Baby Led Weaning - A Typical Week

When I started this blog, the main purpose was to write about my adventure with weaning and specifically, Baby Led Weaning. I have been posting pictures of my Laid Back Boy self feeding and eating his solids on Facebook and I have had a few comments and messages from people who are welcoming these photos as they give them inspiration and ideas.

When I first started weaning with JC, I sought help and advice from one of my friends who had already been through this phase with her daughter and had great success. We discussed typical menus and what to feed when out and about and this was really helpful to me. I also invested in a cook book (I chose to buy Gill Rapley's Baby Led Weaning Cookbook, and no this isn't a sponsored post!) Before JC, I couldn't even make soup. I had no experience of cooking and what I did cook was pretty rubbish. I found that by sharing ideas with others and picking up a basic cookbook really helped me. When JC moved on from weaning and I grew in confidence with cooking, I bought a new cookbook called My Daddy Cooks, or as I like to call it, my saviour. This is written by a stay at home Dad and is just perfect for quick and easy family meals. He has a new book coming out soon (4th June 2014) and I can't wait to buy it!

So in the spirit of sharing ideas, here is our menu for the week. Our whole family will eat the same thing (give or take a few minor differences like cows milk, real butter and tomato sauce! It is designed to be varied within the constraints of my maternity pay budget and quick/easy to prepare with a 3 year old running around under my feet. Although not always listed here, I would try to offer a savoury followed by or accompanied with fruit. This is a contentious subject as people differ in their opinions on fruit and sugar etc but this is my choice and I am not a nutritionist. I am not advising here, merely showing an example of a typical week in our kitchen. I offer cooled boiled water from a cup with every meal and he still takes 2 7oz dairy free bottle feeds and 3 breastfeeds each day. The recipes for many of these can be found in the Baby Led Weaning Cookbook although I change and adapt them to suit myself now. I hope you find these helpful . . .

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Porridge (not the baby stuff, real oats) and mashed blueberries. (Loaded spoons)	Lentil and Vegetable soup with bread dippers	Grandad Kevy’s Homemade Burgers with carrot sticks
Tuesday	Scrambled Eggs and strips of toast with pure spread	Tuna Croquettes, green beans and carrot batons	Beef and Onion Stew and Mashed potato
Wednesday	Dairy free Eggy Bread and tropical fruit salad	Lentil and Vegetable soup with bread dippers	Chicken Salad
Thursday	Drop Scones (like pancakes but thicker) and melon strips	Tuna Croquettes, baby corn, broccoli	Meatballs in Tomato sauce and  spaghetti
Friday	Porridge (not the baby stuff, real oats) with apple and cinnamon puree. (Loaded spoons)	Sardines on toast Fresh fruit and soy yogurt	Bacon Wrapped Chicken with broccoli
Saturday	Egg and soldiers (Pure spread) Pear strips	Tuna mayo pasta	Meat Loaf with broccoli and carrots
Sunday	Drop Scones (like pancakes but thicker) and mango strips	Lentil and Vegetable soup with bread dippers	Roast Chicken Dinner