Baby-Led Weaning Support Thread #2

[Bryony]

Lovedtodeath - no, she sure isn't constipated - usually the opposite    So maybe she knows that eating fruit wouldn't be wise!

Less messy foods - for lunch we are usually out so it has to be non-messy. We do philadelphia cheese sandwiches, breadsticks, toast, rice cakes, grapes...  agree that broccoli is scary!

Bryony

[jaylabliss]

Thanks for all the advice. Tonight Jude had green beans and red bell pepper steamed again. The bell pepper was a hit, he sucked on them until the fleshy part slowly came off. And it wasn't messy at all, much better than his broccoli lunch!

[grahamsmama]

We went out to dinner tonight and I couldn't believe how much Meghan ate.  I fed her a bottle right before dinner, but she still had puffed rice cereal and some freeze dried apricots while we were waiting for our food and then a lot of banana pancake and cantaloupe.  Then ate another bottle at bedtime.  I think we might be having a little growth spurt here!

You can definitely tell when Meghan is done eating now.  She throws some food on the floor and then does our "all done" sign, which is basically waving her hand up and down. 

[VickyB20]

About spoons!

Does anybody worry about when/how to introduce spoons in order for Baby to learn to use a spoon himself?  I know that with Ella it was a very natural process - I'd hold the spoon and feed her and then she'd have one herself and dump it in the pot of the food and occasionally get some in her mouth until one day she mastered it.  But the boys don't see me filling the spoon from the pot and then taking it to her mouth.  So how will the learn that's what we do?

Probably it's silly to worry about it, and it's more a question than a major concern, but does anyone have any thoughts on this?  I suppose they'll just learn by watching us eat?

Vicky
x

[Lippy Chick]

Alice had toast and (home-made) apple puree smeared all over it.  She was so funny, she kept licking off the apple puree and seemed surprised that it was there at all.  She ate loads of toast though.  So a hit, I think.

Broccoli is so messy.  I didn't think it would be that messy.  We did some roasted parsnip and carrot last night.  Haven't given her any parsnip yet, so we'll see how she gets on with that.

Vicky, I know what you mean about spoons.  I was kind of wondering the same thing.  I'm not going to be too concerned about it though, I think she'll get it at some point.  I guess she sees me using cutlery and so will get it at some point.  Not sure when though.

An aside.  Alice started clapping her hands today.  So cute, she was so pleased with herself.  Took some video for daddy, in case she decides she doesn't want to do it for ages.

Pauline

[Bryony]

Vicky - Katie eats of a spoon (but only if it's Petit Filous on there  ). I load up the spoon and hand it to her and she seems to know what to do with it.  I thnk the first few times we ended up with the wrong end of the spoon in the mouth and Petit Filous all over the floor, walls, her clothes, my clothes, the ceiling...  but she caught on pretty quick and now there is not much mess at all.

Pauline - we are staying with my folks this week and they cooked a proper Sunday lunch yesterday which included roasted parsnips. This is first vegetable that Katie has shown an interest in!!!   Hope Alice likes it too

Bryony

[grahamsmama]

Vicky - Katie eats of a spoon (but only if it's Petit Filous on there  ). I load up the spoon and hand it to her and she seems to know what to do with it.  I thnk the first few times we ended up with the wrong end of the spoon in the mouth and Petit Filous all over the floor, walls, her clothes, my clothes, the ceiling...  but she caught on pretty quick and now there is not much mess at all.

This is how we're doing it too.  I give Meg a spoon with a small amount of either thick baby cereal (so it sticks on their better) or yogurt on it and she sticks it in her mouth.  She does wave it around in the air first, but some food gets in her mouth anyway.

[lyndsy_p]

Weird that you guys are talking about handing your LO's the spoon. We JUST did this yesterday and Grae did great. Again, with the waving around, but she caught on after a few mouthfulls. She's a really good listener, I say to her, "in your mouth honey", and she looks at me with those big blues, and opens her mouth!

