5 top tips for weaning millennial babies

Recent research by WaterWipes has reinforced what I already knew, that millennial babies have excellent taste in food. I loved the weaning phase with my millennial babies as they were so happy to try anything.

WaterWipes conducted a new survey for their campaign all about messy menus to celebrate the launch of their new product WaterWipes with SoapBerry (we reviewed the classic WaterWipes here). The research results revealed that over a fifth of millennial babies have a sophisticated palette and enjoy a variety of on-trend ‘staple’ foods including avocados, quinoa and houmous. Traditional dishes such as toad in the hole (41%) and chicken korma (46%) are also a huge hit amongst dinky diners. However, 73% of parents feel confused on the best foods for weaning, with 67% feeling overwhelmed by conflicting advice.

5 top tips for weaning millennial babies

Thankfully there is plenty of advice available to help parents with the important weaning stage. Natasha Corrett, parenting influencer and recipe expert, who WaterWipes partnered with for their campaign, has the following advice:

1. Let them explore and love food. I started letting Rudy feed himself with finger food’s such as Beetroot Pinwheels after starting purées and he loved exploring the touch, smells and sounds of the food as well as the taste! He is a brilliant eater now because of it. Allowing them to feed themselves teaches them all sorts of developmental skills no matter how much ends up in their mouths
2. Do not stress about giving them a mixture of purees and solid foods, the variety will help them develop, and they will learn to love more solids as time goes on
3. Give them different textures and flavours including strong tasting foods such as Teriyaki Chicken and Turmeric Mash, after they have tried the basics, to make sure their senses continue to develop. This also ensures that they get used to the taste of new and more ‘adult’ food and then it becomes easier for cooking for the whole family
4. I know first-hand how busy parenting is so I recommend batch cooking and freezing. This will make your life so much easier so you are not cooking and cleaning up all day long
5. If they are going through a teething stage they might go off food. Don’t panic too much, they will eat what they need, but I found reusable pouches the best thing as they enjoying sucking food out of them so just fill them up with purées and let them eat from them. This does get babies quite messy, but WaterWipes with Soapberry are perfect to clean them up with as they are so pure and gentle, even on sensitive skin

As a parent myself I can recommend these tips as I went through them all myself – twice! Although weaning can be the messiest of times it’s really important to let children experience foods with all their senses. Plus, batch cooking saved me so much time when my kids were really little that it’s a healthy habit that has stuck with me ever since.

New WaterWipes with Soapberry

Have you heard of the new WaterWipes with Soapberry? They are made with 99.9% water, plus a drop of fruit and Soapberry extract, and provide the same purity parents rely on from WaterWipes, whilst harnessing the natural cleaning properties of Soapberry. This makes them the ideal wipe for growing babies who are starting to try new foods and experience the world around them for the first time – meaning you can clean, and care without having to compromise.

I would love to hear about your experiences with weaning. Are your children happy to try what you are having, just love finger food or do they get food in funny places like mine did?

Natasha Corrett is a parenting influencer and recipe expert, who WaterWipes partnered with to develop a “messy menu” comprising of five dishes for parents to try as inspiration during weaning. Natasha believes weaning is a time to let children explore and learn to love food – from Teriyaki Chicken to Turmeric Mash, strong flavours and textures will make sure their senses continue to develop.  

Disclosure – post in collaboration with WaterWipes