BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[TigerLady]

EB is here!!!!! Welcome, hon!

I take one slice of bread (I use oat bread atm). Cut that in half. Put just a touch of dressing on it (like mayo or honey mustard), a half slice of cheese, a slice of meat, sometimes a slice of lettuce or tomato. So it becomes a half sandwich. Then I cut that in half, so he has 2 quarters... like little finger sandwiches. I give it to him like that. He usually picks it apart and eats it in pieces. He really like the bread and concentrates on that first, but also digs the meat and lettuce. In the end, he might have eaten 1/4 of the thing, in bits, the rest is scattered around and mooshed on his tray.

If I am doing grilled cheese, I just cut the bread slice in half, grill it up like I do a normal grilled cheese, then cut that half in half again. Again, making quarters.

I have also done jam sandwhiches. Just made the quarter sandwhiches out of bread and pure fruit jam. Those are yummy to him.

As for peanut butter, I have been thinking of trying that, but am a little nervous. He already has trouble with getting bread mooshed up and stuck in his mouth and then gagging. If I add something sticky like nut butter, I am afraid it will be worse! So I have been waiting until he gets a better grip on the bread eating.

What did other ladies do in regards to nut butters?

 

[Elliebank]

Hi Glad BLW is going well so far!
I put anything on Ruby's toast! So far she's had:
- 100% fruit spread
- Marmite spread very thinly
- Cream cheese
- cheddar cheese (cheese on toast)
- Tuna and sweetcorn
- Tomato puree, mozarella and basil
I use unsalted butter if I happen to have some in but mostly I just use flora buttery.

When I give muffins I cut them up into strips.

I was gonna give her cheese on toast today but she had cheese yesterday (just on it's own) so I didn't know whether cheese should be limited, do you know if it should be? That said, most of it ended up on the floor or smeared all over her cheeks!! Do you use white or brown bread?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I use brown bread, we never eat white bread, but I don't give it every day. Yeah cheese is naturally quite salty, so if she's had cheese I make sure the rest of the day's food has pretty much no salt. It's very hard to avoid completely though!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I haven't given any nut butters yet - I need to do some research about peanuts and allergies etc because there are some in my family, I was advised not to eat them when pg. But generally I think it is fine. Just choose ones that have no added sugar. Whole Earth is a great brand!

 

[faille]

Violet often has cheese a couple of days in a row but I don't know what the "right" answer is

As for toast, we just use our normal butter (or I do some garlic butter) but I don't plaster it on (my mum was (and still is actually) terrible for doing that!)

She's had cheese, garlic butter, egg, beans, jam and mashed banana on toast.

 

[Elliebank]

I knew that with BLW you basically give them proper meals, what yr eating, but i find it amazing that you give them sandwiches & stuff!!! I think I've been a bit cautious so far, just giving her fruit & veg that you can cut into sticks. I have to say though that her favourite so far has been the turkey & cheese, so just goes to show that it's not just fruit & veg. I'll be a bit more experimental from now on & will make her the sandwiches, and am goimg to hunt out yr recipe thread TL for some ideas. I need to look up how to make lasagne from scratch as we love that, but normally just use the shop bought jars.

I have some French roule in - basically cheese spread with garlic & parsley, will that be ok for her?

 

[faille]

Sandwiches are great fun!
But my LO is like TL's - just picks the sandwich apart and eats little bits seperately lol. I've actually found that scrambled egg sandwiches work a lot better than scrambled egg on toast

As long as that french roule doesn't have added salt, it should be fine!

 

[TigerLady]

Bumped the recipe thread and added a couple of things.

Please feel free to add to it!!!

https://www.babyandbump.com/weaning...recipes-family-meals-please-post-yours-5.html

 

[Lu28]

We've been giving peanut butter on toast, crumpets and pancakes, she seems to really enjoy it

 

[joeyjo]

TL - I'm hungry after your post!!!

Can LO's have smoked salmon - I made some smoked salmon pate for lunch tomorrow. If he can't have it he can have cream cheese but I do tend to chuck it in pasta & risotto so it'd be good to know.

Yeah smoked salmon is fine. Think I will try Ruby with some actually, but I won't be very impressed if she chucks it on the floor!

Smoked salmon went down a storm
I blend it with herby Philadelphia and spre4ad it on rice crackers - very yummy it was too!!
Although after the first cracker G just kept turning them round to lick all the salmon off and then looked for more LOL

MIL was here today, I was out at lunchtime but G ate half an adult size yoghurt (amongst other things at lunch) to which her comment was - Is he allowed that much.