She was totally BLW today for lunch with rice rusks and pear. I gave her a big chunk of pear and she picked it up and took little bites off it!

Pauline, I can't wait for Grae to start clapping. We have to remember to do it ourselves more so she can mimick us.

Tonight for supper we'll try green beans!

Lyndsy

[rob1lu2]

That's what we do with the spoon too - put the food on it and hand it to the girls. We've been doing this for ages. Sometimes they get the wrong side and there is a mess, but I don't care. Eighty percent of the time they get it right. They love their spoons. They usually want to hold one, so we rotate spoons. Meaning, I give them one with food that they eat from and play with, and then when they start to make their whining/Iwantmorefood noises, I load up another spoon and trade them for it. Or else I put food on the spoon and place it on their high chair tray. Then they pick up the spoon and eat from it.

I just have to say how much I love BLW. We went to Lebanese food for lunch on Friday and they ate everything I did. The owner, as I was leaving, said "Next time they'll have to try the hummus." They already did, I told them! Plus the carrot salad, and the tabbouleh, and the pita and the spicy rice. Sunday went to brunch, and they ate polenta, waffles, chicken piccata, scrambled eggs, pears, roasted carrots, potatoes and zuccini. Today went to Mexican food (we have guests in from out of town so lots of restaurant trips) and they had chicken, flour tortillas and refried beans. LOVE it! I just put the food in front of them and they grab it and eat it!

Yay for BLW!!

Lu

[lyndsy_p]

Okay.....the green beans weren't cooked enough, so Grae just chewed on them for a good five minutes. I didn't get enough into her to call it a success, but we'll try again. A couple of good firsts today were hommus and blue cheese. I know, not pasturized....I'm taking the BLW to heart on this one. If it wasn't good for her she wouldn't eat it right? She made a shiver and a face, then opened her mouth like a baby bird for more!

Lyndsy

[MJMom]

I just noticed yesterday in Super Baby Food that it said whole natural cheeses are OK at 8 mos.  It did not say pastuerized.  My vote is that it's fine.

The only reason they tell you  that it is not fine during pregnancy is just in case it has salmonella or some such organism and in case it passes on.  but they don't really know that for sure.

GO BLUE CHEESE!!

[lyndsy_p]

I just noticed yesterday in Super Baby Food that it said whole natural cheeses are OK at 8 mos.  It did not say pastuerized.  My vote is that it's fine.

Thanks Alissa, duely noted. I will share my love of stinky cheese with my daughter freely.

Lyndsy

[Bryony]

Lu - your LOs eat far better than I do!!!  sounds great

And great about the blue cheese - I'm with you Lyndsey on the stinky cheeses 

[Lippy Chick]

We kind of did that with the spoon at the weekend, we loaded it up and gave it to her.  She did put the right end in and eat off it.  Not sure when she'll be trusted to do it totally herself though.

Ughhhh, I cannot abide stinky cheeses at all.  Stuart loves them. 

We gave Alice roasted carrot last night, not interested in the slightest, gave her bananas today and she ate that.  So we'll try with the carrot again in a few weeks.

The clapping wasn't a one off, she does it all the time now.

Pauline

[Freya'sMum]

Just thought I'd say there's no rush to introduce a spoon - from a BLW perspective I would simply model using cutlery, and put his/hers on the tray so that he/she can explore them along with the food - Eryn started using a fork way before using a spoon, the stab and put in mouth action seemed to be easier for her to manage than the scoop and put in mouth one, especially with steamed veg - but I'm all for babies using fingers as natural tool for the job if they want to, offering them the choice of fingers or cutlery, and adapting the foods for their developmental stage - if they don't want to use a spoon, don't offer yogurt or bolognase sauce, stick with, literally, finger foods, ones that don't disintegrate in the hand and are easy to grasp and put in the mouth!

Only trying to keep you on track

Ax