Baby Led Weaning Support Thread #11

[dburseth]

DS tried a spoon on his own for the first time yesterday.  He's been playing keep away with it lately so I helped him along. He knew what he was trying to do just didn't get very far, lol.

Especially when - if you zoomed ahead to the same kids at 14, you'd probably find them both tucking into a Big Mac with their pocket money!

Too true!

lil ginge, when I get overwhelmed by all the opinions and conflicting information out there I just try to put it in perspective.  There's no way every baby is ready or wants solids at 6 months...its a minimum age recomendation (I believe according to when the gut lining closes?) so its ok to just offer it right now to expose your lo to the experience and keep up the milk feeds.  It seems from what I've read on the BW boards its more around 8-10 months when babies really become more into their solids.  And it seems doctors are still undecided as to what they want to recomend...mine said food for fun till one.  Iron is the only concern and I believe there are studies out there saying they're ok til about 1 year now.  Even if you chose purees its not like you're going to tube feed her if she clamps her mouth, right?  Babies are such evolved amazing little beings and seem to know what they want when they need it.  Yet we adults are always in a competition to who's baby is the fastest it seems!
I do a bit of BLW and purees...at breakfast I'm too lazy to get out the highchair so I sit him on my lap and spoon feed his cereal/fruit or whatever and same if I'm in town for the day, I just don't want the mess of finger foods.  I just make sure I listen to him when he's had enough and don't try to coerce him into more bites and also its immportant to let them tell you when they're ready for another spoonful.  That way they are still in some control of what's in and out of thier mouth.  I found after a week of starting solids that DS's poops turned solid so I knew something was getting down even though it didn't seem like much.  Another thing that makes me relax about the solids intake and keep up the milk is how much undigested food comes through...so how much are they actually getting from thier food at this stage anyhow, iykwim.  Even soft foods like bananas and canned fruit.  I was under outside pressure to get him on solids (family and friends) early and so I tried at about 5.5 months and he had major gassy WUs, so I left it alone for a few more weeks...just goes to show!  When we started again at a little over 6 mos he had no trouble.  My MIL said Oh that's normal when babies start solids(meaning gas and constipation) and I'm thinking, Is it normal for you?!

I am actually v thankful as my MIL is an older lady. Was told COMPLETELY different advice to what we were. But when she sees Autumn woofting down some cheese and giggling at us she said, "I think, why not do a bit of a combo because she looks to me like she is loving that right now!"

You're lucky to have her support!   Mine was all for starting cereal and honey water after 2 months and asked if I was still BFing then. 

[lil_ginge]

we have to be clear of the definition of that and it would seem that lil_ginge was finding that others were expressing what the nature of BLW is (i.e. not pureeing and spoon-feeding, but offering food that LO can eat themselves, unaided or experiment with).  Perhaps that wasn't done in a particularly gentle way on this other forum, but I do feel that clarity is important so that we all know we're on the same page.

Apologies if my initial quote about another forum has caused upset. i should say my quote was a lady defining BLW and i did and do think it is helpful to clarify whats what.

i should have gone on to say the more rude and in my view, demoralising ways some if the mums were acting. this is a good wake up call to post what was actually offensive not allude to it.

one things for sure. it hasnt happened here and there seems a real support and genuine care for other mamas as we all seek to care for our lo's the best way we can. i havent seen a scary ''do this or u have failed At motherhood' attitude here whatsoever.

[lil_ginge]

cam's mum. did u just crawl into my iddy biddy brain and spchlurrr out what i was thinking!? :-D

sorry bout pressure from your mil. brill your Lo is going so well this way!

[dburseth]

Haha...I thought it was a bit of a ramble

[lil_ginge]

ok... this morning she did take some brekky off the spoon. But d'ya know what? She wanted to take the spoon herself and eats far better doing her own thing. This has made me somewhat excited...

So tonights din din is a jalfrezi curry. I was gonna use a pataks sauce so i figured i wanna include her stuff i am already cooking (but to go straight to a jalfrezi... maybe a bit ott!) could i just bake/steam some of the chicken amd plonk that and some rice on her tray? with some of the veg? Do u think making the rice into balls wo
would be easier?! She only just started grub 2 weeks ago and been chipping in with finger food and some of our lunches.... So excited to see what happens tonight!

[lil_ginge]

p.s. i meant pataks paste ... as a curry base. p.p.s i also meant to say take some of the chicken but do some without our yummy curry!?

[anna*]

That sounds good, jarred sauces are often very high in salt

[dburseth]

I found rice a little hard to pick up so I always ended up loading a spoon.  Wild rice cooked so they were popped open and curled  worked good.  I like the sound of rice balls...how would you make it stay together?

[*Ali*]

Thanks for that link Amanda. That was very handy. I never knew that. So actually it isn't a good idea for him to eat iron-fortified cereals? I should eat them instead? We don't have a lot of meat going down yet but he loves mushrooms and sweet potato and squash.


