Baby Led Weaning Support Thread - Part 6!

[*Nicola*]

A bit  about Special K though, sorry Nic! 11g sugar...that seems like a LOT to me  But each to their own, not my business and I still love ya!! 

I have to say I really don't worry too much about the sugar content of 10 flakes of Sp K.  We do an 'overall healthy diet' and if some of the cereals etc are a wee bit on the higher side of sugar then that's ok with me, personally.

 

Last night Callie ate tonnes of her roast chicken dinner with a spoon ... wonderful!

[lisi's mum]

Ang, got to 'fess - even I've been known to fling the odd special K flake in N's direction. Instant gagging though. Flakes seem tricky for some reason.

[*Nicola*]

Flakes have only just become manageable here Katie. 

[Purplecattypants]

Oh I know I know, i'm excessively cautious with the sugar thing!!    In fact, you'll be pleased to hear that even gave him a Shreddie yesterday morning, just to try and relax the rules a little  LOL 

[humph]

Sorry have been off line for a few days.  Thanks for the advice on fitting BLW into our routine.  I think that all makes sense.  Am really excited about starting BLW - only 3 weeks to go!

thx again, kate

[*Nicola*]

Look forward to seeing you around Kate x

[Peek-a-boo]

DD is 5.5 months now (how did that happen   ), so I thought I'd pop in here.  I'd really like to do BLW, but already knowing that DD is intolerant of dairy and soy it makes me nervous about disregarding the guideline to wait 4 days between the introduction of new foods, kwim?  Worried since she's sensitive to one thing she may be more prone to sensitivites in other things and worried that I'll miss something if I really take a BLW approach.

Somebody mentioned a book . . . what's the name/author? 

Looking forward to lurking and hanging out with you all!

Oh, in the BLW article it mentions "chip shaped" foods at first.  Is that "chip" as in flat round crispy potato chips sold at the store?  Or is that "chip" as in "fish and chips" which we would call a french fry and is sort of stick like in shape?

[lisi's mum]

Bethany - I have followed the four day wait rule (more or less) and am very slow at introducing things. BLW means you don't "have" to, but certainly doesn't mean that you mustn't!

the book (brand new, just out and by the BLW guru) http://www.amazon.com/Baby-led-Weaning-Helping-Your-Love/dp/0091923808/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226476709&sr=8-2 aha, I see it hasn't been released in the states yet, but you can find it on Amazon.co.uk

chip as in English chips, not American ones - ie stick like

WELCOME!!

[*Nicola*]

Hiya Bethany

Lovely to see you around here How on earth is DD 5.5 months already

As Katie says, you can control what you introduce and when.  Some people are more relaxed than others, anything goes

xx

[Peek-a-boo]

Thanks girls!  What were some of the foods that your LOs could handle well at the very beginning?

Oh, and did you discuss this method with your LO's doctor at all or just go for it?   Our doctor thinks I'm a little crazy as it is, lol.

[lisi's mum]

The whole concept of BLW was so foreign to everybody I mentioned it to around here I took the approach that what Dr, MIL and infact most other people didn't know wouldn't hurt them!

Our first things - broccoli, carrot sticks (a bit gaggy), banana, rice cakes.

This blog has a great first food page http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog/GettingStartedFingerFoodBasics

[Purplecattypants]

Avocado, banana, roasted sweet potato and butternut squash sticks, cauliflower.....carrots have been a big gagger (not much else does this) until recently so I stayed away from that in the early days.

[*Nicola*]

Bethany,

I mentioned it to HV, but more that DD didn't like the spoon so we just went with 'bits' - which was true!

We did banana, roasted sweet pot, carrot, lightly toasted bread with some spread, really ripe pear.  Goodness, I can hardly remember it seems so long ago

Callie had a crumpet, banana, huge amount of cranberries and 2 yoghurts for breakfast Dinner she ate MASSES of tagilatelli (sp!?), crusty bread, yoghurt, about 30 blueberries and some cheese and crackers.  At bathtime she had SUCH a HUGE POT BELLY.  Ciara laughed everytime she looked at it!

[Spectra]

Hi, I had a lot of feeding problems with my son who is now 15 months old.  Food allergies and we finally got things straightened out, so we are slowly re-introducing all foods again.  He also gags easily on textured foods and then will proceed to vomit it all back up.  I have been slowly adding real mushed food to his jarred foods.  He now has 1/4 of a large jar with the rest being homemade sweet potato.  He'll eat this without gagging.

I am concerned as he doesn't put a lot of foods in his mouth, only some rice bread (just licks it), and some organic baby Mum Mums (he bites of pieces then spits them out.)

I've tried cutting up cooked veggies and put that in front of him, same with rice puffs, and rice pasta.  He picks them up and plays with them before throwing them on the floor.  Because he doesn't eat much of that I will feed him the rest of the mushed up foods.

Would you guys just not bother with the mushed up food and keep offering the solid version in hopes that one day he'll actually take a bite?  If so does this mean he'll be drinking a ton more formula since he won't be getting much solids?

I really want him to feed himself.

[Tobysmum]

Hi, I'm Louisa and my baby Gus is 8 months and we started solids at 6 months but he didn't really start eating anything until about 7 months.
We are doing purees at this stage.

I am just looking into BLW and it was suggested that I check out this thread.

The issue is that my pediatrician is very strict in his advice as to what to feed your baby for the first year.  And before anyone "poo poos" his ideas, I am quite happy following his advice.  I followed it for DS #1 and he's a great eater.

Now, his advice is the following:
- Start with baby rice (in actual fact NO other grains other than rice for the whole first year i.e. no oats, barley, wheat etc.
- next do yellow veg
- next do green veg
- next do non-citrus fruit
- next do fish, and white meat (haven't started this yet)
- red meat (haven't started this yet)
- no eggs for first year

I think that about covers it.  Now, given that I want to follow that - how would you recommed BLW.  Also, I would prefer to combine purees with BLW (I have read that others do this OK) - I have a freezer full of purees too that I don't want to throw away!

What foods can I give to start?  (he gags at even the smallest lump - even when I mash banana and there are teeny lumps, he gags and won't eat it - he'll eat jarred banana though!

I have a fear of him choking so would obviously want to make 100% sure that I do it right. 

Any ideas as to what I start with - so far in my fridge I have broccoli, courgette (zucchini), ripe avocado and apple.

Also, do I let him pick up the food or do I help him - he obviously hasn't got a proper pincer grip yet.

Thanks!