National Weaning Week 2021

3rd – 9th May 2021

The information given regarding weaning your baby has changed over the years leaving parents somewhat confused and not knowing what they should do.

We believe every baby and every parent is different and you need to find a way that works for you all.

We also believe that by weaning baby as healthily as possible through those early months and into toddlerhood gives them the best start in life.

The aim of Weaning Week is to bring together experts, brands and real families to offer help, advice, tips, support, and recipes for 6 months plus, 9 months plus and 12 months plus to make weaning as easy as possible. By creating a supportive network for parents, we hope that parents will look to wean their child as nutritiously as possible so they are less fussy eaters and will want to lead a healthy lifestyle later on. We’ve also had a little fun and teamed up with weaning experts to offer you the chance to win some marvellous weaning goodies!

Navigating the world of weaning

As a new parent or even one who’s been around the block a few times, you’re constantly bombarded with information. Milestones, checks, opinions and information (whether you asked for it or not), and advice on most subjects available with just a click of a button.

This information however, can be conflicting and actually offer very little help into deciding what is right for your child.

Making sense of it all can be overwhelming.

When it comes to weaning onto solid foods, we’re afraid to say that the confusion doesn’t stop.

What is weaning and when to start?

Weaning is just the process of introducing solid foods into your baby’s diet, alongside their milk requirements. Ask older family members and they will probably say that 30 years ago, babies were weaned at just a few months old.

Today though, the advice is not to start offering solids until your baby is around the 6-month mark, unless told otherwise by your health visitor or GP. At this age, their usual milk is still a vital part of their nutrition and should continue to until 12 months at least. But like we say…every baby is different and you need to trust your instincts on when it is right for your little one.

MY COOKBOOKS

As you begin your research into this next stage of your baby’s development, you’ll no doubt hear about the different approaches to weaning such as ‘baby-led weaning’ (BLW) or ‘puréeing’.

Put simply a baby-led approach to introducing solids is where you allow the baby to feed itself. It means that food needs to be cut into chip-shaped portions so that the baby can hold it, such as cucumber sticks, tortilla, mango slices, or toast soldiers.

A more traditional weaning method is puréeing, which involves spoon-feeding the baby. This requires more preparation beforehand, such as steaming and mashing softer foods.

You can read more about this in our articles page – click here

As we said, every baby is different, but we want you to share your experiences as mums, dads, carers, Grandparents, brands and health professionals using the hashtag