Hi EricaM31
DD's first solid food was half a small banana! She squeezed it and then ate a big chunk before looking shocked that this substance actually had a taste! Then gobbled up more! We never had any problems of choking on a banana, the bigger the chunks the better she could hold it! Plus when you start slicing banana it makes it very slippery!
Other first foods included broccoli, carrots and potato's. Broccoli was an instant winner as she could hold the little branch and suck off the green bits. I cooked it to the point where the green florets would just about come off with a fork, too soft and it will just disintegrate! Potato's, boiled in great big chunks as in stick form they fall apart. Carrots caused lots of choking issues as she would gum off a chunk and choke on it as it is quite slippery. We eventually gave that a miss for a while!
Tomato's are also good, we chopped ours into 8 slices, removed the seeds (to save on mess) and bent them backwards so the slices would sit fairly flat. These proved to be her favorite for a very long time as she would just run the strips between her gums eating the flesh, leaving only a slither of skin. Plus when given cold they are very soothing on teething gums! When her first bottom teeth arrived at 7 months she could actually start cutting into slightly harder food. When the top teeth came in there was no stopping her!
With the choking issue we actually fed DD in our lap for the first few weeks. I only got worried once with the carrots and went to lean her forward to help her get it out but she managed on her own. Babies have a VERY keen gag reflex and they also make it look and sound very dramatic when they are gagging! DD is now an expert and rarely even makes a noise when something goes down the wrong hole!
I never did the allergy feeding thing! We often gave her two or three new foods a day, but we don't have any allergies in our family so I never worried! Plus with BLW they don't digest the food as fast so their bodies get a chance to cope with it at their own rate!
There is also the theory (that is explained very well in Gill Rapleys book) that babies will avoid what they later show they are allergic too! Our little one has only ever really refused egg. In the early days she would eat scrambled egg and omelet, now she won't touch it in any form! We keep offering it to her though!
As for routine, at the start we didn't have a 'plan', we just gave it to her during her activity time in between feeds so she wasn't starving or full on milk. I can't really remember timings. It got to a point when she would just burst into tears, not for milk or for tiredness, she wanted solids! As she got older I used the feeds to help spread her breast feeds out before I returned to work and got her onto formula during the day.
Every little one is different, you just need to look at your current routine and pick a convenient time. With BLW it's all about exploration at the start and milk is still their main diet. DD decided she preferred solids over milk and was down to two breast feeds a day well before she was one.
Sorry this is a bit long! But I hope it helps you get started, BLW is messy but really good fun!
