still need milk after this time? When should you stop giving toddlers milk at bedtime? There is no set age for when you should stop breastfeeding. Giving nothing but breast milk is recommended for about the first six months (26 weeks) of your baby's life. After that, giving your baby breast milk alongside family foods for the first two years, or for as long as you and your baby want, will help them grow and develop healthily. 

Toddler milks are suitable for children aged 1-3 years, Cows’ milk can be used as a drink from 1 year. Milk at bedtime is part of a routine from newborns that often toddlers continue until at least 2 years of age. Don’t forget to brush their teeth after drinking milk! Milk at bedtime is a very personal decision for you and them, and most toddlers will naturally wean off milk as their bedtime routine changes. 

I really enjoyed being a part of this campaign as it was great to share my experiences but I also learned a few things too which I will be taking forward when we decide to try for baby number two. I had no idea that the level of protein in breast milk decreased as the baby grew, making sure they get the right amount of protein in their diet – how clever!

Thank you for reading!

- This is a PR Collaboration 

What Noah Eats

Noah loves food, there's no doubt about it. At just 10 months old he is already becoming a little foodie in his own right and will eat just about anything and everything. We are yet to find a food that he doesn't like and one afternoon when he sat there happily sucking on a lime we even wondered if he had any taste buds! He really enjoys trying new foods, flavours and textures. Considering he is yet to cut his first tooth you would be amazed at what his gums can manage to devour.

Our family has our fair share of fussy eaters and I knew long before I ever became pregnant that I really did not want a picky eater. From the very start of our weaning journey I have always been conscious of what I feed Noah. I have always tried to offer him a lot of variety and introduced new foods often. 

The majority of his meals he now feeds himself and he thoroughly enjoys to do so. I am certainly no expert but I try to balance his meals the best that I can which is usually easy to do because he is a good eater. He loves his fruit and veg and his favourites are; strawberries, blueberries, grapes, peas, carrots and tomatoes. All the healthy eating aside I don't deprive him of any treats and he does have the occasional jaffa cake, biscuit or chocolate button! 

I am hoping that these healthy and positive food habits stick with him as he grows up. I know most children go through a fussy stage but here's hoping Noah doesn't because he's made a brilliant start!  

What are your babies favourite foods? How did you find your weaning journey?

A day in the life of Noah

I recently decided to document a day in the life of Noah. We don't necessarily have a routine but we do have a little bit of structure in our days, this works for us. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, bottles and naps are usually around the same time every day but it can vary here and there. This particular day was a few weeks back now and I am only just having the time to type it up so here goes.

6:15am: Wake up for morning bottle.
6:25am: Go back to sleep.
8:10am: Wake up and wake Mummy up too.
8:15am: Cuddles and giggles in bed with Mummy.
8:26am: Nappy change.
8:40am: Breakfast: Porridge, petit filous, banana, blueberries and water.
9:14am: Finish breakfast. Clean up.
9:20am: Get changed for the day. Have a drink of water.
9:30am: Playtime. We play with some toys and watch a little Nick Jnr.
9:47am: You have a toddle around in your walker.
10:00am: We sit down and read some books together.
10:15am: Cuddles and a drink in bed read before naptime.
10:34am: Morning nap.
11:05am: Wakes up with a dirty nappy (you would of usually slept for longer.)
11:06am: Nappy change. Has a drink.
11:30am: Playtime on the floor. You decide that chewing on your new shoes is lots of fun.
11:45am: Playing on the downstairs now. Playing nicely with toys and watching Tweenies for the first time.
12:10pm: Lunch; Tuna butty, cheese, tomato puffs, rice cake, petit filou, blackberries.
12:50pm: Cleaned up.
12:55pm: Walker time.
13:05pm: Playing and laughing with Mummy.
13:10pm: Trying to crawl over to grab the paper I'm currently writing on.
13:20pm: Singing, dancing and clapping with Mummy. A total show off!
13:30pm: Putting blocks inside a box and then emptying it. Has a drink.
13:45pm: Afternoon nap.
15:00pm: You wake earlier than planned to due unexpected visitors arriving.
15:05pm: Nappy change.
15:10pm: 4oz bottle.
15:15pm: Playing and having a cuddle with cousin, auntie and uncle.
16:00pm: Feeling crammed as you haven't napped properly all day.
16:15pm: Kisses and cuddles with Mummy.
16:30pm: An unheard of 3rd nap as you are exhausted and very cranky.
17:01pm: Wake up.
17:15pm: Daddy comes home from work and you greet him with lots of smiles. Time to cuddle Dad!
17:20pm: Dinner time: Chicken casserole, sweetcorn, cucumber, tomato, biscotti.
18:00pm: Had a jump in your jumperoo whilst Mummy and Daddy eat their meal.
18:15pm: Time for a chat and a play with Dad.
18:30pm: We drove to the new house to see the cats and have a little walk.
19:05pm: Come home for a bedtime bath.
19:30pm: Out the bath, dry, changed and cuddled.
20:05pm: Bedtime 5oz bottle and bed.

