There are two ways to weaning and starting food at 6 months. Baby-led weaning and traditional weaning.
Traditional weaning is a way of weaning when the child starts eating at almost 6 months of age and the parent or the caregiver feeds the child. This is a very popular method, and most of the parents follow this way of weaning as its easier, less time consuming and less messy than the baby-led weaning (BLW).
While I followed baby-led weaning (BLW) with my older one, my patience wore out trying to manage two and I gave up the BLW method after a couple of months and switched to a mix of traditional and baby-led. Whatever way I used, mashed food was never given to the second born as I had seen the advantages of eating solid pieces from 6 months onwards with my older one. He would eat what his brother ate without the salt and sugar and cooked a bit more to be able to chew from the gums.
However, is your way of weaning please note to always be there when you offer food to baby to rule out any chances of gagging or choking. There is a thin line between the two, gagging can be prevented by laying the baby on his tummy, on your lap and giving 4/5 hard taps on the back to take the food out. Choking, however, needs medical supervision.
It is recommended by healthcare professionals worldwide to give babies less than 1 mg of salt in their first year. Since vegetables and some more foods like bread have salt in them you should refrain from adding more salt to the food. So no added sugar or salt till baby reaches 1 year of age. This is beneficial for the functioning of those little kidneys.
Lastly, please keep distractions like screen time, toys away when practicing baby-led weaning as it distracts the baby from food to other things and you will end up raising an eater who never eats without screen time.
