BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[aliss]

Can anyone advise when their baby started loading their own spoon?

He's good at eating with a preloaded spoon now but if I put a bowl or anything it will go flying across the room. What's a reasonable expectation?

 

[joeyjo]

G started dipping his spoon around 10/11munths but only in stuff like yoghurt. Scooping stuff came a bit later - they are all different but I think most BLW babies get to grips pretty well by 14months. G was better with a fork for a while too.

 

[Shiv]

Sophia is nearly 21 months and although she can scoop with a spoon and prong with a fork, more often than not she still uses her fingers - I do think she is the exception rather than the rule though.

 

[joeyjo]

LOL - shiv makes a good point, g has been good with cutlery for ages but that doesn't mean he always uses it!

 

[pinkclaire]

I found a good one for practicing with a spoon was thick porridge as it sticks to the spoon however they do it! I am pretty sure I wrote the exact same question just before James' 1st birthday, and he now always uses a fork and spoon over his fingers, even tries eating his sandwich like that now

my guess is it wont be long.

 

[Pixxie]

I found last nights sweet potato in Lyra's nappy this morning!

 

[sweetthang24]

Hi Everyone!,

i am a newbie to this section and have just started Amy with BLW. I was really unsure about it at first as she doesn't gain weight very well and we're having some problems with B/feeding at the mo.

She is only 12lb 3oz but very petite as well.

She was losing weight with just my milk and so she has been having 10 oz of formula a day as well as my milk. i also started her with some puree'd fruit and veg at 5 months to help boost her weight. She then put on 1lb 1oz in 3 weeks so i was happy.

Ive always wanted to BLW but i am just worried now as i have cut out her puree but she is still on my milk and formula. She is due to be weighed again on Monday and i'll report back her weight.

I understand that 'food is fun till the age of 1' but what if she starts losing weight again?

im giving her rusks, bread sticks (calorific food) as well as fruit and veg to try and keep the weight on, is this a good idea?

any help is appreciated.

thanks xx

 

[Marie1337]

Does anyone have any experience BLW when their LO has eczema? We have been doing fruits and veggies and rice cakes but I would like to start him on toast soon. We think the eczema might be dairy related as I have been dairy free for almost two weeks and we haven't had any major flareups. I am just worried that he might have a reaction to wheat also.

 

[pinkclaire]

Hi Everyone!,

i am a newbie to this section and have just started Amy with BLW. I was really unsure about it at first as she doesn't gain weight very well and we're having some problems with B/feeding at the mo.

She is only 12lb 3oz but very petite as well.

She was losing weight with just my milk and so she has been having 10 oz of formula a day as well as my milk. i also started her with some puree'd fruit and veg at 5 months to help boost her weight. She then put on 1lb 1oz in 3 weeks so i was happy.

Ive always wanted to BLW but i am just worried now as i have cut out her puree but she is still on my milk and formula. She is due to be weighed again on Monday and i'll report back her weight.

I understand that 'food is fun till the age of 1' but what if she starts losing weight again?

im giving her rusks, bread sticks (calorific food) as well as fruit and veg to try and keep the weight on, is this a good idea?

any help is appreciated.

thanks xx

Is she over 6 months? I would avoid rusks personally as they are very sugary, when I had issues with my LOs weight I was told when cooking, add cream, real butter, cheese that kind of thing and it really worked. It was horrifying to start with because as adults I wouldnt dream of using that stuff, but a baby needs that kind of fat.

 

[pinkclaire]

Does anyone have any experience BLW when their LO has eczema? We have been doing fruits and veggies and rice cakes but I would like to start him on toast soon. We think the eczema might be dairy related as I have been dairy free for almost two weeks and we haven't had any major flareups. I am just worried that he might have a reaction to wheat also.

My son has eczema and we havent found wheat as a trigger, but I suppose you wont know until you try?

 

[sweetthang24]

Hi Everyone!,

i am a newbie to this section and have just started Amy with BLW. I was really unsure about it at first as she doesn't gain weight very well and we're having some problems with B/feeding at the mo.

She is only 12lb 3oz but very petite as well.

She was losing weight with just my milk and so she has been having 10 oz of formula a day as well as my milk. i also started her with some puree'd fruit and veg at 5 months to help boost her weight. She then put on 1lb 1oz in 3 weeks so i was happy.

Ive always wanted to BLW but i am just worried now as i have cut out her puree but she is still on my milk and formula. She is due to be weighed again on Monday and i'll report back her weight.

I understand that 'food is fun till the age of 1' but what if she starts losing weight again?

im giving her rusks, bread sticks (calorific food) as well as fruit and veg to try and keep the weight on, is this a good idea?

any help is appreciated.

thanks xx

Is she over 6 months? I would avoid rusks personally as they are very sugary, when I had issues with my LOs weight I was told when cooking, add cream, real butter, cheese that kind of thing and it really worked. It was horrifying to start with because as adults I wouldnt dream of using that stuff, but a baby needs that kind of fat.

she is 6 months tomorrow. i'll cut out the rusks then as i dont really want her having alot of sugar.

can anyone suggest amy meal ideas?

x

 

[Shiv]

Sophia has excema and the only "trigger" we found was raw tomatoes (she is fine with cooked) - I am afraid it is just trial and error.

 

[joeyjo]

She is 6monyhs so can have most things you have. It's easy to fall into just giving traditional fingerfoods but try & avoid that as you should offer a complete balanced diet with varying textures etc. Early things George liked were risotto, roast dinner, omelette & fish pie. He was much keener totry proper meals than just sticks of veg/toast etc

Hi Everyone!,

i am a newbie to this section and have just started Amy with BLW. I was really unsure about it at first as she doesn't gain weight very well and we're having some problems with B/feeding at the mo.

