Baby Led Weaning Support Thread - Part 8

[Khalam's Mama]

I remember DS1 wasn't that interested in food until about 7mo so I am not too worried. B wasn't interested at all in eating anything today, even the porridge that he lapped up yesterday. He had a great time squiding a carrot around his tray at dinner. I had to not watch as it was so messy! He had a play with some cheerios for breakfast and a piece of Turkey for lunch he just stared at.

Are you all offering water now? I suddenly remembered I was supposed to be offering Water now he isn't EBF. He didn't want the cup anywhere near his mouth, should I be offering a bottle at this age? I doubt he would drink it. Not too worried as he isn't eating much yet but he didn't poop today so I don't want to back him up. I haven't got to the part about drinks in the book yet.

In reading the book I am thinking maybe I am not doing BLW since I have been doing porridge??? I held out the spoon and he dived onto it but it all fell off when he held it himself. He really wanted it though???

DS1 (27mo) wanted to eat horseraddish sauce today. It was really hot and at 1st I said no, but then I figured it would be toddler led so I let him and even though it was burning up my nose he loved it! I didn't offer any to B though.

[jay2yay]

Are you all offering water now?

I've been offering water since we started solids. At first I used a sippy cup. He's just not ready. So, I started to give him some with a straw (cover the tip with my finger so that a small amount stays at the bottom of the straw and then empty that into his mouth) or I give him little sips from a tiny plastic cup. I heard water helps with constipation so I try to give him a few sips with every meal. It's no where near 4 oz (what I was told is the daily maximum) so I don't measure.

In reading the book I am thinking maybe I am not doing BLW since I have been doing porridge???

I guess I'm not strictly BLW either since we've been doing purees this whole time, I'm still giving him oatmeal at breakfast but feeding it to him. And I gave him some puree at dinner last night. The only meal that's strictly BLW right now is lunch.

[Papaya]

In reading the book I am thinking maybe I am not doing BLW since I have been doing porridge??? I held out the spoon and he dived onto it but it all fell off when he held it himself. He really wanted it though???

Personally I think the "no spoon" rule is a little artificial when it comes to things that we as adults would only eat with a spoon - like porridge or yoghurt. My LO still has trouble with a loaded spoon just because she likes to play with the spoon first, before putting it in her mouth, by which time all the food is gone. But I don't think this indicates she's not ready for the food on it, kwim? So I hold a spoon in front of her and if she seems keen, I hold her hand around the spoon and guide it into her mouth. Then she's allowed to play with it for a bit if she wants, before I take it back for a new spoonful. If she pushes the spoon away, we leave it. I don't see how else she's meant to learn to use a spoon, if I don't help her with it when she wants help?

Also, when we have something sloppy like rice with a yummy sauce, I just put a pile on her tray - which she can pick up, but sometimes it's a bit slow and frustrating for her. So if she's really keen on it, she basically asks me spoonfeed her by leaning towards MY spoon with an open mouth. She knows she'll get the yumminess faster! So then I do feed her a bit, just for as long as she wants me too. I figure this is baby-led though, it's following her cues!   

[pondofstillwater]

Justin,

Read your post, just want to say that baby led really is baby led... baby really will tell you what works and works not... given that you are allowing the opportunities.

Sometimes I wish DD is not so into Solids because her milk intake was barely 15oz a day and she is not 7 months yet. But again, baby led. She follows what her body tells her to eat.

Regarding small fruits like berries... I think you can definitely offer to your baby. DD is eating blueberries at just over 6 month. Baby led really let the baby practice grips. Finger movement stimulate the development of the cortex.

I would really just go ahead and offer whatever you are eating at meal times and have fun.

[Khalam's Mama]

Are you still offering milk 1st?

[Papaya]

Are you still offering milk 1st?

I definitely am. We do milk straight after she wakes up, and solids 1 hour to 1hr30 later, depending on the meal (2 naps a day, so this works out. We eat together as a family, with early dinner at 5.45ish).

[*Kara*]

Nuala - if Felicity is really into solids and doing well, you could try moving her to 3 bottles to increase her milk intake... it worked for us   I think my DD was about 8.5 months when we made the change.  Her intake went back up to the 24 oz mark... three 8 oz bottles - one at wake, one before the PM nap and the last at BT.