Do you follow a routine or are you a bit more babyled like us? 

Where we are with weaning

I bet you can't say that three time's in a row! What a tongue twister! Anyway, today I thought I would update you on how we are getting on with weaning our Noah. 

As you may or may not know we begun weaning at 4 months which is earlier than they recommend these days but at the time I felt he wanted more than milk. I introduced solids very slowly and no tasters or meals replaced any milk feeds for the entire first month. Noah's first tastes were pear, carrot and porridge and he took to food straight away. He didn't seem to have to learn what the spoon was he just knew what to do. 

The following few months I gradually introduced more and more different tastes. Starting with just a one fruit or veg puree and then mixing different fruits and vegetables together to create a bit of variety. 

I held off on dairy and meat until 6 months and his first taste of meat was lean mince meat that I cooked in a baby friendly spaghetti bolognaise. At 6 months we also introduced finger food and mashed / textured food which replaced puree's. We had no issue going from smooth puree's to lumpy foods and he seemed to relish the change. At first I was so terrified of introducing finger foods as I was so scared of him choking but you soon feel more comfortable with it. Noah has a habit of shoving far too much in his mouth and I tend to have to scoop a little out with my finger. 

Now at 7.5 months old and will eat or have a go at anything! He absolutely loves his food and we joke that his mouth is an ever open door! You don't have time to get more food on the spoon before his mouth is wide open waiting for more. His favourite foods are; strawberries, toast, tomatoes, cheese, pasta and porridge. We have yet to come across a food or taste that he doesn't enjoy. The closest we have got to a dislike is when we tried baby cereal this week. I don't think he understood the texture and was spitting it out everywhere! 

I think puree's and spoon feeding is almost looked down upon these days but I don't really understand why. They say spoon feeding is "force feeding" yet I am sure if your baby is sat there with his mouth wide open, bouncing in his high chair he's pretty happy to eat what's on the spoon! I can see pro's and con's but for us this has worked. I've weaned my first child in a way that was comfortable and right for the both of us. He has a fantastic appetite, likes everything you feed him, will feed off a spoon and will feed himself. There are things I would of done differently but on a whole I am very happy and proud with our weaning journey so far. I just hope he's such a good eater when he's older! 

Baby Diary: 7 Months Old

It literally doesn't feel like a minute ago that I was typing up your 6 month update. This month could possibly been the quickest month to date. There's no sign of time slowing down. Each month you come on leaps and bounds but this month you seem to have changed dramatically. Every day I seem to love you more and more and I don't even know how that is physically possibly! You are my best little buddy. 

Character

You are still that cheeky chappy we know and love. You are a dream first baby as you are just so easy to please and a pleasure to be around. You usually wake up with a smile and go to bed with one too. You love to smile and and laugh and give them away freely. We will have the odd day where you are cranky but that's usually when you are teething or a bit constipated. 

You have learnt how to throw a mini strop this month though. If you are playing with something that I would rather you not be and I take it off you, you will cry! Then if I give it back you stop. I now don't give it back as I don't want you to learn that if you throw a wobbler you will get your own way. I usually give you something else to distract you. 

Your confidence is growing around other people and you seem to have totally overcome stranger anxiety now which is great. People are now able to see the Noah we know and love and get to enjoy you like we do. 

Size

I'm a bad Mum. I really need to get you weighed. You are now wearing 6-9m in everything but I am finding that some of the smaller sizes babygrows are already starting to get a little snug on the legs and feet. But that just seems to be in the Next babygrows. Everything else is fine. You have long legs and arms and a skinny little body. Considering how much you eat I am surprised you aren't a bit chunkier. 

Health

Well you had another good month until this morning! This morning you turned 7 months old and you woke up with your first cold. You have a runny nose, are sneezing and a little cough. You are currently napping in the travel cot beside me as I type this up. You had a bad night sleep last night with it and considering the lack of sleep and the cold you have been in a good mood. You aren't your usual cheeky self. We are still getting smiles but you just want to be cuddled and want to take it easy. Hoping you won't begin to feel worse and that this is as bad as you will feel. I don't like to see you under the weather but I am enjoying these extra snuggles. 

