BabyWhispererForums.com
EAT => Feeding Solid Food => Topic started by: amayzie on September 26, 2013, 21:45:14 pm
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Carried on from Baby Led Weaning Support Thread #11 . Please carry on your discussion and support on Baby led weaning here!
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Yeah I have the magic bullet which is a food processor. They are the whole ones - idk if they sell steal cut ones around here. About how small should the oats be? Thanks so much!
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Porridge fingers in the oven - 15 minutes at 190C (or whatever that is in Fahrenheit or gas).
I just leave the oats whole, but they're not jumbo ones or anything like that.
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Ok tried it - failed haha. Have you ever made them with breast milk? Maybe that's the problem... Can't do dairy... They didn't even stick together.
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Nope, sorry, only even done porridge fingers with moo milk :)
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Quick question about moving on with blw.... Jack is getting the hang of the pincer grip now and getting smaller pieces into his mouth. Is it best to stick with big finger chunks of food still or better to chop things up a bit more so it's easier for him? Sometimes he bites off too much and cries but I guess that's all part of the learning? !
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If it's something that comes in a big chunk, I'd leave it like that. He can experiment with using pincer grip if you give peas or sweetcorn or something like that.
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So best to leave chicken, jacket potatoes etc as big chunks then? Thanks.
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I always find that jacket potatoes kind of crumble anyway. I always used to just do a sort of wedge with the skin still attached. As for chicken, I'd probably just give it how I was serving to everyone else.
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Lovely, thank you!
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Back again! So Vi is eating o's like it's her job and will only pick up things she likes the feel of. Do you think since she ate some purées, and is now eating o's - I should give her little pieces of food instead of wedges? Thanks!
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Sorry, what do you mean by Os? Ball shaped things or rings?
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Like Cheerios.
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You could try pieces of food. The beauty of BLW is that it's really down to you and your LO. If she likes smaller bits, you could always give it a go. If she's still not interested you could do different shapes.
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Hey girls :)
I'm thinking about maybe doing BLW with DS2 when we start weaning, but I need to get a bit clued up on it and decide whether I think it's the way I want to go.
What sort of foods do you start with?
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I think I did some rice cakes and toast then some veg and fruit sticks or wedges
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Root vegetable wedges were a good early food for us (plus you can freeze portions for later). Baby sweetcorn was good cos it's easy to grip. I also gave slices of apple and pear, cheese, chicken and pasta quite early on. But within a week he was just having what we had, so roast dinner, croissants, toast, all sorts of veg, new potatoes, sandwiches, breadsticks etc. I also offered yoghurt and porridge on pre loaded spoons so he's not exclusively on finger food. He only eats the yoghurt though! Oh, just remembered, sticks of cucumber (by themselves or dipped in houmous) were an early favourite too.
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Thank you :)
We were out for lunch on Saturday and he was sat in a highchair but not very happy at all and kept trying to reach for my plate!! So, he had a piece of cucumber and sucked it to death!! Went straight from the tray into his mouth, but I don't think he actually 'ate' any, just sucked it :)
I'm wanting to start something as he's clearly hungry, but not sure I'm ready for full on BLW. Can you combine the two? I spoon fed him some mashed banana yesterday and he quite liked that, probably had a teaspoon or 2. He had some toast before that but he wasn't keen on the 'crumbs', and tried broccoli in the evening but that was a no go, as was mashed potato!
He's hungry, I'm sure. I think he needs some solids, and I like the idea of him eating what we do.
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If you wanted to try spoons, you can load them up and let him try to get them to his mouth.
Is he sitting up nicely without being propped? That's a good sign of readiness.
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No he's not quite, still needs a bit of support.
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Personally I'd wait a little bit, then. Even if you're spoon feeding, he needs to be sitting up pretty well to reduce any choking risk. Your milk is enough to keep him going in the meantime :-*
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Yeah, I think he's nearly there but probably not quite ready.
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Hi everyone, DD is 5.5 months old and eating puree and baby cereal w/ BM once a day. I did BLW with DS and started at 6 months, I think! I really can't remember when you can start and I can't find my book. I'm going to take another look and then order another copy.
DD sits on her own, but not for a very long time. She is however VERY interested in everything anyone eats...just like her Mom! :P
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It recommended to start at 6 months. I know a few (us included) stared a bit early if LO was really desperate to get to the food. DS was 5.5 months and I just couldn't hold him off any longer (but we had no puree before hand, you might be able to hold off a bit if she'd happy with the puree). If you offer the food and they can pick it up and get it to their mouth then that's a pretty good sign of readiness. Mine had only just started to sit unassisted and sitting exhausted him in the early days, I used to wedge a folded towel behind him in the high chair to give him a bit of help.
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Are there any restriction with dairy? For example, when you give toast is it with butter? I cannot find my book anywhere!
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None that I'm aware of once they get to 6 months. It's only fruit, veg and cereals before that though I think. We started with just giving jack the veg off our plate, or fingers of pear, root veg etc. By the time he'd got the hang of that he was 6 months anyway and then he had a bit of whatever we were having.
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Nini, it is suggested that babies should have full fat dairy products, so butter, full fat milk (or formula or breast milk), full fat cheese and cream cheese etc. Reduced fat products are not recommended at this age however if it was a small amount in cooking a family meal then I wouldn't worry about it - for instance if you made a batch of pancakes but wanted to use half fat milk then I don't think this would be an issue. As a guide then, yes use butter rather than low fat spread on toast.
You can also give toast dry or with other spreads such as home made pate (low or no salt, livers fully cooked), cream cheese, humus, puree fruit/veg etc or to dip in soups and dips.
hth
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It does help tons! Thanks! I'm so excited to get stared. DD had banana yesterday, so cute!
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When your LOs start eating what the family is having for dinner does that mean you are cooking everything without salt?
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I did yes. I stopped putting salt in things like pasta when it is boiling and used herbs/spices in stews rather than stock type things which are usually mostly salt. If we had something where you couldn't avoid the salt then I either didn't give him that part of the meal (and made sure there was another part of the meal he could have, steamed veg) or gave a very very small portion and avoided salt the rest of the day. Some things I took out his serving to cool down and then added salt or soy sauce or stock, extra/hotter curry paste to the adult meal whilst DS's cooled down.
Humus DS liked but only shop bought (and prob because it was salty!) he never liked my home made no salt version so I just watched how much he had and didn't give him pate, canned tuna, baked beans, or lots of bread in the same day (bread is high in salt in the UK). Although pate I was able to make a version without added salt, only the salt in cheese/cream cheese which seasoned it and he loved that.
I changed quite a few things, not just salt, but large chunks of veg in stews rather than small, ate a lot more oven baked wedges (sweet potato, turnip, carrot and white potato either unseasoned or with garlic powder or other spices or herbs instead of salt), different shaped pasta based on what was easy to pick up (there are hilarious photos of babies eating spaghetti but mine would be so frustrated if I gave him spag, he was a serious eater and wanted the food in his mouth without additional struggle - he likes spag now though) so twists or spirals, usually just making that as the family meal but some times making a separate serving for DS if we really wanted spag or tagliatele (sp?). Mine still doesn't like mashed potato for example so he will have plain boiled potato with some butter or mint sauce on meanwhile I add salt or mustard etc to the adult potatoes and mash them. So, yeah I changed quite a lot really, not just the salt, but it didn't feel like a big deal and I'm sure it was less 'work' than making totally separate meals.
Lower salt intake is likely a healthier option for the whole family but if someone really wants the salt then adding after LO is served or at the table might be needed (I try not to put a salt cellar on the table because of course DS wants everything and I have to tell him he is not allowed that until he is older, seems a bit unfair to have it there, but we do at times).
hth
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So tonight I gave cucumber, steamed carrots, and then because DS wasn't eating his chunks of grilled, organic, no salt added hamburger, I gave her a chunk and she LOVED it! She also really liked the cucumber, carrot not so much, but no real juice there.
And I have never posted a picture before, but you mentioned spaghetti and I cannot resist. Here is DS enjoying BLW:
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Creations - I just read this by you in another thread "the UK guidance is to not give any whole grain foods at all until 12 months," any other general "restrictions"?
TIA
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Probably only what you already know.
Very very low salt (less than 1g salt per day, this is 0.4g sodium).
No/low sugar.
No honey until 12 months.
No whole nuts (due to choke hazard) otherwise there are no limits to introducing nuts in the UK, take advice if there is nut allergy in the family
No more than 4 portions of oily fish per week for boys, 2 for girls. No shark or marlin for children, no raw shellfish (and things like canned tuna should be in oil not brine due to salt levels)
Only Full fat dairy products, no reduced fat
No (or very little) whole grain foods
Erm, that's all I can think of. In addition I took care with small round foods such as cherry toms, grapes blueberries and often squidged them or chopped in half. Sausages or anything of this shape should not be cut into 'rounds' as it's the ideal shape for a choke but usually with BLW we leave things much larger than that anyway. Each country varies their guidance, this is UK guidance but I think it's pretty much standard stuff.
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Thanks that is super helpful! We having nothing but whole grains, it's going to feel weird buying white bread! :o
And I don't think I knew this with DS so he probably got whole wheat bread and pasta.
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I only rarely bought white bread, always with the intention to freeze it for him then just toast a slice from frozen but I don't think I ever got around to that. Here I gave him our wholemeal bread if he just had half a slice of toast or bread and then it would be white tortillas, naan, crumpet, brioche, etc etc i did buy quite a few white 'bread' type things for him I suppose! I would imagine you could drop a handful of white pasta into a pan of brown pasta, judge the timing of when to add it and then pick out his few white bits at serving. I used to drop in a handful of penne or twists etc into the spag when he wouldn't eat the long strands (great pic btw). Funny little people they are, he would get so upset if I gave him spaghetti so I didn't and then one day suddenly got upset that his meal wasn't identical to mine so from then on he got spaghetti and enjoyed it.
But he still won't eat even a mouthful of mashed potato ::)
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Just checking in to thank you for your help! Only thing is violet is not really eating her Vegis- suggestions?
Also, are GMOs banned in the UK? We have to watch some of the things we give our LOs in the sates because our federal regulations on food are not good...
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(great pic btw)
Thanks!
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Jack doesn't eat much veg at the moment either but I just keep offering them along with everything else. Sometimes he'll eat them, sometimes he won't! I try not to worry about it, but there are some good recipes with hidden veg in them which I occasionally do. The mamacook blog has some good ones.
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Only thing is violet is not really eating her Vegis- suggestions?
Just keep offering. I would try a range of different veg (not all in one go just over time) to see what her likes and dislikes are, also different ways of cooking. As example mine has never liked broccoli or cauliflower it's very obvious he doesn't like them as he tucks into veg that he does like. I have continued to offer them from time to time so that he continues to see them on his plate but I do not force him to eat them. Eventually I discovered that he will eat long stemmed broccoli if I cut the flower head off! He likes the stem, but I think he has issue with the texture of the flower, fair enough, he can get great nutrients from the stem there is no need to like everything. He ate cauliflower once, one piece, it was roasted rather than steamed and he did say it was nice but I know that he tried it out of politeness and that he said it was nice out of politeness, he didn't want a second piece and never ate it again.
Meanwhile he has always liked asparagus, including the flower head, so we eat those more often, green beans, mange tout, sugar snap peas - eats them all so really for his nutrients he can live without broccoli/cauli.
He never liked potatoes, he would eat a couple of oven baked wedges, gradually would eat roast, then chips, and now boiled but not mash. Boiled he only ate because I covered them in mint sauce which over time I reduced.
