Baby-led Weaning Support Thread Part 3

[jaylabliss]

thanks for the ideas!!! i'm going to bake up a storm this weekend and freeze everything! 

[Lippy Chick]

We need to bake up a storm this weekend too, the freezer is nearly bare, just a few pancakes and a couple of banana muffins.  Oh Stuart baked banana bread a couple of weeks ago, which she loves.  Will try and post the recipe at some point.

Alice was less sick tonight, I gave her raisins again as a snack at 4pm and she was barely sick at all.  We'll see how she goes tomorrow.  Today put her down at 3 hrs 20 and she slept 40 mins in the morning, really need to extend that morning nap for her, in order to get this transition going.  She then slept an hour and 10 mins in the pm.  So almost a normal routine today.  Last night was the first night in aaaaaages she slept through.  It was one of the coldest nights of this year here last night.

Stuart made meatloaf the other week and she liked that too, will try and post that recipe too.

Stream of consciousness stuff here, trying to get thoughts out quickly as need to get bottles done for tomorrow.

Pauline

[grahamsmama]

Well, I said I'd share the recipe for the pineapple zucchini bread if it was successful.  I'm not sure I would define it as a complete success, but here it is anyway.  
Mix 3 eggs, 1cup canola oil, 3/4 cup sugar, 2tsp molasses (I just made this part up you could add more sugar and less molasses, or more molasses), 2 cups grated zucchini, and 3tsp vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine 3 cups flour (I used 1cup whole wheat and 2 cups unbleached all-purpose), 1tsp baking soda, 3tsp cinnamon (I didn't have any, so used pumpkin pie spice). Mix all of that together with the wet ingredients.  Add 1 cup (or more) chopped nuts and a can (8oz) crushed pineapple with juice.  Bake at 350 for 50 minutes (makes 2 loaves).

I accidently bought a 20 oz can of pineapple and poured it all in and had stirred it in before it hit me what I had done.  
So, I added about 3/4 cup oatmeal (to soak up some of that moisture) and baked it for about an extra 20 minutes.  It came out ok, but that sure was luck!  Although, I have to say I think I'm getting better at fixing my cooking mistakes.  It happens so frequently!  LOL

[Jackate]

Hello ladies, this is my first post, I have been reading up on your forum a good bit - it was actually sent to me by Jalabliss. Thanks so much, btw. My son Jack will be six months this weekend and we started with solids about two weeks ago. His sitting up very well on his own and doing great with the finger foods so far. He has only ever had breastmilk so it is very exciting for him. It is bitter sweet for me, I hate the fact that I am no longer is only source or nutrition...or at least we are working in that direction. He is not actually eating anything yet but he is loving playing with is. His milk feeds have continued the same as always (every two-three hours or more) So far we have tried avacado, banana, sweet potatoes, yellow squash, carrots and brocolli. I was wondering is our one feeding at dinner is good enough for a little while. How long should I keep up with the once a day feeding? Should I introduce breakfast after a few months or after a few weeks? When did you introduce foods other than fruits and vegis? How many various types of food did you/do you give your child at each meal? I was just wondering what other moms were doing. Thanks for your help.

[Lippy Chick]

Hi Jackate, welcome to this board. 

1.  I started with two meals a day.  Breakfast and lunch, because she was still having an evening nap and we ate at that time.  Then she dropped that nap and we just sat her in the highchair for about a month.  Then I thought well she sits with us while we eat, why don't I just give her something to eat too.  So she was about 7 and a half months when she was having 3 meals a day.  It really is up to you though.  I think the more practise they get, the quicker they'll pick it up, but no real evidence to support this, more mummy's intuition.

