BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[Thumper]

:wave:
Isn't it amazing seeing them munch their way through it all?
I told our HV today as I got him weighed and she said that she thinks it's the best way to wean helps prevent any problems later on. Yeay.

 

[Natsku]

I'm at my inlaws and they are loving BLW! They keep offering Maria whatever they are eating (and Maria would eat everything, all day long probably if I didn't stop her )

 

[evewidow]

we are on about week 5 i think now and holly loves pretty much everything . she always goes for red foods first though ! she does well from a preloaded spoon and the only thing she struggles with is apples but i guess once she has teeth this will get better. on holiday lat week people were amazed she sat at the table eating steak , potatoes , lemon , onion , tomatoes , big pineapple wedges , crusty bread etc

 

[beccybobeccy]

we are on about week 5 i think now and holly loves pretty much everything . she always goes for red foods first though ! she does well from a preloaded spoon and the only thing she struggles with is apples but i guess once she has teeth this will get better. on holiday lat week people were amazed she sat at the table eating steak , potatoes , lemon , onion , tomatoes , big pineapple wedges , crusty bread etc

I love it when they stare in disbelief. Sofia polished off a whole portion of lasagne tonight. My mum was amazed as she first sucked all the beef and tomato off and then went to work on the pasta!

Don't know if it helps but I've been steaming the apples in chunks. It stays as a slice and you can just peel the skin off. Sofia loves it! Just going to do that until her teeth come in properly. I still offer a non-steamed one every so often just to practice.

 

[chocojen]

I will be keeping an eye on this thread, I am planning on BLW when George reaches 6 months, hoping to stcik to milk til then- easier for me!

He got two teeth this week so that should help him by the sounds of things x

 

[blondey]

I will be keeping an eye on this thread, I am planning on BLW when George reaches 6 months, hoping to stcik to milk til then- easier for me!

He got two teeth this week so that should help him by the sounds of things x

You don't realise until you start weaning how easy it is when they are only on milk!! Today I was a naughty mummy and LO only got one meal as I had to go out and didn't have enough time to give her breakfast and lunch!!

We lasted till 6 months even though everyone around us was sure LO would need solids before then!!

 

[chocojen]

LOL everyone is telling me to wean already and he is just about 4 months old.....I want to do it my way, I dont mind if anyone else does it differently but I want to try and hold out xxx

 

[mastersdoggie]

hello people

we started solids about a couple of months back - gerber rice cereal mixed with gerber pear.

tried giving her lentils, did not work so well as pear+rice mix

doctor has advised us to give her more solids. tried gerber carrot - she just did not like it.

planning to try homemade apple puree tomorrow and after 3-4 days cooked sweet potatoes. hope she likes them

anyone having ideas on how to make her eat carrots?

i have decided to quit my job to take better care of her; so hopefully i will have time to try some nutritious recipes

 

[evewidow]

hello people

we started solids about a couple of months back - gerber rice cereal mixed with gerber pear.

tried giving her lentils, did not work so well as pear+rice mix

doctor has advised us to give her more solids. tried gerber carrot - she just did not like it.

planning to try homemade apple puree tomorrow and after 3-4 days cooked sweet potatoes. hope she likes them

anyone having ideas on how to make her eat carrots?

i have decided to quit my job to take better care of her; so hopefully i will have time to try some nutritious recipes

One of the main points of BLW is that you dont puree the foods . We just cook carrots in sticks for holly and she grabs them and munches away .

 

[Kimboowee]

Hi!
Im planning on getting to 6mons, LO was 5mons a few days ago. We've given her a few bits to try but she's not ready so will be waiting.

Any tips??

 

[blondey]

My biggest tip is take it slowly and try not to stress. My LO was 6 months when we started, but her sitting was really poor so we took it ultra slow, just offering things every now and again. Also she didn't swallow a thing for about 3 weeks, maybe longer. Everything got spat out. We just made sure she kept her milk intake up. Now at 7months, she's dropped a bottle and having 3 meals, most days!

On the other hand, some babies, take to it straight away.

Be prepared for mess!! And try and keep calm if they gag, it's scary at first but it's a good thing as it means they're learning to move the food around their mouth.

Good luck!! xx

 

[mastersdoggie]

Hi!
Im planning on getting to 6mons, LO was 5mons a few days ago. We've given her a few bits to try but she's not ready so will be waiting.

Any tips??

try very very small portions. for my LO, i gave one spoon of cereal divided into 8 or 10 portions - when she had just completed 6 months. now she is 8 months old, and she eats about 1.5 tsp of cereal mixed with 4 tsp of fruit puree/mash.

please be patient, just a matter of time! good luck.

hi people, we tried apple and LO seems to like it I was soooooooooooo excited when i came home yesterday and mil said LO had apple mash without even being mixed with cereals, without adding pear puree for taste

planning to try sweet potatoes tomorrow. hopefully she likes that too

 

[minkymoo]

mastersdoggie - I think you'd find better advice in the TW support thread as this one is for babies who eat finger foods..x

Kimbowee - i started touching food to Noo's lips at your LO's age, just for her to lick or suck to get used to new tastes but I didn't give her anything until just before 6 months. As Blondey says, sometimes it takes a while and sometimes they lose interest, like my LO has this week. She started off very well, actually swallowing a fair bit but now she just plays and licks and stuffs it in the chair.....I'm trying to keep her milk intake up but she's never been a big milk drinker so we're on max 21oz at the moment.