So, just try different things and don't give up. I am not totally against hidden veg but I do think they benefit from seeing clearly what each food is too. Books with fruit and veg in can help with identification, toy food too (I avoided the packs of toys with all prepacked foods in and got only the produce toys, DS learned so quickly what each item was and can relate to these when we cook and eat, I'm sure the familiarity helps). At the end of the day if they don't like something they just don't like it. If they are not in an adventurous phase they will be unlikely to try new things but keep offering so that if/when the phase hits they do have the produce their on their plate.
For hidden veg try a range of veg cooked down with tom puree added, whizz and stir through pasta.
Sweet potato or other veg in pancakes or mini muffins.
Bean burgers were a big hit here, DS almost lived on them for lunches I made them in batches with some other veggies added, fried them all, then froze them and lifted a few out when I needed them. Great out and about food, I didn't bother with bread rolls or anything, just burgers straight from a tub and he wolfed them down. I believe in eating as a family but for a long time his 'lunch' was 10.30/11.00am when other kids were having a small snack at toddler group so I needed a substantial healthy alternative and bean burgers provided that.
Try raw grated carrot, steamed batons, roasted batons (with herbs sprinkled on too as another trial) etc. If a food is taken in one form then experiment with the same food in another form because the variety may encourage them to try something else. But really you only need them to like a couple of different vegetables and fruits to get a reasonably balanced diet.
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Hi my baby used to be blw at 8 mth when she refused to be spoonful the i got better at 10.5 mth now atb12.5 mth I want to reintroduce blw. Se is eating her finger food like chicken bites, bread, fruits or fish finger fine. It's the veg that I have problem. I offer her broccoli n dip in cheesy sauce she wil pick it up and put in her mouth n chew it but then spit it out instead of swallowing. Same with cauliflower. Roast sweet potatoes or pumpkin she will 2-3 sticks before spitting it out again. What should i do pls help. How do I get veg in her without pureeing or mincing it?
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An update, we are doing great! Eating everything! Last night was pork chop, kiwi, sweet potato and squash. Tonight was chicken stroganoff in strips for DD without salt, avocado, and pear. DD really loves protein, including salmon. I think because it has the most juice to suck out!
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Glad it's going well! We're really enjoying it too. So glad I found blw :)
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Lovely to hear you are enjoying your weaning journey - I got was totally enthralled and entertained watching DS eat!!
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A question for you all.... This last week jack seems to have gone right off finger food (which us his entire diet) and is putting food in his mouth and then spitting it back out again, then throwing all the food off his tray onto the floor. However, he will happily eat two whole weetabix in the morning or a yoghurt if I offer it to him. He possibly has molars bothering him and I render my daughter going through phases of preferring hard / soft food. Is this what it is do you think, or do I need to change something? Anyone experienced this at all?
Also, the last 2 days he's gotten lazy and won't feed himself a loaded spoon, he'll just open his mouth and lean towards it instead! Just a phase or should I just put them on the tray instead of passing them to him?
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IME totally normal to go off food during teething or to have pref for certain foods. Mine liked bread sticks when teething, I think they are hard so give pain relief to the gum almost like teething ring. Whilst he is throwing food I'd really cut back on how much you give in one go, 1 or 2 pieces on his tray/plate at a time, reduces the mess and frustration, throwing is not a great habit to get into but most likely because he just doesn't want the food.
WRT wanting to be spoon fed, mine kind of did that a couple of times too, if he is teething perhaps he just wants the extra loving attention that it provides? I see no problem with it, if he brings his mouth to the spoon or pulls your hand towards his mouth then he is still leading, it's when the spoon is put to their mouth or they are coaxed that it becomes parent led rather than baby led iyswim. After a couple of mouthfuls maybe just say "here, you take it" and see how he responds. It's likely just a phase whilst he is a bit off.
If he will chew on raw celery it is supposed to have natural local anaesthetic properties which help with teething - I tell everyone this and have yet to hear of a single baby agreeing to chew on celery ;)
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Funny you should mention breadsticks - I remembered we had some at lunch today and he had a good munch on them so will keep offering those. He was really enjoying cucumber sticks as well. And thanks for the tip on celery. I have given it to him before but I can't remember what he made of it! It obviously wasn't a massive hit or I'd have got some more for him but will try him on it again :)
Good to know your lo went through phases of wanting to be fed as well. I thought he was getting lazy and we were going backwards!
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Well, to be fair my LO mostly refused any kind of help with feeding, but yeah, he did have his little phases of wanting help.
Cucumber sounds like a good one for teething, nice and cooling.
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Well, to be fair my LO mostly refused any kind of help with feeding
This sounds like jack usually! I'm sure he'll be back to his usual self soon.
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Hi, I'm looking for ideas for BLW breakfasts. I've been giving DS, now 7 months fruit or rusk mostly as breakfast time and would like to try and add a bit of variety
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Hi there
I have read some confusing advice regarding baby led weaning and giving children wholemeal food and was wondering whether anyone could clarify for me please?
What age is it okay to give babies wholemeal foods? Some people have said they gave white bread and white pasta instead but surely these still have the wheat content which is the bit that could cause the allergic reaction? If it is not until aged one what are the other options for carbohydrates other than potatoes and rice?
Thank you
Marianne
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we gave DS whole grain toast strips at that age, and never worried about it - I was unaware it was even an issue! And yes you are right that a person allergic to wheat, intolerant to gluten (as I am) or with celiac disease will react to ANY wheat, even trace amount. Gluten free oats (because usually oats are processed in the same factories as wheat, so may have trace amounts), rice, buckwheat, and quinoa do not contain gluten. Honestly though, I wouldn't worry much about it unless there is a family history of wheat allergy.
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The issues with wholemeal, as I understand it, aren't about gluten/wheat, but about too much fibre for an immature digestive system.
If there is no family history of wheat/gluten related issues, fire away with white bread/pasta or be sparing with the amount of wholemeal (the odd slice here and there in the course of a balanced diet is most likely going to be ok).
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The issues with wholemeal, as I understand it, aren't about gluten/wheat, but about too much fibre for an immature digestive system.
This. The whole grain is too difficult for an immature gut to digest, plus whole grains are too filling which puts a risk on milk intake and milk is their primary food source.
That said, I gave mine whole meal bread in small amounts rather than buying a whole white loaf which wouldn't be eaten. But I gave him other baked goods which were white not whole grain, bread sticks, crackers, naan bread, tortilla wraps, crumpets, home made pancakes, home made muffins (sugar free), white pasta...
Sweet potatoes are a great alternative, carbs but more nutritious than white potatoes. yummy too :)
I also made oaty chews which are kind of like a flap jack but without any sugar, honey or syrup.
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Hi everyone
I'm planning to start blw with H in a couple of months.
Just wondering, did you start your LOs off in a high chair with a tray? Or another way?
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For us, DS's very very first tastes were sat on my knee. Beyond that, yes a high chair with tray (ikea antilop) and a high chair at the dining table (baby dan, no tray). tbh the chair with tray was more comfortable and convenient in the early days, I had it in the kitchen, he could watch me prepare food and it was quick for clean up having the sink right there to grab a cloth at the end of a meal etc. But we only have a sort of breakfast bar in the kitchen so I was perching on a stool and not 100% comfortable. I wanted him to learn to eat at the dining table which was more comfortable for me but less convenient as I had to carry everything through including cloth to wash the floor etc. In both chairs I stuffed a rolled up towel behind him in the chair as he was so small.
Oh with the baby dan at the dining table I got one of those silicone roll out mats with a food catcher - waste of money - it was nice to have something to put the food onto rather than directly onto the varnished wood but a large place mat would have worked better.
Snacks were often on my knee or on the floor as we were usually at mum and baby groups - but that was much later.
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We had one of those chairs that straps to a dining room chair, but can also be put on the floor that has a little tray with it. Lasted a good 2.5 years until she was happy to sit at the dining room table on a normal chair. We put the food on the tray to start with, but put the chair up to the table with a plate without the tray as she got bigger. It was a Fisher Price one.
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Thanks creations and Amanda :)
We have L's old high chair with a tray but it is huge (bought it online and didn't really quite how big it was until it arrived). Thinking of getting something smaller this time. I think we'll prob use the old HC with tray for a bit, while H is still little but when she can sit fine then move to something more compact which she can use at the table, either a booster or a HC without a tray.
Really looking fwd to starting blw with H :)
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when she can sit fine then move to something more compact which she can use at the table, either a booster or a HC without a tray.
That's exactly what I thought, too, as well as the booster being portable, so it got used for quite a few picnics and suchlike.
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Hi, I've been doing BLW with DS from 6 months. He usually gets stuck into most things and really enjoys mealtimes. However, I gave been waiting for him to get the hang of actually swallowing bits of food. He is ingesting some bits but lots get chewed and pushed back out again. Am I expecting too much at 9 months?
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I think all babies 'take off' on eating solids when they are ready which is quite varied age wise between 6 - 12 months. I know some LOs IRL who barely at a thing at 9 months (just a little puree or yoghurt with not a lot of interest) but by 11 or 12 months you couldn't stop them eating.
It's most likely that he hasn't learned yet to use his tongue in a different way for swallowing the food. Tongue thrust can be considered 'normal' until about 8yo I think. Feeding solids and letting him learn how to manipulate that food in his mouth, bring it forwards and backwards etc is what is needed for him to learn the more mature tongue movements and eventually swallow more of the food - I believe one of the benefits of BLW is the exercise the tongue and mouth gain from manipulating (if not always swallowing) the food which helps the tongue develop the mature swallowing technique and can also help with speech development.
I would keep offering as you are and one day be amazed by how he suddenly comes on - it sounds like you are making some yummy food that he is really enjoying experimenting with :)
Just a thought - Has he been checked for tongue tie? I would imagine it would have been picked up before now but I read for some it's solid food that is difficult? It would be easy enough for your HV or GP to check just to rule it out.
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Thanks Creations. It's reassuring to hear it's ok if he hasn't fully got the hang of swallowing yet. He certainly gets practice chewing, that's for sure! However, I hadn't thought of tongue tie. He has no problem breastfeeding but I think I will get him checked out to be sure.
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I honestly don't know enough about tongue tie to know if it can only show up during weaning or if it would for certain show up when milk feeding in the earlier months. It's a quick and easy thing to have checked though.
I'll see if any other mods know.
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OK after asking other mods it seems entirely possible that a tongue tie could be noticed but not acted upon, or missed and get a late diagnosis. So this may not be the cause of the spitting but it is possible for BF to have gone fine but LO is still tongue tied.
hth
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I appreciate your investigation, thank you. I will make an appointment at the doctors tomorrow. Man, I love this forum!
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Man, I love this forum!
Me too :)
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Just bear in mind not all HCPs can or are willing to diagnose/treat a tongue tie. :-\
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Hmm, I suspected as much. Not sure what I'll do if my doctor doesn't satisfy me that he's checked it properly...
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Man, I love this forum!
Me too :)
Me too :D
I read about BLW, I think Im sort of doing it.
V is eating solids good so far. Although I offer her food for her to pick up and eat on her own, Im still doing most of the feeding.
Im still cooking separately for her tough, with no spices at all.
So far I have cooked simply prepared foods-cooked potatoes, pureed fruit and veggies, finger food-cauliflower, peach, broccoli, apple.
But as far as I understand, blw means that I give her everything that we eat (but no salt and other spices?),yes?
