BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[Tacey]

It was pretty soft with no skin on and sort of crumbled apart - I guess this was how she got so much off at once. I'm nervous about giving her any more, but I know that she'd have to start eating things like this at some point, and the book says their gag reflex is further towards the front the younger they are so it's probably safer this way. It's just so awful watching it happen! The worst case scenario jumps into your head! Thanks for your replies though ladies.

 

[joeyjo]

Sooo the big question - how much to prepare for LO

Yesterday we all ate together and I did pasta with courgette, pepper and tomato sauce. LO sat in his high chair, sucked one piece of courgette and burst into uncontrollable tears .... and wouldn't eat any more even after I calmed him, let him sit on my knee and play with my portion.

Today I was cooking for LO alone as hubby due home late. I put some roasy veg in the oven and made myself a drink and some raw carrot to sit and eat with him. He had 3 big chunks each of butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot and a couple of big pieces of asparagus... virtually all eaten & very quickly...
Then I offered pear - we shared it, we had about half each
So then I had to raid the nearly bare fridge (we go on hols tomorrow); small bowl of leftovers from yesterday ... all eaten,
So then I offered plain yoghurt ... whole one eaten
Then some fruit puree that I usually mix in his porridge...
He would have eaten more I think but I'm literally running out of food now!

Do you ever decide mealtimes have finished or do you always let them decide?

 

[TigerLady]

I usually let Otter decide... but at some point I do stop digging around for more to offer! I have taken to preparing or ordering (if we are out) a kid's sized portion for dinner. Usually he doesn't eat it all.

But I offer less for breakfast and lunch. For breakfast, there just isn't enough time as I need to get him to daycare and me to work. So, he gets a pot of yogurt or a whole, large banana, and that is all I offer. He usually eats it all and would probably eat more.

For lunch, I send that with him to daycare, so it is a finite amount. He gets a half sandwhich and some fruit -- usually a banana, a few slices of pinapple, a half an apple, etc. He normally eats most of it, but usually not all of it. If he eats all, then that is it as that is all I sent.

 

[Kitten]

What am I doing wrong?! He's happy to pick food up, chew it, bite bits off and chew it properly but he still just spits it out. The only bits that get swallowed seem to be by accident. He seems to swallow more when sat on my knee but this isn't always practical. It's been 5-6weeks now, is this normal?

 

[joeyjo]

We have lots of meals like that too Kitten.

if he's biting & chewing then swallowing should come with time. Plus also biting, chewing & sucking will get lots of vitamins etc into him.

Mashed potato, roast veg and loaded spoons of yoghurt seem o be what G is most likely to swallow.

 

[Kitten]

Thanks joey, it just seems everyone else's children are gobbling away and Theakstons just giggling and spitting food all over my living room floor! He let me feed him 6 spoons of porridge (I was originally giving him pre-loaded spoons but he's learnt that banging a spoon on the table makes noise and the last few mornings the spoon hasn't gone anywhere near his mouth!) but then one went down the wrong way and he threw the whole lot back up. It's so frustrating! And OH keeps saying "when does a normal BLW baby start eating meals properly?!", stupid man!

 

[TigerLady]

Otter only started getting big amounts down recently... the last week or so. We have been BLW in some form for over 2 months. He would get the random bit down, but only started getting true non-milk poos recently (indicating he is eating bigger portions), iykwim!

Give T time, he'll get there!

 

[Lu28]

Kitten, I think Claire's Ruby didn't actually start swallowing until after 7 months, don't worry, he'll get there when he's ready

Joey, I let Aisling decide on how much to eat unless she's literally eaten everything suitable in the house and that's happened a couple of times! I find that she'll have a few days of eating tonnes and then goes back to normal, I wouldn't worry about it

 

[Shiv]

hmmm ok, I am trying to plan something to do for my 30th Birthday in 2 months time. I would love to be able to leave Sophia with my parents overnight and to pick her up the following day (preferably in the afternoon!)

but.................she won't take a bottle, thus why I haven't been able to leave her overnight yet. Today I gave up with trying a bottle and tried her with a doidy cup, now I don't think much went in but at least she didn't scream!

I am going to start BLW this weekend.

so my question is this, do you think that in 9 weeks time Sophia would either a) be able to take a EBM feed from her doidy cup first thing in the morning before my parents offered solid breakfast? (she sleeps through the night mainly (touch wood she doesn't read this and get other ideas )
or b) that she would be eating enough that for one day she wouldn't need a milk feed first and could just have solids until I picked her up at say lunchtime?

Sorry if that doesn't make sense, it is all just thinking of a way to be able to leave her really (gosh that makes me sound awful!). I would really appreciate your thoughts on this or any ideas you might have.

