BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[juliespencer9]

Hi already, 2 questions....
When you are out for the day how do you go about BLW? as its a messy job.

Also Today when my Lo had toast she bit off a massive piece and i panicked and tried to take it out her mouth, should i leave it with her or take it out mouth ?

When we're out for a meal Ruby just shares our food - we just make sure at least one of us picks something suitable. If we think there may be a problem finding suitable food then we take some bread, non-messy fruit and cheese.
Personally I don't think, provided you don't give messy foods, that BLW is any messier than feeding a baby mush on a spoon!

You really have to try haaaard not to panic. If your LO bit off a piece that was too big for her to handle, then it would have fallen out of her mouth. This still happens with Ruby.

Thanks, Do you grate the cheese or give it in chunks? as it doesnt really melt in mouth.
When you started BLW were you worried Ruby wasnt eatting enough, beacause tonight more food was pushed around the high chair tray and on the floor than eaten.

 

[juliespencer9]

Stupid question but say i give my LO chicken, she cant really chew it with 2 front teeth so when she bites abit off would she just swallow it or play with it in her mouth, ive yet to give her foods that dont mush up in her mouth?

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Proud Mummy moment! I've been telling my Mum how well Joshua is eating jsut lately and we went over for Sunday dinner today and I was hoping that he wouldn't prove me wrong. My other sister and her husband was there to.
My mum dished up Joshua dinner, mash, sweetcorn, cauliflowe cheese, carrots and green beans and I gave him a piece of my gammon. He sat there quiet as can be, tucking into his food and everyone was really impressed. My sister asked' Where is his spoon? How will he eat his mash?" She looked skeptical when I told her that he would eat if with his fingers... but he did Yay!
he even ate the chunk of meat and he doesn't usually eat the meat! yay!

We've really taken a turn i think, he loves to eat. Three meals a day and often he has snacks in the afternoon. h only has 3 bottles a day and no longer wants a night bottle (still wakes to come in My bed tho ) but really pleased I stuck with it, after many weeks of struggling and worrying he wasn't eating!

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

Stupid question but say i give my LO chicken, she cant really chew it with 2 front teeth so when she bites abit off would she just swallow it or play with it in her mouth, ive yet to give her foods that dont mush up in her mouth?

I tend to just give chunks of cheese! and yes I worried for ages that he wasn't eating enough but you have to trust them even though its hard. They will just make up in milk if they need it

Don't worry about her not having teeth, they can still chew and break things up. The food doesn't need to mush in her mouth for her to manage it. I always tried to give Joshua a range of foods. Some hard like bread sticks, some softer - they soon learn Good luck

 

[joeyjo]

Lucy_lu_84 - that's great

We've been on holiday with my parents for a week in Austria which was nice.

BLW was difficult as we were in a sself catering appartment and it was carpetted in the dining area and the highchair didn't pull as close to the table as he is used to and there was no place for the highchair in the kitchen. Also my mum is VERY scared of him choking on meat and fruit even though she understands he won't she gets panicy... she is happy to let him feed himself with preloaded spoons etc though and supports my doing BLW but is just wary of being left with more difficult foods.

So G had a week with a lot of bread/toast (he is very confident with that and so Mum wasn't too scared) and pre loaded spoons (weetabix, bolognaise, tuna, beans) and not much in the way of finger foods or trying to feed himself without a preloaded spoon.

Since we've been home I've been strict about noyt giving him too much spoon based food coz I want him to practice all his skills.
Yesterday he had olives for the first time (cut in half) and was almost managing a pincer grip
Today he had roast dinner with us, and was especially keen on his brocolli and roast spuds

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Hi already, 2 questions....
When you are out for the day how do you go about BLW? as its a messy job.

Also Today when my Lo had toast she bit off a massive piece and i panicked and tried to take it out her mouth, should i leave it with her or take it out mouth ?

When we're out for a meal Ruby just shares our food - we just make sure at least one of us picks something suitable. If we think there may be a problem finding suitable food then we take some bread, non-messy fruit and cheese.
Personally I don't think, provided you don't give messy foods, that BLW is any messier than feeding a baby mush on a spoon!

You really have to try haaaard not to panic. If your LO bit off a piece that was too big for her to handle, then it would have fallen out of her mouth. This still happens with Ruby.

Thanks, Do you grate the cheese or give it in chunks? as it doesnt really melt in mouth.
When you started BLW were you worried Ruby wasnt eatting enough, beacause tonight more food was pushed around the high chair tray and on the floor than eaten.

I give it in sticks.
I wasn't worried Ruby wasn't eating enough as such, I just worried that her progress was a bit slow, she was less interested at first compared to some other LOs her age, on here. But that changed after about 6 weeks and now she eats well.
It really takes a lot to learn to trust your LO to take what they need, but it is the most important thing!
For example we had lunch at my mum's today, she had made a meat pie and veg, Ruby ate loads! She has only really started to eat meat in the last month though, she only has 2 bottom teeth so I don't think teeth matter as long as the meat is tender.

 

[Kitten]

Proud Mummy moment! I've been telling my Mum how well Joshua is eating jsut lately and we went over for Sunday dinner today and I was hoping that he wouldn't prove me wrong. My other sister and her husband was there to.
My mum dished up Joshua dinner, mash, sweetcorn, cauliflowe cheese, carrots and green beans and I gave him a piece of my gammon. He sat there quiet as can be, tucking into his food and everyone was really impressed. My sister asked' Where is his spoon? How will he eat his mash?" She looked skeptical when I told her that he would eat if with his fingers... but he did Yay!
he even ate the chunk of meat and he doesn't usually eat the meat! yay!

