Embarking on the weaning journey with your little one is an exciting time for your baby (and you!). As a mum of two and the founder of V&Me, I've managed to amass a load of great advice from both personal experience and from our collaboration with paediatric experts at V&Me.

That’s why I wanted to share the top 6 things I would avoid doing if I could start my kid’s weaning journey again, and what I would do differently instead.

1. Avoid Sticking to Simple Purees for Too Long

While simple fruit and veggie blends are excellent starters, don't let your baby get too comfortable for too long! Gradually introduce more and more variety, incorporating different textures and flavours. This helps your baby develop a palate for diverse tastes, setting the building blocks for a lifetime of healthy eating.

2. Avoid Introducing Allergens together

Allergen introduction is an essential part of the early days of weaning, but make sure you’re spacing out their introduction.

Offer one allergen at a time, with three days between each new one. This allows you to monitor your baby's reactions and identify specific triggers, if any. Common allergens include dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.

3. Avoid Starting with Sweet Purees

The advice from the experts is to start with a veg-first approach. This is because bitter-tasting vegetables, like broccoli, spinach and cauliflower are ideal for laying a foundation for a preference for diverse flavours.

Babies naturally have a preference for sweeter tasting things because of the sweetness of breast and formula milks. Starting with sweet fruits can actually make it challenging to introduce bitter veggies later on, so try and create a balanced palate right from the start.

4. Avoid Overfilling on Milk Before Feeding

There’s nothing worse than seeing the lovingly made meal you just made be completely ignored or worse, thrown on the floor. If your little one isn't showing interest in solid foods, it might be due to excessive milk consumption.

Try adjusting your milk feeding to help them have more of an appetite at meal time to gradually help establish a healthy eating routine for you and your baby.

5. Avoid worrying about the mess!

 Babies are naturally curious when it comes to new flavours and textures and one of the ways they get to grips with all of this is by making a mess! This might be the last thing you want to deal with but trying to embrace mealtime mess can really help them develop their oro-motor skills and make weaning a much more exciting experience for them.

My top tips for dealing with the inevitable mess:

• Pop a few sheets of newspaper or scrap paper on the floor under your baby’s highchair
• While we would always recommend using a bib (and one they are happy wearing) a great benefit of renting your baby's clothes with Lullaloop is that there are no charges for stains, so you can wean, worry free!
• Get a dog! (No, seriously, they are the ultimate floor sweepers)

6. Avoid Only Offering “Safe” Foods

Variety is the name of the game here!. Don't be discouraged if your baby rejects certain foods initially. It's totally normal for them to need multiple exposures before they develop a taste for it.

The first 6-12 months of weaning provide a golden opportunity to expose your baby to the widest range of flavours possible before potential fussiness sets in at 18+ months (I know from experience!. 

And this is exactly why we created our 5 week Ultimate Weaning Kit at V&Me! Because It’s basically impossible to actually give your baby that kind of variety without going insane and becoming a full time baby chef.

Over the course of the 5 week menu, your baby is exposed to over 70 different meals and ingredients! And the best part is all the little things are completely taken care of like safe allergen introduction, finger foods chopped into correct sizes, portion sizes and texture progression.

And if you want to tackle the early days of weaning yourself, we also have our 7+ month baby meals that are designed to keep that variety and freshness in their diet and really lay the foundations for a lifetime of healthy eating habits.

Remember, every baby is unique, and there's no one-size-fits-all approach to weaning. Embrace the journey, celebrate small victories, and enjoy exploring the world of tastes and textures with your little one.

Happy weaning!