As your baby approaches nine or ten months you’ll notice that they are mastering the art of moving food around their mouth in order to chew it. The muscles babies use for chewing also play a part in speech development which makes this skill even more important to learn early on. They may even have some teeth to help them. Also the pincer grip, being able to pick up small objects between the thumb and forefinger, should start emerging.

So your baby is now enjoying one, possibly two meals a day, and is around seven months of age. Time to embark on stage 2 (this is roughly between the ages of seven and nine months)

You can move on from offering your baby simple meals with just a few single ingredients, to combining foods from different food groups. Not just for taste but texture too.

Time to get down and messy…..the weaning journey commences!

I personally would start with a pureed sweet vegetable or fruit, like carrot, sweet potato or apple. This is because babies naturally have a preference for sweet rather than bitter tastes, so they will be more likely to eat your offering.

Some parents choose to go with baby-led weaning right from the start. Baby-led weaning is what it says on the tin - the baby feeds themselves finger-sized pieces of food. Or you can of course combine the two approaches. There is no one size fits all so do whatever suits you and your baby.

Weaning conjures up many emotions - sadness at the passing of those small baby days, excitement at the prospect of your baby joining in with family meals, and trepidation, thinking about the whole process and of course the inevitable mess! Even with second, third and in my case fourth babies, these emotions still resurface and are completely normal.

In this blog we’ll look at when your baby is ready to start solids and cover the low down on the necessary weaning gear!

I for one embrace the clocks going forward - lighter evenings fill me with joy, but…..there’s always a ‘but’ isn’t there?! - especially for parents! It’s that time of year again when I’m asked for my advice on the clock change. For some children the hour change can be quite disruptive to their sleep routine so here are some little gems which I hope may be of some help.

When your toddler lashes out at another child it feels like all the eyes in the room are boring into you! The pressure to rush in to deal with your toddler’s behaviour is immense. Quite often we react in a way we anticipate others expect and want us to do rather than how we think is best for our toddler.

I’m not saying we just ignore it when our toddler harms or intimidates another child but it’s best to have a plan of action in place prior to such an episode.

Not a phrase that resonates with toddlers! ‘Mine’ is on repeat with pretty much every little one in the land! In their defence toddlers simply do not understand the concept of sharing.

This blog highlights ways in which you can support your toddler in developing this essential life skill.