Baby Led Weaning Support Thread - Part 9

[beckygatt]

Sorry you're having trouble Rach! Not sure what to suggest Maybe you should post as a seperate topic and someone with more experience will be able to help. It is very early days but the vomiting must be a real pain! Oh and I love Cath Kidston too

[snowbird]

Hi Rach,

Hugs - must be really hard! How much is she vomiting? Just looked at the book for help with this and it does say that gagging sometimes leads to a little vomit and that babies soon learn from it. Are you aware that the gagging reflex is further forward in babies and so gagging doesn't mean the food is near the airways? Xxx

[londonlady]

Thanks girls.
Snowbird - the gagging doesn't worry me - I know it's a natural part of the process, and I can see she's not choking so haven't panicked too much. But the gagging seems to just then result in her vomiting up the milk feed she's had an hour or more previously. She doesn't bring the whole feed up, but the one the other day seemed to just keep coming and coming. Must have been a good few ounces. I can't wait any longer to do the solids as she is on the lower end of the A times and I don't want to be putting her down for her nap too soon after eating.

I think maybe she has a very sensitive gag reflex -  I may go back to doing traditional weaning but keep up the finger foods at the same time. Just think it will be much less distressing for the both of us... 

[amayzie]

I do give Hamish a lot of mushy stuff- or stuff that easily mushes up in his hands so that he's mainly licking stuff off his fingers and getting it that way. Things like avocado i sometimes mash into the rice, or pumpkin is very soft so he mashes it himself. The avo and rice idea might not work if sophia is a little sensitive as it's essentially that soft lumpy consistency that many adults even find gag worthy! But it might put your mind at ease.

I'd honestly try to give it another week at least before you make a judgement- hamish was 6 mo 2 weeks before he started getting stuff reliably to his mouth. And even now he sometime isn;t interested!! Makes it very clear...

Again i'm sure if you want to add some puree to ease your mind then the world won't crumble.... This is out of the troubleshooting of the book:

'If your baby does accept a spoon there's no harm in combining spoon feeding and self feeding. However if you are attracted to BLW because of the advantages for your baby, we recommend not to spoon feed at every meal. THis is because your baby may not get enough variety of texture, or as many opportunities as he could to develop his skills'

And sometimes the gag is REALLY far forward... stupidly forward... i think that BLW is good for helping to dampen that reflex. You may find that she gags on puree and the spoon too- Like on the occassions HAmish has been not interested in food when i've gone at him with a spoon he's also refused that. So i think it's easy to thinkthat BLW is the problem- when it's not... clearly its the babies who are the problem! ;P  

[amayzie]

my intention with the quote was to say that it's ok to combine according to the book... but to maybe try to do both....

[londonlady]

We tried baby cereal / puree several weeks ago (think she hit a major GS at just before 5m and I thought it was a sign to start weaning) and she didn't gag, she just wasn't bothered so I stopped and then started last week or so with BLW.

My DH keeps saying that what we did with our son worked perfectly well, he's a fabulous eater, tries most things, doesn't have any problems with textures. And DH is right... (shocking lol!)  I know siblings are not always the same, but my approach to food will be the same (i.e. not dancing around the kitchen making 100 different meals if they refuse to eat what I've given them...!) so I think that counts for a lot.

So yep, I'm thinking combined - which is essentially traditional weaning really isn't it. Just introducing finger foods from the off rather than at 7m.

Rach. x

[beckygatt]

You go with whatever you're comfortable with Rach! You might find that after a little while combining she'll do better with finger foods and you can do more blw style again. She'll get there sooner or later!

[amayzie]

I think not waiting to start the finger foods is a really good idea. Looking at how well Hamish is going now with the finger foods i couldn't imagine waiting a few months.... But yeah- honestly traditional weaning is all good- the principles with BLW that include not forcing 'one more bite' etc and following the baby's lead- are also what parents who are good at reading their baby's cues are going to be doing anyway- whatever method!!

[snowbird]

Yes Rach, i agree - go with whatever you feel comfortable with! Xx

[amayzie]

Ooh!! Hamish can now drink through a straw!! I used the pigeon mag mag cup (it was the only one in the chemist when i had the idea)- I figured it was BPA free and the straw is soft and can only go a little bit into their mouth. It also has handles. After much chewing and accidental water in the mouth i had a go at holding the end of the straw to get some into it and then essentially tipping this into his mouth as he sucked. I figured when he got the idea of why he was there it would help- and it did!! He now drinks through a straw like a pro!! And he can be totally independent with it!! 'll keep going with the cup- but when we;re out and about i can use that!! Amazing how their skills develop sooo fast... (I am always amazed at the normally developing child...)

[beckygatt]

Well done Hamish! I know what you mean about the 'normally developing child'. I used to work with kids with developmental delay so DD1 amazed me with her development

[creations]

Well done Hamish!
I am somewhat jealous as I kind of wish I'd thought of the straw idea rather than choosing a sippy cup.  It makes sense to learn with a straw as it is a 'tool' used throughout childhood and even into adulthood where as the sippy is pretty temporary.  DS uses the sippy great and sometimes wants it without the lid on (I have let him and helped but I KNOW he will get soaked so it's not something I like to do now that it is so cold here.  When it was warmer I didn't mind).

I'm starting to worry about ditching the bottles now.  'Suddenly' he is 11 months old and that 12 month mark is rapidly approaching when all bottles 'should' be gone.  I think we will be in the group of people that keep the morning and night bottle for a while longer.  Eeek!  My health visitor was disapproving that we still used bottles when he had his development check at 9 months.  At that time he was already using a sippy during the day but still had 2 or 3 bottles of milk too.

[amayzie]

Try a straw now- he probably won't take long to work it out! I think too it's all in degrees... they say they have to be gone- but thats to encourage people who have kids walk around all day with milk or juice hanging out of their mouth in a bottle- or in bed... I'd say a bottle morning and night isn't the end of the world if you want to keep it.

 What do you ladies do about fat in meat- so for example beef mince- do you use the leanest meat- or the meat with more fat. I usually use the lean variety for us at home, but was thinking i should up the fat for hamish. Is that animal fat what I want to be including more of? I already make sure that the dairy i'm using (yoghurt, cheese) is full fat... and i'm not skimping on avocado etc... but what do you think? It would surely make my little meatballs moister! And how do you serve chicken- I was thinking of making up some little chicken tenderloin strips.. perhaps crumbed in ground nuts or something? Perhaps oats? Not sure yet... I know i could just serve what we're having.. but in the lead up to christmas our diet has been less than ideal. i don't think KFC chicken strips are quite inkeeping with the BLW philosophy....

[londonlady]

Annabel Karmel often coats chicken or fish in matzo meal, or even crushed up cornflakes. x

[Khalam's Mama]

I sometimes coat chicken in veg puree and then rolled oats for k. Sure would work for lo.