[Khalam's Mama]

Am i a really bad mama that i let b ib e a good suck on a donut? He just dived on it and i didn't have the heart to stop him. He really enjoyed it. He also had some bread today but he wanted to suck it while i held it. I offered it to him to take but he just leaned forward and sucked it. He tried his hardest to pick up a bean but just squashed it on the tray. Bless. I think something must be going in as his sweet smelling ebf pôo is now a bit stinky.

[creations]

He also had some bread today but he wanted to suck it while i held it. I offered it to him to take but he just leaned forward and sucked it.

I haven't read the BLW book so can't say anything about what's advised or 'right' but I think it's totally natural for them to do the little bird mouth and want mummy to hold the food after all they've been having hands-free eating since they were born and doing the bird mouth to get boob or bottle so in my eyes it makes total sense.  DS had me hold his food for the first few tastes and then after a short while I handed each item to him and from there he progressed to taking it off the tray himself.

DS took a spoon and fed himself the very first time he was offered but after that we did a bit of a mixture of him taking it or me feeding him porridge with the spoon.  Then he went off that, now I make really thick porridge or muesli that I can dollop on his tray and he picks up fist fulls of it.  He won't be fed by me at all now...apart from his vitamin drops off a spoon and his reflux meds out of a syringe as he somehow knows I really need to be in control of those.

[Papaya]

Oops, I hadn't read further up so thought that previous question was more general than it actually was, Khalam's mama...no problems with milk supply here! My LO is pretty keen on solids, but shows no sign of wanting to give up any of her precious milk yet

I let her try little tastes of things that aren't ideal on the odd occasion (like your donut), if she sees us eating it (deep fried samosas = yum!!) - and also, when we're eating out I try to order the most appropriate thing for her, but also accept the reality that it's almost impossible here to order something completely without salt, because most dishes have fish sauce or soy sauce in them anyway. Almost everything she eats is prepared by me so I don't worry too much about the occasional 'bad' nibble here and there.

It is tough here though to ask exactly what's in things. We had another reaction when we were out a couple of nights ago - exactly the same skin reaction as she has to dairy, a mild contact rash, but it really didn't seem like there would be dairy in anything she had (pad thai and seaweed soup with rice). My thai is good enough to ask "is there milk in this?" but not quite good enough to explain adequately that I also mean any milk products, whey powder, etc. People don't really eat much dairy here, and milk allergies are almost unknown, so they don't understand. So either there was some hidden milk product, or we have another mild allergy on our hands...to something... will just have to keep an eye on things.

[bluehour]

Hi papaya,

it could be a citrus rash?   my ds gets a mild skin rash from eating tomatoes,  surely a healthy squeze of lime in thai food could do this?   They grow out of it apparently.

[beckygatt]

I'm joining this thread as I'm interested in doing blw with my DD2. She's 5 months in a week. I did pureed with DD1 and only heard of blw recently. She seems interested in food; tried to grab my cupcake today! Is 5 months too early ro start? Any tips?

[*Kara*]

I think the general idea with BLW is that you do wait until LO is nearer 6 months for safety reasons.  They need to be able to sit unassisted.

[creations]

I agree with Kara that sitting unassisted is needed.  My DS was interested in solids form about 3 months, and seriously interested by 5 months but still not sitting.  At 5.5 months he did sit unaided, it came to him pretty much over night and only a couple of days later I started letting him have his first tastes (he was very very insistant on getting to the solids).
One tip - if you are allowing your LO to stand up with your help stop doing it.  DS's cranial osteopath saw me offer my hands to DS as he was really into sit stand sit stand whilst holding hands.  She gave me some serious words about spine development, brain development etc and I immediately stopped offering my hands (pulling up unaided using furniture comes later and is fine as they do it themselves at their own ability level).  In 1.5 days DS could sit unaided.  I had been inadvertently encouraging him to focus his development on standing instead of sitting and then crawling.

[Khalam's Mama]

The book does recommend 6mo but it says it is because this is when they have the necessary skills so before that they Will likely not be able to do is. Could you sit lo in a high chair put food on the tray and would she pick it up and eat it? We are not quite at 6mo but have been offering foods but he mainly just pushed it around the tray. Only last wk he has started getting it in his mouth. Before that i could have put it in his hand but the book says not to do that.