Baby-Led Weaning Support Thread #1

[Bryony]

I've tried Katie with peeled grapes - but they fall into the wet and slippery (and therefore can't possibly be a food group!) category as far as she's concerned...

B

[VickyB20]

Re: grapes:- Brynley surprised me last week by putting a whole (unpeeled) grape half way into his mouth and squashing it with his two bottom teeth.  He didn't eat the whole thing but certainly got some of it!  I haven't tried again though... slightly nervous about it...
Vicky
xxx

[Erin (redstarfalling)]

I started out by cutting grapes in quarters around 7 or 8 months old, I think.  DIdn't bother peeling them (easier to hold).  Then I just started cutting them in half, so no real choking hazard.  Sometimes she eats them, sometimes just mushes them around and spits out the peel! 

[Lippy Chick]

Lyn, thanks for the sweet potato idea, will see what you think when you try it out.

I think I'm in need of a bit of encouragement about BLW.  I went to a baby club today (for the first time) and met this girl who has just moved into the area (her son is a week older than Alice) and she asked if I was doing anything for lunch.  Anyway, I invited her back to mine and we had lunch.  Tried to give Alice carrots and she was so tired, she just cried, so put her to bed.  When she was in bed, Liz's son was busy eating away at his sweet potato (mushed being spoon fed) and then really enjoying his petit filous afterwards too.  Alice didn't even look at her carrot.  I felt a bit bad that Alice isn't eating solids yet and I know this is a much slower process, but I think people judge a lot (Liz wasn't at all, at least not knowingly) and probably think one is depriving one's child of a developmental step and giving solid food.  She isn't mushing food up at all yet and is still not seeming interested in swallowing anything.  I'm quite impatient and don't know how long it'll take Alice before she starts eating properly.  I really don't want to cave on this and am quite determined to make it work, I think I just need to know that it will work at some point.  I think I now have a point to prove with the doubters out there.

Anyway, will probably feel better tomorrow about it.  Just hoping she shows signs of wanting to eat soon.

Pauline

[evanskimberley]

Thanks guys, i'll hold off on the grapes for a month or so.
Got apple and orange flavoured rice cakes today, some crips made of sweetcorn and biscottes, which look a bit like toast. All great for having in the bag when we are out or if I've run out of fresh fruit and veg!

Pauline - she's still quite young. It suddenly clicked for Sophie this week and she strted actually eating her food instead of mushing it in her mouth. She'd let you know if she was hungry.

[VickyB20]

Pauline, hugs to you!!  Try not to worry... she's still very young at not even 6 months.  At this age, my boys were taking a couple of teaspoons of mush only at each meal - really not substantial amounts at all.  They actually eat much more now that we do finger foods.  It WILL click for Alice, I'm sure.  Just give her a bit more time.  She just may not be that 'hungry' for solids yet.  I started weaning at 5 months but it's really only the last couple of weeks where I've felt that they would actually notice if we missed a meal IYKWIM.

If you're really worried, you could always try some mush and see how she takes to it.  I'm not doing pure BLW, but a mixture.  We have one finger foods meal each day and then mush (cereal) for breakfast and tea (yoghurt and then more finger foods).  For me, I keep up the spoon-feeding because I'm still hoping to get enough in them for them to sleep through the night!!  So far, those efforts have been in vain! 

Stick with it and I'm sure your efforts will pay off soon.

Vicky
x

[Bryony]

Pauline - your LO is still so young! Many people would not have even started offering food until she was 6 months old so I really don't think you should worry. I have also had moments of doubt along the way so I do know how you feel - but I have also come round to believing that most people are in way too much of a hurry to get thier LOs onto solids, that milk is WAY more important - and that even if they just put the food in thier mouth and lick it, they are getting used to the tastes and textures which is far more important.  And in terms of getting calores in, a tummy full of milk has way more calories than a tummy full of fruit and veg.

Locally I am the only person I know doing BLW - and they do think I am a little odd (not that I care!) but they are all trying to introduce lumpier foods / finger foods around now (8 months) and are having REAL problems - whereas although Katie is eating far less than they are - it's all "real" food!

So hang in there - and don't rush her, she's still soooo young! 

Bryony xx

[Freya'sMum]

Hugs Pauline

Remember that BLW is a way of letting babies learn how to eat on their own, just like you have to let them learn how to walk and talk on their own - your job as mummy is to model what to do (by eating with her), provide her with the tools for the job (some lovely nutritious grub), and give her lots of encouragement and feedback when she does it well!

You can't make a baby walk or talk before it's ready, yes you can offer opportunities to practise (doorbouncers, babywalkers, babysigning, reading books, singing etc) but they do it when they're ready - the thing with eating is that parents have felt under pressure to get their los eating large quantities of solid food much earlier than they developmentally need to because they can by turning it into mush!