She is only 12lb 3oz but very petite as well.

She was losing weight with just my milk and so she has been having 10 oz of formula a day as well as my milk. i also started her with some puree'd fruit and veg at 5 months to help boost her weight. She then put on 1lb 1oz in 3 weeks so i was happy.

Ive always wanted to BLW but i am just worried now as i have cut out her puree but she is still on my milk and formula. She is due to be weighed again on Monday and i'll report back her weight.

I understand that 'food is fun till the age of 1' but what if she starts losing weight again?

im giving her rusks, bread sticks (calorific food) as well as fruit and veg to try and keep the weight on, is this a good idea?

any help is appreciated.

thanks xx

Is she over 6 months? I would avoid rusks personally as they are very sugary, when I had issues with my LOs weight I was told when cooking, add cream, real butter, cheese that kind of thing and it really worked. It was horrifying to start with because as adults I wouldnt dream of using that stuff, but a baby needs that kind of fat.

she is 6 months tomorrow. i'll cut out the rusks then as i dont really want her having alot of sugar.

can anyone suggest amy meal ideas?

x

 

[ammieq]

Hi,
Just looking for a bit of advice from you expert ladies! I did traditional weaning initially but DS started refusing to be spoon fed so we're now doing BLW and he's getting on really well. No tears or spitting - he's absolutely wolfing it back and we're all enjoying mealtimes now! Anyway he's just starting nursery soon and at his initial settling session his key worker didn't really seem to accept this and gave him pureed food. Apparently he had a bit but was refusing rice pudding which he normally loves (it was really runny and he kept grabbing the spoon off her). Any ideas what to do or how to get them to follow BLW without coming across too pushy? I want to keep things really friendly with her because she will be an important person in DS's life from now on.

 

[brunettebimbo]

Ammieq he is YOUR son and you are paying them to look after him. They should respect your wishes whether it is something they believe in or not!

Sweetthang, Organix do rusks that have no added sugar, they are sweetened with pear

 

[sweetthang24]

we had our first real choking experience today - Amy was happily munching on a bit of pear and she bit off 2 largish chunks and was trying to gum them down. She must have tried to swallow the first piece as she started to gag, i'm not bothered by gagging at all but i watch very closely to see she is bringing the food forward. However, this time only 1 bit of pear came forward and her eyes started to water. she then tried to cough it forward but it wouldn't budge.

by this point she was starting to go red in the face and her lips were turning blue, she was trying to breathe in but couldn't and started to cry like ive never heard before.

i pulled her out of her bumbo chair turned her on her belly over my hand and slapped her back - this peice of pear shot out of her mouth and then she was fine.

i have never been so scared in my life. i honestly thought the pear was mushy enough for her to handle.

i went a got an apple biscuit thing that she loves and i know she can handle and she happily sat there and munched on it. i didnt want to make too big a deal out of it so she wouldn't try it again.

it hasn't put me off BLW i will just be more cautious now when she starts to gag.

ps. ive not put this up to scare anyone, i just simply wanted to share my experience.

 

[Mum2BeJodi]

I haven't really been doing baby led weaning, as I've been doing puree since 5 mths. I then gave her a bit of bread , cucumber and she was able to eat it. I haven't freaked out about her gagging, but when at my in laws my little one had a bit of bread and starting gagging on it. My FIL freaked out and was sticking his fingers in her mouth to get it. I kept telling him the whole time not to worry about her gagging she would be okay. How do I stop others from freaking out??

 

[moondrops]

If you stick your fingers in their mouth to retrieve the food it can make the problem worse as you can accidentally push it backwards so it goes down their throat resulting in choking, it's better to pick them up and pat them on the back or you can do the chest thrusts if the food still doesn't come out, i would use my fingers as a last resort though.

I know it was your FIL but he was probably just panicking, my OHs grandma panicked when i gave my LO some cucumber and she gagged i think it's because in her day she never gave finger foods just jars so she was watching her like a hawk! Just tell people to leave her and she will bring the food up herself and spit it back out, let them watch her and see for themselves and maybe they will feel more comfortable about it?

 

[JoeyTT01]

Hi,

I'm currently reading the BLW book and am pretty sure this is the route I want to take with my little one. Alice is only 20 weeks, so am not thinking of starting for a while but I've got a question....

Im currently breadtfeeding and go back to work in October, Alice will be 9 months old, will she have dropped milk feeds during the day by then? She won't take bottles of expressed milk so I'm worried that she'll still be feeding from me if we do BLW.

Sorry if this has been asked many times before!

Thanks, Jo x

 

[Shiv]

Hi,

I'm currently reading the BLW book and am pretty sure this is the route I want to take with my little one. Alice is only 20 weeks, so am not thinking of starting for a while but I've got a question....

Im currently breadtfeeding and go back to work in October, Alice will be 9 months old, will she have dropped milk feeds during the day by then? She won't take bottles of expressed milk so I'm worried that she'll still be feeding from me if we do BLW.

Sorry if this has been asked many times before!

Thanks, Jo x

Sophia started to drop breastfeeds in the day around about 10 months. She also would not take bottles, however we found if I was not around then she would either happily go without (and play catch up when I got home) or she would take expressed milk from a Tommee Tippee first cup as it is free flow. It took her a while to take to the cup but she got the hang of it in the end. Whatever happens your little one won't starve, she will either learn to accept milk from a cup or will take solid snacks so try not to worry.