Five tips on weaning your baby…and embracing the mess is one, sorry mums

Here are some suggestions to make the process a little easier.

Weaning children can be a tricky channel to navigate. From when to do it, to what to feed them, to how to keep some semblance of cleanliness, it can be a lot. Recently, professor of paediatrics at King's College London, Gideon Lack, has expressed his opinion that babies should be weaned sooner to combat the risk of developing food allergies. In the UK alone 64,000 children are being diagnosed with allergies every year ranging from peanuts to dairy intolerance and in Ireland, five percent of children are known to have one. Siobhan Berry, an expert in weaning and feeding children recently spoke to WaterWipes previously and offered some tips on how to start the weaning process. 1) Set the scene: From six months, sit your baby in their high chair and offer a bowl of purée or finger food, a beaker and a spoon. Demonstrate eating yourself to show your baby how they should proceed. 2) Give your baby control: We understand why this might be a bit daunting! However, by allowing your baby to self-feed either by offering a bowl with some of the purée while you also feed your baby or by offering finger foods, your little one will have a positive experience with his or her food. 3) Offer your baby lots of variety: Seasonal fruits and vegetables are wonderfully colourful and they come with a unique taste and texture. Recipes such as beetroot and plum purée show your baby that food is colourful and they will be much more likely to accept these foods at the toddler stage, Siobhan says. 4) Embrace the mess! Sorry to break it to you mums, but Siobhan encourages children to have messy mealtimes to get the full sensory experience. 5) Hold off on wipes until the end: It might be tempting, but hold off with wipes until your child is finished eating so they have a nice experience of mealtimes. Six months is just the average time parents decide to wean children, but it goes without saying, every child and every situation is different. And remember, no one's house and no one's baby is perfect, so don't stress too much about the mess.