BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[CountingDown]

I give Olivia raw apple but tend to cut it into thin, small chunks so they are quite manageable.

Olivia tends to gag the most when she has pasta but I think it is because she doesnt chew it up enough before she tries to swallow.

 

[triplemom]

My baby takes little bites of fruit but She will open her mouth wide until the pieces fall to the table, is it so funny
She doesn't feel like swallowing yet, She will just swallow pureed fruits on a pre-loaded spoon.

 

[Shiv]

I have started giving Sophia raw apple just this week and she seems fine with it, although I do watch her like a hawk just in case! She doesn't eat as much apple as she would, say pear, I think it is harder work!

 

[triplemom]

We have been doing fine, offering baby two meals a day because she doesn't seem too interested, but now my husband is not supportive about BLW.
He said: Oh Yeah, so you think She is going to eat something on her own.

 

[Shiv]

Triplemon - how does she get on with the 2 meals a day? it is still very early days and as some of the other mums will tell you some babies don't really eat very much at all for a couple of months. Even if your LO didn't eat anything until 8 months they would be getting what they need from milk (be that boob or formula)

I know that Sophia shows very little interest in food for the first fifteen minutes or so of a meal (which I think may be to do with when are eating) and then once we have finished eating she then picks up and chomps for 45 minutes. SO perhaps you could leave her a bit longer (unless of course she gets the hump!)

I am sorry your hubby is being unsupportive grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[triplemom]

Thanks Shiv, You are right. I am going to leave her more time and see if she start to do something with her food.

 

[Maffie]

Noah has raw apple in his nubby nibbler, for raw fruit I give very soft ripe pears in sticks which he managed quite well.

Quite new to this so just feeling our way

 

[TigerLady]

Eek! Haven't been here in ages. It sounds like everyone is getting on fairly well, though.

It's so great to see all the BLW babies!

I agree with giving loads of time to eat, especially in the early days. We still have to wait on Otter to finish eating sometimes. We were out to lunch with friends yesterday and Otter was the last to finish as usual. We just all sat and stared at him while he continued to shove food in his mouth.

Otter is 9 months tomorrow and still doesn't manage apple all that well.... and he eats like a champ. I need to offer it again now that he has 6 teeth and has learned to take proper bites with them.

He was super sick a couple of weeks ago, stopped eating, and dropped an entire pound of weight in a week! But with some meds, started feeling better and is making up for lost time. He's a bottomless pit right now and is eating like he was starved for a year!

 

[Rebaby]

Hi everyone! Well i think we officially belong here now!

Like i said in my last post, we were planning to put lunch within Toby's reach and see what he did, the idea being we'd do it for the first time last Thursday, no particular reason other than it was OH's first day off in a while, and i thought it would be nice, just in case Toby did make a grab for something, for OH to see his first attempt at food iywkim?

When it came to Thursday though we sort of 'chickened out' I was a bit "Oh, we don't really have anything suitable in the house..." and OH was a bit "He'll be 6 months old in a couple of weeks, we may as well just wait i guess..."

But then on Saturday, i was merrily eating my lunch of broccoli and stilton soup and bread, with Toby in front of me in his bumbo (we've always tried to include him in mealtimes as he loves to watch) and he stole some of my bread. He was watching me mesmerised and the next thing he reached out and grabbed it. So i laughed and let him have a little suck on it and then got a bit "Oh no- we said we were going to wait!" and took it off him and gave it to the dog- at which point he burst into tears and was completely inconsolable until i gave him another piece!

At which point i just thought, you know what, sod the 6 month guidelines, and the fact that OH is in work- this baby is ready!!!!!! So i got the camera out and made a video so OH wouldn't miss out and just let him get on with it.

Now we are putting both breakfast and lunch within arm's reach (but not evening meal because as it stands at the minute we eat when he's in bed- plus i think allowing him access to 2 meals is plenty right now? )

I don't think he's actually consuming much tbh but he took some of Daddy's toast off the plate on Sunday morning and had a good chomp on that, then this morning he put his fingers in my porridge and sucked on a spoon (which didn't have porridge on it at the time- but not to worry ) Then this afternoon for lunch i just put my plate in front of him and he decided to try cucumber (seemed to quite like this but did gag a bit), avocado (too slippy, barely made it to his mouth), lettuce (disgusting, apparently, and not worth his time ) and chicken (yummy scrummy!)

Like i say, he mainly just sucked on things until they fell apart or dropped them and forgot about them, but i know it will be like that for a while yet and we're in no hurry anyway.

So! I guess we're BLW now Yay.

 

[Poppy7]

Rebaby, I really liked reading your thread. It sounds like he is really enjoying himself I also gave Elliott a few things this week. He had a stick of raw carrot on Saturday. He put it straight to his mouth and gummed away. He didn't digest any as obv raw carrot is hard but he enjoyed the taste and sensation. He had a stick of cucumber yesterday which he enjoyed sucking and gumming.

Today I got brave and gave him some pear. It was a bit slippery for him to hold but when he got it to his mouth he loved it. A couple of times he gummed quite a lot and sucked off a fair size piece. I must admit I panicked and fished it out of his mouth.....was this wrong of me? He gagged a few times with the pear (I did worry a bit) but I do actually think he swallowed a small amount. He had a lovely messy time, it was great!! I offered him cucumber afterwards but he wasn't so interested after playing with the pear.

So, do babies gag quite a bit to start with? Also, what size piece of food would be a choke hazard? For example he gummed off a piece of pear that was about the size of my fingernail. This is when I panicked and fished it out of his mouth. Would it have been okay to leave it?

I'm really enjoying watching him munching and having so much fun.

 

[TigerLady]

Grape size is the recommended "stear clear off" size. However, if they actually chew bits off that are that size, it is a harder call. Personally, I let Otter get on with it, no matter what size he chewed off, unless he was clearly gagging and having a lot of trouble with it.