Feeding

You love your food and are yet to discover something you don't like the taste of. You now have three meals a day; breakfast, lunch, dinner. Usually porridge and fruit for breakfast, a veg meal and a fruit dessert for lunch, then a meat meal and pudding for dinner. At the mintue we are living with the in laws while our house is being renovated so we have been relying on baby food jars as we aren't cooking. You have the stage 2/ from 7 months jars and pouches and enjoy the different textures. Once we are in our new house you will be eating what we eat and mainly eating home cooked foods again. 

I have introduced fingers foods too and you do brilliantly with them. Your favourites are; toast, crumpets, strawberries, wafer biscuits and biscotti. Again once we are in the new house I want to give you lots more choice and variety when it comes to finger foods too. At the moment everything is convenience but I do get lots of fresh fruit and veg into you. 

Seeing as you are such a foodie you don't really bother with your milk anymore and we really need to make you drink it. You currently have 4x 5oz or 3x 5oz a day. I like giving you porridge in the morning as I make it with your milk and it's a good way of getting more milk into you. 

You now also drink cooled boiled water or very weak juice with your meals as we were having issues with constipation as you eat that much! You drink about 5oz of water/juice a day. 

Sleep

As I have already said we are currently living with your Grandparents whilst our new house is being renovated. I think as you are now sleeping in a new room, in a new place that is has interfered with your sleep a little. You are still sleeping well but the room gets really hot and bright in the morning which tends to wake you up. I can't open the window either as it's a busy road and that would wake you too. That being said you are still sleeping around 10 hours but seem to wake a lot more frequently. Nap wise you have been great! I think the noise of the traffic soothes you at nap time as you have never napped so well! 

Milestones

- Sitting. You are pretty much sitting up totally unaided now. I still wouldn't leave you alone whilst doing so as you can get a bit lazy when you are tired. I'm so proud of you. 

- Confidence. Again your cofidence with other people has grown so much this month. Although you can have your shy moments and can still cry if a stranger takes you from me and is a bit full on with you. 

- Vocal. You have always been a very chatty baby but this month you have discovered your consonants. You now babble away with gaga, rara, dada, baba, yaya. You haven't said a word purposely yet though so we are still holding out for your first word. 

- Coordination and movement. Where as before you could only grab items at arms length you are now able to move your body to reach across for things. Now items that I think should be out of reach are easily picked up, nothing is safe! I've also seen you grab your dummy or a toy with your feet to drag it up to your hands! Little monkey boy!

- Food, As I have previously said you now eat lumpy baby foods and can eat various finger foods. You love to feed yourself. 

- Playing. You now enjoy older toys that require a bit of concentration. I only need to show you something once and you remember how the toy works. You love to kick your toys around too whilst you are sat up. 

- Eating you feet. You have discovered that your toes taste really nice!

Things you like

- SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS. You took a liking to spongebob back when you were only a few months old and would stare at the TV in awe. Well now you absolutely adore it. You will be watching it and I can see you enthralled. You smile at certain characters and laugh at different points. If you hear the theme tune or someone sings it to you (which we do a lot as you love it so much) you will get all excited and smile away. Yesterday I was singing it to you and when I got to the part that says "sea" you said "eeee". I thought it must be a fluke but kept singing it to you and you said it about 5 times in a row. So your first word might end up being sea! Ha ha.

- Kiki. You cannot go anywhere without your comforters which we nickname Kiki's. You play with them, snuggle them, bite them, suck them. I bought them in a two pack from TK Maxx when you was a newborn and they are the best baby item that I invested in. I just wish I bought some more of them because you are really partial to these two certain ones and if we lose them I don't know what we would do!

- Food. I've said it a dozen times but you are so good with your food. You have tried so much and we haven't discovered one food that you don't like. I just hope that you will be this much of a good eater when you get older.

- Singing. Although I have a terrible singing you voice you love it when I sing to you. A long with the spongebob theme tune your favourite song is "hush little baby" and one I improvised "How much is that Noah in the window? The one with the curly hair? How much is that Noah in the window? I do hope that Noah's for sale!"

- Nappies and Wipes. I don't know why I bother with toys. You get the most enjoyment out of throwing a nappy about!

Things you don't like

- Having something taken of you. You will now throw a wobbler if you don't want it taken from you!

- Bedtime. Since we have moved in with the inlaws while our house is being renovated you have decided that you no longer want to go to bed at 8pm (which is late enough) but will fight sleep until as late as 11pm. I think the change of routine is to blame. 

- Runny noses. We are currently experiencing our first cold and you have been handling it well despite the coughing fits. It really bothers you when I try to wipe your nose. 

