Becoming a parent can be overwhelming in a variety of ways, and many of us find ourselves overloaded with information when our first born child arrives.
I spent the last months of my first pregnancy soaking up every piece of literature on motherhood and life with a newborn that I could find, and I remember panicking at night wondering how I was ever going to be able to retain so much information.
Once my baby arrived, I soon found that the information kept on coming - from the many leaflets and bits of advice I was given by my health visitor, to the well meaning advice and tips from friends and relatives - it seemed that everybody had an opinion on what was best for my baby, and often those opinions would conflict with each other...leaving me feeling baffled as how to decide what was best for us.
The first stumbling block for me came when my baby reached 4 months old, and suddenly I found myself being told by others that he was "ready" for weaning. The books told me otherwise...advising me to wait until 6 months before introducing solid foods. But people around me were adamant that he was ready now - I heard so many stories from experienced mothers who had fed their babies before 6 months, I just didn't know what to do for the best and who to listen to.
Then there was the question of HOW to introduce solid foods - at the time, there was quite a debate going on in the online forums about what was better for babies - traditional spoon fed weaning or the baby led whole foods approach. And honestly...I found it all pretty stressful.
It felt like all of the other new mothers I knew had made their decisions on when and how to wean easily, and they were all finding ways that worked for them - whereas I felt like I was fumbling around in the dark, without a clue as to what approach to go for.
We ended up weaning a little earlier than suggested, and doing a bit of a mix of weaning styles - but I do wish I'd had more information available to me from a trusted and reliable source.
And it seems I'm not alone - according to a recent survey of 1000 parents, a third reported feeling very anxious about starting to wean their child.
This is why I'm an avid supporter of the Infant & Toddler Forum who are a go-to source for practical advice, information and tips on feeding and nutrition from pregnancy throughout childhood.
Their new guide to feeding babies for the first year offers clear, concise and practical information which is jargon free and easy to understand - exactly the sort of thing I would have found so very useful back when my own son was a baby.
With helpful and practical articles on topics including finger foods, feeding cues and how to encourage your baby with new textures and tastes - the Infant & Toddler Forum First Year Feeding resource is an invaluable source of information for new parents, offering exactly the sort of non-judgemental and easy to digest support that new parents need to have access to.
You can find the website here.
*With thanks to the Infant & Toddler Forum for partnering with us on this post
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