I have offered (basmati) rice in a bowl and let him just grab handfuls. I have a pic I should post when I get on the 'puter. It is very messy. He tried some rice crispies this morning. That was messy too.

I have just taken out chicken and veg from our dinner before adding spices before. Sometimes I add a little tomato or cheese instead for colby.

He is definitely starting to eat more now and the poo proves it.

[brookmom]

hey guys.......Brook is also starting to eat more - she is 9 months this week and we have been doing the BLW for about 2.5 months so it really does take some time.

Needing some inspiration for lunch ideas........yesterday was toast and cream cheese. I put some sweet little yellow tomatoes on top, which she promptly picked off and them sucked the insides out! too funny!! I am making the broccoli nuggets from mamacook which are AWESOME!!

other thoughts of lunch ideas???

thanks!!

[lil_ginge]

Update: I chickened out of giving the chicken. I suddenly thought... hang on a momento - should I introduce that a bit later? We've been eating solids for 1 and a half weeks!

This leads me to ask... did you guys literally give your LO's whatever you were eating (bar anything that wouldn't be appropriate) or did you introduce some foodies in a finger food type way and work from there?

I haven't bought the book. I feel a bit dodgy about buying it as I had gone and bought the Annabel Karmel one before this revelation (dinero is not in the bazillions!) - so I don't know how one would be advised!

What I did this evening: put some of the courgettes that would have entered our curry into the oven with some parsnips. Accompanying these were 'fingers' I had squished out of rice. (Literally, squished them together Cam's Mum till they were like a finger. Thought - why am I going for a ball when she needs a finger shape?! Did actually add a tiny bit of Philadelphia soft cheese to add consistency) I'm sure they would have been awesome were they not sprawled across the floor with gusto. Courgettes were also thrown into the hemisphere.. Parsnips were sucked to bits!

[anna*]

Ginge, Audrey has been eating food for about the same length of time as your LO. She has tried so much stuff. Duck, beef, lamb, chicken, pork, cod, mushrooms, beans, spinach, egg, pasta, broccoli, beans, carrots, leeks, sweet potato, courgette, porridge, potato in different forms, orange, banana, apple, pear, kiwi - and more that I can't think of... there's no need to go slow as far as I know, as long as there's no history of allergies.

[Fiver]

So actually it isn't a good idea for him to eat iron-fortified cereals? I should eat them instead?

The way I read it was that there is little you can do to introduce more iron to your milk ("Note: Additional iron intake by the mother will not increase iron levels in breastmilk, even if the mother is anemic. Iron supplements taken by mom may produce constipation in baby. Anemia in the nursing mother has been associated with poor milk supply, however.")  He will still be getting easily absorbed iron from your milk.

[lil_ginge]

Ginge, Audrey has been eating ...Duck, beef, lamb, chicken, pork, cod, mushrooms, beans, spinach, egg, pasta, broccoli, beans, carrots, leeks, sweet potato, courgette, porridge, potato in different forms, orange, banana, apple, pear, kiwi - and more that I can't think of... there's no need to go slow as far as I know, as long as there's no history of allergies.

Your case has been heard oh brave one. Wow. I thought I was "out there" by giving Autumn a stick of cheddar! Great. Does she mostly play at the moment or does she have a good suck/actual chew on stuff? I will just see how she enjoys a variety then and wait for a while if she looks at me in disgust with something! Thanks Anna.

[anna*]

It varies from day to day. For the first wee

Ginge, Audrey has been eating ...Duck, beef, lamb, chicken, pork, cod, mushrooms, beans, spinach, egg, pasta, broccoli, beans, carrots, leeks, sweet potato, courgette, porridge, potato in different forms, orange, banana, apple, pear, kiwi - and more that I can't think of... there's no need to go slow as far as I know, as long as there's no history of allergies.

Your case has been heard oh brave one. Wow. I thought I was "out there" by giving Autumn a stick of cheddar! Great. Does she mostly play at the moment or does she have a good suck/actual chew on stuff? I will just see how she enjoys a variety then and wait for a while if she looks at me in disgust with something! Thanks Anna.

She hasn't got the hang of chewing - although she watches us chew very intently, is obviously trying to figure it out. If she breaks off little chunks, she tries to suck them into submission - some comes out again, some goes down (as evidenced by the poops). What she does varies by the day. When she is feeling fine she will have a good old go at anything I put in front of her, but she's quite clear when she's had enough. She has been a bit poorly and for a couple of days was really uninterested in even playing with anything. With meats I give her a pretty big chunk and she just sucks on it. I've found that she prefers not to have too many things on her tray at once so I will give her a piece of broccoli and then sweep up the mess a bit, and then give her a bit of omelette, then sweep up again, then a bit of pear.

(PS I haven't bought the book either, let's just muddle along together?)