Baby-Led Weaning Support Thread #2

[Bryony]

I love the babyledweaning.com website, it always has me laughing on the floor. But know what you mean about it being hard to navigate.

thanks Alissa - Katie's bottom is a bit better today! She is not pooing so often today so it's getting chance to heal.

Bryony x

[lovedtodeath]

Bryony, apples did that to both my babes! Emily was allergic to them. (She started with apples, and then developed an allergy to every raw fruit she had by 15 months)    Jake's belly just cannot handle the fruit sugar, which is a laxative. He cannot handle pears either, and very few prunes and no juice at all. Vegetables are milder on the belly and very unlikely to be allergenic whereas fruits are more common allergens. (according to my doctor and leading allergy books) So I would stick to the veggies for being sneaky. Fruits that are milder and less likely to be an allergen: blueberries, papaya, starfruit.

Jake had pumpkin pie yesterday! I made it with formula, because his is organic and tastes good, I had some extra that was going to go bad, and I cannot have milk. I always use 1/3 of the milk called for anyway and add extra egg and pumpkin, I am a nutrition stickler. DH thought it was a good idea to give Jake some when I was in the shower. Now I know he can handle egg whites! He loved it and ate a ton! He also grabbed my turkey off my plate, sucked on it and vomited (this was the first thing he ate, so he wasn't full, he was choking) And stole my broccoli which is not as mushy as his, and gagged it up. So.... no more stealing from mommy's plate, it doesn't work for us.

We figured out why he has been nursing constantly, sleepy and not eating much food. My medication! It is considered safe and I am on a low dose, so I am just trying to give him more formula and cut down on my medication both and see if it helps.

I made a new potato recipe yesterday and will post it soon!

[Bryony]

Lovedtodeath - how interesting!!  My "feeling" was that it was the apple, but I was telling myself I was being daft as I had never heard of apples causing problems.  I will read up on it a bit. And I may try apple again but not until her bottom has healed, and only by giving her chunks to suck on so that she is only having a small amount.  No more puree!  I can't get any fruit into her though - she doesn't like banana, and blueberries and papaya and starfruit aren't readily available in the UK. Only if they are flown in which I don't really like       Will have a look to see what else is in the supermarket that we can try 

hope you manage to sort out your medication

Bryony x

[Cathy_D]

We had fish fingers for the first time today ... a complete hit. She ate 2 with hardly any leftovers at all. Inspired idea, Bryony. Thanks!

[grahamsmama]

We used to give Aquaphor to our radiation oncology patients, it's really good stuff.  And if you don't like the vaseliney-ness of it, you can mix in a little water and it turns more creamy.  I have also discovered the Burt's Bees diaper ointment.  I love the way this stuff smells and it seems to work really well.  It's expensive, but I found it cheaper on Vitacost.com

Cathy- oranges always get things moving excessively for my big kids.  It's a shame because they love them so much.. but I really have to limit the intake.

[lovedtodeath]

Jake had some eggplant (swede) sauteed in canola oil. Parts of his face turned bright red. I rubbed it on my hand and it burned! He loved the swede though and ate three big slices of it and then chose more of it instead of pie. I am worried that it burns his skin.   Was it the swede or the oil?

I buy almost everything flown in. Otherwise I think we would be carnivores

DUH! I was afraid I got the UK term mixed up! I was so sure I remembered it correctly that I did not check. It was Aubergine.  :-[I am having a kinesiologist here on Tuesday and I will have her check.

[grahamsmama]

Do you mean the eggplant burned your skin or when you touched the red spots on his face they were hot?  Did you salt it?  I've never made eggplant, but I heard you salted it to get some of the bitterness out.  The salt could be harsh on his skin?

[rob1lu2]

Hi All!

I've been gone for a while, but just sorted through 6 pages of posts. So glad to hear that everything is going well with the food for Alice. Hope Katie is feeling better.

The girls are doing very well. They are eating like crazy, and I admit to MLW myself. ( Who was it that said that their Dh puts the food on the spoon? I do this too.) I am also a bit worried that they are eating too much b/c they whine until I put food in their mouth or on their tray. But then when it comes time for their bedtime bottle, they are not interested. They aren't waking in the middle of the night to eat, so I guess there is that. So do you think I should not let them eat as much even though they want to to protect the milk consumption? Tonight is the first night ever that Sylvie has flat out refused the bottle.

Byrony, I have heard of apples doing that before. There was a woman on our BC whose daughter was allergic to everything and had problems with apple.

Eggs - I have only offered the yolk, but when we went to breakfast a few weeks ago I ordered French Toast made with bananas and gave it to the girls. Sliced it in fingers and they loved it. No problems either.

