Baby-Led Weaning Support Thread #1

[Bryony]

Ali, that pasta sauce sounds lovely!  I am sure Katie would enjoy it if she could get it into her mouth - might give it a go!

Bx

[Freya'sMum]

Ali,

Can't see any obvious allergens, most tomato sauces have onion and garlic in, it sounds really very healthy, nutritious and very very yummy! Perhaps when you post it just highlight that it has many ingredients and that parents should remember that it can be difficult to identify which their child is allergic to if they haven't tried these foods individually first.

Sadly my girls like plain or pesto coated pasta, won't touch it if it's a red sauce, so will have to wait until they change their minds again!

I had to run the face painting stall at our local fete today, leaving dh in charge of them both for 6 hours - I don't think they had a healthy, balanced diet today from what Freya has told me, plenty of icecream, carrot cake, burgers and potato wedges, not much fresh fruit or veg! Still... a little bit of what you fancy eh?

Ax

[Lippy Chick]

Hi all, back from our hols.  Had a relaxing time and Alice slept every night.  We thought her sleep might be disturbed in a new place. 

Anyway, ordered Alice's highchair today from Boots (get my points too!!) and am waiting for that to arrive before I start BLW.  Am going to meet up with my HV to discuss how to start with it all.  Phoned her whilst away and she left a message on the phone to say that she is happy to support me through the whole process.  She is just brilliant.  We weren't sure whether or not Alice was ready for a highchair (she's 5 months and 9 days), but visited a friend with a 2 year old whilst on holiday and she put Alice in the highchair and she sat in it fine.

Read through all the posts from the past week and someone said (sorry can't remember who) that you thought it was best to stick to one food at a time.  I thought that too.  I guess it is a good idea because then you can work out what foods agree with the child or not.  I find myself thinking, oh I can't giver her that, she'll be too young, because that's what we're trained to think, so the BLW way of feeding is going against all of that.  It feels like it's going against my instincts, but then I find myself questioning where these instincts have come from to give puree and only finger foods at around 9 months.  Does that make sense?

It's great to see how well everyone is getting on.  I gave Alice a drink of water out of her doidy cup today.  She was a bit hesitant initially, but then started drinking the water and then was coming back for more.  She started holding onto one of the handles and I let her guide it to her mouth, whilst I was still holding it.  She was managing to get it to her mouth and drink from it.  When she didn't want any more I poured the water out and let her "play" with the cup.  She held it in one hand, then the other and then in both hands and was putting it up to her mouth.  What clever babies we have.  With every day she is feeling less and less like a baby.

Anyway, must go and finish her bottles for tomorrow. 

Pauline   

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

[I had to run the face painting stall at our local fete today, leaving dh in charge of them both for 6 hours - I don't think they had a healthy, balanced diet today from what Freya has told me, plenty of icecream, carrot cake, burgers and potato wedges, not much fresh fruit or veg!

Carrot cake has veggies in it! 

[Freya'sMum]

Carrot cake has veggies in it! 

Sorry, my mistake !

Ax

[lotteloulou]

Hi all, i'm new here hope you don't mind me joining you, charlie is 8m 3w and refuses to eat from a spoon far to independant for that, she's bottle fed at the moment and my concern is that she's not eating enough solids, i was wondering if anyone could give me an idea of what there child eats, many thanks.

[Lippy Chick]

Hi Lotteloulou,

Welcome.  I haven't started yet, but others may suggest recipes or books which they've used.  I got Mommy Made... by Martha and David Kimmel, there are loads of recipes in it.  Someone mentioned another book about finger foods for babies, which I thought about buying.  Finger foods for babies and toddlers by Jennie Maizels.  Don't have it, so wouldn't know what's in it.  There is a recipe section on this site.

https://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?board=10.0

Hope you can find some really yummy recipes to fill Charlie up.

Pauline

[Cornish smiler]

Pauline, I have that book and it was me who recommended it last week - it's got loads of ideas of things to try.

Lotteloulou, welcome to this site.  I'm sure that Charlie will enjoy doing BLW -  it's so simple!!  All we do is to give Sam some of whatever we're eating (obvioulsy don't give anything she's allergic to) and that's it.  The main goodness should be from the milk so it's important not to cut back on that, which seems different to babies who go down the 'traditional' route of purees etc.  The saying for BLW is 'until one it's just for fun' and this is important to remember.  All we are doing is giving our los different tastes/textures etc, not making them sit there and spoon feeding them a big bowl of gloop iykwim!!!! 

Doing BLW has actually improved all our diets as we now have an organic vege box weekly and I do a lot of pasta sauces from this and did a nice omlette (sp?) today with spinach, courgette, tomato and sweetcorn in which he just loved.  I've put a few recipes on the recipes board and will do the pasta sauce that Sam enjoyed later today/tomorrow.  We haven't come across anything that Sam isn't keen on apart from avocado but, so far, he's tucked into everything else.

