• SELF LOVE & BODY IMAGE
  • MOTHERHOOD
    • Pregnancy
    • Babies
    • Kids
  • ADVENTURE
  • STYLE
    • Interiors
    • Fashion
    • Beauty
  • FOOD

Mother's Always Right

Mum life, body image, style

  • ABOUT
  • PRESS
  • Podcast
  • Public Speaking
  • YOUTUBE
  • WORK WITH ME
  • #FreeFromDiets campaign
You are here: Home / FOOD / A year of food – how it all began

A year of food – how it all began

May 9, 2016 by Molly Leave a Comment

Weaning

It’s hard to believe, but Baby Girl’s now been chowing down on proper food for just over a year. Early stage weaning seems like both a lifetime and just a second ago, just like with everything kids and time related.

Early weaning with our second baby was a bit different to our first. With Frog, I read all the books, joined the forums and agonised over what to feed her and when. I had daily routines of feeding times written out on a little list on the fridge and I was a militant Baby-led Weaning mum.

Second time around I had no plan, there were no lists and weaning began very much as it continues – with me flying by the seat of my pants. Baby Girl has always been a far less reliable sleeper than her older sister. She was exclusively breastfed until weaning began, but we started to introduce food around a month earlier than we did with Frog, from five months old. At the time, this was a desperate attempt to see if we could get more than an hour’s sleep in a row. Sleep deprivation drove the decision to introduce food, as we thought she may be waking due to hunger.

As it happens, it turned out to be a good decision. Although it didn’t solve the sleep issue, it turned out our baby was more than ready to get stuck into something other than milk. We started off with spoonfeeding mush – pureed fruit and veg – but that quickly turned to offering finger food once bubs started stealing the scraps from her sister’s plate. We had no specific “approach” this time. We just winged it from day to day.

Weaning baby

One thing that was similar with early stage weaning with both girls was the fun (and the mess). I never worried about “how much” either girls were having, because I knew that as long as they had milk they wouldn’t go hungry. Gradually, as they learned to chew and swallow food, to get used to the different tastes and textures, it became a real part of their diet and they relied less on milk.

This could potentially be one of the hardest parts of weaning – trusting your baby’s own pace of discovering food and learning how to eat. After all, it’s not like they get a memo when they turn 6 months old that suddenly turns them into mini eating machines overnight. It’s easy to forget this at times.

Here’s a video we made just over a year ago, about those early day discoveries with food – including a tip for preparing banana as finger food. Seriously, the banana tip is life-changing…

If you’re about to start weaning there’s lots of advice on the Organix page, including a downloadable book packed with really useful information. Organix have been working with food expert Lucy Thomas to create a fun set of activities to make this potentially quite stressful early weaning stage fun. Fun is the key to a future love of food, I reckon, so I’m totally down with this.

My favourite activity that Lucy suggests is to hold a mirror in front of your baby so they can see themselves while they’re exploring the food. Lucy recommends putting out a mixture of purees and finger foods with different tastes and textures, then offering lots of smiley encouragement to get them going. Even better, invite some baby mates round so they can play with the food together, watching themselves watching each other in the mirror. This is the start of turning food into a fun and sociable experience. In these early days it’s about the learning and fun just as much (if not more so) than actually eating the food.

Here are some of my biggest tips if you’re about to start the weaning process:

  • Make it fun. Although it’s messy, try not to get too hung up on how much food your baby gets all over themselves and instead encourage that early day exploration.
  • Don’t get stressed about “how much they’re having”. Remember, as long as they’re still having their milk feeds then they’re still getting nutrition. Gradually, they’ll learn to eat the food and the milk feeds will decrease.
  • Invest in a big plastic sheet if you’ve got carpets and, in the summer, eat outside as much as possible (your house will thank you for it).
  • Make eating a sociable experience. Try to eat together as a family whenever possible – even if it’s only one meal a day. We tend to all eat breakfast together.

Are you just beginning the weaning process? Or maybe you’ve done it all before – if so, what tips would you add?

 

If you liked this post then share the love and pin it for later!

Early stage weaning tips

**

Disclosure: I’m an Organix brand ambassador. All opinions and word remain my own. For more information about how I work with brands check out my work with me page.

Filed Under: FOOD Tagged With: BLW, family food, weaning

« Five things I’ve learned in two years of being a school mum
Life lately »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hello and welcome! I'm Molly Forbes - podcaster, presenter and blogger with a passion for positivity, confidence and body image chat. Regularly writing and vlogging about empowering female issues from a motherhood angle, I also cover lifestyle and fashion topics for like-minded mums who want to rediscover themselves after having children. Thanks for stopping by! Read More…