We've really taken a turn i think, he loves to eat. Three meals a day and often he has snacks in the afternoon. h only has 3 bottles a day and no longer wants a night bottle (still wakes to come in My bed tho ) but really pleased I stuck with it, after many weeks of struggling and worrying he wasn't eating!

Awww that's great!! You've given me hope

 

[Sparkleyone]

Hi ladies

Would it be OK for me to join you?

My daughter is nearly 8 months old, we didnt start weaning until 6 months and went down the pureed route. However, she isnt keen on purees (unless sweet things) and so I have decided to go down the BLW route instead. She eats rice cakes OK. However, at the weekend (our first proper attempt at BLW) I gave her an english muffin with cream cheese on. She did so well, until near the end where she choked and brought up so much fluid. She is breast fed, and I was really taken aback as to how much she vomited. I am wondering did I do something wrong, given her the wrong size of food, or have I left it too late for BLW and should perserve with the purees?

Any advice would be welcomed, Xxx

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Nooo it's never too late to start BLW!

It sounds like you're doing the right thing, if spoonfeeding is not to your LOs liking then it is the natural choice this age, rather than struggling to win the 'battle' to get them to accept spoons.

Are you sure she actually choked? Gagging then vomiting is very common, my Lo hasn't, but lots of the LOs of the girls on here have.

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

How much food is too much? At lunch today Joshua ate a whole slice of cheesey toast, a scotch pancake, a cheese string and a yoghurt. That sounds somuch to me... Does anyone elses LO eat so much?

Also the other day he ate a massive amout of mash, then a breadstick and a yoghurt and some fruit. I was running out of things to find for him! Seems so much

 

[TigerLady]

Re: meat question, I give meat chunks that are big enough for him to pick up. If they are "tougher meats" like steak, he just sucks on them. If they are softer meats (like from a slow cooker, chicken, etc) he usually chews/sucks until he gets chunks off and then swallows. He only has 2 bottom teeth and even ate meat before he had any teeth.

I give cheese in large chunks, too. He loves colby jack.

As for being sick after gagging... Otter did this once. It isn't pleasant to see. But it isn't a bad thing and doesn't mean you did anything wrong. It is all part of them learning.

 

[Kitten]

Hi ladies

Would it be OK for me to join you?

My daughter is nearly 8 months old, we didnt start weaning until 6 months and went down the pureed route. However, she isnt keen on purees (unless sweet things) and so I have decided to go down the BLW route instead. She eats rice cakes OK. However, at the weekend (our first proper attempt at BLW) I gave her an english muffin with cream cheese on. She did so well, until near the end where she choked and brought up so much fluid. She is breast fed, and I was really taken aback as to how much she vomited. I am wondering did I do something wrong, given her the wrong size of food, or have I left it too late for BLW and should perserve with the purees?

Any advice would be welcomed, Xxx

Theakston is still sick a few times a week at least. He used to do it at every meal but we've learnt to distract him & pat his back etc and he seems to be able to get past the gagging. I think he just has a ridiculously sensitive gag reflex, he gags when breastfeeding sometimes.

 

[Vici]

Imi loves banana and pear but they both seem too slimy for her to hold. She picks up the piece and trys to pop it in her mouth as it slips out of her hand. The occasional time it makes it, she seems to really enjoy it but it doesn't happen very often and this frutrates her!! This really put her off at breakfast this mornign and she soon got fed up with trying!!

Do I just leave her to it or is there anything I can do to help?

 

[sublime_ivy]

hi all
we are alive, not been on for ages as dex's sleeping has gotten quite mad. he is waking 3-5 times a night even when he sleeps with us so i've been pretty tired. luckily he naps about 4 hours a day. we have had illness after illness and teething central. he is walking now too so everything is pretty insane. constant chatting too. first word is no, in fact everything is no. I'loving it though, weaning is going well. he eats everything but not lots of food.

xxx

 

[joeyjo]

Vici - can't help with banana coz G still struggles although if I hold q banana he'll launch himself at it and bite bits off. With pear I cut big wedges and leave the peel on or if I can be bothered I core it cut slices that are ring shaped if that makes sense.

 

[Vici]

Thanks hun, i'll give the ring shapes a go and she'll have to persevere with the banana

 

[Mary Jo]

When "should" babies drop some of their milk? The last few days Adam has definitely had less - he used to have 4x 7-8oz, now the 2nd and 3rd bottles he's only wanting 4-5oz, so it's almost a whole bottle dropped over the course of the day. He's definitely eating more, 3x day - for lunch he had practically a whole slice of toast with some hard-boiled egg and cucumber - but isn't it early to be cutting back on milk?

 

[joeyjo]

George is BF but a couple of weeks ago he dropped 1-2feeds (went from 6 in 24hiurs to 4 - occassionally he wakes at 10pm and takes a 5th feed)

not sure he's eating enough to drop that much especially as his weight gain is pants but HV said I should be thankful!

 

[Vici]

Imogen has a new favourite food - and one that suprised me and daddy - homemade cajun potato wedges

 

[Kitten]

How do you make bowls work? We have those sticky suction mat things and they worked for about a day until he figured out if he pulled hard enough they'd come off. It's difficult to encourage him to feed himself when the bowl just gets picked up and thrown on the floor and smashed against the table. I'm trying Weetabix for breakfast tomorrow but no idea how to approach it, any ideas? Do I just add enough milk for it to go mushy and hold the bowl while he chucks his hands in? Or mush it up and try on a pre-loaded spoon? (ooh the cleaning tomorrow is going to be epic!)