All you are doing is letting Alice develop at her pace, which is much more respectful (a very BW philosophy and natural and what she needs to do (drink lots and lots of lovely milk) rather than what society/convention thinks she ought to do!

You have our support,

Ax

[grahamsmama]

But you aren't depriving her of a developmental stage, you're just switching it around a bit.  She will, at some point, eat oatmeal with a spoon.  And she will eat finger foods.  You're just letting her learn the finger food bit first.  If anything, she'll be developmentally advanced because of all the practice using her hands that other lo this age don't get!  One other thing, if you feel like she really needs to eat solids, you can always squish stuff on her tray and let her pick that up and stick it in her mouth.  Mush up the fruit/veggies and put in on her tray, or even in a bowl, and see what she does. 

[evanskimberley]

Or give her the yoghurt pot and see what she does with it!!

[lotteloulou]

I'm looking for a bit of reassurance please, Charlie 9 months old and is currently on 5x6oz milk everyday and still eats hardly anything for example yesterday she had
7am 6oz milk
9am handful of cheerios & sultanas
10am 6oz milk
1pm 1 cracker with cream cheese couple of mouthfuls of pear
3pm 6oz milk
5pm 1/4 banana sandwich 1/4 grape (ran out of veg)
10pm 6oz milk

She still sleeps through the night and never really seems to be hungry so the common sense part of me says she's doing ok but I'm still worried she's not eating enough, help!

[Bryony]

Lottieloulou - I can't offer you any real reassurance, as I am feeling my way with all this stuff too - but I would say that Katie eats similar amounts or slightly less - I know she's a month younger but just thought you might find it useful to know that it's not just your LO!  Like you I figure if Katie is sleeping all night and is putting on weight then it's OK.

Speaking of which, having panicked a bit about Katie's weight two days ago - I plotted it on the WHO breastfed babies growth chart the other day - and she's been 15th centile all the way. The HV's chart makes out that she was 9th centile then dropped recently to 2nd centile, and the HV keeps giving me a hard time and saying I have to force her to take food from a spoon. I think I will go with the WHO chart and ignore the HV.

Katie had a bit of salmon yesterday - DH and I had some (with a spicy salsa breadcrumb crust  ) and I gave some to K to see what she'd make of it. She seemed to love it, crust and all!  She can't get much in the way into her mouth with anything that tends to crumble or flake - but she was sure trying hard and being very persistent!

Bryony

[Lippy Chick]

Ladies, thank you all so much for the reassurances.  It is good to know that she will do it in her own time.  She's just not a hungry baby, she has 4 bottles a day and they vary from 6-8 oz.  She was sleeping through from 7.30 to 6.30(ish) before we went on holiday and since we've come back she's been waking very erratically (goes back to sleep once swaddled and dummied).  The past two nights she's slept through again, so wondering if this is her getting back on track.  Anyway, I digress.  She just doesn't seem that interested in food.  I think I agree with the comments that she'll take it when she's hungry.  We just haven't reached that point yet.  It is also difficult to rage against the flow and go against convention.  However, I do thrive on going against convention and am determined to make this work, because I can see the benefits and understand that it is going to be better for Alice in the long run.

I gave her the petit filous pot I was eating from today after I'd finished and she did lick it.  I'd put a bit on her tray and she ignored it.  I put a bit on the end of the pot and she licked at it.  Then she dipped the pot in and put the wrong end in her mouth.  It was so funny.  So I got a spoon out and dipped that into the PF and gave her the spoon.  She put it straight in her mouth and licked it off, she did that a few times and then we signed finished and she smiled.  That was all after her ignoring the sweet potato for about 10 mins while I was having lunch. 

Thank you all again.

Lotteloulou, I was wondering, what does Charlie do between 5pm and 10pm?  I can only see 4 milk feeds in your schedule.  Have you tried moving to 4 milk feeds a day and giving the last one about 6-6.30pm and then putting Charlie to bed between 7 and 7.30pm?  Is the 10 pm a dream feed?  I  can't advise you on those, as Alice never really took it and so we dropped it fairly quickly.  Alice's day looks something like this.

7am 8 oz milk
8.15am solids (attempts at)
11am 7 oz milk
12.15am solids
3pm 7oz milk
7pm 6-7 oz milk
Then bed.

Of course Alice is quite a bit younger than Charlie, so is still on that 4 Hour Easy.  We're also trying to play around with times as she's either not hungry or getting tired and we're trying to find the right balance between the two.

I'm sure others with older babies can suggest more effectively.

Again thank you all.  Just read through it and it's a bit of an epic.  Sorry about that.   

Pauline

[evanskimberley]

Pauline - has she had her 6 months growth spurt yet? That is when Sophie kicked up a gear and started actually eating - it was over night , really wierd!

[grahamsmama]

We had the same experience, the first three or four weeks of solids Meghan wasn't much interested.  Now she really is!