Baby Led Weaning Support Thread - Part 6!

[First Time Mom]

My 4 year old LOVES steamed veggies (as do dh and I) so every night as part of dinner I pull out my biggest pot and metal steamer and I fill the pot with whatever is in my fridge. So, I'll do a combo of cauliflower, corn on the cob, broccoli, and zucchini for example in one night and we'll eat this with pasta and chicken or whatever else I'm making. I'll give ds a little of each on his tray to play with and to eat, this way he's getting a huge variety, he's now 9 months so he's pretty much been through all the veggies that are available here. I did this with dd when she was little and to this day she loves the "surprise" of what's in the pot, and she loves her veggies steamed and with no butter or anything added.

[Lola's Mum]

DD devoured an avocado today and surprised me by sucking on a satsuma. She seems to really like courgettes (zuchini) and sweet potato. Trying parsnips tomorrow and baby sweetcorn.

I've got a question if anyone can help. DD just loves shovelling food in her mouth. Quite often I can tell she's got a big lump of food in her mouth. She might have gagged and brought it to the front. She then shoves more in her mouth and sometimes bites off something, like another lump of banana or avocado or something. Do I just let this happen, knowing she's already got a big lump of food in there. She's gagging quite a lot. Not sure if she's swallowing. How long does it take for them to learn to swallow a bit more. We've only been doing it for a couple of weeks, so I know it's early days. I've seen sweet potato and courgette in her poo so some is going down but I don't think much.

She loves breadsticks. Think the crunch really surprised her.

[Vicku]

Hi everyone!

Can I join you? My littlest one is 6mo 2wks and we are doing BLW. Her first encounter with solids was about a week ago. She's not really swallowed anything yet but has sucked and licked and mashed up and played with lots of different foods I love this way of introducing solids, it's so stress free. Wish I'd known about it for DD1.
I've read Gill Rapley's book and felt it makes so much sense to be doing it this way. Glad to have found this thread as noone I know IRL even know what BLW is.

Vick

[Jiinx]

hiya vicku It's so remarkable watching them pick and feed themselves

I can't believe your lo is 6 months already. Felt like she was just born yesterday! Hope she's been doing well

[First Time Mom]

Sophie, I wouldn't worry about the gagging, just make sure to stay by her side to make sure she doesn't choke. My ds is 9 months and still gags like crazy during every meal and every mouthful! Eventually they learn to "chew" with their gums and swallow, and eventually they get used to the textures.

Welcome Vicku! I also can't believe your dd is now 6 months! I remember your very early posts when she was a newbie baby!

[Mrs Coops]

Hi everyone, been a little busy lately!

Welcome to BLW Vicku, it is the easiest way to wean! Unfortunately also the messiest, but well worth it! DD now (finally) says finished and hands us her plate, as opposed to throwing or dropping stuff off the high chair!

I hope everyone is getting on OK? xxx

[Whatbit]

Congrats, Goblin!  The  little one finally decided to show  

I made DS turkey 'meatballs' yesterday.  I made them more like little disks about the size of a toonie using turkey, otameal, egg yolk, onions, garlic, and basil- pretty much all things DS has eaten before (the basil was new) and he loved it!!  I added parmesan and BBQ sauce to the rest for DH and I. MMmmmm- and so cute to watch him eat  

[Mrs Coops]

Yes he arrived rather speedily last Wednesday! He's a cutie pie, but then I'm bias!

Mmmm, turkey meatballs sound yum!

[Whatbit]

You're allowed to be biased

[Vicku]

thanks for the warm welcome!
congrats again marsha!
I was wondering what foods you all avoid for you LO? We have some food allergies in the family (my dad and granddad) so I was super careful with DD1 only giving one food for 3 days, avoiding cow's milk for ages and waiting a while with gluten. turned out she was fine but she turned out a really fussy eater and won't accept anything mixed such as casseroles, sauces etc. Will only eat separate plain foods. I've been wondering if that has anything to do with me only offering her that for her first year Now with DD2 I'd like to give her as much as possible of what we're eating so she gets used to, and hopefully will enjoy, the food we usually have, me and DH. I was sooo worried when DD1 started solids but now I figure if she's going to react to something we'll notice But take for example eggs... I didn't give them to DD1 until after 1yo by which time she refused to try new things, but DD2 have already sucked on a boiled egg off my salad and on some egg tagliatelle pasta.

[Whatbit]

I'd watch out for the whites since those aren't recommended before a year, but hard boiled egg yolks and fried egg yolks- my DS is a huge fan.  Plus, he can hold the fried egg yolks himself, which he likes.  I also make him 'meatballs' using egg yolks and oatmeal as binders rather than breadcrumbs.
Good luck, Vicku!  Hopefully your DD2 will be more into her food, though I think it also has a lot to do with temperament.  DS is spirited and will dive into anything, at least once!  I've heard that touchy babies and grumpy babies can be 'picker' and want the same things over and over again because that's what they know and are comfortable with.

[huby]

hi there

My DD is recovered from a bad tummy bug and wasn't eating any purees. On advice from some people on this site, I gave her some ff and she ate them up! First time she's eaten in days...
can anyone give me some recipes (she adores eggs and toast but won't eat anything else really) I can give her that are delicious and nutricous - she used to LOVE her food and eat it by the tonne!

[Mrs Coops]

Hi Vicku. I never did the allergy thing, just plonked stuff on her tray. They say babies naturally avoid stuff they later turn out to be allergic to. My LO used to eat egg, but now refuses it in any form! I don't know why, but we still offer it here and there.

Huby she might still be recovering. Rather than give her recipes maybe try food in it's natural (but cooked) state, like boiled potato's, broccoli, cauliflower and the such like. You could have egg and toast on standby, just in case!

[huby]

Hi

I think she's all better  - it's been two weeks now. But my mum said to give her all her favourites when she was ill...and guess what, she's snubbing other stuff now.

[Mrs Coops]

With BLW babies do go through phases of favourites! With DD she obsesses over one fruit or another, bananas had to be hidden for ages and referred to as 'the yellow fruit!' She still had them, but would want them all the time if she saw or heard about them!

When eating a meal she would eat all her current top foods and leave everything else, so we started giving her the favourite half way through a meal so she would eat something else first!
  Just keep offering new with old and eventually she will (hopefully) start eating!