KELLY BROWN: I'm ready to start weaning '“ I just hope my little girl has an appetite

Well, at least I’m hoping that is what it is going to be and not a repeat of my first attempt which saw my son reject pretty much everything I offered him. (How little some things change!)

I did everything you are ‘supposed’ to do, offering all the good stuff – sweet potatoes, carrots and the like – but he didn’t want to know.

So while the other mums at the children’s centre were merrily swapping stories of how well their little ones were doing, I was firmly stuck at square one and getting myself all frustrated. (Not helped by doom and gloom warnings that he was not gaining enough weight at his weigh-ins).

Eventually he caved in – when I offered mashed-up Farley’s rusks!

Well, this time around I’m taking no chances and my cupboard is stuffed with rusks and baby breakfast cereal, while space is being made in my freezer for purees.

Of course these days weaning is a slurry of information, options and advice designed to inform and confuse in different measures.

When to start is the first element to tackle, with official advice being six months, unless your baby needs it earlier, while older parents tell you they did it at four months and it never did their children any harm.

What to give first is the next. ‘Baby rice’, says one leaflet; ‘don’t give rice because it is just bland, and give them veg’, says another. Or you can follow the ‘baby-led weaning’ option of skipping purees, giving babies chunks of food and letting them get on with it.

You can do the Annabel Karmel option of preparing a host of mini meals which do not really resemble what the rest of the family will be eating, but get your baby to taste lots of different things. Or you can just puree whatever the family are eating (within reason, obviously) but have to plan your meals to give them a variety.

Too many options – which makes my head hurt!

I think this time I will just make it up as I go along and see what happens.