Any early BLWrs out there!? (5 months)

[bsd]

I started reading the BLW book and fell in love. I'm so glad I'm doing this approach! Ben has been trying to grab our food for weeks.. and has been sitting up almost unattended for a while too. So we thought we'd let him sit in his high chair and play in the food if he wants to!

Well he does want to.. and the first thing he does is put it right in his mouth! He loves it and I'm very amazed how interested he is in it. I don't do it all the time (Maybe once every other day) but should I not be doing this? The book encourages to let babies play in food as soon as they are interested. I mean he won't be able to eat it for a few weeks anyway. His muscles obviously won't let him swallow the food until he's ready, so I'm just letting him explore!

Anyone else's LO's showing sign's of early readiness like Ben? And if so how is it going for you?

 

[Indi84]

my lo has been picking up and eating food since 5 1\2 months (when we started weaning) he could sit, pick the food up, put it in his mouth, swallow it, I figured I'd take his lead!
he's been fine, i didn't let him have gluten till he turned six months, but it was only a two week wait

 

[Excalibur]

Our little man was eating Organic Cheese Puffs with Herbs at 5 months, he totally skipped the baby rice stage! He has been showing signs that he is ready for quite a while now though

 

[b4baby]

I am TW mine but if she grabs at food I am having and it is suitable I let her have a go. She really likes fruit and was holding a whole mango the other day whilst trying to eat. She has been doing this since she was about 5 months old. Personally I think if the baby wants to it is fine as long as they are supervise! Not sure my HV would agree with me haha.

 

[bsd]

Haha thanks ladies!

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I am a very impatient person so I knew from the beginning that waiting until 6 months would be tough. So I felt guilty like even though he looks ready I still need to wait. But then I read that book and it changed a lot about how I thought about it. It explains if he's sitting up, grabbing food, and wanting to explore than chances are he's already ready. I'm afraid to mention to my doctor I started experimenting weeks before I was suppose to..

He's doing so well though! I always supervise when he eats, and recently he started taking bites off things! Not swallowing them he always makes this weird face when he actually gets a bite, then he'll spit it out and look at it very confused haha. I'm LOVING blw so much!!

 

[Excalibur]

I wouldn't worry about what your Doctor thinks, I know the feeling of feeling a bit guilty though but at the end of the day, you are their Mummy and you know what is best for them

 

[Twister]

I do agree with the 6 month guideline, but I also believe in waiting till baby is showing signs of readiness, so if your baby was sitting unaided, lost the tongue thrust and was grabbing at food before 6 months then I don't see why you couldn't start! Six months is typically when these things happen for most (but not all) babies hence why guidelines say 6 months. BLW babies don't tend to eat unless they're ready anyway and a bit of food play won't do any harm.

I started 1 week before 6 months, (so not exactly 'early') because that was when she started showing the signs of readiness so I followed her lead and went for it.

 

[Rachel_C]

The NHS 'banana test' is very much in line with BLW anyway, so if your doctor disapproves you could suggest that he/she looks into the NHS guidance Anyway, if LO isn't eating the food, just playing with it, you're not weaning yet anyway. I'm pretty sure LO has to actually be eating before it counts

 

[bsd]

Yes I definitely agree with the 6 month guidelines as well but I'm pretty sure Ben is just an early bloomer with some things! You are suppose to wait 6 months until they sleep on their stomach but Ben's been doing it for over a month now. It didn't matter how many times I'd flip him over he'd just roll right over to his stomach. They say 6 months is the guideline because that is when most babies can roll with no issue, and have enough head strength. But I had to convince myself with the belly sleeping that he must be ready for it if he's doing it!

So with that said.. he's started chewing and SWALLOWING little bits of food! He advanced so quickly!! Now I'm afraid to let him play lol because I do think it's a little early for him to be eating the food. Not to mention I want to BF to at least 1 year so I think I'm just going to do it a little less often until we get a little closer to 6 months... didn't expect him to figure it out that quickly!


And what's the NHS? Or the 'banana test' ?

 

[Twister]

NHS is the national health service, its a UK thing

Not sure what the banana test is lol. If you're worried about bf maybe just offer one meal every other day or something? That way he gets to play/experiment/eat but it's unlikely to interfere with that.

 

[Snow Owl]

The banana challenge is something the NHS reccomend. Apparently if they can sit in a high chair, reach and grab a peeled banana and eat some of it they are ready to be weaned

 

[bsd]

The banana challenge is something the NHS reccomend. Apparently if they can sit in a high chair, reach and grab a peeled banana and eat some of it they are ready to be weaned

Weaning as in ready to start cutting milk feedings out!? Oh my goodness that thought scares me! I feel like I still want to nurse him 5 times a day until the day we stop.. but I guess I have to start slowly decreasing that number.. I just feel like the day I had to start that process is far, far away! I guess it's coming sooner than I think

 

[Indi84]

I think weaning means something different here in the UK, just means starting to give food, as opposed to weaning off milk!

 

[bsd]

Ohh okay thanks

 

[Feronia]

Hey bsd! I've been meaning to post in your journal for ages now, but the baby is making it difficult.

Anyway, we just started BLW today -- 10 days before she is 6 months old. She had all the readiness signs and even reached out, grabbed, and ate a portion of a banana (peeled slightly), so I guess she passed the test. She ended up eating an entire stock of broccoli as well! If Ben has all the signs then I think you guys are good to go!

So exciting, isn't it?

 

[bsd]

Hey bsd! I've been meaning to post in your journal for ages now, but the baby is making it difficult.

Anyway, we just started BLW today -- 10 days before she is 6 months old. She had all the readiness signs and even reached out, grabbed, and ate a portion of a banana (peeled slightly), so I guess she passed the test. She ended up eating an entire stock of broccoli as well! If Ben has all the signs then I think you guys are good to go!

So exciting, isn't it?

Oh no worries I totally understand! My journal isn't exactly easy to catch up on either, thanks to my lengthy posts..

Yeah Ben is loving it! I offered him steamed carrots (mentioned in your journal a few minutes ago) and steamed broccoli and he definitely prefered the carrot! He grabbed the stalk of the broccoli and put the leafy part to his mouth and made the funniest face! He did NOT like the way it felt I think! He pulled it back out and looked at it, and tried again.. same reacation except this time he dropped it right away and went for the carrot again.. so funny!!

I love BLW it's so great!!

 

[Excalibur]

We are hoping to start BLW with our little man, he will be 6 months on the 19th. What food do you ladies advise that we should start off with?

 

[Twister]

Anything really, the first time we gave her a sweet potato chip but the next day she had some spaghetti Bolognese.

 

[Excalibur]

Twister - Thank you. Tyler already has Organic Cheese Puffs and loves them, he also tried a bit of my toast earlier!

 

[Twister]

Toast is a big hit in this house!