2.  It really depends how much they eat, as to how much you give.  I always put out a lot more than I thought she would want though, because a lot of it ended up on the floor.  It does start out very messy, but it does get better.  Hence we have a shower curtain under the highchair.  Alice didn't eat anything really for about the first month.  She's never been a big eater and so I don't think she was ready to start on solids until then, plus she had a nasty tummy bug and we had to stop all solids for about 3 weeks in the middle of it all.  Others were eating within days, so it really depends on the baby.  You just need to be very patient.  She didn't really eat anything in any real quantity until around 9 months.  Now there's no stopping her.  Sometimes I put loads on her plate and think she'll never get through all that and she does and more.  The other night she had about 30 pieces of pasta (twists), some tuna and a load of raisins.  Initially I just gave her one type of food at each meal and then when she would finish it all and still seem hungry I started giving her different food at the same meal to fill her up.  There's no real time line to this.

3.  The thing about BLW is that you follow Jack's lead about when he wants to move on to other foods.  If you feel that he is handling the soft stuff really well, you can try him on a bit of pasta and see how he does with it.  It is all about trial and error.  The rewards are fantastic though.  Here's a link that might answer some of your questions.  Another newbie asked many of the same questions as you and about half way down is a list of which foods to introduce in an order I found helpful.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=110326.105

Stick with it, everyone around will be amazed at what he is eating and how he is eating, while all around you are eating mush.

Good for you.

Pauline

[Lippy Chick]

Just another thought.  I don't know if you're doing baby sign language or not.  If not I would really encourage to.  Alice can tell us when she wants a drink and when she wants more food too now, which is a real help in us knowing what she wants.

Pauline

[julzmom]

Hi all, here's a two-fer post (an answer for Jackate and a question from me):

Regarding how many meals/getting started: at first I did one meal.  We started with breakfast, figuring that that way I'd be able to see how she tolerated each food.  But she never seemed interested, so I eventually branched out to lunch & dinner, and she turned out to be more interested at these times.  To this day she is the least hungry at breakfast, I think because she has such a big milkfeed when she wakes up in the morning (though she sometimes surprises and eats a whole bunch). So I agree that the more practice, the better. 

As far as types/amounts: I stuck to the really soft stuff at first- bananas and avocados- because I was so worried about her choking, and I didn't worry too much about variety.  Don't worry too much about amounts because (1) the idea is to just let your baby practice & eventually eat as much as her appetite wants and (2) a lot of food will end up on the floor or in the bib, so you'll be offering more than s/he eats anyway.  Since we were at first just cutting up things like bananas & avocados for her, we always had more than she could finish, & then we'd eat the rest!  When we started offering more types, I'd try to include something that was easy & familiar, along with something new, & let her decide what/how much to eat.  I've been on the more cautious side and waited until 9mos to introduce protein/meat, although we've been progressing a little slowly as she's been sick.  We're also waiting a little longer to do eggs as they are said to be allergenic.

OK, now for my question:  Right now we are doing 4 milkfeeds (am, after each nap, & bedtime) and 3 meals.  I'm thinking that I should start making the post-nap milkfeeds into snacks (ie, offer solids) and maybe start offering milk (ie formula) with meals.  How did you all make this transition? (My LO is 10 mos tomorrow, BTW).

Thanks!
Jen

[Bryony]

Jen - we didn't drop the 4th milk feed until Katie was about a year old - she started losing interest in the mid morning feed at that point, so I replaced it with a cup of water and a snack. So now we have BF first thing in the morning, mid afternoon and at night

But I think everyone really varies in how they do it....

Bryony

[Freya'sMum]

Jen,

Eryn didn't drop to 3 milkfeeds until 17 months, in preparation for stopping bf and when she did, it was the breakfast feed that went - at 20 months she still has 6oz cow's milk mid-morning, mid-afternoon and before bed, if she's still peckish after her milk, she has some fruit to top up!

I don't know how I'd get the recommended pint a day into her if she didn't have her bottles, she eats so little solid dairy food! Freya (nearly 4) also has milk at mid-morning snack time and for supper, along with some fruit and cereal respectively, the bottles just turned into beakers with straws!

I guess what I'm saying is that there really is no rush to limit milk intake, especially before 12 months when it remains the primary source of nutrition ...

...and on that note, I'm going to terminate Part 3 (we've reached 30 pages - again!)...

...see you in Part 4

Ax