Thanks ladies and glad to see some of the babies are eating again - hurrah!

 

[TigerLady]

It's really hard to guess! But, if you work at it, I bet you can get her to drink from a doidy. Otter loves his. I gave one to a friend the other day and her LO loves it, too.

I would be a little less certain she'll be on enouch solids to skip milk feeds, but she might be. Otter hasn't dropped any yet and has been eating loads of solids lately.

I guess all you can do is plan to celebrate, hope that she will be drinking the EBM well and eating solids well enough to supplement that... and then deal with any bumps if they suddenly arise, when they arise.

 

[Lu28]

Shiv, it's impossible to tell really, just keep plugging away at it. This is going to sound awful of me but even if it came to the worst and she missed her morning breast feed then it wouldn't be the end of the world as you could do it at lunch time?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

What am I doing wrong?! He's happy to pick food up, chew it, bite bits off and chew it properly but he still just spits it out. The only bits that get swallowed seem to be by accident. He seems to swallow more when sat on my knee but this isn't always practical. It's been 5-6weeks now, is this normal?

Yes it is normal. you're doing nothing wrong. what you've got to remember is that they're not usually actually spitting it out, it is falling out of their mouth because they are still learning to move food around their mouths.
This stage seemed tolast ages with Ruby!

 

[Shiv]

Thanks Lu - that is kinda what I was getting at - at 8 months old and hopefully eating some solids (fingers crossed but who knows eh?) would it be the end of the world if she missed her mornign breastfeed and went straight on to her solid feed?!?!? I mean she'll probably be grumpy as hell but then it will only be for a few hours? I am sure that sounds really selfish but I think one night off in 8 months is pretty restrained!

Anyway - will just have to see how it goes I suppose! Gonna give her solids on Sunday - eek!

 

[Lu28]

Shiv, I don't thing anyone will call social services on you, it's just a one off! Good luck for Sunday

 

[Elliebank]

Thanks Lu - that is kinda what I was getting at - at 8 months old and hopefully eating some solids (fingers crossed but who knows eh?) would it be the end of the world if she missed her mornign breastfeed and went straight on to her solid feed?!?!? I mean she'll probably be grumpy as hell but then it will only be for a few hours? I am sure that sounds really selfish but I think one night off in 8 months is pretty restrained!

Anyway - will just have to see how it goes I suppose! Gonna give her solids on Sunday - eek!

Make sure you update us as to how it goes when you go out. I'm in the same predicamant (sp?) with Katie & would love a nice meal out with OH!

 

[JayleighAnn]

Thanks Lu - that is kinda what I was getting at - at 8 months old and hopefully eating some solids (fingers crossed but who knows eh?) would it be the end of the world if she missed her mornign breastfeed and went straight on to her solid feed?!?!? I mean she'll probably be grumpy as hell but then it will only be for a few hours? I am sure that sounds really selfish but I think one night off in 8 months is pretty restrained!

Anyway - will just have to see how it goes I suppose! Gonna give her solids on Sunday - eek!

Make sure you update us as to how it goes when you go out. I'm in the same predicamant (sp?) with Katie & would love a nice meal out with OH!

Halen went out with my mum today, I fed him before he left at 10.30am and he didn't have another feed until 4.30pm so he missed his lunch time feed, my mum took him to tesco's and my uncles and filled him up on gingerbread men, lasagne chips and pea's lol apparently he didn't cry for a milk feed until she got him home and she gave him a bottle of expressed milk. So he went 6 hours without milk, he had some water from a doidy cup but most of it went down his front apparently. So it should be do able I would of thought?

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

My Lo will quite often happily go 6 hours with out any milk to... he doesn't really every cry for milk tbh, its hard to know when He wants to. So i'd say go out and it shoudl be fine

 

[Eala]

I'm back with another question (Gosh, this is before we've even started BLW, shudder to think what I'll be like by then!)

Just read through the Gill Rapley book for the first time, and found it fab. One thing I've been wondering though - can you still season food? I don't mean with salt, as it's obv a big no-no (and I don't tend to use it in my cooking anyway), but are herbs and spices ok? What about the likes of paprika? Or garlic? Not that I'd be jumping into trying to give LO really strongly flavoured foods right away, but if I'm doing stews and so on, I do like them to be tasty.

I've probably just missed the answer in the book, but again, it's always much better to hear from people who are really doing it

 

[JayleighAnn]

I still put any seasoning in that I want. Halen's favourite is chili con carne which I make at home and it has paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin and of course chili powder.
I think the only thing you need to be careful of is stock cubes as their high salt. you can get baby organic ones though with low salt

 

[bana]

I have the BLW book by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett, are there any other good books out there?