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If you are doing a mixture of puree foods with spoon feeding and finger foods that baby self feeds this is really more of a 'traditional weaning' approach. With BLW baby self feeds all the foods and there are no specially prepared purees, although some foods are naturally mushy for instance humous or other dips. It's quite common now for people to refer to finger foods as BLW even though BLW is really a different approach.
I would still follow the food guides for your country for instance low/no salt, no honey until 1yo, no whole nuts, no raw shellfish...
but otherwise yes you can offer just about anything. I altered the way I prepare food to make it more suitable for DS, chopped veggies into big chunks for instance so they could be picked up. I still used spices, not as hot though.
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So if I bake potatoes for us I give her that,and if I make pancakes I give her that, right?
Still doing the tryouts tough? Well, I have to anyways.
I do like this idea very very much. Trying it first thing tomorrow.
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Yeah that's basically it. Adult finger sized chunks/batons are helpful for the grasp. I mean if you're eating a triple chocolate ice-cream sundae I wouldn't give her that ;) and I'd check fish for bones but basically, yeah give her a piece of something you're having.
A tip I read for purees you already have stored (if you have) is to use as spread on toast, sauce for pasta or fruit in a pancake mix, it doesn't have to go to waste.
I didn't do any trials but of course if you know there are or may be intolerance/allergies then yes you would just offer what you know is safe plus 1 new food.
Have fun :)
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I'm doing a bit of blw with H and also offering some purées (so maybe that means it's not really blw at all).
Anyway, when I put food on her tray she picks it up (now, didn't at first ::) ) and plays with it but is yet to actually put any of it in her mouth herself. Is this common at 6mos?
(Perhaps I should add she's not really that interested in the purées I'm offering her either, usually doesn't have that much at all, sometimes none, then she's had enough).
I think if I were doing solely blw she wouldn't have actually eaten anything at all yet. Would that be ok? I know iron stores start depleting from 6 mos... She is still EBF otherwise
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That's all fine. She's still getting plenty of iron from your breastmilk (it's in a more easily absorbed form in your milk than in formula). It's very common in BLW for not much to go in to start with, but once she realises what she's got and has a go, she'll pick up on what's meant to happen next :)
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thanks :) :-*
Yk I thought that was probably the case but was starting to question myself..
H is so different to L it's like I'm doing this for the first time LOL. (With L we were asking ourselves "Would she ever stop eating? Should we be letting her have so much?" :P )
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Hey! Anyone still chatting on here?
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My "baby" is 21 months now so past the BLW stage, but we did it all the way and still get notifications on this thread so I'm still around!
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Wonderful! It really is so exciting
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Mine is almost 4yo but still happy to join you in your journey and answer questions you may have.
I absolutely loved our weaning journey, it literally filled my heart with joy, and gave me many laughs along the way. I filmed a couple of DS's meal times and if I watch them back now I have tears of laughter rolling down my face.
I hope your journey is just as rewarding :)
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Ok ladies I think I'm ready to start blw. Any advice on how to start etc??? We started him on pureed food bc our MD told us we needed to increase his calories and I wasn't 100% clear in the blw process. He's a very hungry boy lol!!! I actually just bought a sweet potato yesterday so I was winding if I could start with that?? How do it cook it/ give it to ds??
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Hi creations. So lovely to hear about your experience. Ours has gotten off to a good start. DD has tried apples (yum), banana (double yum), kiwi (not interested), plums (interested but too much chewing even after lightly steaming), egg yolk (yum), carrot, and papaya. Phew! Sounds like a lot but I have actually been going very slowly. She had some sort of a reaction to carrot and got red spots on her face and apple got her all bunged up.
I'm loving BLW though. She seems so grownup when she is eating all on her own. It was a proud moment for me at the play date the other day when she literally reached out and took a piece of banana from my hand and sat and ate it on her own! The other moms were also quite amazed especially the ones with much older LOs :)
I keep wondering -- how much is too much? She ate almost an entire steamed apple the other day! Too much, I think but she kept crying for more :S Of course she was constipated for 2 days after that.
And it is okay to offer some foods on a pre-loaded spoon, right? From what I can understand, the point is to follow their lead and not to push anything on them or coax in any way.
1st timer - Great to have some company. We are just starting off too! I do think your doc gave you some misguided advice though as from what I have heard, solids before one are just for fun and exploration, not really for nutrition. I want to offer her sweet potato too. Today I washed it and poked it with a fork and baked it for 30 minutes and then chickened out. I haven't eaten it before so I don't even know what it should be like :S:S:S:S
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Any advice on how to start etc???
This may help
Baby-Led Weaning
I would go mainly for the foods you already eat as part of your family meals, this way LO learns the flavours and textures of your regular meals and is more likely to go along with those as they get older - it also means not having to keep cooking separate meals for LO. There's no need to go exploring for foods you haven't tried yourself before, although BLW can also be a great way to move towards more health conscious or varied meals for the whole family too :)
The main things really are to keep things large enough to hold in a fist grip, so the size of an adult finger, and to cut out added salt to your cooking where ever you can (eg I never put salt in pasta any more but instead rely on the sauce or dressing to season) at that age I never added salt to anything as their daily allowance is taken up so quickly. Also to make sure baby is sat up properly to reduce the choke risk.
Sweet potato can be:
- cut into fingers/wedges and lightly steamed (keep checking with ta fork as it takes less time than a carrot for instance) although may turn to a mush quite quickly (no harm in it being very soft for LO, just it's harder to pick up)
- cut into fingers/wedges and roasted in the oven like roast potato or oven baked chips. Toss in a little oil or use oil spray and bake until the outside begins to firm up and crisp. The outside can be quite dry and easy to pick up this way whilst the inside will be very soft like a mush/puree. Many other veggies can be cooked this way (we often have 'chips' here as I know we are all getting a great variety of veggies). You can use herbs and spices on any of these oven roasted chips, but I'd avoid salt.
- baked in the oven, whole, then sliced open (treat like a baked potato, if you can easily stab it with a fork through then it is soft and cooked). Wedges can be served, the inside will be like very soft mash but the skin on the outside should help LO grasp the wedge. If you want to make sweet pot mash this is a great way to make it, bake then scrape out the inside which will fall apart like mash and you can almost just stir it into a soft mash. Unlikely to need butter/milk adding as it is already slacker than white potato. Some LOs like to grab hand fulls of mashed food to self feed.
- grated and used in sweet recipes such as sweet potato and sultana mini muffins (yum! Think carrot cake type of thing) or sweet potato pancakes
...and it's a great source of vit A
And it is okay to offer some foods on a pre-loaded spoon, right? From what I can understand, the point is to follow their lead
Yes that's right. I found a plastic fork a bit more useful than a spoon when DS was very young. I used to hold the end of the fork to prevent him poking himself in the eye but he had control of picking it up (or taking it from me) and guiding the food to his mouth.
Although you generally follow their lead on quantity, you are still the parent, it's up to you to provide healthy foods and reasonable balance to the diet. If you discover certain foods cause constipation or diarrhoea in large quantities then it's your job to limit the portion, in the same way you wouldn't give in if your 6 month old was crying for access to a glass of wine yk. It's fine to explain to LO why they can't have more and offer something else.
Mine became too firm in his BM with carrots so I made sure to skip carrots if he was getting a bit form, cook up a portion if he was getting a bit loose. And in the main balance out a portion or carrot with a portion of prune.
She had some sort of a reaction to carrot and got red spots on her face
Do you think it may have been a contact reaction? Mine had some of those, esp where his poo touched his bum, orange foods seems to be the main culprit but he was never poorly in his tummy.
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Yes, Jack has a contact reaction to tomatoes exactly as you describe, but they've never affected his tummy either (and they're his favourite food!)
Also wanted to add that if you're starting off then a crinkle cutter can be good for roast veggies as it gives them ridged edges which give more grip.
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Merry Christmas, ladies! DD was an absolute star at family lunch.. Accepted all sorts of fruits and vegetables from the salad and patiently gnawed through them.
I'm having another problem though and I wanted your opinions. We seem to be going through a growth spurt but it is weird. She feeds normally during the day but in the feed before bed, she will nurse as usual, let me know as usual that it's time to be put down... Everything the same.. Until I actually put her down and then she cries so much until I pick her up and re nurse. Before doing this, we spend ages trying to settle her without. Then she will nurse with eyes open till letdown and then I can put her down as usual and she will also off independently. She has also been draining her DF bottle and waking for one night feed. The others on my birth club are saying that I'm going too slow with solids and if I give her solids properly it will help. Even Tracy says solids are needed at this gs. What do you think???
BTW you were both spot on about the contact reaction
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I'd prob be more tempted to shift her last solids meal earlier, I don't know if you're giving an evening solids meal but if you are possibly cut it for now and stick to morning/lunch solids so she can fill on milk in the evening. Milk has more fat and calories than solids so if she's super hungry you're more likely to get a better night from her if she's properly full of milk.
Make sure she has enough to drink at her solids meals too, either water or milk, so he isn't thirsty in the night. Otherwise just continue, a GS is a GS, they all get extra hungry.
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We aren't doing an evening meal yet. But does this sound like a growth spurt? Isn't it odd that she refuses the feed and then as soon as she's put down, asks for it? I'm finding it so weird. She isn't eating much all day and then suddenly goes berserk. Anyway, fine, I was just really wondering whether milk isn't satisfying her enough or something strange like that!
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Isn't it odd that she refuses the feed and then as soon as she's put down, asks for it?
You said in the previous post that day feed were normal and DF was drained plus another night feed, that sounds like a GS. Refusing regular feeds then asking for a feed later on sounds like something else. Thirst? SA? Or being more alert in the day can mean she is now more interested in things around her rather than focusing on feeding which could result in being very hungry later on. If this seems to be the case you could try feeding in a quiet, dim light room away from all distractions.
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I've been mulling over your post and observing DD, and I feel that you are right. It started with a cold leading to decreased day feeds and then distractibility on vacation but I do feel that she is taking less during the day and then tries to make up for it later.
So BLW n holiday is fun. I'm being a bit too gung ho though as she seems to want to try everything. She's been having egg yolk and fruit chunks for breakfast and vegetable sticks and fruit for lunch. Unfortunately, the past 2 nights she has woken up with a poppy diaper. We haven't had to change a diaper in the MOTN since 2 months, so it's been impossible to settle her back in her crib after. Will this stop after a while? I am only offering solids at breakfast and lunch. In fact, didn't even give her anything at lunch today. FX it doesn't happen tonight
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The pooing at night should stop once she's got into a new routine. It's not uncommon to see threads about MOTN poo - you could try shifting the solids 30-60 mins earlier or later and see if that helps or just ride it out, eventually her body will get back on track to day time poos.
Sounds like you're both having fun :)
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We did have a ton of fun. So if I keep lunch light, the poo doesn't show up too early. She always pooed sometime just before waking. So yesterday, I decided to try giving her porridge. Basically, I have been getting some help on the boards and I was advised to space nursings to 3-4 hour intervals. DD is doing 3.5 A and then with a 1.5 - 2 hour nap, thats a long time, so I had taken to topping her up before the nap. They suggested heavier solids instead. So, enter porridge. It was such a confusion! She wanted to control the spoon but it was too thin and kept splattering everywhere. By the end of it, you could see more porridge than child. It was fun and quite a hassle to clean it out of her ears and nose and neck and... :p
So much easier to just hand her the food and let her eat. She had already gotten the hang of it and there is barely a mess any more! So happy that we are doing BLW.
