BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[kalou1972]

Hi Ladies,

We've just got back from holiday and have decided BLW is for Miller !! We tried with the pureeed stuff whilst away but hes having none of it. He wants what we had all the time !

i could do with some suggestions of things for him to eat fro breakfast , lunch dinner ect

Thanks girls xx

 

[bambino156]

Hi Ladies,

We've just got back from holiday and have decided BLW is for Miller !! We tried with the pureeed stuff whilst away but hes having none of it. He wants what we had all the time !

i could do with some suggestions of things for him to eat fro breakfast , lunch dinner ect

Thanks girls xx

Here's some of the things I offer lo, hope I can give you some ideas!

Breakfast: porridge - with or without fruit stirred in, Oatibix, toast with various toppings, fruit, yogurt, scrambled eggs.

Lunch: a sandwich (I usually toast the bread as lo finds this easier), jacket potato with a topping, beans on toast, ricecakes (usually alongside something else like cheese sticks and cherry toms).

Dinner: whatever we are having eg shepherds pie with veg & potatoes, pasta bolognaise, mild curry etc

 

[SKATERBUN]

Its still not working for us at 8 months! The food still has to be pureed as LO still has this gag reflex, I thought this was meant to disappear after a 6 months or so.
I keep persevering, just gave her some toast, she started gagging and choking and puked up.

TBH I was apprehensive about BLW when my HV told me about it, even though her teeth have emerged at 7 months, she doesnt seem to be able to break food down in her mouth sufficiently enough and either tries to swallow too soon or spits it out.
she also has trouble grasping and drops most of it on the floor. such a waste!

It must be great to get a baby as young as 6 months on BLW and successfully, I guess all babies are different though and develop at different rates.
After reading lots of stories on BNB about babies of LO's age eating pizza slices etc, are my expectations too high for LO?

The other thing I am worried about is that even if she is managing slight bits of food, its still not enough to keep her going and feed her properly, at least with the pureed food I know how much I am feeding her.

Theres so much of this thread to go through, but did anyone else struggle with BLW and abandon it completely until LO was ready. When do you know they are ready?

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Its still not working for us at 8 months! The food still has to be pureed as LO still has this gag reflex, I thought this was meant to disappear after a 6 months or so.
I keep persevering, just gave her some toast, she started gagging and choking and puked up.

TBH I was apprehensive about BLW when my HV told me about it, even though her teeth have emerged at 7 months, she doesnt seem to be able to break food down in her mouth sufficiently enough and either tries to swallow too soon or spits it out.
she also has trouble grasping and drops most of it on the floor. such a waste!

It must be great to get a baby as young as 6 months on BLW and successfully, I guess all babies are different though and develop at different rates.
After reading lots of stories on BNB about babies of LO's age eating pizza slices etc, are my expectations too high for LO?

The other thing I am worried about is that even if she is managing slight bits of food, its still not enough to keep her going and feed her properly, at least with the pureed food I know how much I am feeding her.

Theres so much of this thread to go through, but did anyone else struggle with BLW and abandon it completely until LO was ready. When do you know they are ready?

Ruby wasn't ready until closer to 8 months, and for a good month or so after she only really ate toast and struggled with other foods. She also struggled to pick food up, so I handed it to her, although I never put anything into her mouth or even guided it there.

Ruby just had enough milk to fill her up so the food amount beign small wasnt an issue.

The gag reflex is not meant to be gone by 6 months. At 6 months, it is still very close to the front of their mouths so they will gag a lot! Babies with a more sensitive (but still normal!) gag reflex do often throw up when the gag. All normal, but obviously it is entirely up to you if you prefer to do purees.
I definitely wouldn't abandon offering finger foods, it is important for Lo to learn to manage food while the gag reflex is still close to the front of their mouth, if you leave it too long then there is a much greater risk that LO will choke, as it is the gag reflex that protects them from choking. When the gag reflex moves further back, food will be able to get closer to their airway before it kicks in.

 

[SKATERBUN]

^ That does make sense, yes gag reflex moves further back thats right. I knew I heard that somewhere.
I have been giving her rice cakes too and she likes these they seem to break down quicker than toast. Yes so we are trying to combo feed at the mo, bit of BLW and bit of TW. some days I think she may be ready as she seems to be breaking it down better and swallowing and actually look like shes enjoying it, and then she regresses and pukes up again. I find it very distressing to watch. The good thing is that she looks forwards to seeing the finger food now and again and isnt put off by her last puking session.