Spices and Salt - well, you know I've taken the girls to Indian food and they LOVE it. When I first started I offered them everything just steamed. But now when they get things in a sauce they chow down. I started offering roasted garlic hummus and cilantro/jalapeno hummus this week on garlic naan, and they love it. And I guess if we are going to do BLW we would be offering them what we are eating and I like salt on my food. Not too much but just enough to flavor it.

Lu

[Bryony]

Hi Lu, welcome back - we missed you 

Interesting that this apple thing is not unheard of - although Katie is not allergic to anything that we know of - just this wierd apple intolerance thing 

B

[Lippy Chick]

Hi Lu.

Bryony, on the apple front, I guess you wait until her poos are back to normal and then maybe try giving her a small amount in a week's time of something.  We're going to do that with kiwi.  I think Alice had some sort of reaction.  The hand she holds it in has red blotches (like the skin is cracked) and her face around her mouth is red and dry.  She didn't have kiwi yesterday and it seems a bit better today.  So we'll wait until it's completely clear and then give a bit again and see what happens.

Lu, not sure what to think about the whole milk/food debate.  At some point though they will start eating more and drinking less.  So I guess I wouldn't be too concerned about it, if they're not constipated and still drinking loads during the day, then it must a natural progression anyway.  I'm sure someone more experienced will have better advice.

I love French toast (with tomato ketchup and maple syrup, yummmmmmmeeeeeee ), didn't think about giving that to Alice.  The only thing is everything has got to be done so quickly, she's going through a, I don't want to sit here and play and wait for you, phase.  Very annoying, when you need to get stuff done.

Pauline

[Bryony]

Pauline - yes that's what I was going to do. I don't want to eliminate apple from her diet if it wasn't that at all. I will try it again in a week or two and see what happens.

Maple syrup AND tomato kethup??  What, TOGETHER?!!!     

Bryony

[grahamsmama]

The girls are doing very well. They are eating like crazy, and I admit to MLW myself. ( Who was it that said that their Dh puts the food on the spoon? I do this too.) I am also a bit worried that they are eating too much b/c they whine until I put food in their mouth or on their tray. But then when it comes time for their bedtime bottle, they are not interested. They aren't waking in the middle of the night to eat, so I guess there is that. So do you think I should not let them eat as much even though they want to to protect the milk consumption? Tonight is the first night ever that Sylvie has flat out refused the bottle.

I think it depends on how many ounces they're having each day.  Is it over 20?  Then, it's probably ok to let them eat. 

IMO, if you're going to re-try a food that you think there mihgt have been a reaction too, have some of those dissolvable Benadryl strips on hand, just in case.  I think a GI intolerance is not necessarily "allergic" but I would be a little more concerned about a skin rash, although if it's just where the fruit actually touvhed it may not be truly "allergic" either.  Just better safe than sorry, I guess.

[VickyB20]

Hi Lu - good to have you back!  My two went through a stage of refusing their bedtime breastfeed.  Then they started wanting it again!  Perhaps just keep offering.

I would have thought that 7, nearly 8 months is perhaps a bit little to be replacing milk with food, but if it's truly what they are choosing to do, then go with the flow and trust their judgement!  Perhaps just keep offering the bedtime bottle and see if it changes over the next few days.

Vicky
x

[lovedtodeath]

"Do you mean the eggplant burned your skin or when you touched the red spots on his face they were hot?"  It burned my skin. He did not seemed bothered by it, was just bright red. "Did you salt it?" NO

Lu, I knew someone was missing. I thought "where is our other set of twins?"  Good to hear from you.  I would offer drinks of milk/formula in a cup with the meal about halfway through. This is what I do with Jake, but if I give it to him at he beginning he drinks a ton and whines for more and won't eat. 

[rob1lu2]

Hi Lu - good to have you back!  My two went through a stage of refusing their bedtime breastfeed.  Then they started wanting it again!  Perhaps just keep offering.

I would have thought that 7, nearly 8 months is perhaps a bit little to be replacing milk with food, but if it's truly what they are choosing to do, then go with the flow and trust their judgement!  Perhaps just keep offering the bedtime bottle and see if it changes over the next few days.

Vicky
x

Thanks for the welcome back wishes, everyone!

Vicky, I agree that 7/8 months is way too early for them to drop a bottle. And, Lyn, they aren't drinking 20oz per day (the minimum my ped set for them) so I think, in spite of the fact that they want to eat everything I'm going to cut back on the food and see how they do. They'll probably go a bit nutso, but who's in charge around here?! (Uh, *they* are?) I'll probably get closer to a more pure form of BLW. If you can get it in your mouth, you can have it! And then when they get frustrated, I'll top them off with a predetermined amount of food, instead of just filling the leaking dam that is the belly of my oldest child.

Lu