When did you all switch over from fruits/ vegetables/ bits from your meals to making things specifically for them - eg: porridge pancakes or cutlets etc? She is 7 months now. I was thinking maybe by 8 or 9? I worry about oil
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There's a recipe for porridge fingers somewhere around - basically very thick porridge which can be eaten as finger food, you might like to give than a try?
I used a baby muesli (it's tagged as aged 10 months but as we did BLW I ignored ages and used my own judgement as to what was suitable) which I mixed extremely thickly and rolled into balls for finger food.
I made batches of things like fruit pancakes, mini muffins, bean burgers, oaty chews, which I froze in small batches. I used them mainly for snacks and for taking out and about when I knew he'd be very hungry but it wouldn't be my meal time.
What is it about oil you are concerned about?
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Just oil in general. So I am useless with anything concerning oats. I can only get my hands on Quaker oats and somehow I keep messing up the recipe. Made oat fingers the other day and DD took one bite and looked truly disgusted:p Just cooked up a batch of banana pancakes for breakfast and have frozen a few. Starting on my freezer stash! Hooray. I saw an interesting recipe for banana spinach pancakes too. I need to incorporate more iron rich foods. Actually need to educate myself more about different foods.
Also reading up about the benefits of cooking with coconut oil. Amazing. I'm almost tempted to never use any other kind again. Of course, everything would be coconutty! :p
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I think many people find the coconut oil not to be too coconutty in flavour.
LOs need lots of fats so I wouldn't worry about too much oil/butter/coconut oil, minimizing oil/fat is really something for older children and adults depending on health/weight etc.
There's a recipe for oaty chews here
Re: Finger Foods (6 months+)
Which she might find a bit more tasty than plain oats. Once you've got the hang of it you can throw in just about anything and they work out fine.
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Porridge fingers are great. You can add dried fruit and all sorts to them to make them more interesting. Same quantity in tablespoons of oats (Quaker is great!) and milk, mix together, allow to soak for a short time (although that's not really necessary), flatten the top then 2 minutes in an 800w microwave (adjust time to suit alternative wattage). Either cut into fingers or quarters. I'd start with 2tbsp and work from there.
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Ok I lost the thread of how to cook sweet potatoes for my 8 month old.
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There's a finger foods thread here
Finger Foods (6 months+)
(do feel free to add to it with any ideas of your own too :) )
I roasted sweet potato wedges, either dry or tossed in some oil first, just spread on a baking tray and pop them in the oven until the inside is soft and the outside crispy. You can sprinkle with herbs before cooking too.
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Awesome...what temp and roughly how long? I'm gonna have my oven going later...and how do you store them? Freeze and reheat or fridge and reheat?
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Something highish for about 30 mins. Honestly I never look at the temperature.
I only served on the day they were fresh or kept in the fridge and served the following day. I didn't re-heat.
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Hey back again lol! What's yalls thoughts on eggs...when to indroduce and how? Ds is really enjoying his big boy food but I need to mix it up and I love eggs, no egg allergies in the family so I wanted to try. I never did with dd and now she won't eat them at all.
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Sunday is egg yolk day here:) She loves it. I also have been using the yolks while making pancakes. Scrambled eggs & omelettes were not a big hit though. I read that they are rich in omega-3 fatty acids & iron.
I have a question too - Right now I am only giving E breakfast & lunch. I thought she wouldn't eat much with BLW but the kid is packing it in. It is so brilliant to watch her eat. I don't feel absolutely comfortable giving her solids in the evening yet as I am worried the effects it could have on the night. Also, she doesn't seem very interested in nursing. I have read that this can happen around this age but it is still worrying. Any BTDT experience with this? What would be a routine with solids and bfing? Usually it is milk first but how would the evening go?
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How do you give her thebyolks? Just separate and scramble? I read it's best to hard boil then separate bc of possible reactions to the whites but I also read that's not even guaranteed to do it...
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I give her the hard boiled egg yolk. I have to hold it though for her to bite.
For the scrambled eggs, I used only yolks (although I have read that as long as there is no history of allergies, it is fine to give them the whites too) and I added cheese to it.
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K I'm gonna try yolks at lunch time...I guess he's getting brunch lol...maybe I'll have a mimosa when I feed him hahaha. I'm waiting on cheese though...when I used to eat most dairy it would hurt his tummy so I haven't been having any cheese and avoiding milk as well. Would you think Hard boiled or scrambled is best to start with?
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Hard boiled is good
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Just last night I was watching old movies of DS and his BLW journey. He ate spinach and something (I forget what! maybe cheese or mushroom?) fritata like he'd been starved for 6 months. There are no rules on waiting in the UK so DS had eggs right away. I believe the egg is supposed to be fully cooked but as there is no risk of salmonella here I tried him with runny yolk too (he didn't like and still doesn't like eggs with the white and yolk un-mixed). Anyway, the fritata was a huge hit. I whisked a few eggs straight into an oven proof dish added a bit of pre-cooked (left over) veg and shoved it in the oven to cook through. you can also do an individual egg in a ramekin although I wouldn't be heating up the oven for a single egg, but say if you needed to make a cheese free one for LO and a cheesy one for the rest of the family or whatever, it's handy to know an egg will raise perfectly in a ramekin :)
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Yeah I do my hard boiled eggs in the oven so I put 6 in there so I can have a quick and easy snack or breakfast. Im gonna cut it up and let him try and feed himself the yolk to start, maybe feed him a little too. Im hoping he likes it. I feel like he needs protein in his diet. I was gonna try scrambled tomorrow...make me some eggs for breakfast and give him a try. I guess theres new info out that waiting to give kids these allergy foods actually makes them more prone to having the allergy or something.
Can I ask why there is no risk of salmonella there? I easy sunny side up eggs and they have really runny yolks but I didn't think that I could get salmonella from it!! Oh man!!!!!!
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Eggs here are lion marked (stamped with a logo) which shows the hens are free from salmonella.
http://www.lioneggfarms.co.uk/information/british-lion-quality/
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Oh wow...that's awesome!!!! I can't even begin to comment on the way things go over here 😠 I'd live off the grid totally and completely if I could.
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Hey ladies. How is everyone doing? Just thought I would update on our progress. We are loving every minute of BLW. E has gotten so good at feeding herself, especially with her pincer grip. She eats quite a lot but makes it clear when she is done. She has porridge for breakfast with a variety of fruits( 2tbsp of oats with 2 oz breastmilk), various sautéed vegetables for lunch (cabbage/caulifower & potato/ spinach/fenugreek/pumpkin/lentils and many more) followed by fruit chunks/pudding. I have finally started an evening meal too. Took some ideas from Katherine's thread on protein rich foods and made nuggets with egg,broccoli, zucchini & cheese as well as salmon cutlets. She gobbled them up:p
I wanted to clear up a few doubts -- Firstly, Creations, you mentioned peanut butter being a good protein food -- is it fine even though it has salt & sugar? I have given E some and she likes it a lot.
Secondly, is cheese okay? Again, it is quite salty.
And lastly, E has suddenly gone from pooing once a day to 3-4 times a day. Could I be feeding her too much? I don't think I have but not sure how to explain all the poo:p She has been having papaya & pear, which I know can have a laxative effect, so could it be as simple as that?
1sttimer - how did it go with the eggs?
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Creations, you mentioned peanut butter being a good protein food -- is it fine even though it has salt & sugar? I have given E some and she likes it a lot.
Secondly, is cheese okay? Again, it is quite salty.
I was able to find a peanut butter which had no added sugar. I *think* it did have salt but tbh can't remember, and I don't have any in atm to go check the ingredients list. There are such a range available, I would just read lots of jars and go for the best you can find for now. I would be less bothered by a bit of sugar and salt when they are older so if the one you find is v expensive it could just be for now yk? At this age I would only go for smooth nut butter and not the crunchy one. it's possible to make your own nut butters if you have a powerful whizzer.
WRT salt intake overall. You really do need to watch out at this age but yes cheese is fine, I can't imagine she'd eat so much as for it to be a problem. I had a general eye on salt across the day but if you are not using salt (or salty products such as soy sauce) in cooking and not using processed foods then really there is not much to watch for and whatever is in the cheese will be ok. I occasionally used pre-pack foods such as canned tuna in oil, canned baked beans in tomato sauce, it's things like that you really need to watch for, small portion sizes and let that be a day where you really count up the salt. In the UK regular sliced bread is high in salt (higher than many other countries) so for me it would be watching out the food combinations such as tuna sandwich, or beans and toast which would be a double whammy.
Can't help on the poo - if it's all a decent kind of poo then I wouldn't worry. Mine went 5 or 6 times per day until he started putting them in the potty when he reduce to once per day. I believe he didn't like the feel of it in his nappy so let out a kind of pressure reliever and then stopped. As soon as he was cleaned up with a fresh nappy on he'd go again ::) I can't tell you how glad I was when he started using the potty at 10 months! One or possibly two poos per day was such a relief. He had a 'potty pause' for a full 6 wks and returned to the 5 or 7 poos per day in the nappy, it felt like a life time. Then started using the potty again and straight back to 1 or 2 poos. Unbelievable! :P
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Haha. Never thought poo would ever hold such an important place on my mind: p thanks so much for the help. Not using salt/salty stuff otherwise, so I think it should be fine. I know there are less salty/no salt cheeses and all sorts of other baby friendly foods but no access in this city
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The eggs went great! Once he got used to them he liked them. Ut they also seemed to go with a few very rough nights so I stopped bc I wasn't sure if it was then eggs hurting his tummy or something else. I think I'm gonna try them again tomorrow. I've gotten more confident in ds ability to chew so we have tried lots of new stuff recently :)
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Sounds like fun with all the new things :)
Hope the egg trial goes well.
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Could either of you share a recipe for baked apple wedges? Wish we could get some more chatter going on in here.
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Sorry no recipe, I just chopped them and put them in the oven! I sometimes added a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg.
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No recipe here. I'm still getting comfortable making stuff in the oven for ds. I can't seem to get the texture right...
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Hello... popping in to get recipe ideas. Can't wait to do eggs, but we're on a strict dairy intro regiment and have to wait for it.
Does anyone make a big batch of anything that freezes and defrosts well?
What's this about a 10 month old using the potty!? Yes, please!
EDIT... Found the baby food recipes thread. :D
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Does anyone make a big batch of anything that freezes and defrosts well?
I made batches of things mainly for snacks as DS and I ate basically the same for main meals (which is one of the main aspects of BLW).
I made things like american/scotch pancakes (with fruit), bean or lentil burgers (with vegies), mini muffins (with fruit or veg instead of sugar) and oaty chews (with fruit no sugar, kind of like a flap jack). They all froze well, I interwove baking parchment between them before bagging so they didn't stick together and I could lift out however many I would need for a day or two, especially to take out and about.
have you heard of the no-egg-eggy-bread? Whizz bananas and dip the bread in like you would with egg, then fry. It's yummy.
Tracy PT advice was to start at 9 months if you are interested here's some info, there's also a support thread for early PT and another for EC:
Tracy's Potty Training Advice
Toilet Training at 9 - 12 Months Thread #4
Elimination Communication Thread - part 3
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have you heard of the no-egg-eggy-bread? Whizz bananas and dip the bread in like you would with egg, then fry. It's yummy.
And that's tomorrow's snack. What a yum idea
We have also started with the potty, ginger. Not very consistently as she sometimes beats me to it but yeah..
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Whizz bananas sound yummy. Creations- Thanks for the links and tips!