 

[sun]

Skaterbun - Our LO also wasn't a 6-month weaner. I offered foods at 6 months, but he was not ready at all. He started eating at 7.5 months and at 2 "meals" a day for quite a while. So my guy also wasn't one of the babies eating 3 full meals a day - 3 full meals didn't happen for him until he was 10-11 months!

I just kept reminding myself that food before 1 is mostly for fun! Bun was getting all the nutrition he needed from the milk - the bits of food were for fun and learning until he could eat well. And once he started getting the hang of it, he didn't look back - he turned into an eating machine! He has been a great eater since around 11 months! xx

 

[JadeyB]

Hi girls,

Do you mind if I join you? I started TW because I didn't know any different, but about 4 weeks ago, I bought the BLW cookbook and loved the recipes so much that I also bought the BLW book and now I'm totally sold on the idea.

I just have lots of questions as I don't know anyone else who does BLW and I don't think any of our HV's advocate it. I will find out tho.

I gave Ethan a plum this evening and he totally loved it. The skin was a bit tough so I bit all that off and I was a little nervous about the stone, so pulled that out once he'd had a little nibble. How do plums go down with your LO's, could he have coped with the skin? It was a large plum. Xx

 

[Shiv]

Most fruit with skin (pear, plum, mango etc) you can give with the skin on and your LO will just (some how!) eat the fruit and spit out the skin! It is really quite impressive when they spit out this bit of skin without a single bit of fruit left on it!

 

[JadeyB]

Most fruit with skin (pear, plum, mango etc) you can give with the skin on and your LO will just (some how!) eat the fruit and spit out the skin! It is really quite impressive when they spit out this bit of skin without a single bit of fruit left on it!

Really? That is pretty cool. Not sure my little man has got the hang of that yet, he ate all the skin from the pear! it was a very ripe pear tho, so maybe the skin was super soft. x

 

[Shiv]

Well if he eats the skin, even better, Sophia eats the skin now (but then she is 18 months ). As long as you are around to supervise then try him with the plum with skin and see what happens!

 

[brunettebimbo]

Hi Girls,

I am currently weaning Tristan, we started at 17 weeks on the advice of the HV and Paediatrician due to reflux. It has majorly helped his reflux and he is doing really well with his purees.

It's still a little early for us to BLW yet but I wanted to get as much information as I can. What kind of foods do you start with? He loves holding a spoon and can sit with minimul aid in his high chair already so I think we will possibly try BLW a littl earlier. He won't be allowed gluten before 6 months so any suggestions?

Also what does TW stand for?

I guess this WILL be messy, what do you do about clothes etc?
I really struggle to get carrot etc out!

 

[Shiv]

Hi Girls,

I am currently weaning Tristan, we started at 17 weeks on the advice of the HV and Paediatrician due to reflux. It has majorly helped his reflux and he is doing really well with his purees.

It's still a little early for us to BLW yet but I wanted to get as much information as I can. What kind of foods do you start with? He loves holding a spoon and can sit with minimul aid in his high chair already so I think we will possibly try BLW a littl earlier. He won't be allowed gluten before 6 months so any suggestions?

Also what does TW stand for?

I guess this WILL be messy, what do you do about clothes etc?
I really struggle to get carrot etc out!

We started with sticks of fruit and veg - brocolli florrets, sticks of cooked carrot, parsnip, baby corn, fingers of pear, melon, mango.

It IS messy but I found it is not so much their clothes but the floor. A stcik of carrot will make much less mess when it lands on their T-shirt than a spoonful of puree. I recommend buying a cheap shower curtain to put under the high chair as a lot of food gets dropped. If you make sure it is clean and anti-bac before LO eats then anything then you can just pick up any dropped food and put it back on their tray.

 

[SKATERBUN]

Skaterbun - Our LO also wasn't a 6-month weaner. I offered foods at 6 months, but he was not ready at all. He started eating at 7.5 months and at 2 "meals" a day for quite a while. So my guy also wasn't one of the babies eating 3 full meals a day - 3 full meals didn't happen for him until he was 10-11 months!

