Weaning - intial thoughts and decisions

I don't think I've mentioned it on here as yet, but Harry has reflux - it's very common in premature babies and to do with an immature muscle at the top of their tummy. We've tried Gaviscon (caused constipation) and are currently on Ranitidine, which is helping with the acid but not the vomitting. There are more meds for us to try but the paediatrician suggested we try early weaning as an alternative.

People have commented about how calm I've been since Harry was born, how in control - in actual fact I'm channeling a a swan and staying in control by paddling furiously under the surface. One thing I wasn't prepared for about motherhood was just how many decisions you have to make, how responsible you are for another person. Sometimes those decisions overwhelm me, it feels like there's just too many, that they're just too big. I'm lucky to have M by my side, but still it feels like the weight of those choices presses on me.

Early weaning is one of those decisions - in my head we weren't going to think about weaning until six months, possibly even correcting by six weeks. My milk supply is stable, Harry is putting on weight, albeit slowly - but the reflux is something we can't ignore. So last week, I logged into Amazon, bought a couple of books and have spent the weekend reading up - I didn't really know the first thing, not even the difference between baby led weaning, and purees.

Oddly, if you'd have asked me as soon as a few weeks ago I'd have guessed I would be in favour of Baby led weaning. However, the fact that we're starting early has meant that purees seem to be the way forward for us. So, for the next 6 weeks we're going to be entering the world of the puree. Starting with a couple of teaspoons of baby rice, made up with my breast milk, we'll be moving on to vegetable and fruit purees in a couple of weeks. The vague plan I have in my head is to start involving finger food and moving towards more baby led elements when Harry can sit up more easily and we're using the high chair and eating around the table, so I guess in reality we're doing a combination of Baby led and puree based weaning.

Reading up and learning about weaning has been interesting and enlightening - I'll certainly be keeping you up-to-date on the blog about our progress and recipes and foods that prove to be a winner for Harry as well as updating my Meal planning Monday posts.