BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[MissyMojo]

we've been doing blw for a while now, but im concerned he's not gaining weight as much as I would expect... or actually "eating" very much....

is it normal for his weight gain to slow down about this age?
should i push him to eat more mushed stuff pureed fruit etc or just trust in him?

 

[moondrops]

we've been doing blw for a while now, but im concerned he's not gaining weight as much as I would expect... or actually "eating" very much....

is it normal for his weight gain to slow down about this age?
should i push him to eat more mushed stuff pureed fruit etc or just trust in him?

My baby is blw and she hardly eats anything, it mainly gets sucked and chucked on the floor or chewed up and spat out. Her weight gain has slowed considerably but she's still on the same amount of milk. I would trust your baby he will soon learn how to eat and will gradually take less milk and more food he's just learning atm xx

 

[MissyMojo]

he seems to of dropped BF feeds but not increased food intake oh well, a 2oz gain is still a gain . . .

 

[Shiv]

Some babies don't eat anything until they are well past 10 months, Food is for fun until they are one and all that. Try not to worry, especially if you are breastfeeding on demand, LO will be getting everything they need.

 

[summer rain]

he seems to of dropped BF feeds but not increased food intake oh well, a 2oz gain is still a gain . . .

The new charts only 'expect' gains of 2-3oz a week at your LOs age because they do slow down weight gain massively after 6 months; my eldest was TW and ate like a horse however he only gained 2oz a week on average; from 20 weeks onwards (he was weaned a day or so before 17 weeks), despite me giving him a lot of high calorie, high fat but healthy foods. Then we went to an appointment at 13 months and he had climbed several centiles and gained about 7lb since he was 9 months, so he did eventually start to gain weight well on food xx

 

[Impy]

We have only just started BLW three days ago. LO just turned 6mths. He is really keen to put food in his mouth and 'chew' and suck on it but if he manages to bite a chunk off he gets really upset with it being in his mouth. A few times now he has not been able to spit the chunk out and it has ended in tears. Has anoyone else had the same?

 

[littlepne]

The first few weeks can be difficult. When we started, LO would bite a bit off, chew it and then usually spit it out - although she did swallow more than we thought!

It makes sense to me that they learn how to chew before they figure out the swallowing thing, helps preventing choking.

I would suggest, if he's getting upset, to end the "meal" and give him cuddles. You could always try again after he's calmed down, or try again next meal time.

When LO had gagging incidents, I think it helped that I tried to look calm and gave her smiles, even if I was silently panicking inside!

Trust me, it does get a lot easier! LO really started "eating" things at around 9 months and now she can eat quite a lot.

 

[Impy]

Thanks for your advice. Since posting I have actually been doing most of what you said and we have had fewer crying incidents. He can now spit food out that he doesn't want in his mouth so I think he feels happier about being in control.

 

[MissMamma]

does anyone miss meals? i'm a really bad eater and tend to not eat three meals a day, especially if i'm out and often this means LO doesnt get lunch or breakfast or sometimes even tea because it always takes me longer than expected to cook tea and sometimes we dont end up eating it until she's in bed :/ she's still having all her milk feed in the day [dropped all of them at night tho ] so should i be so worried?

 

[Jibber Jabber]

Hey ladies, just started today at 24 weeks, just saying hi and I'm sure I'll start harassing you all soon! x

 

[summer rain]

We just started today also, three days shy of 26 weeks (naughty, naughty us ) will also keep an eye on this thread xx

 

[mayb_baby]

Michael id 26 weeks and 1 day we have been trying purees but he is addicted to yogherts so I have opted to try BLW xx

 

[summer rain]

I have a problem, my son seems to only like 'white' foods, not necessarily bland but the ones that are white or very light in colour. I really don't know why. Say if I give him fish and various types of roasted veg, he will smash up all the colourful veg and stick to the fish, potatoes and parsnips, today I made potato wedges from scratch and a mexican style stew with chickpeas, tomatoes, herbs and cheese to go with it (just didn't put the salty and very highly spicy seasoning in LOs portion) and I put that onto preloaded spoons, he ate all the wedges and threw the preloaded spoons everywhere; though at the end when he was done with all the wedges I put two preloaded spoons with the last bit on, on his tray and he picked those up and ate a bit though it was only a teeny bit of the whole meal. Other fruits and veggies the only one he really seems to like so far is pear, anything else he smashes it up or throws it away. The only 'white' food he doesn't seem to like is cauliflower. I'm worried he is going to end up getting constipated because he is still in BF baby mode of only pooing every 4-5 days; his poo is soft when it comes out but as he eats more and more solids I am worried that will no longer be the case. Any ideas? I did have quite a limited diet while BF up until very recently because he had intolerances to several things via my milk so I'm worried that may have made him fussy....

 

[summer rain]

Don't worry, problem is (semi) solved; I was wary to try him with strawberries because of allergies in the family but I gave him some whole, uncooked strawberries and he loves them and hasn't had any reaction to them so that is something at least xx

 

[gertrude]

don't worry summer rain your lo is just starting out, let them find their own way if you are still BFing the food is not such a priority

 

[summer rain]

Thanks; my main worry was not so much him not eating enough, more him eating too many starchy things as he really seems to go for them, he did 3 poos today that were not hard but they were borderline, hes a bit like my eldest in that he still only poos every 4-5 days which is fine on just breastmilk but with solids as well; he is going to get clogged up. Thankfully at tea time he did seem to be a bit more adventurous, he ate some of the sauce on the pasta as well as the pasta itself, and he ate the apricots as well as the pears in the crumble xx

ETA: he ate loads of fresh strawberries and apricots as well as some sweet potatoes and other colourful veggies today so I am feeling a lot less worried now; he also did a soft but very stinky poo so I think the problem is solved

 

[evewidow]

hey ....

did anyone start BLW before 6 months ... both my boys started at 5 months but we did TW for the 1st and a mixture for the 2nd . we are hoping just to do blw with H.
I was hoping to wait till 6 months but on 2 occassions this week she has grabbed food off us - a corn on the cob and a green bean lol ! so she seems ready to start imo . however she is not 6 months so im aware ill have to wait to give her wheat gluten meat etc.
i know it is frowned upon before 6 months etc but surely the point of being baby led is doing it when they want to ....any thoughts ?

 

[Shiv]

a lot of people offer foods before 6 months on the premise that if the baby can get the food to their mouth and chew it then they are obviously ready. As long as you are not assissting the baby in any way and just let them get on with it then i don't see a problem with offering food from 5 months

 

[jessabella]

I offered at 5 moths..the first week she just played with it and would ge maybe one bite down..then the second week is when she actaully started getting a bit down..so at about 5 1/2 weeks is when she was really starting..I only offered fruit and veggie though..and ones that were semi soft. Then continued to do so until she was about 6 months and added in whatever we were eating..by then she was eating every thing and could get just about anything up to her little mouth..now she is 6 1/2 months and eats three meals and one snack..all on her own..and eats LOADS..really LOADS...
The only thing I found that was differnet wwhen she was younger (4 weeks ago) was that she would get really upset if I didnt help her eat it..as she really wanted it but couldnt get it to her mouth..so would winge until I hleped her get it ot her mouth or help her with the spoon..that only lasted about a week though..then she got the hange of it really!

 

[babybumplady]

Wow this might be the longest thread I have ever seen on BLW. We did with our little boy who is now 3 and he really had a lot of gagging. Our little girl 8mths seems to have less trouble. Will try to come back and take a read through this if I find some time!