Disclosure: I was sent a Ambassadorial Weaning Package from Cow & Gate to review and was compensated for my time to write this post. All opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.

Weaning program

Firstly,welcome to my review of the 5 step weaning plan. lets move on and find out more information about this plan and what it entails from Cow & Gate themselves;

We’ve been helping mums feed their babies for 110 years, so we know how messy, fun and frustrating weaning can be! That’s why our team of nutritionists and baby feeding advisors have created this simple weaning plan to help you take your baby from first spoonfuls to 3 meals a day, in 5 easy-to-follow steps.

Okay so reading through that information I see one word is missing “We’ve been helping mums…. and dads  feed their babies for 110 years”  and this is exactly why I am here for you now. At first glance I was very impressed with the plethora of information on the site regarding the stages of weaning, from their very first spoonfuls to getting your little one ready for the big 3 a day meal plan. Now, that is quite a big task to undertake so lets see how this all pans out shall we?

Signing onto my Cow & Gate account and my 5 step weaning plan I find myself drawn to making my first plan up for Daisy-Ella. I’m step 1 – CHECK and down flows all the great recipes you are able to make at this stage… From already being a fan of the Cow & Gate produce line I find myself picking my way through a few recipes that I know my little Daisy-Ella would want to get all over her face. The funny thing is that the first thing that came to my mind was “I would eat all this” and, in my experience, that tends to be a very big notion that parents abide by these days when it comes to their little one.

But I didn’t stop their. For such a big change in my daughters life I wanted to know more information, ‘what about allergies?’, ‘whats about sugars and salts?’. questions after questions I asked myself and I was in luck. The website and C&G has obviously taken their time to gather up the information most needed and most wanted by mums and dads everywhere and have neatly packed everything in there for you to download into you psyche.

The information I was looking for most is just how we get started and were lucky to find How to start Weaning. From shopping, cooking and safety you wont be left short handed or confused. I’m impressed by this site and what it has to offer.

And where do we go from here? Lets jump in at the deep end!!

Daisy-Ella was an advanced baby and the all round excitable ‘hungry baby’ so needed to fill her up more often than not. From advice we had received previously we had started Daisy-Ella on her own weaning plan as early as 18 weeks old and found it too exciting to bare. As much as information out there stipulates a range of 4-6 months to start a weaning program for your little one, only parents really know when their child is ready to take the plunge with their taste buds and now, for us, is the right time.

So I readily add 6 of my favorite dishes to my plan and get to creating my first shopping list. Sweet potatoes – Check. Pear, carrots, apples and bananas (ha ha) all – CHECK. Its a good bit of information to know that when making these recipes, Cow & Gate use their formula milk to make these into a puree. So Cow & Gate formula – Check again. I’m all ready to go and raring to see how this will work for me all I have to do now is go on an adventure to my local Sainsburys and pick all of these ingredients up.

Its time

So where to go and what to do is my next agenda and one that wasn’t hard to prepare. Over the last few months Daisy-Ella has found solace in curling up or relaxing on my wifes ‘V’ shaped pillow she used during pregnancy to relieve pressure off of her back and thought this would be a great way for my daughter to feel comfortable enough to take the next step… with support around her neck and arms we prepared the first dish. I’m not going to go wild on my first rodeo so I decided to stick with the Banana Puree which was so easy to make all I had to do mash mash up half a banana and scoop it into my Tommee Tippee feeding bowl and I’m done.

TOP TIPS FOR WEANING Courtesy of Step 1

Now to the messy part, My daughter, Daisy-Ella found it confusing at first to really understand the concept of eating form a spoon but over 3/4 feeds shes taking the bull by its horns and knows what shes doing now. with every spoonful of puree she beams this massive smile as if she’s saying “What is this magical stuff” and just laughs about it.

Did we come up with any problems?

well maybe a few, Spoons were a major issue, Daisy-Ella was only comfortable when using the bendy spoons she could chew on and just brushed aside the harder spoons like they were an annoyance to her. Even with the food she loves so close she knows what baby says, baby gets.

We found that Daisy-Ella wasn’t as excited with the food when it was cold compared to when it was warmed up a little in some boiling water and a bowl.

As you can see This plan really works for us, to the point that we have got of our toosh and stocked up for the next couple months, I’m even putting a morning aside soon to make some supplies of the homemade recipes on the website…

When I first looked into weaning I was a bit pessimistic as to my approach and where I should really be looking to get the information. I’m happy I found Cow & Gates weaning plan as I know feel confident that I can take this head on and make these steps and easy journey for me and my Strawberry girl.

We’re only at step 1.. watch me over the next few months as my journey continues into the 5 steps and watch as my daughters and my tummy get even more excited. The moments that Daisy-Ella realizes its time to have some solid food is the only time I recognize the grin on her face, ITS MINE. and its saying ‘FOOOODDDDD’. Ha

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