BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[Thumper]

I'd go for the 'no hablo español' with a and pretend I don't understand Would get you out of every fix

 

[Jodie.82]

haha last time she visited I practiced my spanish loads with her but I suppose I could have a sudden regression lol!

 

[Jodie.82]

what did you all give LO as a first try at BLW? were you scared they would choke? how did they get on?
so excited for when the time is here to try Cleo with BLW

 

[Thumper]

what did you all give LO as a first try at BLW? were you scared they would choke? how did they get on?
so excited for when the time is here to try Cleo with BLW

We gave him softened sweet potato and carrot sticks. Also banana but it's a tricky one as it's so slippy. Cucumber is good too. Oooh and Billy loved parsnip from the off, maybe because it's so sweet.

Strangely we weren't worried at all about choking The one time he's coming close to it was a couple of weeks ago when he got too greedy and chucked a whole dried apricot down his throat He soon coughed it up though.

 

[blondey]

For the whole time we have BLW, I have only had to whack LO on the back twice because gagging wasn't dislodging the food. It is scary to begin with. And it still is scary with my LO as she seems to like pretending to chew things like satsuma segments and then swallowing them whole, gagging them back up and then eating them again, nice eh?

You just have to sit on your hands when the gag and not interfere. Gagging is good as it means they are trying to deal with it.

We started about a week before 6 months with soft veggies/fruits. We then started with all foods at 6 months, very slowly as her sitting was still poor. And nothing was swallowed for about 3 weeks!

 

[Jodie.82]

For the whole time we have BLW, I have only had to whack LO on the back twice because gagging wasn't dislodging the food. It is scary to begin with. And it still is scary with my LO as she seems to like pretending to chew things like satsuma segments and then swallowing them whole, gagging them back up and then eating them again, nice eh?

You just have to sit on your hands when the gag and not interfere. Gagging is good as it means they are trying to deal with it.

We started about a week before 6 months with soft veggies/fruits. We then started with all foods at 6 months, very slowly as her sitting was still poor. And nothing was swallowed for about 3 weeks!

oh really! did she just chew it and spit it out for a while then?

 

[Vee_Bee]

hi ladies
im planning on doing BLW with Cleo once she is 6 months and/or ready. atm she is exclusively breastfed .
ive started having a lot of people ask when im going to give her baby rice, why i havent given puree yet etc and a friend even brought round a jar of baby food the other day and was a bit put out she couldnt give it to LO!
we are going to stay with MIL for a month after new year and cleo wont be 6 months until the day we leave, im already worrying about her trying to feed her solids, or not understanding why I havent
have you found it hard explaining to family or friends or whats the best way to deal with this? I know she is my baby and I sound like a wimp but I feel like if i have MIL and her sisters, friends etc on my case OH will just let them feed her

I have been telling people that "new guidelines state that solids should wait until 6 months. Since babies are more developed at 6 months, some parents chose to skip pureed and go right to soft finger foods." I think people hear BLW and think it is something crazy. When I put it into simple terms they leave it alone! It is all in the presentation! Sometimes I mention increased allergy risk and lower ability to digest foods at 4-5 months.

My mum and MIL had never heard of BLW before, so I explained it to them - they seemed kind of ok with the idea. I then gave them my Gill Rapley book to read - now both of them say that its a brilliant idea and that they wish BLW had been around when they had their kids!!

It's such a relief not to have to explain yourself a million times and that they trust me to do what's best for Ethan.

 

[blondey]

For the whole time we have BLW, I have only had to whack LO on the back twice because gagging wasn't dislodging the food. It is scary to begin with. And it still is scary with my LO as she seems to like pretending to chew things like satsuma segments and then swallowing them whole, gagging them back up and then eating them again, nice eh?

You just have to sit on your hands when the gag and not interfere. Gagging is good as it means they are trying to deal with it.

We started about a week before 6 months with soft veggies/fruits. We then started with all foods at 6 months, very slowly as her sitting was still poor. And nothing was swallowed for about 3 weeks!

oh really! did she just chew it and spit it out for a while then?

Things went in her mouth but either she hadn't totally lost her tongue thrust reflex of she didn't know what to do with it, but she poked her tongue out everytime something was in her mouth and the food would follow!! She got the hang eventually

 

[midori1999]

I've got a couple of questions please...

We have just started BLW a few days ago and have tried Banana, brocolli (she wasn't impressed!) swede and carrot so far. She is swallowing the food as it is in her nappy. However, the carrot this morning was in kind of 'chunks'. Is this normal?

We are going to try avocado today, is it best to leave the skin on? Should I just wash the skin first?

Thanks. I'm amazed, tbh, at how, in just a few days, she has learnt what to food is for and how keen she is to eat it!

 

[blondey]

Totally normal about the nappy hun. I think LO's digestion does get better as you go on (or their chewing gets better!) but often what you have given LO a day or so before hand is easily identifiable in the nappy!!

