BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[Arcanegirl]

We dont eat at the table

I did try him with sticks of banana and cucumber (two seperate times) and whilst he didnt hold them, if i held the sticks he would grab my hand and pull towards his mouth and if i held it he would "chew" and suck.

 

[kirsten1985]

Well, seeing as you have already kinda started anyway, I would just carry on offering him stuff, I think the reason it is best to wait til 6 months is for developmental reasons as much as anything else, so if he is sitting up, and capable of putting food into his mouth himself it should be fine. He won't actually swallow stuff for a while anyway.

 

[Babyshambelle]

Yup...what Kirsten said!

 

[Arcanegirl]

Should i be concerend about the gagging? He did it a couple times and was a bit worrying to watch :/

 

[kirsten1985]

No, gagging is fine, they have a really good gag reflex when young, it's what keeps them from choking . I imagine it's pretty scary, I think the idea is to stand back and watch him deal with it, from what I hear it bothers the parent more than the baby!

 

[Arcanegirl]

that sounds about right

What sort of things can i give, and how do i give it? ie steamed, in sticks? etc

 

[kirsten1985]

Pretty much anything, veggies and fruit can be roasted/steamed/raw, things with 'handles' are good, like cauliflower and broccoli, they need to be able to hold it in their fist and chew on it too, so things need to be sticks, and a decent size. Nothing that can go straight in the mouth whole to start with. Things that can be sucked - banana etc. I think I read bread is a bad idea as it sticks to the inside of their mouths. You can give mashed stuff and they can either pick it up in their hands or you can load a spoon and let them put it in their mouth.

 

[Arcanegirl]

Think im gonna have to buy a book whats the bible you all speak of?

 

[kirsten1985]

Baby Led Weaning by Gill Rapley

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baby-led-W...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1255208017&sr=8-1

It's brilliant!

 

[Lu28]

Ooh, good luck AG, sounds like he's getting the hang of it already! Don't worry if he does swallow food though, Aisling's been swallowing finger foods since she was just over 5 months which surprised us and she's done really well with it. Just the usual gagging when she takes off a bit too much

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Right well after 2 days of giving Ruby food to play with, she ate a very small piece of steamed tendersteam brocolli this afternoon! Brocolli is def a good idea, as Kirsten says it has a 'handle'. Ruby held the stem and kind of sucked and munched on the top bit. It was amazing to watch!

I guess if she grabs and puts food into her mouth, and manages to push it to the back of her mouth and swallow, she's probably ready to do so. I'm not starting properly until first week in Nov tho. Just giving her the odd thing to play with and see for now.

 

[Faerie]

Hi Claire, Sofia was born the day before Ruby

Well, still waiting on the bible to arrive... but I'm pretty sure that Sofia is telling me her hardest that she wants to eat! Today she was grabbing at both of us, so I dipped by little finger in some mashed potato (ok, probably wasn't what I thought her first taste would be) and she sucked it off... and then tried to eat my finger! Plus she's been feeding ravenously, especially in the evening. Like, having both boobs at 5, then 6, then 7:30, then 8:45 (that was tonights pattern so far).

I'm going to try and see if I can get hold of a midwife tomorrow and check it's ok if she has nibbles...

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Well, from what I've read in the 'bible', when they have the skills to pick a food up, put it in the their mouths, move it to the back of their mouth and swallow, they're prob digestively ready for the food. I think this happens at 6m or after or most babies... I'm only giving Ruby the odd bit at the moment, the brocolli eating was probably a fluke! I can't believe that her first self fed food was something I refused to eat until I was about 22! lol

 

[princessellie]

hey everyone, i havent been in here for ages, i just wanted to ask a question

leyla has been having 3 bottles (9oz each) for the past few months and she has also been having 2 meals, is this enough for her age or do i need to increase her solids? or decrease her milk? she seems to be on quite a lot of milk and not very much solids for a baby her age, am i filling her up too much on milk or does she need that much

x

 

[faille]

Hi ladies, just gate crashing this thread as we're gonna try BLW at the end of the month.

I've read that I should offer LO whatever's on my plate and what I'm eating but I'm not entirely sure if it's safe?

Eg. I have fruit bread/loaf for my lunch and whilst the individual slices are big and easily cut up in the right size for LO, are the little bits of fruit within the slice ok? Or should I just stick with offering toast and large pieces of fruit? But then she wont be eating what I'm eating

And if I offer toast should I put anything on it like butter or jam or just leave it completely dry?

Sorry for the stupid q's but I'm paranoid I'm going to offer her 'dangerous' food and cause her to choke

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I guess you could fix that by thinking of her before you when deciding what to eat. I'm going to start varying my lunches so they're better for Ruby when we start BLW properly...

 

[kirsten1985]

Yeah I have thought of loads of different meals and snacks to have for when we start in about a month. I have been practising making stuff with no sugar and salt and have been having breakfast and lunch as if Freya is eating too. I think you get used to it.

 

[helen1234]

rhys has 3-4 bottles of 6 oz so her milk intake is the same as rhys and they are the smae age,
try her with a spot of lunch rhys usually has a mixture of sandwiches, salad, breadsticks etc, if she's hungry she'll thats the beauty of blw no pressure.

lovely to see new names and faces sounds like eveyone is getting excited. blw is the best thing i've done with rhys he's never refused anything he's tried so far, and his hand i co-ordination is fantastic, he still wants me to feed him his porridge in the morning but i dont mind as he'll hold and eat his toast if i load the spoon with porride he decorates the kitchen for me, but if i mush mash potato that stick to the spoon more easy

x

hey everyone, i havent been in here for ages, i just wanted to ask a question

leyla has been having 3 bottles (9oz each) for the past few months and she has also been having 2 meals, is this enough for her age or do i need to increase her solids? or decrease her milk? she seems to be on quite a lot of milk and not very much solids for a baby her age, am i filling her up too much on milk or does she need that much

x

 

[Lu28]

Ooh Helen it's good for me to hear that Rhys still wants to be fed his porridge! Aisling used to be great with the spoon but just bats it away now, I think she's figured out I can get it in her mouth quicker! Not sure how to encourage her to start doing it herself again without mealtimes becoming unpleasant for her so I'm doing it for her at the moment. She does eat her own toast though, sucks all the fruit spread off and then eats the rest!

 

[dizzyisacow]

hi girls just a quick qustion, do you still do the 4 day test when led weaning? giving them one food for 4 days to see if they have an allergic reaction? this is all too confusing to me, if i even mention giving toas to my baby my husband will say are you mad?! but i want to try