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Hi ladies, we are just getting started as DD2has decided she doesn't want spoon fed. So we have been doing steamed veg, toast, omelette just not really sure what else to start out with. She gets quite frustrated when she cant eat much of it.
Also I have bought a piece of brisket I am going to slow cook (never done it before) so do I just pop it in with any veg and stock or should I not be using stock?
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Personally I wouldn't use a stock cube or other shop bought stock just because the salt will go into all the veg too and for such a young baby I'd want it to be super low salt - but I'm sure lots of people do use stock cubes and don't expect LOs portion to contain too much in the scheme of things (depends how much they eat too). You can though use any kind of spices and herbs.
What's causing the frustration? Is she finding it difficult to pick the food up or something else? Are you giving large enough pieces for her to pick up comfortably?
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I think its because she isn't getting much in her mouth, she shovels it in but most breaks off and fall down, I do give more but I think she is used to eating more as she was spoon fed at the beginning.
I think I give large enough pieces, like a finger size?
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Yes adult finger size is a good guide. Maybe her frustration ca be reduced with something a bit firmer? If the vegetables are very soft they fall apart too quickly for her, perhaps steam just a little less? Toast fingers should be ok though. I understand having a frustrated LO though, mine would cry and shout with frustration if he couldn't get the food in fast enough. Generally he was ok so long as I kept the food coming.
If she's very upset maybe try some spoon feeding at the same time or a fork which you load and let her self feed? I used a plastic fork from pretty young and just held the back end to prevent him stabbing himself but he had control of the feeding aspect.
Or something like wedges of melon with the skin left off, tell her not to eat the skin and point it out to her. The skin gives some grip for picking up, the soft flesh doesn't fall apart unless it is sucked and gummed.
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We had to do the finger food/ spoon fed combo with ds. He would get so mad like your lo bc, just like yours, he'd shovel it in but a lot would fall out. I usually have something he can feed himself and I'll have something I can feed him so I know he gets enough and he doesn't get too frustrated. There's been several times he's gotten so frustrated he would have a melt down and I ended up just bathing him to calm him and nursing him and he would go to bed bc he was so worn out from the melt down lol
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Well it seems she will not let me spoon feed at all anymore.
I had a wee fright there, she had baked potato cut into wedges for dinner which just crumbled so she was a bit annoyed and didn't really get much of it. So I gave her cucumber batons which she loved and an apple slice.
Well she almost chocked on the apple, I could see she was trying to get a wee bit back up with the gag reflex then her wee face went purple and she vomited everything up. She as fine not a peep out of her but mummy got a fright :'(
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So glad shes alright!!!! I hate this age when they are still learning. I haven't been as nervous with DS as I was with DD but im still terrified.
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Oh dear, sorry you had a fright :(
FWIW this can also happen with purees and mashed foods too, it's great she got it up without any intervention.
In the early days with apple I would either steam or bake wedges. When I gave raw apple I took a little of a *full* apple and discarded that bit, then helped DS hold onto the full apple to gnaw at. I personally found this safer and less of a risk of getting big chunks off. I think at the time he had a couple of front teeth which he could kind of grate off some apple with rather than big pieces. If that makes sense. It wasn't something I let him at on his own though as I worried like you about big chunks.
Grated apple is another option too.
I know you must be feeling really shaken. hugs.
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Definitely. It worries you for the next meal. Still not really sure what to be giving her at lunchtime, is she too young for sandwiches. I tried to make porridge fingers for breakfast but it turned into like a glue mixture, not great at this cooking malarkey ;D
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Glad she is okay, Gail. {{Hugs}} That must have really been scary. Porridge fingers were not a hit here. I think they were to dry for E. Need to refine my skills too
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Sandwiches I used to do things like deconstructed sandwich (otherwise it would fall apart when he tried to eat it and he'd get frustrated, so better I gave it in bits), basically just kind of bread/toast and a piece of cheese or whatever filling you choose.
Pitta opened up or a tortilla wrap can be filled with cheese then closed over, toasted in a dry frying pan to melt the cheese and the two halves pushed together whilst it cools so it all sticks - that was an easy sandwich which didn't fall apart.
There are lots of idea on the finger foods thread. Eggy bread, fritata... you can't go wrong with plain steamed veg...
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We're also getting spoon resistance here. DH tried giving him a spoon while we were feeding and that distracted and satisfied him enough. I even gave him a small empty container to "dip" and it was too cute how he would just dip his play spoon into the empty container and put the wrong end in his mouth. So cute. Whenever we can preload the spoon, we let him try to feed himself, but yeah, most of it goes down the front of his shirt/bib. Just a tip, I was able to split a toast in half flat wise, and it became thin enough to roll up nicely. Can't toast for too long or it'll just crumble. Tried this with cream cheese with teeny bits of cucumber and peanut butter with teeny bit of natural jam. However, DS figured out how to unroll it recently. Haha.
Anyone have experience with 1 yo and their pickiness?
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What exactly is a deconstructed sandwich? Lol, Eris will painstakingly pick it apart and throw it down for the doggies to get. So annoying when she is more concerned about feeding the dogs than herself but sweet that she shares:p
No spoon refusal exactly but she is so moody. We spoonfeed her porridge in the morning and somedays it is done in 5 minutes. Others we linger,linger, linger and most of it decorates her hair & the floor ;D I prefer using a fork but I have to hold on to it otherwise it is tossed on the floor along with everything else. I don't want to deprive her of her experiments but I refuse to wash multiple forks.
What sort of pickiness do you mean, Ginger? I have noticed E spitting out a lot of stuff nowadays but I figured it is just a phase and I don't push her to eat quantity-wise. She has discovered mangoes and loves them so much.
So, I've noticed many babies eating 3 solid meals + snacks. What sort of snacks have you'll been giving and how much?
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Lol. If only we had dogs to clean the mess around DS's seat. Hahaha.
How do you make your porridge, Fleur?
Well, DS used to eagerly eat whatever was in front of him. He had favorites, but still ate everything. Now, he just moves them around and tries to put pieces in my hand, on the table or floor. He will only independently eat and finish fruits now. All the veggies, meats, and others we have to encourage him or place in his mouth. He didn't eat his sweet potato which is his favorite! It was shocking... hahaha. I'm going to try to cut back on the fruits and see if it helps. Maybe it's another phase... Perhaps I'm giving him too much at snack time and therefore he's less hungry? I don't know. His tummy has been bothering him now too with the introduction of cow's milk. Major byproduct is gas and he's not happy about that... neither is his momma!
Snacks...I mainly feed fresh fruit as it's easy to port around and prepare... half a banana, small handful blueberries, 1/4 cup chopped grapes, half a sandwich smeared with something, 1/2 yogurt + <1/4 cup fruit, half a waffle, package of applesauce, dried apricot pieces, couple wedges of peach, 1/4 cup chopped plum, slices of watermelon or honeydew melon, 1/2 a tangerine (I peel part of the skin off the wedge), Cheerios cereal, etc... Oh and on busy or difficult days, I give him these puréed fruit pouches.
I'd like to try a hard boiled egg one day since we're on eggs now and hummus at some point. Any other suggestions out there for easy snacks? I save veggies for meals but maybe it's not the best idea.
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Okay, that's some yum stuff! Yes, I tend to give a lot of fruit too. I make it a point that meals are savoury rather than sweet, and then snacks and dessert are fruits.
I do think they go off solids at around this point (or so I've heard) but just another phase:)
I give E two types of porridge - oats & lapsi (broken wheat). I cook up a week's worth with water and then freeze it in cupcake moulds and then put it into a ziplock bag. DH then defrosts one 'cupcake' and adds milk & fruit chunks. I have tried to give her a millet porridge too but it doesn't go well with anything sweet and tastes pretty awful on its own:p What about you?
So I just made apple oat cakes for tea and she nommed it all up! Success:p
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What exactly is a deconstructed sandwich?
It's just all the bits you would use to make a sandwich but don't put it together - so a quarter slice of bread with or without butter, or a finger of pitta bread, a finger of cheese or a cube of pate, a slice or finger of cucumber - one bit of each thing on the tray or plate but not in the form of a sandwich.
Snacks I based on the overall food balance across the day or the week. Often fruit but other snacks too (we did a 3 day strict portion control to reduce his fruit intake actually, his diet had become out of balance and I felt I needed to put my foot down, he was not happy with fewer and smaller portions for 1 or 2 days but his diet balanced out and he stopped fussing about not getting constant fruit).
crackers
bread sticks
pancakes (with fruit or veg in, small sized made in batches and frozen, very easy to lift a few out for a snack later in the day)
mini muffins (sugar free, with fruit or veg added, again frozen in batches)
mini bean/lentil frittas/burgers/patties (frozen in batches)
oaty chews (like flap jack but not sugar/honey etc, just oats, milk, oil, fruit, frozen in batches)
Basically I'd make a fresh batch of something for snack one day then freeze the rest, something else another day freeze the rest etc so there was a variety I could just lift out the freezer. It doesn't need to be a big variety but I found it useful to have something healthy and carbsy rather than fruit all the time. Mine was also very hungry at his morning snack, it was more like lunch but we were often out and about so I needed something more substantial to take with me.
I also saved any left over veggies from dinner the night before and gave those as snacks or for lunch the next day or used them in the lentil/bean/veggie burger type things I made.
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Great suggestions Creations! Fleur mentioned once to use muffin/cupcake pans to make batches. Genius, must do that!
I also cut back on fruit this past week to recheck portions... read a thread on that. And thankfully, DS's appetite returned today. He's been uncharacteristically picky and not eating well the past few days. One of the shots he got for his 12mo check up did have a reduction in appetite side effect... I wonder if that was it.
Is the 12mo mark a huge leap in BLW and eating in general? He's been taking longer to eat as he seems more aware of well, EVERYTHING! :D He was always observant but it's like on another level. Haha. Tips on drinking whole milk? I've tried diluting with water (don't have any pumped BM), offering it at every meal and other times, using different cups, making fun sounds, putting a teeeeeeny bit of chocolate, but to no avail. Just offering cheese, yogurt, and using milk to make meals. It would be easier just have him drink a sippy cup or two of milk a day without having to worry about adding dairy to his diet every day.
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The mini muffin trays are good as they give a nice small portion. I used them to make little oven baked turkey meat loaf type things, lentil loaf type things and also oaty chews. If you make things like burgers or pancakes and want to freeze them interweave them with baking parchment before freezing so that they don't all stick together, much easier to separate if they have the paper between.
Lots of BF LOs are reluctant to take milk from a sippy cup, even FF babies can be reluctant. I would probably focus on one routine time per day to make it a habit rather than trying all day long. You may have more success with a straw, put your finger over one end, dip the other end in milk, then put it to LO's mouth and release your finger so the small amount of milk trapped in the straw is released, this can give LO the idea of how to use the straw. Model too. I drank my tea out of a sippy cup and also with a straw to give DS the idea as LOs like to copy mummy.
I wouldn't go down the route of adding chocolate or other sweet things to the milk though, you could get yourself caught between a rock and a hard place if he actually takes it.
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Lol:) I was imagining more of an open sandwich. Do we have a recipe for the mini lentil burgers/ frittas on here? Which lentils do you mean exactly? Also, WRT the oaty chews - how does it hold together without egg or flour? I tried it the other day and I got mush. She happily ate the mush but not what I was going for:p
Does he normally take a sippy cup, Ginger? Gosh, can't even begin to think about whole milk yet. Agree with creations though - watch out for adding stuff to get him to drink..it's a slippery slope.