Not sure about the avocado to be honest! Is the skin edible/would you usually eat it? If not, I'd say take it off, otherwise LO isn't going to know it's not meant to be eaten!! Things like apples and pears I still peel and chop for LO.

 

[midori1999]

Thanks.

You don't normally eat the skin, but the BLW book says that they will know to leave the skin. Not sure I believe it though...

 

[Tacey]

Thanks.

You don't normally eat the skin, but the BLW book says that they will know to leave the skin. Not sure I believe it though...

Give it a try. It worked for us. We left the skin on things like mango, avocado and banana. Even if any skin did manage to get in her mouth, she'd spit it out again. Avocado is very tricky for a baby to hold otherwise!

 

[midori1999]

Thanks.

You don't normally eat the skin, but the BLW book says that they will know to leave the skin. Not sure I believe it though...

Give it a try. It worked for us. We left the skin on things like mango, avocado and banana. Even if any skin did manage to get in her mouth, she'd spit it out again. Avocado is very tricky for a baby to hold otherwise!

Thanks. I left the skin on some pieces and it was definitely easier for her to pick up and keep hold of. I wasn't sure she'd like it, but she loved it and got a bit cross when she dropped any.

Did you leave the skin on pears too? I've heard you can, but I'm more worried about that as pear skin is thinner than avocado or mango skin.

 

[DarlingMe]

Thanks.

You don't normally eat the skin, but the BLW book says that they will know to leave the skin. Not sure I believe it though...

Give it a try. It worked for us. We left the skin on things like mango, avocado and banana. Even if any skin did manage to get in her mouth, she'd spit it out again. Avocado is very tricky for a baby to hold otherwise!

Thanks. I left the skin on some pieces and it was definitely easier for her to pick up and keep hold of. I wasn't sure she'd like it, but she loved it and got a bit cross when she dropped any.

Did you leave the skin on pears too? I've heard you can, but I'm more worried about that as pear skin is thinner than avocado or mango skin.

I think the book says to leave the skin on everything. It helps them pick it up and they will know that a pear skin is ok to eat but not an avocado. Thanks for updating with the avocado, i thought to leave skin on something like that is odd!

 

[Dragonfly]

Alex actually tried some food today, I put him out pancakes and some of them organix carrot sticks and a drink. He ate the carrot sticks mostly, not a great deal but was tasting them and munching away. I am pleased.

 

[Tacey]

I've not really peeled anything for her. She ate pear skin with no issues. With apples, she'd just chew it and spit the skin out! Weirdly enough, she did the same with peas. Never knew that was even possible!

 

[HellBunny]

When do babies/toddlers start eating with cutlery? I've seen loads of babies on facebook eating with a fork/spoon at about 8 months! J is 15 months and won't even hold one, is this normal?

 

[DarlingMe]

When do babies/toddlers start eating with cutlery? I've seen loads of babies on facebook eating with a fork/spoon at about 8 months! J is 15 months and won't even hold one, is this normal?

I doubt the 8 mo old is actually eating with the fork/spoon! The book says to offer a spoon and put it on the tray, if LO picks it up and tried to use it they can. If not they will eventually learn. (lol-sorry just been reading the book! no personal experience!)

 

[Natsku]

I leave the skin on things like pear and apple, she eats it all up. She also eats the apple core if I don't take it off her (OH gave her the core to play with and she munched it almost all up!). I don't leave the skin on avocado but she can hold it ok now. I used to leave the skin on watermelon but then she'd ignore the melon bit and try to eat the skin

Thats great Dragonfly!

 

[marieclare]

Hi I would really appreciate some advice...
LO is 23 weeks, EBF, and I always intended to wait til 6mos to start BLW, maybe a bit of xmas dinner veggies?
But for the last few weeks the world and his dog has been suggesting I start him on a bit of baby rice to help with his sleep issues. After a few really bad nights even DH was insisting we try it even if just to tell people we had tried and it hadn't worked.
I really didn't want to do rice at all though so we compromised with fruit and veg.

LO seems to love it and has had whole pear, roasted sweet veg, cucumber, brocoli etc. He can get things to his mouth straight away and I think he is swallowing some as there was some in his nappy.

The problem is on 2 occassions now, a small piece of food at the back of his tongue has caused him to gag cough and struggle so much that he eventually vomits everything he has eaten plus his last milk feed. He's never been that sick before. Tonight it happened with sweet potato when he had that fine last night.

Its so worrying watching him struggle. I don't know if we should slow down or stop, is it because we started too early? I abandoned tea tonight after cleaning him up but then he was grabbing at my food so clearly still wanted to join in, so I just gave him a virtually raw carrot stick so I knew no bits would come off as I was too nervous of him having problems again.

Can anyone reassure me or advise where to go from here.