 

So there we have it for another month! Lets hope this month goes by a little slower. The next time I write your update we should be settled in our new home. So exciting! 

First tastes: Spaghetti Bolognese

As you may know we chose to wean Noah at 4 months old as we believed it was the right time for him. In that first month he only ate one meal a day, usually porridge or a veg/fruit puree and those solids didn't replace any milk feeds. In the 2 months following he gradually ate more and more and was introduced to many new flavours. From day one he showed a genuine interest in food. He knew what that spoon was the first moment he saw it, his mouth opened wide and to be honest it hasn't closed since! He really loves his food. 

I decided to wait until he was 6 months old before I gave him any meat as I know it will be a lot harder to digest. The thought of feeding him meat made me feel a bit funny too for some reason. I knew his first try of meat had to be in a meal I cooked from scratch. I decided to make him one of our favourites; spaghetti bolognese. It was also his first "proper meal" as he had only had mixed veg puree's and fruit before hand. Here is my yummy baby friendly recipe-

Ingredients: 

Lean mince meat

Onion

Garlic

Mixed Herbs

Chopped Tomatoes 

Tomato Puree

Fry light 

Spaghetti Pasta

Directions: 

Fry onions and garlic gently in a little fry light. Add mince meat and cook thoroughly. Once browned add chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and mixed herbs. Simmer gently whilst you wait for the pasta to cook.  Once I had separated Noah's portion I added salt and pepper to ours. Serve and enjoy! Noah certainly did! 

I chose not to BLW Noah as I didn't feel comfortable doing so. Perhaps it's because I am a first time Mum and a rather panicky one at that. Maybe the next baby I will be a bit braver, who knows. So we've gone down the traditional route and so far it's working for us. I decided to spoon feed the bolognese and let Noah explore the spaghetti. 

He was rather unsure about the spaghetti at first as you can tell by his expression. He would touch them and they would stick to his hands. He did try to put some in his mouth but next time I won't cut them as small so he might have a bit more success. 

The bolognese went down a treat, he devoured it. I had blended it up for him but it was more like a paste rather than a puree. After he ate his fill we poured the remainder on his tray to let him explore and play with the food. I hoped he would try to eat some but he didn't. He just smushed it around with a rather disgusted look on his face. He will get there. All in all Mummy's spaghetti bolognese went down a treat!

What where your babies first tastes? Did you go down the traditional side of weaning or did you try babyled weaning? 

Review: Ella's Kitchen Pouches & Digital Weaning Guide

If you read the blog regularly you will be aware than I have begun weaning Noah and he has taken to his first tastes like a duck to water. He simply can't get enough. I love to make homemade puree's for him but premade pouches are ideal for when we are out and about.

 One of my favourite brands when it comes to baby food has got to be Ella's Kitchen. First of all I absolutely adore the logo, branding and how they market their products. Not only do they appeal to our young ones but also appeal to us as parents. Even more so all Ella's Kitchen food products are tasty, natural and 100% organic too. They contain nothing artificial and no bulking agents. 

Ella's Kitchen kindly sent us a few pouches for Noah to try out; Carrots Carrots Carrots, Prunes Prunes Prunes, Peaches Peaches Peaches and Parsnips Parsnips Parsnips along with a Teeny Weeny weaning spoon especially for Noah to use on his weaning journey. 

Carrots Carrots Carrots-  82% carrots, 18% water. 100% organic carrots, cooked in water. Noah enjoyed his Ella's Kitchen carrots. I tasted it myself and found it a little bland perhaps the water dilutes the taste. It might sound weird that I taste what I am going to feed Noah but I wouldn't feed him anything that tasted strange or foul.   

Prunes Prunes Prunes- 100% organic prunes, nothing else. It took a few mouthfuls for him to make his mind up about the prunes but he ended up loving it. I thought it was great too! I liked how it was just 100% prunes and nothing else added.

Peaches Peaches Peaches- 100% organic peaches. Peaches Peaches Peaches was Noah's favourite and it tasted and smelt amazing. I know that first hand cause I tried it too! 

Parsnips Parsnips Parsnips- 75% parsnips, 25% water. 100% orangic parsnips. Noah was a bit more fussy when it came to this one but after a few mouthfuls he got used to the distinctive taste that parsnips have. I also tasted this one too and it was good, I was really impressed. I could of eaten it myself. 

When looking at all the products on the baby food eilse in our local supermarkets the first thing I notice is the lack of savoury flavours when it comes to first taste pouches, jars or tins. Ella's Kitchen receive kudos from me as they are one of the only brands that offer just as many savoury tastes as sweet.   