I just kept reminding myself that food before 1 is mostly for fun! Bun was getting all the nutrition he needed from the milk - the bits of food were for fun and learning until he could eat well. And once he started getting the hang of it, he didn't look back - he turned into an eating machine! He has been a great eater since around 11 months! xx

Wow thats great to know, I hear stories on here everyday about 6 month olds eating proper adult stuff and I think my LO cant even grasp it yet let alone eat it and like you only takes a small amount of foood twice a day, she gets full after half a jar sometimes.
I feel a bit more comfortable when you say 10-11 months, I did read somewhere online that food is for fun and finding out about tastes and textures in the first year.
Its a relief to know that all babies are different and theres no pressure to get her to eat in a certain fashion. Yep you are right she does get a lot of nutrition from the milk, in fact sometimes she will go more than 5 hours just on the milk and is still not interested in solids
Thanks for the reply xx

 

[BabyJ'sMummy]

Hi guys, I need some help. Lo is 9 1/2 months and for the past few weeks he has refused to be spoon fed so I've had to start blw. He'll eat some stuff but a lot ends up on the floor, he's not eating anywhere near the amount of food he was eating. He will only take around 18 ozs of milk a day now and when I took him to the clinic to get weighed today he had only gained 3 ozs in a month I don't know what to do for the best, should I cut out one of his meals in the hope that he might take more milk during the day???? I just don't know what to do for the best.... xx

 

[beachlou]

Hi everyone!

First time posting here My LO is 6 months on Sunday and we're going to start BLW tomorrow-really excited! I hope he takes to it. He grabbed a banana off me last week and had a good chomp so I'm thinking it'll be ok. Is anyone else starting this weekend?

 

[ShanandBoc]

We started a few days ago.....just to let her explore, play and practice

 

[jojo_b]

This is a dumbo question, but Fin got really freaked out today when he got a mouthful of baby corn but couldn't work out how to get it to the back of his mouth to swallow. He was really frustrated and started crying, which was horrible as he literally NEVER cries. We tried to stay calm and carried on eating, talking encouragingly to him and exaggerating our chewing etc, and he calmed down after a bit, but still didn't swallow it. I eventually had to fish it out of his mouth myself later when it was clear he wasn't going to swallow it.

We only started BLWing him a week or so ago, so I was just wondering if anyone else has had this type of thing happen. When do they learn how to move it to the back of their mouth and swallow it? TIA x x

 

[PreggyEggy]

I just started BLW today, and we started with some carrots and broccoli. The broccoli earned the single funniest expression I have ever seen her do! Kind of like a shocked grimace, lol, but she kept putting it in her mouth so it can't be all that bad. I don't think anything was swallowed, but she was moving this one piece around in her mouth for ages before it fell back out again.

The carrots never made it into her mouth, they seemed too slippery to pick up, though she kept trying. Instead I let her nick some lettuce from my plate, and she sucked on it for ages.

I'm excited about this new phase in her development, but also I feel sad that I'm no longer her single source of food. Did anyone else feel like this?

 

[Shiv]

I just started BLW today, and we started with some carrots and broccoli. The broccoli earned the single funniest expression I have ever seen her do! Kind of like a shocked grimace, lol, but she kept putting it in her mouth so it can't be all that bad. I don't think anything was swallowed, but she was moving this one piece around in her mouth for ages before it fell back out again.

The carrots never made it into her mouth, they seemed too slippery to pick up, though she kept trying. Instead I let her nick some lettuce from my plate, and she sucked on it for ages.

I'm excited about this new phase in her development, but also I feel sad that I'm no longer her single source of food. Did anyone else feel like this?

Yep i completely felt like that! That is until i started seeing bits of food in her nappy - then the excitement of seeing brocolli poo took over

And to answer the previous poster's question. If your LO is getting distressed then perhaps leave it a week or so before offering any more foods. Sophia never got distressed because she couldn't swallow, she just spat stuff out, and then fairly soon after we started she learnt to swallow (but we didn't start until 2 days shy of 6 months). If your LO wasn't getting upset then I would have said just leave them to it until it either comes back out or goes down (dinner times could take over an hour when we first started), but if he is getting upset then maybe he isn't ready?

 

[peanut56]

Can I ask a stupid question? I know this question has been asked a million times, but I'm really needing some reassurance.
I'm doing TW right now and I really like it. I make all her food myself and she's loved everything I've given her so far. But I want to introduce finger foods - so I guess kind of do a mix of TW and BLW (even though I know that doesn't really exist, but hopefully you know what I mean). I almost gave her a piece of banana today, but I got sooo scared of her choking. She's not going to choke, right? She'll gag, but not choke? I really want to do this, but I can't seem to get over the fear! Did any of you feel like that before you started?