Plum Baby - The Weaning Guide
Introduction
Introduction If it were easy being a mum, let’s face it, dads would do it.
“The greatest thing she’d learned over the years is that there’s no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one.” Anon.
But however exhausting, hilarious, beautiful, mad and difficult it is, what we all really want to be is a good mum (okay, or dad!).
Just the facts, Mum…
Yet there’s so much information out there telling you how to do this and when to do that, you can be even more exhausted than when you started. And no new mum has time or energy to spare.
However, having commissioned one of the most far-reaching new research studies on weaning, we plan to tell you the facts – the simple, scientific facts – about this amazing journey and trust you to know best how to implement them for your own baby.
So it may sound odd, but the best advice is to take most advice with a pinch of salt unless it resonates with your natural maternal instinct. Because your baby was, until very recently, a part of you. And you’ll know your child better than anyone else in the world. Now we’ve established how wonderfully special you are, let’s begin. Weaning. One of those areas where every parenting guru pushes you their book, every magazine wallops you with their top tips and every relative crosses their arms and gives you their ‘in my day’ experiences for good measure. Even the official guidelines seem to change more often than a baby’s nappy. Just like our packs, pots and pouches this guide is filled with the good stuff you’ll need to give your baby a Plum start – so please read on...
2
So the one thing this is not meant to be is an “Instruction” book.
What you CAN rely not to change is Plum providing the right ingredients at each stage of weaning so healthy eating can become a lifelong pleasure for your child. While also being convenient for you. Like all mums, Susie founder of Plum – knew that introducing wholesome and varied food to a growing baby not only gives them everything they physically need but it also helps develop their taste-buds for life. She’s created the perfect alternative to a meal cooked with love by you. So if you haven’t nodded off (and with a young baby, we really couldn’t blame you), we can begin.
3
Plum Baby –- The The Weaning Weaning Guide of Life
What did we learn from all that research?
What did we learn from all that research?
What is weaning? If you’re used to the idea of weaning yourself off things – chocolate, caffeine, mojitos, thoughts of Daniel Craig in skimpy shorts – for babies, think about it as doing the same thing in reverse. It’s basically the gradual introduction of ‘solids’ into your baby’s diet. ‘Solids’ being anything other than milk, but still pretty far from solid at first! Starting with a teaspoon or two once a day, you gradually increase portion size and build up to 3 square meals.
4
5