They were going to friends for dinner but we had some currant scotch pancakes as a snack before they left with G devoured and then he proceded to plough his way thru' a pancake, half a pear, 4 chunks of cheese, 3 rice crackers with salmon with very little wastage - and very neatly till we hit the smoked salmon pate! Very glad he showed off nicely

Loving the recipe tread iseas! And also thanks for the tip about triangles for toast/sandwiches - I'd been using strips which he did fine with but triangles are even better

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Not been in here for a while but it's all gone to pot lately!

He won't pick up the food anymore, just sits and moans...If I pick it up he lauches his mouth at it. Same with a spoon if I offer him food on a spoon, he puts his hands in the air and opens his mouth and leans forward. Have ended up pratically feeding him as didn't know what else to do :S

HELP lol

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

What about handing him the food? Will he put it into his own mouth then?

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Nope ... he will take it off me, look at it then throw it! Dunno whats going on ... maybe it's jsut a lazy phase

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Yeah probably. We've just come out of a phase (touch wood!) of Ruby constantly pushing herself away from the table, very annoying indeed. But now she's refusing breakfast! Frustrating though isn't it, when all's been going well and then you get a step backwards. I do remember some other BLW mums saying that their LOs who had never been spoon fed went through a phase of wanting to be fed, like it was a game or something. So maybe it's just that.

 

[Shiv]

Phew - so I've spent the last week reading this thread start to finish!! It has been so interesting to see the progress you have all made with BLW and I am sure that this is what we are going to do!

Sophia is just over 5 months and we have started sitting her at the table in her high chair with us at dinner time. We give her some toys and a doidy cup to play with. I think we will start giving her some fruit and veg sticks to play with when she is 5 and half months (so 2 weeks time) and then launch into BLW full throttle at 6 months. I am excited but also quite nervous about the whole BLW thing, it seems it can take a while for babies to start eating properly and although I know that breast milk will suffice until she is 9 months, it doesn't stop me worrying! Anyway only time will tell!

Anyway - you ar eall very inspirational and I look forward to joining in the thread over the coming weeks - no doubt with loads of questions and photos too!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Welcome Shiv!

I worried about the not eating for ages thing too. But my baby was totally happy on milk up until she started eating at about 7 months. In fact she was needing less than she did at 3-5 months.

Nice to see someone else from Kent too!

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Yeah could jsut be a game...will play it out and gett encouraging him to do it himself and hope he gets back to normal soon! Lol
Little monkey

 

[CountingDown]

The phases seem to be going around at the minute. I think Olivia and Runy must be swapping phases at the minute as she has actually eaten some breakfast today for the first time in ages!!

Wel Olivia is still spitting her food out but has eaten abit more today than she has been doing so hopefully we are turning a corner!

 

[faille]

Welcome Shiv!

I worried about the not eating for ages thing too. But my baby was totally happy on milk up until she started eating at about 7 months. In fact she was needing less than she did at 3-5 months.

Nice to see someone else from Kent too!

We can take over the thread at this rate


Glad to see you Shiv, its so exciting (and admittedly scarey!) when first starting out but you'll soon become relaxed and learn to trust in your LO about how much is/isn't being eaten and the amount of milk they're having.

You'll see a lot of posts from me fretting over the amount of milk Violet was still having but then all of a sudden everything just kinda 'clicked' and fell into place.

It's such a rewarding thing to do and I look forward to hearing your experiences and seeing those pics!

 

[Lu28]

Good to see you Shiv!

I think they all must be going through phases at the moment Aisling is still point blank refusing fruit so I'm just stirring it into her porridge instead. It's been a couple of weeks now The only thing she'll eat are dried apricots so I'm wondering if it's the feel of fresh fruit. Not sure what to do about that. She's definitely eating less at the moment too, again I'm not sure why, she doesn't seem to be teething. These babies are very confusing!

I'm going out for lunch tomorrow with friends, one with a 3 month old and I'm already worried she's going to start crying or throwing food on the ground! Really hope it goes well...

Lucy, Aisling went through that phase too and then suddenly just wanted to do it herself again. MIL tried 'helping' her the other day but holding food up to her mouth and Aisling gave her a dirty look and just took the food off her and ate it!