From the time I was pregnant, I was on the look out for the best food for my baby, ready for when the time to wean him came. I signed up to all of the baby clubs I could find, signed up to the newsletters and collected vouchers.
We decided to start weaning Luke at 21 weeks old. He was showing all the signs that he was ready to wean, so we decided to go for it! By that time, I was ready too.
We decided to combine baby led weaning with purées, and we also decided to buy ready made meals and make our own. We started off by giving him lunch and dinner, and three or four spoonfuls each meal. For the first month, we just gave him single vegetable tastes. By the six month mark, we moved him up to breakfast, lunch and dinner, and I mixed vegetables. We also introduced fruit and snacks.
Luke's first finger food was Watermelon, followed the next day by some cucumber sticks - we gave him a lump to play with and chew on. He was pretty confused, but loved it!
For finger foods now, we offer him pitta breads, toast, steamed vegetables, eggs (boiled, scrambled, omelette), avocado, peppers, pasta and much more!
His first purée was peas and although he loved it, he did go on to develop a pea intolerance! You have no idea how many things have peas in them..
Here are a few of the baby food brands that we have tried and how we felt about them!
Luke's first purée was an Ella's Kitchen pouch. In fact, his first few purées were! I was drawn to them originally because I "
Became a Friend" (signed up to their mailing list) and received some fantastic goodies through the post. It came with two wall charts and stickers, which I put straight on the wall! It also came with a voucher for a free pouch - yay! The app is also brilliant.
They do a variety of single vegetable pouches which saved my life to start with.
The first purée we tried Luke with was peas. As you can see below, he also loved it in his hair and up his nose.. Ella's Kitchen also have these amazing spoons that screw straight onto the end of a pouch. Perfect for out and about!!
Luke's second flavour was Parsnips. At first, he really didn't enjoy it. Now, he cannot get enough of them!
Now he is 7 months old, the older pouches are still a firm favourite in our house. He loves them!
Babease was a brand I first saw on Instagram. I had never heard of them before and I was intrigued! I commented on one of their pictures and they offered me a voucher if I sent them a message. I did, and along with the voucher, I received this in the post!
This fruit pouch (Pear and Mixed Berries with Coconut Water, Brown Rice and Quinoa), Luke had for pudding and it was one of the first pouches he managed to suck himself!! Normally I would only give him half of a pouch like this for pudding, but he scoffed the lot! He cried when it was finished, so I would say this was a huge success!!
I really like this brand as they are "vegetable led". So many brands over do it with the fruit for first tastes, but Babease have got it right!
Kiddylicious
Now Luke has always loved their wafers, and I love their veg and cheese straws, so when I saw on their Facebook page that they were realising baby food, I got very excited! In one of the wafer packs that I purchased, their was a voucher for one of their new Little Bistro pouches, so I jumped at the chance for Luke try them!
Our first experience of the Little Bistro range would have been so much better if I had read the ingredients a little more closely! I missed the peas.. Luckily, after Luke's third spoonful and my 10th, I tasted it! Luke was very, very disappointed when I didn't let him finish it, there was a minor meltdown! But I however really enjoyed it!
It tasted fresh and full of flavour and (with some bread and butter) I had this for my dinner instead! I will definitely be buying this brand again.
My First Savsé *
Pronounced sav-say!
I first caught a glimpse of these on Facebook and was really interested in getting my hands on some! I contacted the lovely people of Savsé to see where I could get some and they very kindly sent me some for Luke to try!
Savsé are the first brand to cold press baby food rather than use heat pasturisation and wow, you can really taste the difference. This interested me straight away! These pouches need to be stored in the fridge which made me think they wouldn't last too long, but they do have a date of around two months, which is fab!
The first pouch I tried Luke with was Lentils, Sweet Potato, Carrot and Apple. Well, I couldn't shovel it in quick enough!! He loved it.
I've been really looking forward to Autumn recently (although definitely not wishing the summer away!) so this pouch made me happy! Carrot, Pumpkin, Apple and Beetroot! Luke adored it, he even snatched the pouch out of my hand and took over.
Piccolo
My first experience of Piccolo was after a music class I took with Luke when he was very small. We were given a sample and I put it away in the cupboard, ready for when he started weaning.
Luke adored his first taste of Piccolo. It was Mango, Pear and Kale (with a dash of yoghurt!). I think he loved the creamy texture, as it was his first taste of yoghurt. The Raspberry and Apple (with soaked oats) is a breakfast favourite for both Luke and I. I always make sure I have a few in the cupboard.
At a class I do with Luke, called BuggyFit, we got another freebie! YAY!
Piccolo is definitely a firm favourite of ours and I couldn't recommend them enough!
Organix
I have always liked the sound of this brand, so I picked up a few of their snacks and fruit pots for Luke to try.
Luke absolutely devours the fruit pots for breakfast and pudding, he loves them! The second he sees them, his legs and arms start to go. It is so cute!
They are particularly good - and I have them for my breakfast too, with some yoghurt!
Since teething has become a thing with Luke, these biscuits are fantastic. He loves them - my carpet doesn't..!
I normally prefer pouches, but when it comes to C&G, I will make an exception.
I first was introduced to C&G when browsing the internet for weaning advice. Cow and Gate have a FANTASTIC
weaning plan they send out to you in the post. It was a lovely book that came with vouchers, tips and recipes that we both adore.
Luke's absolute favourite is the Spaghetti Bolognese. He will eat an entire jar in one sitting and still want more! Due to the speed of consumption, this is the only picture I have of him consuming his Spag Bol - and he is still reaching out for more!
What is your little ones favourite food? Do you have a favourite brand?
Disclosure: all opinions stated in this post are my own. I was sent some pouches for the purpose of reviewing - these are marked with a "*". I only post reviews about products that I am passionate about and think you should all know about! Thank you for reading :)