Ella's Kitchen have created an innovative digital weaning guide which is a god send to new parents. As I have just begun weaning Noah I couldn't wait to give it a go. The weaning guide is a handy helper that has been created to take the stress out of weaning and put the fun back into mealtimes. It can be accessed on your PC, laptop, tablet of smart phone which is brilliant and very convenient. The guide helps you with; how to's, do's and don't, top tips and food fun. If you have already started your weaning journey it isn't too late as the digital weaning guide has three stages so you could go straight to stage two if need be. 

I found Ella's Kitchen Weaning Guide to not only be very informative but interesting and entertaining too. All you need to do to get your own free digital weaning guide is pop over to the website, sign up and become a friend, easy!

I was sent these products for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own. 

Weaning: First tastes

If you read the blog or follow me on twitter or facebook you will probably already know that Noah and I have just started our weaning journey. If you missed the post you can read it here. I felt very conflicted about it but felt that it was in Noah's best interests to start weaning at 4 months. I thought we would give it a go and if he wasn't ready I would stop. The way he has taken to solids has made me certain we have started at the right time. He is absolutely loving it. He will whinge if you don't have another spoonful ready by the time he has eaten the first. He also grabs the spoon, tries to feed himself and makes om nom nom noises. He really enjoys it!

I only intend on giving him baby rice, porridge, fruit and veg puree's for the next month or so. When we get to 6 months I am then going to switch to BLW and see how we get on. 

Noah's very first taste was plain baby rice, which didn't go down very well. He then tried porridge, which he devoured. His first fruit was pear and his first vegetable was carrot. 

So far Noah has tried;

Baby rice. 

Baby rice mixed with pear puree.

Baby porridge. 

Baby porridge mixed with pear puree.

Banana baby porridge.

Pear puree. 

Carrot puree. 

Banana puree (first time trying it this morning!) 

All puree's are homemade and very easy to make. Especially the pear puree! If using ripe pears all you need to do is wash them, peel them, blend them! So simply to make and it tastes amazing. It's no wonder it is Noah's favourite. 

I mix a bit of his milk into everything that he has tried so far. I know you can add cooled boiled water but I like to add his milk. As well as making it a bit more palatable it is also great to add as it warms up the puree a little if the milk is warm. It's also good to use if your puree is a little thick needs a little moisture. 

I intend on making fresh puree's and foods for him as often as I can. I have no problem using premade pouches and jars though and have a collection of different brands to try in our cupboard. With his first tastes I wanted to stick to fresh homemade puree's as I thought it would be easier on his stomach. 

What were your little one's first tastes? 

To wean or not to wean? That is the question..

The moment you become pregnant your life changes forever. Long gone are the days where you only think of yourself. Your baby always comes first. When you have a baby there are endless decisions you have to make for yourself and your child. Along with those endless decisions are the endless judgements and criticisms from every Tom, Dick and Harry. Left, right and center you get opinions from everyone whether it's asked for or not. As a Mum you always put your child first and always have their best interests at heart. A Mummy knows what is best for their child and should never feel they have to explain why they are doing this or that. I love chatting with other Mum's, sharing stories and experiences but I am not a fan of when other Mum's think the way they do things is gospel and what you are doing is wrong. Not all babies are the same and neither are their parents or their parenting methods.

The recommended weaning age is now 6 months. Noah is now 4 months old and has been showing signs for weaning for the past few weeks. I know that nutritionally babies can survive on breast milk or formula alone for the first 6 months but not all babies are the same. He might not need a spoonful of puree here and there but he wants it and I am not going to say no because the guidelines say so. (Oh I rhymed!)  

Noah has been watching us eat for weeks and is really interested in food. The past two weeks he has lost interest in his milk, although he is having more he doesn't devour it like he once did. When we are eating he will push his bottle out of his mouth, lick his lips, drool and then whinge. I was eating a pear a week ago and he was going berserk. I then showed him the pear which he grabbed out of my hand, he brought it up to his mouth and began sucking and gnawing on it. I then took it off him and he began to cry. If this isn't a sign that my baby wants something more, then what is?

I did want to leave it as long as I possibly could but our weaning journey has begun! He has already tried baby porridge, which he loves. He opens his mouth for the spoon and whines if you don't have another spoonful ready by the time he has eaten it! 

I am planning on giving him a few spoonfuls of baby porridge mixed with homemade pear puree for his breakfast after he has had his morning feed. After a while I am then going to introduce carrot puree for his dinner with his evening bottle. I am going to take it very slow and at Noah's speed. See how we get on. Wish us luck!

At what age did you wean your baby? Do you have any weaning tips?