Baby-Led Weaning Support Thread #1

[sarah13h]

Hi y'all!  I've been lurking in the background for a while, plucking up the courage to try blw with my ds who is 5.5mths.  I've been impressed with & inspired by what your lo's have managed to accomplish.  Well, it's a success to far with him happily nibbling away at bits of brocoli & nectarine - Organix rice cakes next I think.

My question is about his milk intake though (so is this the right forum?).  I know that with blw his milk intake is important because that's where he gets his nutrition from....and we started weaning him slightly early due to the amounts he was drinking.  He's always been an erratic drinker, with initially anything from 6-9oz 5 times a day.  Well, now he has anything from 2-9oz a bottle!  I realise that weaning will lower his intake, and he's completely satisfied with the 30-35oz a day he's now having.  But will his intake begin to average out over the day, or is it normal to have some small & some big bottles?  If you haven't guessed already, ds is my 1st!  lol.

[Freya'sMum]

Welcome Sarah!

Well, BLW is considered to be a natural progression from demand breastfeeding, and demand breastfeeders will say that their los take what they want when they want, so I guess by taking a variety of quantities at different times of the day, your lo is actually doing this with his formula! As long as he's still taking his pre-solid foods quantity, and just topping up with the solid foods, I don't suppose it matters when he drinks what, in fact, it fits the BLW approach very nicely!

Ali, Sam has really taken to this approach hasn't he? A champion BLW baby! Eryn won't touch tomatoes, she looks at them suspiciously and at most prods them with her finger , she's also on cauliflower strike this week, last week she couldn't eat enough of it!

Ax

[STraverse]

This sounds very interesting...what do you introduce in place of cereals? or do you still offer the baby cereals as a first food? A little confused but definately interested in this approach. Where can I get more detailed info...there are pages and pages of posts on this topic I know, but I'll never get throught them all.

[Aly Mac]

Here's a good one.

http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/

I'm not doing BLW in the true sense of hte word as I started wiht puree.  They say on the blog to try weetabix but my lo didn't go with that.  Cheerios is apparently good too.  I give L wholemeal toast sticks and now pasta spirals, but also vitabrits as mush.... but if you are wanting true blw, don't go the mush

hth

[Freya'sMum]

Welcome STraverse!

Here is the BLW FAQ post, should tell you everything you need to get started!

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=92560.0

Ax

[DJs mummy]

Hi everyone,
I'm kind of still in    We are doing a mix of BLW and purees and Hannah is loving it.  I've posted a link to one of my favourite BLW photos.  There's lots more on the dropshots site in my signature if you want to look.  So far, she's had banana, nectarine, cucumber, toast, cheese, breadsticks and rusks.

http://www.dropshots.com/day.php?userid=68549&cdate=20070717&ctime=110643

I never really thought it possible that someone so small could make so much mess in such a short space of time    Honestly sometimes she can cover herself, the highchair (and me!) in about 5 seconds flat.

Still reading along and finding it all very useful.

Happy BLWing 

[Aly Mac]

dopey me  forgot our own FAQs....

[Wink's Marmy]

So I braved it and gave DD a big slice of cantaloupe tonight (w/out the rind). She choked/gagged a little when she stuffed her mouth, but it was OK. My heart stopped beating and everything I read in books "pea or marble sized bites" raced through my mind. But she was fine and she ACTUALLY enjoyed it! SHe played with it for a few minutes before actually eating it. It was so encouraging because she hasn't wanted anything but grainy foods & avocado. I also gave her half a brown rice- rice cake and she loved that too. Although she was more interested in picking up the crumbles with her pincer grasp than holding the rice cake to eat it. Anyway, what do you do with the last bit of a big chunk of food that is too big for one bite, but too small to keep holding? (this is what she gagged on). When she whittled her second slice of cantaloupe, I tore the last bit into small bite sized pieces but she wouldn't pick it up & eat it after that!

[Aly Mac]

Well done Winnie-Kate!!!!  They get over the gag thing much quicker than we do LOL!

Normally L just holds onto the last piece for dear life - then iether drops it for the dog to eat or try to stuff into into her mouth but it falls into her lap, then on to the next bit!

It's fun isnt' it?

[Sharondp]

Just a quick visit to let you all know we're still doing OK 

Welcome to all the new BLW'ers!

Mozarella cheese on toast is a definite favourite for Leo - he also loves his pasta spirals and sweet potato wedges - loves his carbs - just like his mum! 

[Bryony]

Hazel - wow, sounds like Hannah is doing really well!  Love the picture.  How did the move go? 

Katie has now tried apple, banana, rice cake, sweet potato, carrot, cauliflower and broccoli.  I think her favourites are rice cakes and broccoli, the others are a bit too slippery for her to hold - I need to buy some cornflakes to coat them in cornflake crumbs as everyone suggested a few pages back.  The rice cake kind of disappears, but I then rediscover most of it later on the floor, high chair, Katie's clothes, my clothes...  so not sure how much of it has been swallowed!

How do you get over the mess?  I am a bit of a tidy control freak and so having food smeared everywhere is a bit of a challenge.  I'm not a cleanliness freak, but a tidiness freak, if that makes sense...  suspect I just need to get over it as there will be many years of it!

I also wondered, for those of you with Tripp Trapp high chairs, what do you put the food on?  do you just put it on the table?  I am never sure what's best - the table, or to put in on some kind of non-slip plate.  Either way it seems to end up in the floor in two seconds flat!

Jennifer - I love your new avatar, she's so cute!  When Katie gets to the last bit in her hand, she forgets it's there and then when she next opens her hand it just falls on the floor.

Bryony

[Sharondp]

Bryony  - quick reply - I have a Tripp Trapp and currently put the food on the table - although I'm going to get a tiny diner portable mat to stick on the table. I've tried table mats but Leo finds it fun to pick them up and throw them! 

[Bryony]

ooh, Sharon, I'd be interested in knowing more about this portable mat thing - I've tried non-slip plates and table mats but they all end up in Katie's mouth and then on the floor...!

Bx

[Lydiasmom]

Hi guys.

Well we've started.....kinda!
Lydia has had an ear infection for a few days and have been giving her medicine from the spoon, yesterday she took the spoon from me and shovelled the medicine in herself...soooooo, got me thinking!!
After steaming veg for my own evening meal, I gave her a broccoli tree to hold.  Straight to her mouth it went.  After a few scrunched up facial expressions, she smiled and looked to be chewing a bit then went for some more.  I don't think she swallowed much after that but it's a start.

Doesn't one little tree make a mess though....I understand what you guys are all saying!!  When I got her ready for a bath there were "branches" in her socks!?!?

[Bryony]

Hi  Rachel...  yes I have decided broccoli is best eaten for tea so that it's not that long till bathtime!

B