Baby Led Weaning Support Thread #11

[Fiver]

A lot of the AK recipes are coming from the "traditional" puree weaning perspective, but there are also lots that you can use for finger foods, like rissoles and sweetcorn pancakes (they're in the fussy eaters book) and so are great for BLW.  I don't really bother adding salt to my cooking anyway and use unsalted butter for the whole family.

Glad you had a good lunch.  It is less stressful if everyone can have a meal at the same time and correct temperature

[Carren_m]

Those recipes sound great - I'll have a look around and see if I can find them on the board.

That's what I'm getting excited about too - watching him learn by himself and gradually understand what he's eating and how to eat it. I love cooking/baking and where I can everything is from scratch but I stopped doing so much since LO was born, but this is the incentive I need to get back to it. I've been going through my recipes to make them baby friendly and it doesn't seem too difficult as we eat well anyway, and now my freezer has a bit more room without all of those purée cubes I can start making batches so I have emergency food rather than resorting to store products - winner!

I've seen AK has some finger food recipe books too, I'll check those out once we've exhausted my current list of meals :-)

You're right, it really is less stressful! Although he ate purées well he would get distracted easily and rub his face a lot, but blw keeps his attention on the food (so mum can have a chat!) and I think it's better when he's teething as he can get pressure on the gums too. It's funny because I was so anti-BLW initially, but I guess it was ignorance, and now I'm just so excited every time I think of yet another meal we can all have together.

[Fiver]

[creations]

It's funny because I was so anti-BLW initially

I think it all depends on what you've read or heard and if you've dreamed of making lovely healthy purees for LO.  There are so many great little gadgets and tips and hints for puree weaning and it can look like BLW is somehow 'lacking' in the parental input, you know that desire to feed our children, to nourish them, like it is love.  Then with more information or with experience you discover it is every bit as loving and bonding as spoon feeding (or IMHO more so) - it is joyous!
Here's a link to the recipe board
Baby Food Recipes
There's a finger food thread and a BLW thread, also browse through the recipes for the older LOs because there is no age restriction with BLW (other than the general stuff, honey, whole nuts etc).

If you have any purees left in the freezer use them as spread on toast or as a sauce on pasta twists, no need to waste them

[Papaya]

it can look like BLW is somehow 'lacking' in the parental input, you know that desire to feed our children, to nourish them, like it is love. Then with more information or with experience you discover it is every bit as loving and bonding as spoon feeding (or IMHO more so) - it is joyous!

Totally agree with this. A Burmese friend related to us how he was telling his parents about watching F (then around 8 months) eat, and they were absolutely horrified - "that poor child, don't her parents love her, they don't even feed her!!!" And he laughed and laughed and said they wouldn't ask that if they could see how absolutely delighted she was with herself, and with us, and with her food, he had never seen another child so happy with her parents at mealtime.

I always thought I would give F purees as I'd never heard of anyone doing anything else - I had even already started preparing lovely home-made purees and freezing them - then when she was just short of 6 months old I happened to read an article about BLW and it just made SO much sense to me, I couldn't imagine why I hadn't thought of it myself So all of my cubes of frozen fruit were made into sorbet.

FWIW, my LO's pincer grip went from non-existent to proficient after about 3 weeks of BLW. I totally credit it with huge developments in her fine-motor skills at that age.

[Carren_m]

Thanks for the links, and great idea for using up the purees.

I'd say in just a few days I've seen a massive improvement in LO's grip and dexterity (and aim!) with the food. His great grandma came over for lunch and she was fascinated to watch him feed himself :-)

[creations]

It really does help develop their fine motor skills.  I've also been told it it a great help to language development because of the muscle development and mouth motor (if there is such a term) skills, they certainly do learn to manipulate the food in their mouths very quickly as though they were just born to it.  I had no idea about that before I started it was a play group worker that told me about the language skills.

