Baby led weaning (BLW) - I am eating my words (as lo eats my food!)

[Dani_Ldn]

I just want to say that before joining this forum, I knew nothing about blw. Then when I learnt about it, I thought that it was some silly 'new age' introduction & that it wasn't for us. Boy was I wrong!

So, I started trying to introduce purees at about 6.5 months (after ebf up until then), lo didn't want any of it & it got to a point where he would cry when we tried to feed him, so after getting frustrated at meal times & stopping solids for a few weeks, I decided to try blw.

It has been about 4 weeks now & we started off slowly, mainly with lo just touching the food, but not eating it, but this week he has really got into it, eating bits of toast with peanut butter, his little organix biscuits & today he has gobbled up watermelon & honey dew melon at lunch & dinner! He likes egg made into a plain omelette, has tried spaghetti bolognaise, apple, avocado (didn't really like it), cucumber, cous cous (hubby gave him that when I wasn't there!). Give him another month & he will probably be eating loads more!

I just wanted to say thanks really, I am all for blw now & have told a few friends about it!

 

[sevenofnine]

I love BLW! My LO didn't care for puree's either, so I started giving her bits of my food and that worked SO much better.

So far we haven't been able to find something she won't like!

Today for lunch she had a cheese, spinach, and tomato sandwich, and a half an avocado... man can this girl eat!

I'm so glad it's going well for you!!

 

[Loubyroo]

Same here ladies, my girl started 5 days ago and it going great guns! She LOVES eating absolutly everything! 😄

 

[sue_88]

go Flynn!!

Millie LOVES her food, just today she wolfed down my salad garnish on my panini plate some pasta & garlic bread at dinner. Tomorrow we're on avocado, cheese, Organix at lunch and meatballs for dinner!

She's had a fee puréed too and does like them but soon they'll be gone

 

[deafgal]

My LO would never let me spoon feed her. She kept her mouth clamp shut. I placed super soft food on her plate and she would mouth it as she does with all her toys then try to eat it. And it worked for her

 

[cocosianelle]

Silly question but how do you give avocado? Haven't tried it yet but see lots of people offer it

 

[deafgal]

You just chop it up. I personally don't like avocados so I never could understand how some babies love it and would actually eat it.

 

[Peggy O]

We do both, but now at one year old I think we have moved (mostly) past puree, as most of it gets happily raspberry-spit into my face. She REALLY wants to eat all by herself now, but she only likes a few foods so far. Broccoli, Cheerios, rice crackers and banana mostly. Hates all other fruits for some reason, and will not touch carrots.

 

[maybebaby3]

I'm thinking about blw this time. Glad it's going so well

 

[sevenofnine]

Silly question but how do you give avocado? Haven't tried it yet but see lots of people offer it

I just cut it up! Pick a ripe one and they're squishy too, so it's a really good food to offer!

She LOVES it! But I eat TONS of avocado, so we have it a lot!

 

[Sarah125]

Glad it's going so well for you and Flynn

We love BLW here. Sophie loves eating everything herself and I get peace to eat my meals and a HOT cup of tea. Everyone's a winner

To Coco : we give avocado by itself but also on rice cakes. We chop it on slices or mash it onto the rice cakes and they go down a treat

 

[Rachel_C]

Sounds great, I found BLW a lot of fun for all of us.

It's funny how BLW is seen as a new thing but I don't imagine cave men had blenders, I think they probably did exactly BLW - when LO could crawl to the food and get it themselves, they were allowed to eat it. I find that reassuring

 

[cocosianelle]

Thanks ladies. I've looked everywhere for no salt rice cakes but can't find them. Any tips? I've tried Asda, Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons

 

[Sarah125]

Thanks ladies. I've looked everywhere for no salt rice cakes but can't find them. Any tips? I've tried Asda, Aldi, Tesco and Morrisons

We use the Kallo lightly salted ones as couldn't find unsalted. They literally have a trace of salt in them so I was happy enough with that.

I have since discovered the unsalted ones in poundland though

 

[Etoiles]

I also thought BLW was some new age thing that I wouldn't do but after reading about it I decided to try it and love it! LO loves to feed himself and prefers to in fact.

He is becoming a little foodie and loves things sprinkled with spices. He loved a courgette sliced and then sauteed with different spices. I did some with curry powder, some with Italian seasoning and some with dill.

He also loves cooked butternut squash sprinkled with cinnamon and also enjoys refried beans.

I don't make a lot of special things for him but have made blueberry pancakes, oatmeal banana bites and quinoa lentil cakes and all were a huge success!

it is so much easier than making food purees or serving him out of little jars.

We do give him avocado, it was his first food in fact. We give him a wedge that we cut out of the avocado. Then we wrap the rest of the avocado tightly and it stays good for a while for future meals. Sometimes he likes the wedge sprinkled with a tiny bit of garlic powder.

 

[cocosianelle]

Can you share your blueberry pancake recipe? Been wanting to try these for LO.

 

[Etoiles]

Can you share your blueberry pancake recipe? Been wanting to try these for LO.

Sure! I made this recipe.


I did make some changes such as using breastmilk for the milk and only using egg yolk, not the whole egg. I also had some unsweetened applesauce so I used that instead of the whole apple. Also used frozen blueberries, not fresh.

I froze all the extras and just take them out as needed and heat them in the microwave.

He really enjoys them.

My only tip is the first batch was way too big so I was more careful on my second round to make them small for baby hands.