BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[Mum2b_Claire]

Ruby just ate loads of toast with banana. I detest banana so had something different on my toast but she loved it! She ate most of 2 2cm x 6cm pieces.

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

So lunch time sweet potato offered on a spoon he spat it out. sweet potato on toast he couldn't get enough off. SO look like BLW is really the root for us He sucked the life out of the toast..

 

[Lu28]

God, so much going on today!!

With the clementines, I take the skin off too because I'm worried about it being around the same size as her throat. I always choke on the skins too, not sure why! I thought I read somewhere that raisens were a choking hazard too but I can't remember were.

Glad Sofia had her poo, bet there's tonnes of room in there now for her to eat!!

I've found now that when Aisling's struggling with food, where we used to hold it for her so she could lean forward and eat it, she now gives us a dirty look, snatches is out of our fingers and tries to do it herself again!

 

[saraendepity]

Yay go Ruby will have to try Banana on toast and Joshua so great to hear how well he's doing

i agree about the Clemantnes being a bit of a choking hazard...i would just worry they chew the fleshy stuff and then choke on the skin...i would defo peel the skin off

sara

xxxxxxxxxx

 

[JayleighAnn]

Halen had his 4 month check today (at nearly 6months hmmm) and my HV mentioned I need to start weaning him NOW onto puree's. I kindly told her we're hanging in the extra 2 weeks to start BLW. To which she told me I shouldn't do that, he needs food NOW as his iron levels are lowering.
How do you handle criticism of BLW by "health professionals" who admit they are yet to have training on it?
I found it a bit strange that she agreed she has no experience of it but doesn't think it's safe? Surely if she doesn't know anything about it how can she comment?
This is the same HV who told me I should stop BF Halen at 4mo and wean him onto 3 meals a day....I don't really listen to what she says but I felt like she'd really put me on the spot and just kinda agreed with her when I don't really mean it

 

[faille]

Halen had his 4 month check today (at nearly 6months hmmm) and my HV mentioned I need to start weaning him NOW onto puree's. I kindly told her we're hanging in the extra 2 weeks to start BLW. To which she told me I shouldn't do that, he needs food NOW as his iron levels are lowering.
How do you handle criticism of BLW by "health professionals" who admit they are yet to have training on it?
I found it a bit strange that she agreed she has no experience of it but doesn't think it's safe? Surely if she doesn't know anything about it how can she comment?
This is the same HV who told me I should stop BF Halen at 4mo and wean him onto 3 meals a day....I don't really listen to what she says but I felt like she'd really put me on the spot and just kinda agreed with her when I don't really mean it

Just bite your tongue and laugh to yourself at how ignorant she is and how much of a fool she's making herself look!!

I'm not sure how it works for BF but at aprox 6 months, their iron levels do start decreasing so it needs to be supplied by food (either food food or milk). With FF you can simply switch to follow on milk if you're worried about their diet not containing enough (we've switched as I wasn't confident that Violet was eating/sucking on enough food to get enough iron). Like I say, I dunno if BF babies get the iron from breastmilk or if you could simply give them vitamins instead..?

Well done for standing up to yourself though and sticking to your guns! Thankfully our clinic is very supportive of BLW and are actually actively encouraging it!

 

[JayleighAnn]

According to BLW by Gill Rapley " It's true that breastmilk doesn't contain as much iron as, for example, meat or fortified foods. But the iron in breastmilk is absorbed extremely easily ( formula contains a lot of iron but is it not as easily absorbed" and
"As well as the iron they get from breastmilk, babies also have reserves that were built up whilst they were in the womb, These gradually get used up, so that some time after 6months, they begin to need more iron that they can get from breastmilk alone. But the difference isn't huge - breastmilk can still provide most of what they need. So your baby is probably getting enough from the small amount of food he is eating."

 

[saraendepity]

i was just thinking about this, we combnation feed and she is on stage 2 C&G for her bottle feeds and i BF her about 3 times a day, if not more (hoping to do more but the supply isnt playing ) and obv you all will know how much she is (not) eating at the moment.... is it worth putting her onto stage 3 milk or will she be eating enough soon to counteract the iron thing???

sara

xxxxxxx

 

[Lu28]

I think the iron worry is a bit overhyped to be honest, as long as they're eating something they should be fine. I'd have thought we'd know soon enough if our babies were anaemic and lethargic!

 

[faille]

Sorry, a bit off topic to the iron thing but have any of you noticed that your LO's are having more dirty nappies?

Sorry for TMI but Violet seems to be pooping very frequently and usually after lunch and dinner - so aprox 4-6 dirty nappies a day at the moment (not always big ones, sometimes it's only a little bit).

I don't know whether this is "normal" when weaning, an allergic reaction to something or because she's teething!

I've read that bananas can cause them to poop a lot - does anyone have experience of this? She has a bit of banana almost daily so I'll try cutting it out and see if that does anything lol

 

[faille]

Off topic completely but I love your new pic of Aisling, Lu!

 

[kirsten1985]

Sorry, a bit off topic to the iron thing but have any of you noticed that your LO's are having more dirty nappies?

Sorry for TMI but Violet seems to be pooping very frequently and usually after lunch and dinner - so aprox 4-6 dirty nappies a day at the moment (not always big ones, sometimes it's only a little bit).

I don't know whether this is "normal" when weaning, an allergic reaction to something or because she's teething!

I've read that bananas can cause them to poop a lot - does anyone have experience of this? She has a bit of banana almost daily so I'll try cutting it out and see if that does anything lol

Freya used to poo once a day at the same time, lol. Now she goes anything up to 4 times a day, sometimes small ones, sometimes all big ones, depending on how much she has eaten. Sometimes she will poo 3 or 4 times within a couple of hours - it's completely random!