You'll find that to start with Charlie will just pick at her food but gradually as she gets the hang of it she'll take more on board.  As I said, the milk is providing most of the nutrition so don't worry if she doesn't seem to be having much.  The thing is she's learning about different foods.  A nice thing we do is to put lots of different finger shaped food on the table and just let Sam take whatever he fancies.  You'll find that the pincer grip will improve too so they can pick up Cheerios and even raisins.  Sam is much more dextrous (sp?!) than his big sister was at his age and can pick up tiny pieces with great finesse.  One rule is you shouldn't feed them small things yourself as it can be a choking hazard - they won't choke on food they can pick up themselves, which is why shoving raisins into their mouths is not safe unless you know they can pick them up.

Hope I haven't rambled on too much!    I'm sure the other lovely ladies on here will have advice for you too, but feel free to ask if you have any questions.

The main thing is to have fun with food!!!!!!!!

Ali

[lotteloulou]

Thanks for the replys, we've been doing finger food for a couple of weeks now and she still takes about 30oz of milk which i think can only be good as it gives her everything she needs, other mothers look at me like i'm mad because she's not on 3 meals a day i suppose i just needed reassurance that everythings ok, thanks again.

[Freya'sMum]

lotteloulou,

Feel reassured - BLWers are in a minority, and many have reported that others around them think they're mad (myself included, my inlaws were horrified!), but I genuinely believe that this is the way of the future (and past) and is so much better for babies, and very closely linked to the whole BW philosophy!

Post here as often as you like for support and reassurance, and of course please share your stories of the whole experience!

Your avatar is gorgeous btw,

Ax

[grahamsmama]

So, we're just getting started with all of this!  Dd has chewed on pieces of apples, bananas, and avocado.  She "teethes" on carrot sticks that haven't been steamed.   I wonder, though, for steaming carrots.   How long do you steam them so that they're cooked enough for a toothless baby to munch, but not so much that they fall apart?
Thanks!!

[Cornish smiler]

I do them for 7 minutes and that seems just about right for Sam.  HTH

Ali

[Bryony]

Lyn - it's a bit trial and error really!  I steam them until they feel firm but cooked with a prod of a fork     

Lottieloulou - welcome!

I think Katie's pincer grip might be getting TOO good - she pulled on my necklace yesterday and it broke, and in the split second between it breaking and the beads showering onto the floor she managed to get a tiny wooden bead the size of a pea into her mouth     I couldn't work out where it had gone but I knew there was one missing. Eventually the mmm, mmm sounds coming from Katie gave it away and I managed to extract it.  Alls well that ends well, but is sure gave me a scare!!

I think Katie has now worked out how to "bite" in a toothless kind of way. She managed to knaw up most of a breadstick yesterday. It's fascinating watching each stage develop. First she learned to pick things up and suck on them, now I feel like she can bite bits off - next I expect will come mashing them up in her mouth to swallow.  All very exciting!   

Bryony x

[Cathy_D]

Hi all!

Very impressed with Bryony's pincer grip!!  Can see that this would have been pretty scary at the time, though!

Am really encouraged to keep on hearing how well some of the LOs who are a bit older than Anna are doing with this. She's great at picking stuff up and shoving it in her mouth but actual swallowing is rarer!  I had one of those 'what on earth am I doing to her?' moments yesterday watching a friend with twins of five and a half moths shovel parsnip puree into two VERY eager mouths. They absolutely loved it, and I sat there with Anna thinking how deprived she was that she only gets the odd mouthful of carrot and bean that she's managed to chew into submission   

But then I came here again and remembered that this is OK!!!!  So thank you all 

Other exciting news - we're going to get a Tripp Trapp. Off to choose colours later this week. Only 2 weeks in and I am already sick of the uncleanable-crevices in our existing, folding high chair.  Sat her in a friends Tripp Trapp yesterday and she looked SO much more comfortable, so I am utterly persuaded.

We, too, struggle to steam things to chewable-but-not-disintegrating texture. Anyone got any suggestions on how to steam things in the microwave? I'm sure it must be do-able but I never use my microwave for anything much so am not sure how to go about it. Tried once and ended up with still-very-hard but absolutely super-heated veg which wasn't very useful...

Cathy

[Bryony]

Cathy - I haven't had much success with steaming stuff in the microwave - it doesn't come out as nice as in the steamer.  I think it's too easy to overdo it so that it's soggy. I have give up and have gone back to the steamer in the pan.    I think you will love the Tripp Trapp!  When we go out Katie sits in whatever highchair is available, and I feel her posture is much better in the Tripp Trapp. And yes it's easier to clean.

Bryony x