I'm so impressed with E drinking from her sippy cup. It is 45 degrees here and dry, so I make sure to offer her often and she drinks so well. As in, tipping her head back and keeping it that way in order to drink enough. Smartypants girl. I have been trying a straw cup - not very hard -- I just bought a few use and toss ones as I heard it helps the learning process -- you can squeeze it lightly and the water goes up the straw but so far all that happens is the top pops out.
Do you think it would be okay to give Eris ice lollies or mango yoghurt popsicles? Could this lead to sore throats or a cold? Getting a lot of misinformation about this at the moment
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Max drinks from sippy and straw cups on his own, and regular cups with assistance. That straw method is how I got him to drink water and using the straw... it worked well. I'll try it with the milk. M drinks water from a straw cup with every meal... should I use a straw or sippy for the milk to distinguish it or just the same cup?
Fleur, it is so awesome she does that! I thought it was so cool when M figured it out (first by imitating).
You know, I was thinking the same thing about setting a time in the routine, but our Ped said keep offering it to him. I think it confuses him and offers too many chances to refuse it. I weaned him off the late pm nursing session and wanted to replace that with the milk upon waking from nap. He's refusing that nap but I"m sure I can offer it to him around that time.
Yes, I knew exactly what I was doing with the chocolate! Haha. I'm actually relieved he didn't take to it! :P
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oaty chews recipe here
Re: Finger Foods (6 months+)
(I think there are some the page before too)
it's just oats, milk/water, butter/oil and dried fruit, then bake it like flap jack.
The lentil/bean burger type things. I thought I'd posted a recipe on the board but now I'm looking it seems it's not there. I'll have another look around later or post again (which reminds me ladies, any good stuff you come up with do add it to the finger foods recipe board please!). give me a nudge if I forget!!
Very briefly I use any canned (no salt no sugar, just water) bean or lentil because i am too lazy to soak or boil them, canned are pre cooked (if you can't get these get dried beans or lentils and follow the pack instructions for soaking and boiling, they must be cooked properly). I whizz them (or whizz half to create more texture) along with some flour and flavours, almost like a pancake mix. If the mix comes out thick I shaped in my hands into patties and fried or oven baked, if it came out looser I dolloped tablespoon sized 'cakes' into a frying pan in the same way I would make American/scotch pancakes to make small burger type things.
If you want more of a meat loaf type thing you can add breadcrumbs to the mix and fill mini muffin pan, bake in the oven until firm.
If you find LO doesn't like one type of bean they may love others, DS didn't like butter beans but loved all sorts of others.
flavours - I didn't add to salt to anything but was free with herbs, curry powder, paprika, garlic, tom puree, cheese anything to add flavour/seasoning and made a note of which DS liked.
I also used up any left over veggies, just threw them in the whizzer along with the beans.
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We're just starting BLW with my 6mo DD. This week she has tried banana, red pepper, pitta, houmous, carrot and pizza crust (that was at a birthday party!). It is very hot here and she is teething so I have been mashing half a banana and putting it into some chunky ice lolly moulds and freezing it. When my boys had an ice lolly she had one of the frozen banana ones. She loves it. I'm not following any plan, just giving her whatever part of our meals I think is easy for her to try.
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Wow - where did 6 months go??
Oh it sounds really exciting, the start of this lovely discovery of food :)
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I love it. She gets so excited that she sometimes yams it into her eye or nose in a bid to get it in her mouth. It is quite comical.
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Adorable. Banana was a first favorite here too. I've made ice lollies too but Eris prefers to stick them up her nose or ears: p
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Thought I would show you a few snaps
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She's gorgeous. And so happy with her food
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So cute!
And snaps open on her nappy already!
I really see you in her Ali.
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Thanks. She is actually a little chunk. All my kids were until about 7mo when they started eating more solids and moving around more. My HV used to say I must have the gold top milk! :P
No one ever says my kids look like me. They all say they are like DH or she is like Cadan so that's nice to hear. She does have my blue eyes :)
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I saw on FB but how did you do corn and salmon?? Thomas has no pincer yet.
We are BLW due to reflux and food refusal. He's doing OK I guess. Lots of gagging though.
He is confirmed CMPI after a dairy trial now, just to make it harder ::) ::). Megan gave him some yoghurt and we was sick all day, with a big reflux flare as well. Poor babe.
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It was babycorn so I just gave her the whole cob.
http://catalog.wlimg.com/1/1267366/full-images/fresh-baby-corn-936383.jpg
And the salmon was an oven baked fillet so I just gave her a strip to hold in her fist. I usually hold it out and she grabs hold of it. She hasn't got a pincer down either so everything is finger shaped.
We're having great fun. She had the components of fajitas the other day, sticks of pepper, avocado, chicken and tortilla wrap.
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What are people giving a 7mo for breakfast? I need some ideas for things that are very quick and not *too* messy. I've been doing porridge fingers (so messy), peanut butter on toast or fruit and veg sticks but they are all messy and take time to prepare. I'd love some savory ideas that I can just grab and go. I'm planning to try rice cakes this week. I generally have time to do more prep and clean up for lunch or dinner.
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banana?
strips of (cold) pancakes or omlette that you cook in advance?
oaty fingers (like flapjack but without the sugar/golden syrup)
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^^ all of the above
Pancakes are great. You could make some in advance and freeze them, and then defrost as needed. I also make oat cakes with grated fruit/veggies and freeze.
Eggs are also a good plan. DH makes omelettes for Eris or nowadays, microwaves an egg for her ( whisk egg in a bowl. Pop in microwave for 20 seconds. Flip. Another 20 seconds) Or you could make some boiled eggs in advance.
It doesn't necessarily have to be 'breakfast' stuff, right (I mean, what do they know :P) I've been making lots of breakfast egg muffins and freezing lately with fillings like broccoli, ham, chicken, spinach, random fruits/ veggies
Then how about hash browns but made with sweet potato and then you could add spinach, cheese or any other veggie you have - again could be made and frozen
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Thanks everyone.
Banana is soooo messy! We've been doing lots of that and I've even been rolling it in some baby rice a friend gave me to make it easier to hold onto but it still just gets smeared everywhere.
How are oaty fingers different to porridge fingers? Or are they? I've just been cooking milk and oats into a finger shape to hold but they break up easily.
I guess there aren't many grab and go foods unless I do the prep in advance then? We've tried pancakes and omelette cooked fresh on the weekends but I don't have time for that in the week. Maybe I could try the microwave version.
Are breakfast egg muffins just whisked egg in a muffin case with various fillings?
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Pretty much. With various fillings and seasonings. Good way to use leftovers. I make oatcakes similarly to pancakes. Eris never liked over chewy stuff
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Oaty chews (as I call them) are different to porridge fingers. You cook them in advance and they are drier more like a flap jack, made with banana, a drop of milk or water, dried fruit if you like. There's a shop shelf variety of similar which is very fine grain which you can do by whizzing all/some of the oats when they are dry. They don't need to be as crumbly as flap jack, esp if you pack down the mix before cooking (either cook on a tray in a rectangle and mark out squares/fingers or pack into mini muffin tray to make individual portions). it was one of the cleanest out and about foods we did. Recipe with a few ideas on the finger food board I think. Let me know if you want me to dig it out. I froze batches.
Omelet made in one of the little one egg pans, take 1 min from getting the pan out, although you need time for it to cool.
Like others, pancakes, mini muffins...
DS had a shop bought muesli (cow and gate 10 months but I ignore the age!) which I mixed with a VERY small amount of milk, as though it looks like it won't be wet enough but it does mix in. Then roll into balls. He ate muesli balls for a couple of years as finger food.
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this is the sugar free flapjack recipe I've made:
http://mamacook.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/sugar-free-flapjack-for-babies-toddlers.html
they taste great but they are quite crumbly still
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Thanks all.
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Thanks. I've bought the ingredients to make the oaty chews and also the musli.
Creations what is your view on the high sugar content of the musli? Ok because it's naturally occurring in the fruit?
How did people build up the number of meals with BLW? I'm offering 3 times a day already unless she is asleep for one meal, then it's only twice. It's hard to eat in front of her if she doesn't have at least something! Some "meals" might just be a few chunks of melon but for example dinner tonight was a few strands of spaghetti, 1/3 filet of salmon and 1/2 banana. I guess lots ends up as mess on her, the highchair or the floor though. She is still having lots of milk 5 or 6 BFs in 24hrs so I guess it's OK to have 3 offerings a day while her solid intake isn't massive and her milk intake remains high enough?
Btw, the boys had ice cream cones for dessert and I gave DD some banana slices I had frozen and then mashed while still frozen. It was just like banana ice cream! I just loaded the spoon and handed it to her. She loved it. I tried that with a very ripe avocado yesterday though and she wasn't keen.
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Our meal count is still low compared to others in my BC. She has breakfast, first lunch, second lunch and a snack. First lunch is supposed to be a snack but DH.. ::) This works for now. I still don't know how to include dinner because I wake her from her nap at 2.30. We first nurse and then have lunch. By the time she's through it's nearly 4 on most days - she eats a lot here. And then I have to offer dinner by 5ish latest because we then go to the park and start BT routine at 6. Any ideas??
Regarding muesli, I bought a sugar-free one for DD (Baggrys)
Oh and nice idea about the frozen banana. I've been making fruit & yoghurt popsicles for Eris through the summer. Basically I've been freezing a smoothie in ice trays and putting in a cut straw for her to hold on to.
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Popping in as i still get updates to this topic...
That is a classic picture of BLW Fleur!! Haha. What a cutie! Great bib, what is that? Looks washable too.
We do pretty much what fleur does except most times M will eat a large, hearty snack at 3 and another light meal at 5/5:30. Other times it's big meal around 2:30/3 then snack at 5/5:30. So basically these last two meals are any combination of snack/meal depending on how much he eats. But he's a fast eater so we have that luxury of time in between.
Love your food ideas everyone, and am stealing them. :) keep them coming please.
I have two to throw out there...
My cousin made a smoothie for M with frozen banana, frozen strawberries, chia seeds, almond milk, almond slices, and a small spoonful of peanut butter. Not the traditional flavor of amoothy but yummy nonetheless. Loved the idea of getting extra protein with the seeds and nuts.. She said she adds a little spinach sometimes.
M had pasta tuna salad today. Made with overcooked fusilli. The tuna salad nicely mixes into spirals of fusilli that makes it easy for M to pick up and eat... And get all the goodies.
Canned, salt free, small tuna, mayo (i use avocado sometimes), little bit of very finely chopped onion and celery, lemon juice or lemon pepper. Sometimes add chopped tomato.
A friend makes this with chicken and adds grapes and nuts. Sorry i meant raisins, not grapes.
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Creations what is your view on the high sugar content of the musli? Ok because it's naturally occurring in the fruit?
Personally, yes. From what I remember the baby/toddler muesli pack I used to buy was (IMO) fine, yes sweetened with dried fruit but also fortified (which my LO could do with as he was low on formula intake...so I felt something fortified might be better than plain oats iyswim...although he wouldn't eat porridge anyway), it was also the only shop shelf baby food I bought. These days I buy regular muesli, without added sugar but still with dried fruit sugar. I'm fine with that.
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Our meal count is still low compared to others in my BC. She has breakfast, first lunch, second lunch and a snack. First lunch is supposed to be a snack but DH.. ::) This works for now. I still don't know how to include dinner because I wake her from her nap at 2.30. We first nurse and then have lunch. By the time she's through it's nearly 4 on most days - she eats a lot here. And then I have to offer dinner by 5ish latest because we then go to the park and start BT routine at 6. Any ideas??
sounds like she probably eats the same as most LOs (which is a huge range anyway) her age, just spread over the day differently.
