With my Annabel Karmel book in hand, I was excited to try some simple fresh fruit and vegetable purees for Little T. I decided to start with both carrots and pear, so that Little T could get used to two new flavours.
For stage one weaning, it's handy to have:
- a steamer;
- a food processor/hand blender- I bought an inexpensive small food processor so that it wouldn't be too much hassle to clean regularly;
- plastic (bpa free) pots to store batches of puree in the fridge or freezer. I went for some from Jojo Maman bebe (
see link), which come with handy labels;
- bowls and spoons - I bought some very clever 'heat sensing'
tommee tippee spoons, which change colour if the food is too hot;
- plenty of bibs
Little T isn't yet in his highchair, so we are feeding him in our arms or sat upright in his bouncer.
I separately steamed carrots and pears, ensuring there was no carrot peel or skin/core in the pear until they were soft. I used my mini food processor to create a smooth puree. If the puree is still too thick, you can add water or formula/breast milk when feeding your baby. Alternatively, you can also add baby rice to any puree to thicken it up.
I made a handy batch of fresh purees, which I labelled and put in the freezer. As the pear had been freshly steamed, you can see above that the heat sensing spoon picked up that it was too hot at first!
We offered Little T a spoon or two of pear and although he looked surprised, he swallowed and appeared to enjoy his first experience of fruit!
We also offered Little T a drink of cool boiled water in a sippy cup, which although he liked holding, did not get drunk!
It's really important to be positive and encouraging when your baby is trying new things and they can
sense if you are calm or tense. If Little T wasn't interested in food, I would wait a day or two before trying again. As his main diet is still made up of milk, it's great that he can take his time trying new flavours... now... what to make next?!