Lovely story Nuala

There were a few times (in the very early days) when my DS was very frustrated about not getting enough food into his mouth fast enough (he was very ready for solids and very hungry!) and I did help him a little because the process isn't about forcing him to do something and getting frustrated or unhappy.  I still help occasionally now but I always ask first if he wants help of wait for him to ask, these days it's help using his knife to chop up foods and sometimes help loading his fork, sometimes when you stab food it still comes off the fork so that's where he asks for help.  The fascination of watching him self feed hasn't really reduced because now we see his cutlery skill developments and all the other social norms of eating together (which amazes people when he eats in public).

[bexandlucy]

Hi!

M has just this weekend started BLW! I did it with my daughter and looking forward to it this time. I'm hoping I will be a lot less worried than I was with her.

He's sitting unaided so I popped a banana on the highchair tray to see what he would do and he was away! So far he has had banana sticks, pear, carrot, cucumber and houmous and a juicy piece of steak which he loved!

Am i right in thinking its not a good idea to introduce wheat before 6 months?

[creations]

Bec, I was so sure I wouldn't give DS solids at all before 6 months, he had other ideas, screaming when he saw food like I was starving him.  I gave in at 5.5 months and he started solids, I was still determined to wait until 6 months before giving bread but, well, an unscheduled stop in a restaurant led to him eating garlic bread under 6 months (it was either that or he scream the place down).  But yes it's advised to wait.

[bexandlucy]

Ah yes M does this too, we've been sitting him in the highchair at mealtimes to play with toys, so I could eat twohanded to get him used to joining in at mealtimes and now he screams at us if we don't give him food. He seems to like everything so far, and I've got some great videos!

Thanks for the info re wheat.

I'm so conscious to get him to try as many different things as humanly possible!! L was such a fussy eater but I think a lot of that was around my nervousness so I really to just go with the flow this time.

[creations]

My DS ate a huge range of things when he was tiny but has still managed to develop his own variety of fussiness.  Nothing mashed, nothing liquid (soup) unless it is just a spoonful used as a dip, very limited on protein, and won't eat any cereal other than baby muesli made into balls (so no cereal with milk) 

The videos are wonderful to look back on!  I almost pee myself laughing at some I have 

[bexandlucy]

Ha! Yes the videos are awesome! I didn't get enough with Lucy.

Ok serious question....

We are a couple weeks in now with the BLW and Miles was 6 months old yesterday. He is a good eater. And I mean good to the point where I'm starting to worry that he is going too fast. He eats (or at least tries to eat) everything I put in front of him and stuff he can manage he is actually eating properly. So things like banana, carrot, etc he chews and swallows. Things like chicken too and I gave him some pizza on toast just now for lunch and he has taken, chewed and swallowed nearly half a slice of bread. (With Tom puree and grated cheese on - crusts cut off cause I burnt them). He is now crying for more. He ate and swallowed a massive piece of chicken the other day, I was just expecting him to gum it and get the juices out.

When people said "he's a hungry baby" I always though "yeah yeah" but this boy doesn't want to stop! He's still getting plenty of breastmilk, and I'm purely BLW no spoons and he is literally feeding himself. But the guidelines say give as much food as he will take, but really my boy would keep going all day?!

[Fiver]

DD was a bit like that.  I just cut her off when I ran out of whatever I'd prepared!

[creations]

DS was like that too.  It's quite a common worry for mums - we either worry they are eating too much or worry they are not eating enough, never satisfied are we?  We always have to worry about something!

I would just keep offering until you run out of food.  I gave as much as I had (or as much as I had worked out was allowable based on salt content because something with both cheese and bread like you describe has higher salt content than say steamed carrots) and if he was still looking for food would offer something else, usually fruit or if I had any pancakes left over in the fridge give him those.
So long as the milk intake continues everything is fine.

[MeAndVee]

I want to start DS2 but haven't a clue what to start with. DS1 we started with singleton purees so BLW is new for me. I did give him avacado and sweet potatoe cubes. Figured cant go wrong with soft. But now I'm stuck. Is there anything I shouldn't give? What's the best way to serve? Cubes? Sticks?

He is loving this whole eating thing. He isn't very dexterous yet. I would put a chunk on my palm for him to try picking up and instead he would just grab my hand and pull it towards his mouth. DS1 nearly fell out his seat laughing. This will be fun!