What time is her nap? If you really wanted to do 3 meals, how about
breakfast
v small am snack (couple of chopped pieces of fruit)
lunch immediately before nap
pm snack shortly after nap
dinner at 5pm
When H is at nursery they do:
breakfast at 8.30am
small piece of fruit around 10am
lunch 11.30 (cooked meal + dessert)
then nap
milk + biscuit 2.30pm
tea at 4pm
I then offer her a supper/snack at around 5.30pm (eg humous on rice cakes, fruit) when she gets home or I feel tea is a bit early, but we do similar routine at home except lunch is more like 12pm, pm snack at 2.30/3pm and then dinner at 5/5.30pm (I aim for 5 but some days it's more like 5.30pm).
Does any of that help?
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Definitely! Great ideas. Thanks cath :-*
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Regarding muesli, I bought a sugar-free one for DD (Baggrys)
(gorgeous photo btw)
Is there no fruit in it?
The muesli I got for DS as a LO was this one, it has no added sugar but there's fruit sugars, here's the ingredients
http://www.cowandgate.co.uk/article/my-first-muesli
I didn't have a chance to find it yesterday. There are some baby cereals and rusks which have sugar added (even the low sugar rusks are higher sugar than is needed I think) but as Ali said the fruit sugar in some might also be something to think about. For me I didn't mind but I wouldn’t' let him snack on dried fruits all day or there's be a problem for teeth.
Ali, 3 meals already, I'm surprised based on 'knowing' you ;)
Sounds like she is really enjoying everything you're offering
ginger have you seen the finger foods thread, might help with some ideas too?
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Sure, creations, will check it out. Thanks.
Do any of your LO's scarf down food in 60 seconds? DS likes to fll his mouth to capacity. Not sure how to teach him to take smaller bites. Ideas? (Not a hunger issue as he has timed meals and snacks and can usually tell me when he's hungry.)
Any benefit to feeding breakfast at 8am with a 6am WU? I noticed many people do this. We don't do a morning milk because he gets yogurt or milk in cereal at breakfast so our breakfast is usually around 7.
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For us breakfast is usually an hour or so after WU. No particular reason. Just cos if there's no rush then we take our time with showers, getting dressed etc. before heading down for breakfast. DD2 does have a bf when she wakes up in the morning though.
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Yes I didn't intend to offer so many times already but as I said it is hard not to offer anything if she is there for our meals. she really isn't taking in much at many sittings though. Today we were rushing for one graduation ceremony to the other so she sucked on a dry rice cake for breakfast, had a toast crust at lunch and then sucked on and smeared a kiwi fruit for dinner. I wouldn't be offering so often I was spoonfeeding her baby rice and purées that she was taking in most of. With BLW though there is a lot of waste while they practise, isn't there?
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Thomas gets offered 2/3 meals a day as well Ali. I take the 'most is waste' approach as well, and tend to think encouraging him to join family meals is very healthy really.
Unfortunately he can't have what we have due to his issues with dairy, so it might be just a dry rice cake like you say.
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tend to think encouraging him to join family meals is very healthy really.
I agree. If they are interested to do so.
Very little waste here though, but then mine acted like I'd starved him for the first 6 months. It wasn't unusual for him to eat his food and then demand mine too! I have some hilarious (to me) film clips of him scoffing away :)
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I tried the musli balls this morning. They got smushed everywhere to say the least!
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Try leaving the mix for a minute or two before rolling into balls as it will firm up and making it a bit drier to roll and pick up.
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That is a classic picture of BLW Fleur!! Haha. What a cutie! Great bib, what is that? Looks washable too
Thanks, ginger. That's a kushies bib that DH's aunt sent us from Canada. We don't get them here. But I love it so much - it is so much better than the rubbish mothercare ones we have. The designs keep peeling off on them and they don't catch any food. And yes, it's washable.
Regarding muesli, I bought a sugar-free one for DD (Baggrys)
(gorgeous photo btw)
Is there no fruit in it?
Nope. Just oats, cereals & nuts. I add raisins, dates, figs as wanted.
We have hit a bit of a bump with BLW - she still eats the same food as us and SO well but she's suddenly so moody & picky, and it leads to so much waste. And she is hell bent on feeding the dogs..everything. The main reason this is troubling me is that I've noticed a pattern with NWs and food intake. Earlier, she was nursing so well and I never bothered about food intake (although she ate a lot) Now we are nursing thrice a day but if she eats less solids, we are getting a NW for food. This is irrespective of how much she has at BT feed :(
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Ugh ugh ugh! I am so sick of all meals. They are taking FOREVER and she doesn't even eat that much - on her own, that is. I just don't want her waking at night and so I'm ending up feeding, which is super hard with a BLW baby who is hell bent on doing everything herself (but won't eat, mind you). Meal times used to be so nice. In fact, we went out for lunch today and she ate so beautifully. But at home.... she hates everything offered. She keeps wanting things - a bowl, a spoon, another spoon. And she cries a lot if she doesn't get it. How do I deal with this? Any and all advice appreciated!
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Fleur, we went through that phase and it was hard... had to take a break from BLW and try all sorts of distractions. One thing that worked often is I would give his favorite spoon to hold in one hand and an empty container (new for him) for him to play with while I spoon fed with another. For snacks, I held him in my lap or we were at a park and let him eat from a lid or something. I guess being outside or not his seat distracted him enough to pick up food and actually eat it! It lasted a little while, maybe a couple months or so, but it did get better. I gave him utensils and containers to play with a lot during that period. Maybe it got better because the novelty wore off? He's feeding himself again without screaming for a spoon/bowl/fork now... so hopefully ya'll will get there soon, too.
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Thanks, Ginger. I keep feeling I'm doing something wrong because the whole point of BLW is following her lead/ not forcing/ using distractions but I don't want any NFs! So I mentioned how she ate so well at the restaurant yesterday? Well, we parcelled some of those noodles and I offered it to her for lunch, and she just threw them away :-\ You are right. It is eating at home that is no fun for her. It is really really annoying me though. I know she's a baby and I can't let this get to me but it is so hard to keep cool
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Maybe you can make home meals more 'formal' by making a big deal of setting the table, setting out the cutlery, using napkins etc?
FWIW mine would love food one day and reject the same food the next day, he basically wouldn't eat the same food 2 days running. Snacks and fruit were ok but not the main meals, I could almost see the disapproval on his face "You think you can give me left overs - think again Mummy!) he clearly felt it was my job to produce a fresh meal every day.
Do you really think less solids will lead to NW though? I wouldn't expect it to. I'd just assume more milk would be taken or she'd catch up on calories the next day if she'd fallen a little short the day before.
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Maybe you can make home meals more 'formal' by making a big deal of setting the table, setting out the cutlery, using napkins etc?
We do this. Our table is laid out for the meal, and it is leading to so many problems. She wants everything she can see, all at once.
Do you really think less solids will lead to NW though? I wouldn't expect it to. I'd just assume more milk would be taken or she'd catch up on calories the next day if she'd fallen a little short the day before.
Exactly, right? But this is what the pattern seems to suggest. I'm feeling like I'm failing at this:(
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((hugs))
what about an indoor picnic or changing the location of where she eats? Any other little changes you could make to make mealtimes more interesting/fun?
is she in a high chair with a tray? if so, can you remove it and pull her up to the table? or try a booster seat?
can you get her involved in "cooking" e.g. washing some fruit/veg, putting toast in toaster (with your help), getting things out the fridge or other cupboards for you? mixing things?
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She keeps wanting things - a bowl, a spoon, another spoon. And she cries a lot if she doesn't get it. How do I deal with this? Any and all advice appreciated!
OK, so many set up some A time with a whole stack of bowls and spoons?
When mine had a thing in his head he wanted to master I'd look for some safe options to (almost) overload him with that stuff, let him have his fill of it and do all his experimentation in a more suitable place/time.
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Thanks! Great ideas from both of you!
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Hi
My little boy is 8 1/2 months old and we have been doing baby led weaning since he was six months, as he refused to take food off a spoon. It's been going generally very well, he's very good at feeding himself with a spoon and picking things up off his tray.
The problem we have at the moment it he only really likes eating things he knows, for example he will eat his Weetabix and banana in the morning, and he loves is sandwiches at lunchtime followed by some fruit, but when it comes to dinner time he hardly eats anything - if I'm lucky he'll eat some carrot or a bit of pasta, he will eat pizza but that's it, often he just pushes it around or off his tray.
He's still on 4 x 6oz milk per day at 7, 11, 3 and 7 and takes it all.
I'm not really sure what to do about the dinner time meals, should I give him the same 7 mea,s each week so he gets used to them? I don't want him just to eat Weetabix and sandwiches for the rest of his life!! Lol
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Two things come to mind:
1. Many LOs eat more in the earlier hours of the day so it can be very common for them to have a great appetite for breakfast and lunch but not so much at dinner time. You might have more luck if you bring dinner earlier or, as he is still young just accept that he isn't going to have much appetite at dinner time yet.
2. Taking the above into account, LOs will sometimes be more than happy to try out new foods at breakfast or lunch time. If you don't want to cook something different at breakfast time maybe save a portion of dinner from the night before and serve for breakfast. This way you can introduce some different foods but without being concerned about him needing to eat at dinner time.
I think mine was a bit older than yours but I did have a concern about him not eating much protein and foods he had previously accepted (eg eggs) he had started to refuse at lunch and dinner. A tip I was given from another BWer was to try him at breakfast time. I had been quite nervous as I thought he was so used to his breakfast muesli that he would kick up a big fuss if I changed breakfast but I tried it - served an omelet and he just ate it without batting an eye. From my experience I think it's worth trying out, they are far less fussy when they are very hungry so if you persist he will increase his food range.
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I started my LO off with purees but I find she is showing interest in finger foods. I have started offering finger foods.
Some she won't even try to pick up, others she would rather play with there are only a couple things she will readily try to eat. She will still take some pureed occasionally.
Does this improve over time and further exposure?
Should I continue to offer the rejected food in hopes that she will eventually try it??
Thanks!
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I think your LO is about 7 months, at this age it's nothing to worry about at all. Some LOs are not very interested in solids at all until they are more like 9, or 10 months old. I would keep offering the various foods (not all in one meal, they don't need lots of options at every meal and you don't need to keep offering different things until one is accepted either, but a range across the week is good). It's advised in the UK to introduce finger foods at this age even when going the puree route with weaning so just keep offering. You might find she takes a piece of something from you if you hold it out to her rather than her always picking things up herself off the tray/plate.
One of the easiest ways to prepare food is to just offer what you are having, it might involve adapting some meals or the way you cook to cut out salt or sugar, honey, nuts...but on the whole it is likely to be less work and then if she isn't all that interested it's no big deal really just try again another day.
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Thanks again creations!
I will continue on. It seems like my little lady doesn't like dirty hands, so gooey or slimy things don't go over well :)
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Anyone currently doing blw? I'm planning to start next month when my baby turns 6mo.
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Ali I can't believe you are back on this thread again already - 6 months!! Welcome back :)
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Yup, we are doing blw. Dd is 9mo now.
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Hi Eva, how's it going? Can you remember what food you started blw with?
