Baby-Led Weaning Support Thread #1

[lotteloulou]

Hi all, i'm thinking of giving charlie pasta spirals for lunch but not sure what i can put on them if anything, any suggestions?

[Bryony]

Ali posted a lovely recipe a while back - based on tomato mixed with fromage frais I think. I've tried something smilar, or just tomato puree...  or grated cheese...

Bryony

[Cornish smiler]

Hi Lotteloulou, try Charlie with this perhaps - Sam adored it!!  This is the one Bryony mentioned but it's courgette based, not tomatoes.

Creamy Pasta

1 onion
garlic
1 courgette
Fromage Frais
Pesto
Pasta

Finely chop the onion & soften it in some oil with the garlic. Meanwhile grate the courgette & squeeze all of the water out of it. Add the courgettes to the pan and let the whole thing mush down. Stir in some fromage frais (how much depends on how loose you want the mush to be) and some pesto (to baby's taste - I started with a teaspoon and am gradually increasing quantities).  Serve with pasta.

HTH

Ali

[Bryony]

oops I remembered it wrong!  Actually we have some courgettes in this week's veggie box so maybe I will try this as well Ali

Bx

[grahamsmama]

The first time I gave pasta to the other kiddos, I think I just did a little olive oil and some parmasean cheese.  That creamy pasta recipe sounds fantastic, though!

[Cathy_D]

Very impressed with Bryony's pincer grip!!

Obviously I meant Katie's (though I am sure Bryony's is excellent, too!).  Thanks for being gracious enough not to point out my stupidity....!!

We had toast for the first time today, which proved to be a very 'clean' option and opens up the possibility of putting lots of mushy things on it for variety, which is quite exciting.  And she had cucumber yesterday which really went down well and would be great for taking out and about as it is clean and needs no prep other than washing and slicing into sticks.

I first heard of BLW through these boards and don't know anyone else doing it - all my other mum friends are politely interested but I suspect that they think I'm being a bit odd.  The HV is OK about it (aside from a bizarre determination that I feed Anna lentils at the earliest opporunity!).  So far it has been much less messy than I expected since we're still on single ingerdient things (fruit, veg, toast, rusk biscuits etc). Only the biscuit is really messy and even that gets less so every time she has one as her aim improves!

[Bryony]

Very impressed with Bryony's pincer grip!!

Obviously I meant Katie's (though I am sure Bryony's is excellent, too!).  Thanks for being gracious enough not to point out my stupidity....!!

Well I hadn't even spotted the deliberate mistake!!

I am having a "holiday-from-home" this week (long story) - ie as little laundry and housework as I can get away with, and going out to different interesting places every day. And eating lunch out every day. So I will let you know at the end of the weekend how a young BLWer gets on eating in a variety of different cafes and restaurants!!

Bryony x

[Lippy Chick]

I think it's fantastic that people are so open to this as a new way of feeding.  Do you not all feel like pioneers?  Obviously with anything new people are scared of it and also what it means for the way they have been doing things.  When anything new comes along it almost suggests that the "old" way was wrong and therefore people can feel quite defensive about what they have done.

I just had the nursery nurse out talking about this, she's given me the DVD which I think we'll watch tomorrow night, we'd really like to get started on Monday.  The high chair arrived today!!!! We went with the Chicco happy eater (seventy style) in the end.  When I put the tray on it, it did dwarf her a bit, so think I may have to get a cushion for her.  Also going to get a shower curtain, to put on the carpet.

The NN said that BLW tends to be less messy than giving a child a spoon and letting them flick food all over the place.  So it's interesting that Cathy_D says it is more clean.

She also said that the HV is hoping to start up a group in our area, that I'm the guinea pig to see how I get on and maybe go and talk to the parents about how I did it.  So I'm going to take loads of video of Alice and pics to show to them about how she did it.

Quite exciting!!!

Pauline

[Freya'sMum]

I think it's fantastic that people are so open to this as a new way of feeding.  Do you not all feel like pioneers? 

I do, but then I worry that it is delusions of grandeur, and that actually it's not new at all, and in fact we're just reintroducing more natural methods... but whichever, I do absolutely think it's brilliant, and from being more-or-less the only one doing it 4 months ago (on here at least) to now have so many of you joining in is fabulous!

Ax

[Lippy Chick]

It is interesting, though how negative some people are to this.  It kind of makes me more determined.

I couldn't resist putting Alice in her chair and giving her a wee bit of banana yesterday, to see how she'd get on.  She was brilliant.  First she just squished it in her hand.  So then I ate some and put another piece in her hand.  She then put that up to her mouth and started licking.  Her face was hilarious.  So for about 15 mins, I kept eating in front of her and kept offering her bits, I think she may have downed a wee tiny bit.  I took some video and showed it to some friends last night (who are both over 50) and they said it was brilliant how well she did on her first go.  That her hand/eye co ordination was really good and just putting it straight to her mouth.  Another friend (who is in mid 20s and doesn't have children... yet) was veeeerrrry interested.  It was the first night of her Home Group Bible Study last night, hence the different age groups.  Every one who saw the video was really impressed, they may of course just been humouring me.

I think I'm going to wait until we have the carpet covered and start in earnest on Monday.  But very encouraged by my clever girl's first foray into solids.

Pauline

[Bryony]

Go for it, Alice!! 

Bx

[Lippy Chick]

Another question.

The nursery nurse said that I can give Alice sandwiches e.g. dairylea, however, we're supposed to minimise their salt intake.  Bread is full of salt and also is it better to use white bread rather than wholemeal?

Hoping you can help.

Pauline

[Bryony]

Pauline - I give Katie bread - we buy wholemeal bread so she has that    Sometimes I make my own and leave out the salt.

You are right though that there is a lot of salt in bought bread - 0.42g per slice in our current loaf (I've just looked). The salt requirements for a baby around 6 months old is 1g per day - and according to my estimates there is about 0.3g in Katie's daily intake of breast milk - although I did find it hard to find out how much salt there is in breastmilk. So I figure that as long as she doesnt have too much, or have too much other salty food, it's OK. I just mentally keep track and try not to exceed 1g per day...

HTH

Bryony x

[grahamsmama]

I think white bread will make a gloppy paste in their mouth.  I'd use toasted wheat bread.

[Lippy Chick]

That is very helpful, thank you Bryony and Lyn.  I think the difficult thing is we're conditioned to think we can't give certain foods until after a year and this way of feeding says feed whatever, whenever, obviously leaving out allergy type things.

Pauline