BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[ShanandBoc]

Strange how all babies are so different, My DD has gagged only slightly twice in 2 and a half months

 

[evewidow]

we went out for dinner last night and dd was stealing stuff off my plate , i was so proud lmao! got some funny looks though a tiny baby eating big chunks of broccolli etc meh...

 

[Maccysmum]

Hi there seriously considering BLW but have a couple of questions. I hope you dont mind.

1. what sorts of foods do you start off with?
2. do you place the food in their hand (my daughter is almost 6 months and can hold things and put them to her mouth but doesnt really pick things up)?
3. When you are out and about how long do you let them feed themselves for? ( I have two older children and am very rarely in one place very long.)
4. Is it possible to do a mix of puree and BLW? or does it defeat the object?

 

[beccybobeccy]

Hi there seriously considering BLW but have a couple of questions. I hope you dont mind.

1. what sorts of foods do you start off with?
2. do you place the food in their hand (my daughter is almost 6 months and can hold things and put them to her mouth but doesnt really pick things up)?
3. When you are out and about how long do you let them feed themselves for? ( I have two older children and am very rarely in one place very long.)
4. Is it possible to do a mix of puree and BLW? or does it defeat the object?

Firstly I would highly recommmend, if you haven't already, reading the Gill Rapley book "Baby Led Weaning" as it basically just goes through everything you need to know but to try and address your questions briefly...

1. Pretty much anything if you are starting at 6 months (which is the BLW recommendation). You should be more careful if their are allegies in the family. Sugar and Salt should be largely avoided, Honey and whole nuts are no no's too at this age.
2. The short answer is you give your baby a selection of foods for them to explore. You don't put it in their hands. It is for them to pick up and put to their mouth. You can pre-load a spoon though.
3. With BLW its not a race so you do need to have some time and patience. It doesn't matter if they don't have a meal at every mealtime, its about giving them every available opportunity to explore food, move it to their mouth, before eventually eating (maybe 2/3 months down the line). At 6 months its a game more than anything. "Food before 1 just for fun" It's okay if you skip a meal whilst out and about as their main nutrition is from the milk anyway.
4. A mix of Puree and BLW doesn't exist. Traditional weaning is puree and finger foods anyway.

In my opinion if BLW is for you its almost impossible to do without reading the book.
Hope this helps

 

[sweetthang24]

hello fellow BLW'ers

i just wanted to write something on how proud i am of my LO with her eating.

I'd never heard of BLW until a friend of mine introduced me to it. At first, being really honest, i was skeptical. But then thinking about it, what did babies eat before the food companies latched onto it and started a marketing frenzy.

So off we went at 6 months old. My OH was certain she was going to choke and apart from one scary episode she handled everything really well.

Bounce forward to 8 months old and she is now a pro, her hand eye co-ordination in awesome. she attacks food with avengence
I was worried she was going to lose weight as i understood the motto was ' food is fun till the age of one' but she is eating anything and everything. i dont think i have found anything she doesnt like.

when we go out to my friends they all stare at her in amazement. Even when i go to a breastfeeding group they all comment on how she is a really good example of how much babies are capable of.

so needless to say i am a huge fan and will definately be doing it again when our next one comes along.

here my favourite pic after lasagne

 

[ShanandBoc]

Blw = extreme mess, thats the only bad thing about it but its totally worth it. Ill being doing it with my 2nd for sure

Sweetthang24 Amy is tooo cute

 

[sweetthang24]

Blw = extreme mess, thats the only bad thing about it but its totally worth it. Ill being doing it with my 2nd for sure

Sweetthang24 Amy is tooo cute

thank you hun your LO has lovely sparkly eyes, a right cutie xx

i remember you from the pregnancy forums as we were close in dates. its crazy how fast its gone isn't it? i want it to slow down.

oh and the only other bad thing i can think of is that i tend to pick at what she hasn't eaten :doh:

 

[Natsku]

Hey new BLWer here! Maria is doing well with it, seems to like cucumber and (gluten free) bread the most. Gotta say though, not loving the mess! But thats cos she mostly eats on my knee at the moment or sat on the floor as I don't have a highchair yet.

 

[lovealittle1]

We are just over a month in of BLWing. I do recommend one of those mats that goes under the highchair so you can give them back all the food they loose or in Kieran's case throw

Everything is going wonderfully I think. I'm not sure how other 7 months old eat but he seems to be doing very well! I was amazed yesterday how he managed to eat risotto! I put a mound of it on his highchair and he got both hands in there and sucked it out of his fists! He also did extremely well with spagetti the other day too!

I just have a couple questions here:

The last few days he seems to be gagging more and he has thrown up a few times because he gagged so much. He has never done this before. Is this normal at this stage still??

At the moment I end the meal when LO starts to show signs of frustration. He sometimes is still eating but I can tell he is getting frustrated with his food - is this okay?

And lastly I find LO gets angry when food gets stuck to the roof of his mouth. Potato is really bad. Is there anything I can do to help with this problem?

TIA

 

[cazd]

My twins start TOMORROW !!!!