Seren will be 6mo in 2wks. I'm thinking of making her some breast milk lollies to keep her entertained at the table until she's ready for more. She currently just has a spoon she sucks. It's amazing how quickly she went to not being able to pick it up to grabbing it and ramming it in her mouth. I've prepped her 360 cup to start offering her breast milk in it too. Then we'll do water when we start solids. I sense a lot of wasted breast milk in the future lol
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We started with avocado in a feeding mesh to keep her entertained at the table. The first things were zucchini, pasta, pear and pumpkin. Then all the fruit and veg. About a month later I made more mince into baton shaped meatballs and gave her omelette a, from then at about 7-8 months she just got whatever was on the menu for the day, sans salt.
We are still struggling with getting her to drink milk out of anything besides a boob! So frustrating.
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Cool. I guess we'll see what's for lunch that day. She is desperate to put anything and everything in her mouth bless her.
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When are you starting?
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We're going to start this Saturday coming so we can enjoy it as a family. She'll be 179 days.
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Lol, are you marking the days off on a calendar?
Well good luck and enjoy, I’m sure baby will. Good the weather is nice now so you can strip her before she eats.
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Lol yeah. We were aiming for the recommended 180 days but thought might as well start on Saturday when we're all together and it's the weekend in case it upsets her. 3 more sleeps! 😁
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Very good thinking. Fingers x she enjoys it, although I’m sure she will. Nothing more fun than mushed food in your hair and up your nose 😂
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1 more sleep
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When doing BLW do i offer 3 meals? Or start with one? My lo is almpst 7 months, not sitting yet, but not wanting purees. Interested in my food so decided to do BLW.
Since purees that ive tried ive always worked on lunch amd soemtimes dinner or breakfast.
Since BLW i just do a little breakfast and whatever he takes i give lunch always more food, and kind pf like an afternoom snack at 4 pm.
Is this right? Does it matter? Or do i need to establish a meal to move on to another meal?
And is it ok to feed him at this point with my hands or a fork im stilll really afraid hell choke because when he sits on me i cant really see anything?
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Well the idea of blw is that you let them feed themselves. Chunks of food they can fit into their hands and chew on, loaded spoons or kiddie forks they can try get into their mouths. They don’t get much in at the start , so I really just sat her down with us at all meals straight away. Just remember that they are t supposed to have much salt at this age, so whatever you are having but cooked without salt.
Not sure about the whole safety thing and feeding on your knees.
Do you guys know anything about giving stuff like raisins at the age of 10mo? I rwD up about it and done say it’s a choking hazard and others say it’s fine. Also, at what point would it be ok to give harder stuff like uncooked peppers or apples and stuff?
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DD2`s high chair should be arriving tomorrow. She`s 5m1w but she is showing signs that she is ready for sometime now. Trying to grab food from us and looking at us so sad when we eat :)
She has diarrhea for a few days now so I gave her a tinny bit of banana. She`s not a fan lol. I have the BLW book and will read up today.
I`m no expert because in this, with dd1 we took everything very slow, we gave her raw veggies much recommended which now I dont even remember when that was. lol
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She gets uncooked veg but only the soft and squishy kind. Worried about choking on bits of the hard stuff like peppers but I guess at some point she’ll have to learn how to eat that too, just can’t remember when.
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Gabiascher - it's perhaps better to read up about BLW before you move forward with it. As pp has mentioned it is about baby self feeding not you putting food into baby's mouth which can be more hazardous than baby doing it themselves. Also baby needs to be able to sit up without falling before you begin BLW.
Do you guys know anything about giving stuff like raisins at the age of 10mo? I rwD up about it and done say it’s a choking hazard and others say it’s fine. Also, at what point would it be ok to give harder stuff like uncooked peppers or apples and stuff?
I only offered raisins/sultanas when I was really confident in DS's ability to self feed, I imagine he was older than 10 months but can't say for sure. But I started prunes really early, about 6 months and he loved them, the soft ready to eat (no pip) sort were great for gumming on and not small or hard or round for choking on. I watch closely as they are very sticky though and sometimes he needed a hand holding it but he would pull my hand to his mouth so he was still in control.
Raw pears are often quite soft anyway (they made mine refluxy though) maybe a better option than apples? Apples I rarely gave raw and on the rare occasion it was a whole one so he had to grind his teeth/gums on it to grate it off rather than break off a chunk from a slice or wedge. I would think you can offer most things at 10 months though. Peppers I would give a large slice (like a quarter pepper) rather than long thin batons as the big chunk is less likely to break off suddenly in small bits and easier to gnaw on. I didn't give really hard stuff like carrot batons until older.
DD2`s high chair should be arriving tomorrow.
Yay! Exciting :)
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Lol and Thats why I love these forums, I never would have thought of giving a quarter of a pepper.
Ok will hold off with the smaller things till she’s 1, not long now anyway. She’s pretty good at picking up little things and putting them in her mouth, had lots of practice with bits of kitty litter and cat fluf she manages to find despite the fact that I vacuum 2 a day now!
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You can totally give food in a feeding mesh if baby isn’t sitting up yet. DD2 was very ready for solids at 5.5m but wasn’t quite stable enough so we did feeding meshes till she was.
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Ok, dd2 would be 6 months this Thursday and we'll start blw but we didn't follow this plan with dd1 so I have a few questions. I have the book but I'd rather talk about it with other moms.
I have already given her bananas apple and peach in meshes.
Did you immediately start giving what you have for breakfast or still introduced foods one at a time, not pureed but the piece for lo to eat?
I know the book said don't worry about allergens, do you follow that or you follow general guidelines for things like berries, eggs, meats ect.?
Can you share ideas for what to start with? I usually have oats with fruit for breakfast, smoothies or eggs.
How soon do I add lunch and dinner? I saw on the previous posts a lot of the members started with dinner but for me dinner is most challenging because of dd1. But at the same time I wonder if starting dd2 with family dinner will improve them.
Hahah, so many questions. I think this lo will love foods as much as me :) unlike her sister who us fighting me at every meal.
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I did one food at a time for the first month or so, then wiem i saw She was Ok, we just startem giving her everything. Vegetables arę good to start with, as well as fruit and egg yolk. you don’t actually have to “do” dinner, that’s the beauty of blw, you just plonk her by you with food to eat and she plays with it, eating bits, while you can eat in peace.
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No we didn't go slowly at all as we've no history of food allergies. I gave her a floret of broccoli for lunch on Saturday then from Sunday she had everything that was suitable for her that we had. She had homemade pancakes (we don't use sugar) with strawberries and banana for breakfast and then roast beef, carrot, broccoli and Yorkshire pudding for Sunday lunch. From then on (3wks ago) she's had a little bit of whatever we've had for every meal she's awake for. If she sleeps through a meal she just misses it. She had a big finger of steak the other day and gummed it and sucked it until it was white! Still not a huge amount goes in so I shouldn't think she's getting any more food volume-wise than a baby being spoonfed purees.
I just avoid food with added sugar or salt. Although I'm not too worried about salt if she's only having a smidge. She had smoked salmon pate on crackerbread yesterday and a suck of a sausage at the restaurant in the week.
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I know the book said don't worry about allergens, do you follow that or you follow general guidelines for things like berries, eggs, meats ect.?
I followed general guides on what foods not to give to babies (honey, salt, sugar, whole nuts, anything small and round, fish with bones etc) but mostly in terms of choke hazard and other health reasons rather than allergy reasons.
Can you share ideas for what to start with? I usually have oats with fruit for breakfast, smoothies or eggs.
How soon do I add lunch and dinner?
I think I started with lunch rather than breakfast. Introduce breakfast when when he wanted it and dinner too. We were quick to 3 meals but that was down to his appetite rather than me wanting him to have lots of meals.
Not sure what sort of breakfast I started with tbh, but I do remember settling on a baby muesli which was for age 10 months+ and I gave it much earlier made with a very small amount of milk so that it was thick and I rolled it into balls, so he could pick them up, usually fresh fruit too. He had that muesli for a couple of years. Had a long phase of one egg omelet (cooked quite firm and cut into biggish pieces) for breakfast when he wasn't eating protein the rest of the day, then switched back to the muesli when his protein picked up. I liked the muesli because it was fortified with vits etc, where as normal oats aren't. Lots of people make oat fingers though, maybe try that?
I wouldn't offer smoothies just because of the higher sugar level, I'd offer the fresh fruit instead.
I gave whole egg early on but in the UK they are lion marked which means no salmonella so if they are slightly undercooked it doesn't matter, although I think they were all firmly cooked anyway as either omelet or frittata.
Actually, just saw Alis post, I think breakfast I started DS with pancakes, the sugar free mini pancakes which are on all the BLW blogs and recipe sites. I batch cooked and froze. They were great for snacks and take out and about too.
Mine also had a full Sunday roast at 6 months (minus gravy) and loved it.
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Thank you so much ladies. Great information!
Based on the your information I`ve decided that I`d share my meal with her whenever she is up when I eat. I`m dairy and soy free because of her but we already have experience with that with dd1. All my meals are cooked from scratch so it won`t be difficult to follow the advice about salt, sugars ect. I`m ready. lol
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Have fun :)
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Wanted to add that in the UK the guidelines are that you can give all foods except the ones to avoid that Creations listed. No specific advice re waiting to introduce meat or berries. We avoided the foods advised too.
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A couple of follow up questions.
What kinds of plan/nut milks do you use as a substitute to cows milk?
She is really not getting any food in her. All foods go on the floor. I`m not worried about her being hungry as she is nursing great, but I was wondering if I should expect her to eat the foods? Everything she gets her hand on goes in her mouth except food.
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Seren does put all the food in her mouth but it took a few weeks for her to learn to chew.
We just use cows milk but I know lots of people use Oatly Barista which is a fortified oat milk. I think any except rice milk is ok.
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I use formula - is that milk free?
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No, typical formula is based on cow's milk and contains CMP. You can get special formula milk for dairy allergies but it's mostly on prescription I think.
The Oatly I mentioned by the way was for making solid food not as a drink. Babies under 12mo shouldn't drink any other milks apart from breastmilk or formula.
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What kinds of plan/nut milks do you use as a substitute to cows milk?
You can use cows milk in food if there isn't an intolerance or allergy.
Like Ali said you can use any nut or soy milk but not rice milk. If LO is allergic to cows's milk though you you might not be able to use the soy milk (if MSPI).
There are MSI formulas available although I hear they taste awful so perhaps not something you'd want to use in cooking if it's for the whole family.
LOs under 1yo shouldn't be given any milk other than breast or formula as a drink, but it's okay used to make solids with.
Here's a bit from the UK NHS website on milk:
Soya drinks and other milk alternatives
You can give your child unsweetened calcium-fortified milk alternatives, such as soya, almond and oat drinks, from the age of one as part of a healthy balanced diet. Toddlers and young children under the age of five shouldn't be given rice drinks, because of the levels of arsenic in these products (see more below).
If your child has an allergy or intolerance to milk, talk to your health visitor or GP. They can advise you on suitable milk alternatives.
Rice drinks
Children under five shouldn't have rice drinks as they may contain unsafe levels of arsenic. Arsenic is found naturally in the environment and can find its way into our food and water. Rice tends to take up more arsenic than other grains.
Don't worry if your child has already had rice drinks. There's no immediate risk to them, and there are unlikely to be any long-term harmful effects. But to avoid the possibility of them taking in any more arsenic, it's best to switch to a different kind of milk.
The special milk formula (for MSPI) can be bought over the counter from certain pharmacies in the UK but not all pharmacies would necessarily stock it. And it is expensive. And, yes, it is usually on prescription but doesn't have to be.