I have done a lot of reading on when to start solids and SA certainly has a very different concept to the UK. Here most babies are started on rice cereal at around 3-4 months. In the UK baby-lead weaning is followed by most mums.
What is baby-led weaning? It is forgetting about weaning spoons and purees and letting your baby feed himself. This is encouraged from 6 months onwards and has babies eating proper food with you, exploring naturally by themselves.
So which is right? Unfortunately babies don't come with a manual and we simply need to listen to our maternal instincts and our babies.
I decided to do purees but to start them later. I tried rice cereal at first as it is meant to be the least allergenic and easy on baby's tummy, but my little bubs had a terrible reaction. One brand gave him a rash and another brand had him projectile vomiting! ...not pretty when it happens in a car seat a couple of hours later! I decided to scratch this step and a just doing veggies. I do one veggie for three days to make sure there is no reaction and then try a new one the next day. I steam, blitz and sieve and feed him no more than 2 teaspoons. I plan on starting to leave some texture now as he is swallowing like a little champ. So far we have tried: sweet potato, butternut, carrots, mushy peas and baby marrow. The clear winner so far...carrots! I'm raising a rabbit!
Two lessons learnt quickly:
1. You can never have too many bibs
2. Butternut stains
Game has started stocking some great baby brands and I bought a set of 3 Playtex bowls and set of 4 Playtex weaning spoons from there. I also picked up a set of 5 bibs that are the UK brand George for R70.
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