I do know that there is LOADS more, and much more frequent.

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Sorry, a bit off topic to the iron thing but have any of you noticed that your LO's are having more dirty nappies?

Sorry for TMI but Violet seems to be pooping very frequently and usually after lunch and dinner - so aprox 4-6 dirty nappies a day at the moment (not always big ones, sometimes it's only a little bit).

I don't know whether this is "normal" when weaning, an allergic reaction to something or because she's teething!

I've read that bananas can cause them to poop a lot - does anyone have experience of this? She has a bit of banana almost daily so I'll try cutting it out and see if that does anything lol

Yep, Ruby does a lot more dirty nappies now. Ugh. She is also teething though so I had wondered if it was related to that as well. She used to do one per day, or occasionally one in 36 hours, but now we can get up to 3 in a day. (as you say, not always big ones).

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Off topic completely but I love your new pic of Aisling, Lu!

And me!

 

[CountingDown]

I think the iron worry is a bit overhyped to be honest, as long as they're eating something they should be fine. I'd have thought we'd know soon enough if our babies were anaemic and lethargic!

I agree, I spoke to my Dr about it when Olivia was around 6 months old and he said if I was worried about her iron levels just to ensure that she was offered plenty of dark green vegetables and that she could also get plenty of iron from meat and that brown bread also had extra addd iron now.

On the poop subject Olivia still poops randomly lol. Some days it can be 3 dirty nappies a day and sometimes it can be up to a week before we have one.

 

[Pink_Witch]

i tried ern with porridge for the 1st time tomorrow i meant yesterday and he loved it-but he still isnt sure about the spoon much prefers getting his fingers in it!! at lunchtime i gave him a piece of my pear and he dropped it...omgosh did he kick off because hed dropped it so i cut him another piece and he sucked all the flesh off the skin!!. i have also started giving him a drink of juice in a beaker when he has lunch-bless him he seems to like trying to hold it himself.

Were having meat and potato pie tonight (home made in my brand new cooker ) i make little individual ones with just a puff pastry top so going to make him a little one too see how he goes on with it.

Ern usually only poo's every couple of days, but just latley he has started going every day, so must be due to him swallowing food!! We switched him onto the follow on milk which he seems ok on......but oh dear the performance when i tried it in a normal bottle rather than the dr browns.... needless to say hes still having the dr browns lol

 

[saraendepity]

i think if anything Daisy is pooing a little less at the moment, i think she might be a little constipated.....i thought Bananas blocked them up?

obv we are still just startin so the poo thing i am sure is still to come!!LOL

 

[faille]

i think if anything Daisy is pooing a little less at the moment, i think she might be a little constipated.....i thought Bananas blocked them up?

obv we are still just startin so the poo thing i am sure is still to come!!LOL

If bananas block them up then I'd hate to see how much Violet would go if she didn't have any Maybe I shouldn't stop them then!

Thanks for the replies though ladies, very reassuring as like most of you, I was used to once a day or once every couple of days.



What do your LO's do to let you know they've finished?
I'm very keen on starting baby signing so I made my own up for when we started BLW to tell her that I was going to take the tray/food away.

I lift both my arms up and say 'Finished?' and 'All gone?' a couple of times and then take the tray away. Since Saturday, she's raised her arms exactly the same way I do about 3 times all on different occasions, so I'm keeping an eye on it to see if it's just fluke or if she's actually picking it up!

 

[faille]

i tried ern with porridge for the 1st time tomorrow i meant yesterday and he loved it-but he still isnt sure about the spoon much prefers getting his fingers in it!! at lunchtime i gave him a piece of my pear and he dropped it...omgosh did he kick off because hed dropped it so i cut him another piece and he sucked all the flesh off the skin!!. i have also started giving him a drink of juice in a beaker when he has lunch-bless him he seems to like trying to hold it himself.

Were having meat and potato pie tonight (home made in my brand new cooker ) i make little individual ones with just a puff pastry top so going to make him a little one too see how he goes on with it.

Ern usually only poo's every couple of days, but just latley he has started going every day, so must be due to him swallowing food!! We switched him onto the follow on milk which he seems ok on......but oh dear the performance when i tried it in a normal bottle rather than the dr browns.... needless to say hes still having the dr browns lol

Violet's the same with her breakfast at the moment, where she'd used to take the spoon herself and feed herself, she's much more interested in trying to tip the bowl over and get her fingers in it now! Seems like we're going backwards with breakfast lol

She's the same with her sippy cup too, I can't hold it for her, she has to hold it herself

 

[kirsten1985]

I love the idea of holding your arms up, I'm going to start using that I think. Freya just stops eating when she's done, she just drops things on the floor. I offer her a couple more bits and if they go straight on the floor I don't give her anymore.

She is still the laziest baby on here though! Whereas all your babies are demanding to be independant and hold their own cups and spoons, Freya still insists I do it! I have to hold the spoon in front of her for ages before she takes it, whilst she is sort of lunging for it with her arms abover her head! And she loves drinking out of her doidy cup, and drinks quite a lot, but WILL NOT hold it herself! If she does she just throws it around. I usually let her have a good drink while holding it myself then give it to her with a bit of water left in in the hope she will practise doing it, but she just seems to like getting wet .

I still can't believe her with the spoon, lol, surely she should want to do it herself?! I have only put it in her mouth about 3 times ever, so it's not like she's used to it, it just takes so long holding it in front if her before she grabs it. When she does get it, it goes in her mouth sooooo fast!