11 months too late for blw??

[Feebster1]

Ok so after much debate this weekend im thinking about trying blw for lo. She used to prefer spoon fed only but the last few days she has been prefering to pick up her own. Wondering if i can take advantage of this or is nearly a year old too late to start?

She has always been a problem eater since birth with even bottles seemingly too much hassle to be bothered with!
We have had issues getting her to accept new thigs so maybe this would be a less stressful option? Would just love her to enjoy her food!

 

[Rachel_C]

It wouldn't be BLW because you do that right from the start but TW involves finger foods anyway. I've never done TW but a quick google suggests that babies from 10 months ish would usually be on normal foods chopped up for them and they'd mostly be self-feeding anyway at that age, so it sounds like your LO is probably just ready for the next stage of TW to me.

 

[biglebowski]

Yeah it wont be traditional BLW but stuff labels. Sounds like your lo is keen to start being a bit more independent with her grub, good for her!! Just use the principles of BLW, offering lo finger foods and seeing how she gets on. With my lo I offer exactly what we are eating or keep stuff in the freezer if its not suitable. It's great as you can relax a bit and let baby be in charge of how much (or little) they want. Remember, babies are wee survivors. If she doesn't eat, she doesn't feel hungry. Try to stay relaxed and make mealtimes fun. I also have lo up beside me when I'm cooking so he feels involved, he loves watching and smelling the food. He loves to steal the fruit as I add of to his porridge. I chop veg at the table when he's in the highchair and offer him a nibble if he's curious. I'll sit on the floor with him in my lap and offer him some of "my" rice cake and we share it. Or sit on the floor and have a wee picnic. I hope you both get on well, and try to have fun. Take the pressure off yourself, lo is doing great. She's a wee cutie, love your avatar!!

 

[biglebowski]

Just reread that, sorry for the overuse of the word "wee"!!!

 

[Feebster1]

Thanks

Sat in her highchair just now and has refused totally to eat the porridge fingers ive made her and just cried at me for about 5 mins (no tears though!!). Now she has found the cheese chunks she is happily eating them!!
Actually think she complains till she gets something she likes because as soon as its cheese or a bit of toast she is suddenly hungry!!!

Trying ignore her a bit at the moment as she always seems worse with new things when she has an audience!

Have ordered the blw cookbook so i can try other things for lunch and when we have curry etc. Mostly though i always have what we are eating whizzed up a bit if needed and some of it just on her tray but it usually all ends up on the floor and no where near the mouth!

Has never had a good appetite but i always worry she isnt eating enough when it comes to the solids!
Never had all this drama with first one she just ate everything! lol.

Guess thats that then, shouting for more cheese and still not touched the porridge fingers!

 

[SarahBear]

As others have said, it's not baby led weaning. That being said, however, switching to finger foods is an excellent idea!

 

[minties]

Even with traditional weaning I had Thomas totally on feeding himself by 11 months, actually closer to 9 months I think.

She's probably bored of being fed. Here's a little chart I was given for finger foods, Sophie started on most of these at 6 months as we did BLW.

https://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j10/a31cefiro/DSC_0324-1.jpg

 

[Feebster1]

Thanks for the pic minties.
Since about 7 months she has been offered about 80-90% of that chart, only thing that has been a huge success so far is the cheese and toast minus the marmite! Oh and pasta when she is in the mood.

Shall just keep trying!!

 

[mwah_xx]

Around 9-10 months my LO became a spoon refuser too. So we just went with it and didn't get too stressed.

Days I was worried about it i gave him an extra milk feed even though he had dropped his morning feed by then.

Now he's getting lots better and eats all his meals himself, our walls testify!!!

We've found that we just put a couple of things down at once so he eats them. All in bite sized pieces generally as he loves to shovel them in! Offering him his bowl and letting him get it himself helps.

With fruit it needs to be really ripe for him to like it, especially thing like nectarines. Blueberries tend to be a hit any time of day!

Veggies - we struggle with! I hide them in sauces (for my dh too ) and mix with pasta/meatballs. I also share off my plate and let him "feed me" (snotty sandwich delicious bleugh!) mealtimes take a long time here it feels like!!!!

 

[Feebster1]

So today was pretty much a disaster!

Lunch was a sandwich with porridge fingers and a little cheese as she loves that, refused to even touch the porridge fingers, spat out a bit of sandwich and ate the cheese, then sat and gurned till i produced more cheese which she scoffed!

Dinner was salmon, peas n carrots and potato with a sauce made with creme fraiche, refused everything and just shoved it around and even refused it when whizzed up on the spoon! Thought this would have been ok as she loves fish pie! So again she sat and gurned until i fed her a yogurt (which i had planned on for pudding anyway) and then cried when it was finished!

My question is do i keep giving in and feeding her something else when she has refused whats made or do i stick to the plan and hope she learns quickly its food so when your hungry you eat whats going?!
Hate to think of her being hungry but right now im convinced she is trying to wait me out as she knows i will give in and get her what she likes!

Thanks for your help ladies, am being much calmer about it and decided well she gets what we get and thats it but i dont want to be overly cruel either!

 

[minties]

That's a tricky one! Sophie is a garbage disposal pretty much, she's never refused anything so I'm not sure what I would do. With my toddler I mainly just give him the things he likes as the tantrums aren't worth it really. I do offer him 'weird' things again from time to time and he forgets that he hated them.

 

[mwah_xx]

When he refuses things I move onto the next bit of the meal but leave everything he's refused on his tray. Sometimes on preloaded spoons. He sometimes doesn't realise!

With the cheese - if it's soft enough can you push things in it?

Before we moved totally onto self feeding and still had whizzed up food and he was being a pain I used to dump it on the tray and let him play whilst giving him what he liked (yogurt at the time, now I can't get it in him as he wants to feed himself and likes the way the yogurt flies off the spoon onto the wall....!) x

 

[Feebster1]

Yep i generally leave everything lying there till the end.

Once she decided she doesnt like whats on the spoon she just turns her head, even if i show her me putting something on it from my plate she isnt daft enough to fall for it!

Could try that with the cheese but im having to put out bite size pieces because she just shoves it in so not sure what i could use.

Gave her the pre loaded spoon yesterday, she sniffed it and then chucked it over the side!!

Think im going to try and avoid giving in and see what happens, will top up with bottles if needs be.
Thanks ladies, really hope this doesnt last too long, would love to go out to eat with her and know i can let her eat what were having and she be happy!!

 

[joeyjo]

She seems to be going for calcium based things so giving milk probably isn't a bad idea. Are the yogurts flavoured/ sweetened kid yogurts or just plain natural yogurt. If they are flavoured I'd be a little concerned about the sugars etc.

In terms of self feeding breakies we found with a little milk worked really