They turn 6 months on Sunday but I can't wait any longer - we're weaning them a day early

I absolutely LOVE that lasagne pic - just fantastic - how happy is she?!!
So many of my new mum friends have started feeding their babies early and I think its such a shame (of course Id never say it aloud) they're pushing spoons into their babies mouths and I see it over and over again - faces turned away, food spat out, trying to grab hold of the spoon. What a waste of a chance to have fun with food!

Well anyway - its toast + avocado for breakfast for my two.
I CANT WAIT !!!!!

I wondered if you guys could give me some advice on bowls / plates etc?
I've just posted about it in the main section but thought I'd ask the experts...

Should I just stick to the highchair tray? or is it worth investing in sucky bowls too?

 

[lovealittle1]

Cazd-happy 6 months to your LO's! Let the fun begin. At the moment I don't use any bowls or plates I just put The food directly on the highchair tray. I can't imagine the food staying in dish very long even if I were to try. HTH

 

[cazd]

Hearing that.. I think I'll do without now and see how they go. Ta x

 

[minkymoo]

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 ?

Niamh is a week shy of 6 months and I gave her her first finger foods yesterday. I tried her with some purees at 22/23 weeks but then she got a cold so I quit to ensure she filled up only on milk. She's been sitting up since 4.5 months, grabbing at food, dropping milk feeds and having tastes touched to her lips so I guessed she was ready?

She was doing well with swallowing from the spoon but always wanted to hold it so yesterday I gave her a chunk of roast potato, roast parsnip, carrot stick and a chunk of courgette. She ate everything but the carrot and, weird as it sounds, she chewed the food and swallowed most of it with only one gagging episode.

I haven't done wrong, have I?

I think this may be a better option for her. Looking forward to starting toast etc in the next couple of weeks but will still give her pureed puds (yoghurt etc).

 

[Shiv]

If she is getting the food to her mouth on her own then she is ready so GO FOR IT!

 

[minkymoo]

If she is getting the food to her mouth on her own then she is ready so GO FOR IT!

Oh yes, no problem there

thanks

 

[aliss]

BLW doesn't start at 6 months on the dot, you can do a bit before and a bit after. The only concern is when babies are much too young (ie. 12, 17 weeks) and don't have proper gag reflexes. That is why BLW is specifically not recommended for preemie babies. Otherwise, go with your gut (or I guess, their gut!!)

Minkymoo sounds like she loves it!!!

 

[blondey]

We slooooooowly started to try BLW a week before 6 months but LO is not very good at sitting up so she spent most of the time with her face about an inch from the tray. So we are going to wait a bit I think. Hoping it works out once the sitting is better as I really want to BLW and it not going so well the first time we tried made me feel a bit down and stirred up feelings about failing at BF...stoooopid I know!

Minkymoo did niamh actually eat the food?! That's great! When we have given Ava-Mae little bits, not of it gets swallowed. I even tried to test her swallowing ability by spooning a bit of weeabix in her mouth and she poked it straight back out!

 

[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 ?

Niamh is a week shy of 6 months and I gave her her first finger foods yesterday. I tried her with some purees at 22/23 weeks but then she got a cold so I quit to ensure she filled up only on milk. She's been sitting up since 4.5 months, grabbing at food, dropping milk feeds and having tastes touched to her lips so I guessed she was ready?

She was doing well with swallowing from the spoon but always wanted to hold it so yesterday I gave her a chunk of roast potato, roast parsnip, carrot stick and a chunk of courgette. She ate everything but the carrot and, weird as it sounds, she chewed the food and swallowed most of it with only one gagging episode.

I haven't done wrong, have I?

I think this may be a better option for her. Looking forward to starting toast etc in the next couple of weeks but will still give her pureed puds (yoghurt etc).

if she ate it then shes ready imo i find blw much more fun , it amazes me how well holly can eat too, she has no teeth yet chews beautifully, last night she had her 1st curry ..wolfed it up

 

[minkymoo]

We slooooooowly started to try BLW a week before 6 months but LO is not very good at sitting up so she spent most of the time with her face about an inch from the tray. So we are going to wait a bit I think. Hoping it works out once the sitting is better as I really want to BLW and it not going so well the first time we tried made me feel a bit down and stirred up feelings about failing at BF...stoooopid I know!

Minkymoo did niamh actually eat the food?! That's great! When we have given Ava-Mae little bits, not of it gets swallowed. I even tried to test her swallowing ability by spooning a bit of weeabix in her mouth and she poked it straight back out!

She did hun, proper chewing motion (well more like an old woman with 2 teeth). She didn't eat all of it because half of it ended up on the floor but some definitely got down there!

The first, say, 3 times I tried Noo with purees a lot of it got pushed back out but then she twigged and 3/4's got eaten but I stopped a week or so later.

I've given her 'tastes' of things that I was holding (an apple/pear/nectarine/potato etc) since about 21/22 weeks so she could understand the difference between food and toys iykwim, and she always sits at the table when we eat and we make noises and a big deal about moving our mouths etc...

Don't feel like a failure AT ALL, on either front. She'll eat when she's ready and believe me, given the mess it makes and the smell of her backside these days I wouldn't worry about it LOL.

 

[minkymoo]

What do we consider a meal portion with blw at 6 months? i.e. half a roast potato plus 2 sticks of asparagus or two toast soldiers and a chunk of banana etc?

I am really clueless.