BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[NIfirsttimer]

like how easy it is to stick a carrot in the steamer / blender... i dont get it?
i understand the convenience of jars.. when you are out and about / emergencies etc, and im sure some arent bad at all.. ive seen jars of 100% fruit puree etc... but for every meal all the time???/
even the names of them make me feel a bit ill sometimes...
i saw 'carribean pork casserole' the other day while browsing for ideas in the baby food ailse.. how gross does that sound when in a jar.. bleughhh.. (but a big plate of freshly cooked carribean pork casserole doesnt sound half bad!!)

 

[TigerLady]

tbh, some parents feed themselves out of only jars and frozen dinners... or fast food or take away. It probably hasn't dawned on them they COULD or should make their baby's food.

I know people that don't even own a steamer or blender... or don't know what a steamer is. Really.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

you know.. now that i think about it, my OH was ONLY fed jars, then FORCED to eat veg later, or sit at the table alone until bedtime.. which he did most nights.,, and he is THE WORST eater ever.. honestly, he eats like a 3 year old... potato smily faces & turkey dinosaurs.. and im NOT joking!!!!
i worry now cos when i do my shopping they might think all that crap is for ruby, and the nice fresh fruit & veg for me & OH lol!!!

 

[NIfirsttimer]

oooh and i forgot to add...
tonight i had to change THE WORST nappy EVER!! she didnt go yesterday, which is unlike her, but my god did she go tonight...
it actually took the majority of a packet of baby wipes before she was even clean enough for the bath!! there were however DEFINITE bits of broccoli & the baby corn she had for tea last night in there which has gotta be a good sign right?
are the GIANT nappies par for the course when they start actually taking in food??

 

[TigerLady]

Hmm.. maybe this is what Otter has been up to, too. He used to go at least 1-3 times per day. Then, right before Christmas, he started saving it! I thought he was constipated, but now I don't think so... I just think he started waiting longer. This time I decided to wait him out instead of helping him along -- he went for the first time this morning since Saturday. Daycare said he had 3 massive diapers and the first one blew out all over the place. Ooops.

The holding it longer pattern with massive messes started about the same time he got more into BLWing.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

yepp maybe we are onto something!!!
this transatlantic tandem blw thing is useful!!!
she wasnt constipated either, she seemed comfy enough, and it wasnt hard when she did go.. quite the opposite!
im hoping its temporary as that was pretty intense tonight lol.. her vest & top ended up in the bin, she had it between her toes & behind her ears, and had a handful of it at one point.. i had to change my jeans & top just from carrying her upstairs to the bath!!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Oh dear @ the poo incident!

I don't like the idea of jars either... my friends do them...they sound gross too...like spinach and apple puree. Ugh, what a seriously vile combination!

 

[purple_socks]

we played this game at my baby shower where we all had to try some of various jars of babyfood. the lables were all hidden and we had a list of the jar titles and we had to work out which was which. It was so gross. all the dinner ones taste of watered down carrot except the cauliflower cheese which just stased of feet and actually made my friend throw up! And all the puddings taste of weird dusty sugeryness! sometimes we couldn't even work out which was a pudding and which was savoury!! after that game i was put off for life!

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

We've used the cauliflower cheese jar at the very beginning and my LO loved it, now he eats home made the BLW way!
i can understand the conveince of jars for puree fed babies when out of the day. But even when I made some puree's I tried to avoid them. If i went to my Mum's i'd jsut take a puree I made and stick it in her fridge till lunch!

Oh and BTW i don't own a blender or a steamer! Is that bad?!
I would love a steamer tho, the veg is so much nicer cooked in one

 

[joeyjo]

Oh and BTW i don't own a blender or a steamer! Is that bad?!
I would love a steamer tho, the veg is so much nicer cooked in one

Glad its not just me! Think I'm going to get one of those baskets you can use to steam in a normal pan.

 

[kirsten1985]

I just have a pan steamer, like a stack of pans kind of thing. And a hand blender, not a big one.

I like to have a look at the baby jars just for fun when I am in the supermarket Me and Jake try to find the grossest one we can, they usually end up being the whole meaty dinner ones, like roast chicken dinner which looks like snot or something.

Probably a bit rude to do it in the supermarket but oh well. Lol.

I have used a few of the pure fruit ones that we got free, like on rice cakes and in yoghurt, I don't think they're too bad when they're just fruit.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yeah I've used a couple of the pure fruit Ella's Kitchen ones on Ruby's toast, especially the banana one, as Ruby loves them but I gag on sight of one, for some odd reason.

 

[faille]

Oh and BTW i don't own a blender or a steamer! Is that bad?!
I would love a steamer tho, the veg is so much nicer cooked in one

Glad its not just me! Think I'm going to get one of those baskets you can use to steam in a normal pan.

Me neither!
Good job we didn't do the puree route or I'd be standing there mushing all her food for hours by hand

If I did do the puree route though, I don't think I could give her any jars.. They just all look so manky. At least if I made my own I'd know exactly what was in it. I wouldn't like to eat half the combinations that they come up with so I can't see babies liking them either!

Obviously people need to do what's right for them but I don't think I could stomach offering jars - they smell so rank as well, don't wanna imagine what they taste like

 

[NIfirsttimer]

i have a tesco value steamer lol.. think it was £12, and a hand blender.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

We got our steamer basket thingy that goes in the pan for about £10 from Lakeland. Got a hand blender but I don't find it very effective - if we'd done purees I'd have bought a better one.

I wouldn't do jars either. I wouldn't be able to taste them to check the temp was ok etc. Some look nicer than others, like the type that come in pouches look ok but the combos are gross. Tbh, even if babies do like the weird combos, I think it's better for them to taste each individual flavour than have a homogenous mush.

I've just realised, that to date I've found no food that Ruby doesn't like. Since she's been eating, she's eaten everything I've given her that she can pick up / bite / chew. We had tuna and sweetcorn on toast for lunch and she ate nearly a whole slice.

 

[Mumiof2]

My daughter is 8 1/2 months and is currently on jar food. I am really wanting to do BLW as she wants to have anything were having.

I'm just not sure where to start and what to give her ?

Any help is grately appriciated x

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Hi Mumiof2 - do you want to start BLW, or just introduce finger foods alongside the purees? If you want to start BLW, then you will need to increase her milk feeds quite a lot to satisfy her while she learns to feed herself, because with BLW you don't give any purees / do any spoonfeeding. I would advise getting the book 'baby led weaning' by Gill Rapley, it's an essential read for BLW!
If you just want to introduce finger foods alongside the purees, then toast is good starting point, as are sticks of roasted veg, pieces of fruit, rice cakes...check out the finger food sticky too

 

[Mumiof2]

thankyou i'll go take a look at that x

 

[joeyjo]

G had fun at lunch time - he enjoyed pear - some impressive gnaw marks on that and it looks like about half a slice has gone!! Some toast was well sucked and a good chew/suck of some broccolli - it looks like the head of that has been decimated although there were scattered pieces of floret everywehere so suspect none actually got swallowed.

Is there anybody else that kept well tackled bits in the early days to show OH?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Lol Joeyjo I haven't but if I'd thought to I might have done!

In the beginning I kind of liked it when I couldn't tell if any had been eaten or not, saved me being disappointed!