Baby Led Weaning Support Thread - Part 6!

[Mrs Coops]

I bought mine from Amazon. I've just found it on Amazon.com so you might be lucky. Here's a link

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-led-Weaning-Helping-Your-Baby/dp/0091923808/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234429118&sr=8-3

I hope you can get it, if not I'll try to help as much as poss

x x x

[nevviemama]

Hello, I posted this on the toddler eating board and the moderator thought I might post here for more insight. My lo is 16 months with only 1 recent tooth. She has been self-feeding for many months, preferring it over me feeding although sometimes I can feed her yogurt and fruit purees etc. But because of the lack of teeth it seems she gags/throws up easily, and I can't always tell what will trigger. A kidney bean peel once, a flaky tiny piece of pastry, piece of breading from a fishstick. I always cook things well and cut up into tiny pieces. My father thinks I should revert to purees until she has more teeth. Was looking on any advice on this?

[Mrs Coops]

Hi
Have you tried giving her bigger pieces of food? Perhaps the food is too small to start with and she is not learning how far to push it down. If she is in control she might soon figure it all out.

Also if you cook things too well they may break apart too easily. She should be able to 'gum' the food and suck it happily!!!

Oh, the gagging and vomiting apparently sounds/ looks worse than it actually is, some babies just carry on eating as if nothing ever happened!!!

HTH
x

[Peek-a-boo]

I bought mine from Amazon. I've just found it on Amazon.com so you might be lucky. Here's a link

http://www.amazon.com/Baby-led-Weaning-Helping-Your-Baby/dp/0091923808/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234429118&sr=8-3

I hope you can get it, if not I'll try to help as much as poss

x x x

Last time I had checked Amazon, it wasn't available at all in the US.  Looks like now it is availabel through some third party sellers.

Hello, I posted this on the toddler eating board and the moderator thought I might post here for more insight. My lo is 16 months with only 1 recent tooth. She has been self-feeding for many months, preferring it over me feeding although sometimes I can feed her yogurt and fruit purees etc. But because of the lack of teeth it seems she gags/throws up easily, and I can't always tell what will trigger. A kidney bean peel once, a flaky tiny piece of pastry, piece of breading from a fishstick. I always cook things well and cut up into tiny pieces. My father thinks I should revert to purees until she has more teeth. Was looking on any advice on this?

You know, I don't think I'd revert to purees.  Does she seem upset by the gagging/choking?  Or is it just worrying to you.  I don't think the gagging/choking is related to a lack of teeth.  Many babies still only have front teeth at this age and they don't really chew with those.  I think they are all pretty much gumming things.

I agree with pp that you may actually be better off offering larger chunks of things--perhaps stick shaped--so that she can pick them up and gnaw at the end.  Since she'll have to work to get the bit off, she may actually get better at chewing.

[nevviemama]

It never occurred to me to give her bigger pieces - I do give her cereal bars in half, and she seems great gumming pieces off of that and eating. But I haven't really done that with anything else and that may help with small pieces getting lodged. Gagging/throwing up doesn't bother her that much if the food comes up easily - she was distressed twice when she couldn't get it out and it stuck to the roof of her mouth and she continuously gagged, spit - I ended up having to fish it out.

[Peek-a-boo]

If it's not generally upsetting to her, then I def wouldn't go back to purees.  She'll get the hang if things soon.  I think some LOs just have a more sensitive gag reflex than others. 

[LucySol]

im so glad ive found this thread.my dd is 7 months and is grabbing everything i am eating and putting it to her mouth.i am a nervous wreck bout her choking but she seems to manage fine.she has no teeth so should i be waiting till she has some before offering the foods suggested on here? so far she has had hot cross bun,toast and marmite and rice cake--all taken off me  when i was eating it! i would love to try the fruit and veg but wondered if i should wait a while? thanx love Lucy xxx

[mum101]

hi Lucy,
I think as long as you give her foods she can soften in her mouth and grind down with her gums she'd be fine to eat a good range of foods.
For fruit and veg, go for it!  You can give her broccoli florets to chew on, and other par-cooked vegies the shape of a chip/thick fry to gnaw on. I find baked potato and pumpkin are good for mashing up well in the mouth.

[Peek-a-boo]

We started with sweet potato and carrots when DD didn't really have teeth and she did fine. 

[huntersmummyinoz]

we started soft fruit, cooked veg, toast, crackers, you name it before hunter ever got teeth. sweet potato chips, broccoli florrets were his fav. his first tooth didnt pop thru until he was 9mths. and as pp mentioned, the front 8 teeth are used for biting not chewing, so everything is getting mashed by their gums anyway. hunter is only getting molars now at 14mths and i couldnt imagine waiting til now to introduce all of those feeds. he has even been mashing up 1cm cubes of steak/chicken/etc since around 10mths old. the gagging is definitely a little more scary for us i think, once i learnt to trust his gag reflex i started offering more variety and he did fine.

[hjrmom01]

I'm really interested in BLW, this is a great thread!  My LO will be 6 months here soon but I just have a silly question....do you introduce solids at 6 months even if they were a preemie?  I know that the "gut" sometimes isn't as mature so I don't want to cause any belly problems, you know?  Anyone else have experience with this?  Should we wait until he is trying to reach for our food, showing interest, etc?  He watches us eat but has never tried to grab at anything.  We tried purees a while back (Dr though maybe it would help w/reflux?!) and didn't quite get it...and caused some bad belly pain/gas pain/was up ALL night.  Thanks!

[Peek-a-boo]

I'd wait until he's at least 6 months based on his due date rather than actualy birth date.  At that point then I'd look for the other signs of readiness.

[hjrmom01]

great...thanks so much for the advice.  He goes in for his 6 mo appt here in the next few weeks so I'll be talking with his ped about it and letting her know that is what our plan is....she's pretty laid back and understanding so I don't think it'll be a problem.  I really hope I can get that book, too...it's not available here in the US at any bookstores so hope I can get it online somewhere!  you ladies are the best! 

[loub]

Hi I am brand new to BLW. I started off the traditional way with Annabel Carmel recipes. It's been good so far (if a little fiddly)and she eats everything with great enthusiasm  (8.5 months btw, we started solids at 5.5) but eats v v quickly (like her dad) and gets cross if there's a tiny wait for a mouthful.
I gave her a chunk of banana in her hand the other day to see what she'd do and she was brilliant! Yes a fair bit ended up mushed in the high-chair but she loved the experience and it took her 3 times as long to eat  which I'm v pleased with. Now I am unsure where to go, on the advice of another mum I gave her toast and humous today which was a brilliant success. But can you do everything finger-food? What happens to the cooked meals? Some starter ideas would be great. She's mostly veggie but has had fish. If there's a book that would be great and sorry if this is already covered somewhere else..i had a quick look but really need a beginners' guide!  p.s. what are the benefits of this approach? I am thinking coordination/independence/choice..? Lily definitely seesm to think it's lots of fun!

[loub]

p.s. with the AC recipes I used tp spend a few hours every 3-4 weeks making huge batches of recipes then pop them out and defrost. If you're giving finger-foods do you have to make everything there and then?