Regardless of whether you are planning to spoon feed purees or abandon your infant to forage for finger food (aka Baby Led Weaning), the idea of giving your little darling their first solid food is a little daunting. Or it was to me, at any rate, hence this blog.

But what people don't tell you, I think, is how short a stage weaning actually is. It's teensy, really. Babybear ate well from pretty much the very beginning and if anything her intake was moderated more by my lack of organisation than any unwillingness to eat. Now, other babies don't take to it so quickly but even if it takes the full six months or more it's nothing in the scheme of things, is it?

And I think that's why the nature of this blog has changed over the last while. It's coming up to a year since Babybear grabbed her first piece of peach and I've thought of her as weaned for ages now. I take out bits and bobs for her to eat, but I don't have to (and never have really) as she can have an apple from a fruit shop or a supermarket sandwich with the best of us. So that's why I'm increasingly interested in finding out how things went for everyone else, as my own experience is less and less relevant, while yours is more and more.

So when was Babybear actually weaned, then? Taking it from her milk feeds dropping back to morning and night, I'd say 14 months. But when did she become confident and competent enough to feed herself a good meal without gagging, getting distracted or taking an interminable time? At not much more than nine or ten months, I'd say. Anyone else?