BLW at 6 months

[MoominJ]

Where do I start?

Do I just plonk food in front of him and let him play?
Do the veg have to be cooked?
Do I just start with one meal?

 

[MindUtopia]

Yep, you pretty much just plonk food in front of him and let him at it. More than likely, not a whole lot will happen at first. He'll probably pick it up (or try to, it's not always easy at first), suck on it, maybe try to take a few bites, but might not get anywhere close actually chewing and swallowing. But just let him explore and see what happens. He'll eventually start eating it and you'll start to work out what foods are favourites or at least easier to eat than others. Raw fruit and veg is perfectly fine. Actually, we started with cucumber and pepper sticks and some watermelon, and then moved on to her first proper cooked meal, which was mashed potatoes, roasted carrots and parsnips, and a yorkshire pudding. Things like porridge or yogurt that fingers can be dipped into are good too. You can do as much or as little as you have time for. To start, I really don't think there's any rush to do more than one meal a day and that's all we did for the first month. They don't eat much (or sometimes anything) to start, so I think it can be a bit dejecting to prepare 3 nice healthy meals a day and see it all just mushed and chucked on the floor (which happens a lot at first). I found it worked well just to start with one until I got the hang of it and she actually started to eat things. We added breakfast at 7 months and then dinner most days by about 7.5 months. Also, I just have to say because it can be daunting at first, that BLW is awesome. It's one of the best choices we made. My daughter (22 months) is such an adventurous eater. She loves all sorts of things that toddlers tend not to and we get compliments from strangers all the time when they see what she's happily eating when we're out at restaurants. I really do think it has a lot to do with the fact that we did BLW. So you've made a great choice. Enjoy it! It can be really fun getting started.