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

YOUTUBE

INSTAGRAM

This was taken at the start of half term, when the This was taken at the start of half term, when the kids were still enthusiastic about going for a walk. 1,705 walks around the same bit of countryside later... not so much 😬 
.
If you’re struggling to get your kids motivated to move their body at the moment, go gentle. You’re not alone. Bad weather coupled with boredom coupled with the lure of screens is a heady recipe for lethargy - and that’s just me! 
.
Seriously though, remember: all movement is valid. Even if it’s just a ten minute @cosmickids sesh or a little kitchen disco, it all counts. And if it comes from a place of enjoyment and fun, kids (and adults!) are going to be far more likely to want to get involved.
.
What joyful movement activities are your kids enjoying right now (if any?!)?
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly and her two daughters are standing in a field. They’re wearing colourful wellies, holding hands and smiling.]
I founded a social enterprise 😵 . Introducing: I founded a social enterprise 😵
.
Introducing: @bodyhappyorg 🎉
.
We are a Community Interest Company dedicated to promoting positive body image in children. We help adults help the kids in their care be friends with their bodies 🥰. 
.
Through workshops and classes, digital and physical resources (both free and paid) we help parents, carers, teachers, youth leaders - and any adults who are ever around children - create body happy settings for kids to thrive in. 
.
We launch officially next month with a beautiful new website and lots of resources which we’ll continually be adding to. In the meantime give us a follow at @bodyhappyorg - we start posting from today and our page has been designed as a free resource on its own! 
.
I’m privileged to work alongside an incredible team of people on this. Shout-out to the original dream team @chelseacoxstrategist @amysnellingpt @effinitupfaye @lottie_storey @bodyconfidencecards_db @rachel_hobnobs & @aceandping 💕 LOVE YOU ALL! 💕
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: A blue square with yellow and white text which reads “the body happy org”. This is the logo for The Body Happy Organisation CIC]
Proof that I did wear clothes other than a tea-sta Proof that I did wear clothes other than a tea-stained hoodie and tracksuit bottoms at least once in the past month 😐
.
.
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly is wearing pink dungarees with yellow buttons over a black rollneck long-sleeved top. She has a monochrome striped hairband on and her hair is pink. She is also wearing earrings with boobs on them. She looks very pleased, both with her earrings, the pink hair and the fact she’s not wearing sleepwear, for a change.]
A new report from the Education Policy Institute h A new report from the Education Policy Institute has concluded an obvious gender divide in the well-being of young adults. If you’d like to read more check out this article by Eleanor Peake in @newstatesman (I’ve linked to it in my Stories).
.
Every week I get messages from parents and teachers concerned about the impact of social media on their kids’ body image. And of course, I couldn’t write a book about body image in kids and teens without covering social media - there’s a whole chapter in Body Happy Kids dedicated to the subject. 
.
The thing is, social media isn’t going anywhere. And just like it can be a force for anxiety, shame and general angst it can be a force for good too. The trick is in knowing how to use it positively (and in holding the platforms to account for not moderating the spread of harmful viral trends and online abuse, and creating algorithms that deliberately create division and harm mental health... but that’s a story for another day). 
.
But how can we expect our kids to have a handle on it when we, as adults, don’t ourselves? 
.
I don’t believe the answer is to ban social media, but I don’t think kids should be given unfettered access to it either. 
.
They need help navigating this stuff, learning about boundaries, developing media literacy skills so they can think critically about the content they’re consuming (just like many adults).
.
And we also need to explore how we might be inadvertently contributing to the problem, perpetuating appearance ideals and creating a culture where kids learn it’s ok to body shame under the guise of health and to value each other based on the way they look.
.
As ever, it’s complicated. I’d love to know what you think? What are some of the boundaries you have around social media in your house - both for yourself and your kids?
#BodyHappyKids 
.
[Full text in Alt Text]
When I was pregnant with Effie I went to a pregnan When I was pregnant with Effie I went to a pregnancy yoga class every week. It was the highlight of my week. I left each session feeling like I was floating on a cloud, and I used the poses and breath work to guide me through labour too. But then I had my baby and found that, as a knackered new mum of two, I couldn’t find the time for yoga. I no longer had the excuse of doing it “for the bump” or “to prepare for labour”, so what was the point?
.
It wasn’t until I started reinvesting in myself and unravelling the diet culture perspective on exercise that I found it again, along with running, which turned to hiking, and swimming. 
.
It wasn’t about preparing my body for someone or something else. It was about the process itself, the time to unwind my mind and move my body for joy, just for me. I’ve lost a bit of that this past year with lockdowns, and I feel it.
.
I recently signed up to @theunderbellyyoga with @mynameisjessamyn and feel like I’m finding it again. I love that my kids can see me taking time for myself, and enjoying movement, and that they sometimes want to join in too. Even if it is a bit annoying sometimes (swipe 👀). 
.
#BodyHappyMum 
.
.
.
[Image description: Molly and her 6 year old daughter Effie sit on yoga and gymnastics mats with their legs crossed and arms in the air. They have their backs to the camera. In the second image they are sitting crossed legged while twisting round to the side, and in the third image Molly is lying on the mat with her eyes closed while Effie leans over her, being a bit annoying.]
Health is complicated, yet it’s so often over-si Health is complicated, yet it’s so often over-simplified on social media. “Just eat less and move more!” etc are packaged up as empowering motivational quotes, but when we look into what health actually is, and the many things that impact it, we realise that this view isn’t empowering at all. 
.
Any conversation about health that doesn’t acknowledge the fact of body diversity, social determinants of health and the impact of weight stigma and all forms of discrimination on health, is not a full conversation.
.
When it comes to how this makes children feel about their bodies, the impact is huge. From appearance based bullying (both online and in the playground) to confusion over how best to look after their own health, we’re not equipping kids with the tools to feel good in their bodies or be accepting of other children in bodies that may not look the way we teach kids “healthy” looks. 
.
Consider this as a “starter post”, an introduction to the “But what about health?” question if you’ve not come across a weight inclusive approach to health before. If it’s useful bookmark and come back to it. And maybe even share it if you think your friends and family might benefit from it too. 
.
On the last slide you’ll find a short list of further reading. This is by no means an exhaustive list! Again, just a starting point. 
.
There are professors, researchers, activists, educators, doctors, public health policy makers doing important work in this area (who have been leading the charge on this for decades, before social media was even a thing), but still the mainstream view on health always seems to come down to personal responsibility arguments and the “eat less, move more” approach. Just remember, it’s complicated. ❤️
.
EDIT: On the last slide I recommend the book Burn Out - apologies for a typo to author name: it is written by Emily & AMELIA Nagoski 
.
.
.
[Full text can be found in Alt Text]
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2021 · Mothers Always Right. Design by Stacey Corrin

This site uses cookies: Find out more.