Lots of gagging is normal to start with. It will get better. Though, Otter still gags on new things sometimes. He had raisins for the first time over the weekend and was gagging loads. They were tricky! But he figured it out.

 

[TennisGal]

Hi ladies,

Am doing a mixture of weaning - and just get v.scared about choking. Am sure this thread covers it, but it'll take me a while to get through 300 pages

Am just looking for some extra advice, thought etc? Thank you!

 

[dom85]

Hey mummies,

So after my last post of Brady not being interested after a good couple of days at the beginning of BLW, he's still not interested! Apart from some yogurt and fruit I had earlier which he liked. But he's been waking in the night after sleeping through since 10 ish weeks, and he's learnt loads of new things and is just eager to get everywhere now he's mobile so I'm guessing food is just not a priority for him right now?

I've been really stressing about it but went and got him weighed today and he's still gaining, I even cracked this morning and tried to feed him some cereal and he was not having any of it!

How did you guys get through the beginning stages and stick with it (obviously I have to stick to it as he won't let me near him with a spoon). I want to be able to relax and trust his instincts it's just difficult not to think about whether he's getting everything he needs.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Dom85 - I got through it by posting here a lot and being reassured by the other girls, to be honest!
My OH tried to spoonfeed Ruby a couple of times and she refused point blank, so i didn't have the option of giving up either, not that i wanted to! Although generally my OH was supportive and kept repeating things like 'just because she's turned 6 months, it doesn't mean she suddenly needs food!' and also reminding me that if she's hungry, we just have to feed her more milk.

 

[dom]

Ooohhh this thread is so good!! there seems to be quite a few of us starting out at the minute, and lots of you who have been doing it for a while, so great to steer us through it!!

Well Gabriella seems to be really enjoying food - particularly breadsticks and cheese spread - yummy yummy Shes also had toast, banana - which she cant really manage as it seems too slippy for her, cucumber - which she really doesnt like - although I think its the coldness rather than the taste she doesnt like, and tried a bit of big brother Mackenzie's pizza too!!

i have a couple of questions though - if I give her some pear or peach, do I take the skin off and cut it into sticks, or give it to her whole so that it isnt too slippery for her?

and also - when the heck amd I going to stop jumping when she gags? Its awful seeing her doing it. I do stay calm, and when my OH gave me a look when she gagged yesterday as if to say - see shes way too young to feed herself, I just said "she will gag at first until she learns how much to put into her mouth and learns how to chew it up properly". i dont physically jump, but my heart goes a million miles an hour!! We have only been doing it for a few days, so I know its completely normal for her to gag, but gees its not nice!

xx

 

[Tacey]

Dom, when I give Alice fruit, I tend to leave the skin on, even if it's inedible like with mango and banana. She finds it much easier to hold. I usually cut it into wedges and sometimes take a bite out of the middle with things like nectarines or mangoes.

With the gagging thing, I found Alice stopped gagging as much as she went on, and I got a bit more used to it. My heart still goes fast sometimes! Once you've seen her deal with the food a few times and carry on quite happily, it makes it easier for you.

Glad you're enjoying BLW!

 

[Mary Jo]

Dom, when I give Alice fruit, I tend to leave the skin on, even if it's inedible like with mango and banana. She finds it much easier to hold.

That's what we do - especially with avocado if I give him a chunk. With stoned fruit (peaches, nectarine, plum) I cut into wedges and sometimes score the flesh a little with a knife, just to make it a bit easier to get going with. & I wipe his hands regularly with a dry cloth because if they are wet it's so much harder for him to grip fruit.

 

[craftymum]

Well we are getting on really well now, Jacob absolutely loves roast aubergines and courgettes, I so wish I'd had my camera at the ready last night as you should've heard the slurps of him as he sucked a piece of aubergine to within an inch of it's life and he's obviously starting to swallow something now as there were chunks of aubergine in his nappy - yuk!
I find he seems to gag on pancakes as I guess they're a bit more sticky but most other things he's fine with - 2 weeks ago he was vomiting he gagged so much so it's really amazing now to see how far he has come on. He had some shredded wheat this morning and he just sucked the milk off and then threw it away lol!
I'm wondering if we upped his bottles from 7oz to 8oz would it maybe help him cut a bottle out? He's taking a bit less at some of his feeds whereas he drains his first 2 bottles and his bedtime bottle every day and I just wondered if that would make any difference for now or should I keep giving him 6 bottles for now?

 

[dom]

aw thanks for your replies ladies Ive been out shopping this morning and have bought melon (which I think I will cut into slices and leave with the skin on) and rice cakes for her to try, and we're having broccoli, carrots and mangetout for tea so she can have a good suck on those too

I have another question re:breakfast too .... Ive bought some ready break to try her with, and am also going to try her with weetabix and warm milk, - Do the majority of you give cereal on a pre-loaded spoon, or let you LO's just get on with it with their hands? Im wondering the same thing about things like rice.....

Hope you all dont mind all the questions?? xx

 

[craftymum]

aw thanks for your replies ladies Ive been out shopping this morning and have bought melon (which I think I will cut into slices and leave with the skin on) and rice cakes for her to try, and we're having broccoli, carrots and mangetout for tea so she can have a good suck on those too

I have another question re:breakfast too .... Ive bought some ready break to try her with, and am also going to try her with weetabix and warm milk, - Do the majority of you give cereal on a pre-loaded spoon, or let you LO's just get on with it with their hands? Im wondering the same thing about things like rice.....

Hope you all dont mind all the questions?? xx

I just give him a pre loaded spoon, if I give him a bowl he loses all interest in the food and just plays with the bowl. Haven't tried rice yet.