KIDS GUIDE 2021

Panel Tips

HEALTHY & HAPPY

I breastfed the twins until they were eight months and they just preferred the bottle in the end. With Matilda, I breastfed her until she was 16 months but I knew she was my last and we both loved it. Melissa

WHEN DID YOU DECIDE TOWEAN YOUR CHILD? IF YOU FOLLOWED BABY-LEDWEANING, HOWDID IT GO?

I decided to wean my second son at around six months when I needed to take a big international trip from Singapore to the US. I had around one to two months of breast milk stored up, so I was comfortable that it would be a gradual process. The way I did it was to gradually reduce one feed each day, which helped my body adjust the amount of milk it was producing. My sonwas quite happy taking the bottle at that point, and was also starting to enjoy solids and baby food, so it seemed like a natural transition for both of us. Nisha To be completely honest, I can’t remember. I think it was about five months when they were showing “the signs”. With my second child we tried a little earlier and he made it clear that he wasn’t interested, so we waited another month and he hasn’t stopped eating everything in sight ever since. I did a mix of purees and baby-led weaning. I chose to do a mix because the purees are an easy way of getting the right foods into them and the baby-led weaning helps them to develop all the right fine motor skills and coordination. Lucy

I introduced solids when she was just shy of six months. We did a mix of purees and baby-led weaning. My suggestion to mums trying out BLW is not to be pressured by the many accounts or success stories you here. Introduce solids at the pace you think your baby can handle. With my baby girl, a strong gag reflex meant that solids were not the easiest for her to handle until she felt comfortable with swallowing. We did some purees and very soft solids for a few weeks until she was confident. During this time, we encouraged her to self-feed with a pre-loaded spoon. Once I felt she was ready, we did full BLW. She now eats well and confidently. Grace I felt my kids naturally took less and less milk from the breast after the one-year mark. They naturally progressed to foods and liquids, and I mostly followed their lead. So when I did wean them off the breast, they didn’t really seem to miss it. I had plenty of frozen milk left over after they were weaned off the breast, so we used that to make their porridge and smoothies. Dee

About five months. Annabel Karmel has so many amazing cookbooks and tips for weaning. Nicola

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