Oh, and yes, it's messy.

I started with VERY fleshy stuff such as well steamed asparagus and courgette (zucchini) as she could literally just suck the flesh off.

My LO also has baby eczema so we did the 'one thing for 3 days' to check for reactions before introducing another food. She reacted to any kind of fruit but now I have tried again a few weeks later, most of them are fine.

 

[Rmar]

I think I may be entering this phase. I always said "Nooo, not before 6 months when she can grab the food and put it in her own mouth" but DD is sitting up at the table and grabbing the food to put in her own mouth. So far all that has been infront of her is things like apples or pears with the skin on and she makes funny faces. I have put a butternut pumpkin that was boiled but not too soft that it could come off without purposly chewing and she got in all over her face but I'm pretty sure she didn't swallow any. I'm wondering how long it will be before she swallows something.

I'm kind of shocked at myself that I put it infront of her before 6 months but she seemed so willing with all of the lip smacking and opening and shutting her mouth while we eat. I'm excited but nervous.

Anyone else's LOs get their first taste early on?

 

[tokyo_c]

Hi there just started BLW with my daughter over the last couple of weeks. She's been sitting well for about 2-3 weeks, and trying to grab and eat our food for a little longer. She loves sucking on a bit of french bread or naan when we're out so I decided to try her with some fruits and veggies and see how we went.

So far we've given her steamed carrot sticks, steamed baby corn, fresh yellow pepper and banana. The veggies have all earned a screwed-up face and been tossed over the edge of her high chair. The banana she loves and goes to town on but it seems she's still got the tongue-thrust reflex really strongly because if a chunk breaks off and goes in she makes a gagging noise and it comes back out, usually followed a mouthful of her previous milk feed. Once a bit of bread got stuck back there and she was sick everywhere, it was pretty disturbing.

I know that in the early weeks most just gets spit back out and very little will be eaten, and that the gag-reflex is teaching her to handle food properly but I'm concerned about her vomiting too. I've got the Gill Rapley book but didn't find anything about vomiting, just gagging... wondering if I should give it a break for another week or so or just persist? Anyone else experience quite a lot of vomiting at the start?

 

[blondey]

I'm not sure about the vomiting hun. It was probably something to do with the gag reflex, so personally I would say carry on, even if it's just a bit slower. After all, she'll only learn to deal with the gag reflex and hopefully prevent vomiting if she practices.

I know a few mums who BLW and haven't really heard them say their lo's have been sick so hopefully it was just a one off from too much gagging. Once she actually starts swallowing intentionally, she'll be eating everything!! My LO took a good 3-4 weeks of not swallowing at the beginning, it was quite disheartening at first, but she got there eventually, on her own.
xx

 

[Lilly12]

First time BLW'ing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYbB0gCn8mM

 

[tokyo_c]

I'm not sure about the vomiting hun. It was probably something to do with the gag reflex, so personally I would say carry on, even if it's just a bit slower. After all, she'll only learn to deal with the gag reflex and hopefully prevent vomiting if she practices.

I know a few mums who BLW and haven't really heard them say their lo's have been sick so hopefully it was just a one off from too much gagging. Once she actually starts swallowing intentionally, she'll be eating everything!! My LO took a good 3-4 weeks of not swallowing at the beginning, it was quite disheartening at first, but she got there eventually, on her own.
xx

Thanks for the reply Can I ask, did you offer her food every day during the first few weeks? And generally how many times a day?

 

[blondey]

I'm not sure about the vomiting hun. It was probably something to do with the gag reflex, so personally I would say carry on, even if it's just a bit slower. After all, she'll only learn to deal with the gag reflex and hopefully prevent vomiting if she practices.

I know a few mums who BLW and haven't really heard them say their lo's have been sick so hopefully it was just a one off from too much gagging. Once she actually starts swallowing intentionally, she'll be eating everything!! My LO took a good 3-4 weeks of not swallowing at the beginning, it was quite disheartening at first, but she got there eventually, on her own.
xx

Thanks for the reply Can I ask, did you offer her food every day during the first few weeks? And generally how many times a day?

In the beginning, once I realised how slow it was going to be, I would just be relaxed about it. Offering food when we were having something suitable. I got stressed at the start about her not swallowing, but in the end I realised, as long as she's still having lots of milk, who cares if she's going slowly. I would offer maybe once or twice a day, but not get stressed if she didn't have anything for a whole day every now and again.

I bought lots of the Organix crispy type things too. They just kind of melt in the mouth, but were good for her to practice with.

 

[minkymoo]

I've heard a few stories with being sick with bread and banana! My LO STILL gags on banana although she eats everything else just fine....bizarre. Bread has a habit of sticking to the roof of the mouth and this could be causing the problem so my advice is to toast it lightly first so it doesn't get that 'paste' like consistency when it's been sucked. It could then be going down when milk is given causing it to come straight back up?

I am a month in and my LO still eats very little of everything but I'm keeping at it....she'll learn.