BLW - Baby led weaning support thread

[TigerLady]

DOH! And she was doing so well.

How long have you been working on that? I put my hands up with Otter and say "finished" then check his mouth... but we only do one meal a day at most. Plus he isn't old enough to really understand things like that -- waving or signing or anything (I don't think...? ) Do I just keep doing it like that and hope he catches on when he is older?

 

[faille]

I'm really not sure about the theory behind how they learn what it means tbh, but I started doing the finished sign when we started weaning (at 5 and a half months). I just put my arms up and say 'finished?' as I do it, repeat a couple of times and then take her tray away and immediately check her mouth. She often puts her arms in the air with her mouth open so I think she does "know" what it means, she just doesn't do it all the time! Not sure how long it's supposed to take them to firstly understand and then to regularly sign back.

 

[TigerLady]

Is that the "real" sign for finished in ASL?

 

[Lu28]

well done Kian!

can't believe Ruby ate so much in one go either! We had a night like that tonight, she had sweet potato wedges with fish fingers and demolished the whole lot so I ended up scrounging around the house for stuff for her to eat! I did a huge batch of the wedges the other day, half cooked them and them froze them so I now have some proper homemade frozen food for her for when I'm feeling lazy!

Claire, that's a great idea for the pears Aisling loves the peaches in juice and I just bought a mixture of pear and peach. They're so slippery though I can barely hold on to them myself never mind her. I have some left over baby rice I didn't know what to do with so I'll be trying this tomorrow

How much are your lot eating for brekkie? Aisling has porridge with giving her the loaded spoon but she's now taking 40g of porridge flakes with 120ml of formula - that's an adult size portion according to the packet? She finishes it every time too but I'm reluctant to to give her any more...

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

Ah but 40g of porridge with 120ml is a pretty tiny adult portion IMO - maybe I'm a pig but if I'm having porridge that comes in a sachet like oats so simple I need 2 sachets and if not a sachet I put way more in than you're supposed to

Ruby eats about half a handful of rice krispies, about a third of a small pot of yeo valley natural yog, and half a teaspoon of fruit spread. That's not much I know, but as you know she's only just got the hang of eating really so I expect that to increase gradually soon.

 

[faille]

I'm struggling to fit breakfast in..

She's hardly interested in her morning bottle and if I give her food too soon after, she's not interested. Leave it too long and she's napping. Leave it until she's finished her nap and then I worry it's too soon before lunch and then she won't want that!!

As for the dropping the milk feeds down.. She seems to be doing this herself now haha. I offered all her 8oz bottles yesterday and she left in total 6oz for the whole day. And then this morning, she left an oz of her morning bottle, just did not want it. I've only done 6oz for her day bottles today so we'll see how it goes and whether she'll take any more food!


TigerLady, I have no idea what the 'proper' sign is for finished lol! I just made my own up, it feels natural to do something with my hands when I'm asking if she's finished and I've just kept to doing the same movement.

 

[Lu28]

Just wondering what time you ladies were planning on doing Christmas dinner so your LO can participate? It seems to suit our guests to have dinner at about 2.30pm after Aisling's nap. But she usually has a bf around then and would just have had lunch at 12pm. So I'm not sure if she'll be bothered eating around then....

What are you ladies doing?

 

[Lu28]

Faille, it's interesting she's now cutting down on her milk herself, it's amazing how they eventually do it - I guess it's all about them being ready.

Claire, I'd certainly have more than 40g of porridge myself but it definitely looks like a children sized portion and she's only 8 months! I'm just not sure where she's squeezing it in

 

[sublime_ivy]

hey girls

I've decided to start dex on a bottle as I cant take his every 2 hours or less feeding anymore. Which formula do you all use? I have no clue where to start to be honest. I know I don't want to give him any Nestle formula but that is as far as I have got. lol

 

[Lu28]

I'm using Hipp Organic for Aisling's porridge in the mornings but that's just because it has 2 sachets instead of one big tub so it lasts longer when we're not using much. I've heard Aptimil is meant to be the closest to breastmilk? Not too sure though

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

hey girls

I've decided to start dex on a bottle as I cant take his every 2 hours or less feeding anymore. Which formula do you all use? I have no clue where to start to be honest. I know I don't want to give him any Nestle formula but that is as far as I have got. lol

We moved to aptimil once we stopped bf and we've not had any problems

 

[CountingDown]

Just wondering what time you ladies were planning on doing Christmas dinner so your LO can participate? It seems to suit our guests to have dinner at about 2.30pm after Aisling's nap. But she usually has a bf around then and would just have had lunch at 12pm. So I'm not sure if she'll be bothered eating around then....

What are you ladies doing?

I am just going to offer food and bf's as I normally would and then come Xmas dinner time serve some for Olivia. Depending on what time we have dinner, Olivia may be napping anyway!

I know Olivia will at least try some, she tends to eat better when other people are eating as well as me.

Olivia has turned into a begging dog since yesterday lol We visited my mum yesterday and she has just had her dinner before we left (she ate quite alot too). My mum was eating a ham salad sandwich and Olivia was making her mmmmmm sound looking directly at my mum. My mum gave her a piece of the bread and some lettuce, Olivia polished the lot off and began mmmmmming again!

My mum ended up making Olivia a sandwich too and she ate loads of it. Same happened when O/H got in from work. Olivia had had her tea and a bf, and she ended up mmmmmmmming around o/h legs whilst he ate so she shared some of that too!

 

[faille]

We use Cow & Gate milk and never had any issues with it. But then she hadn't had breast milk for the last 7 odd months! I think it's Aptimal that's "meant" to be the closest tasting to BM.

Aww Olivia sounds so cute! She's definately loving her food by the sounds of it


Lu, we're going to my parents for Xmas dinner and they're planning on doing it late (got to fit around my brother..) so we won't be having it until at least 5pm. That's when she usually has a bottle but it's fine as I know she'll take food ok before a bottle anyway and we don't usually have dinner until about 7pm ourselves so it should be fine.

Personally, I wouldn't go by what guests want! If you're the one that's got to cook it then they eat when you say! (or am I just harsh lol)

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

hey girls

I've decided to start dex on a bottle as I cant take his every 2 hours or less feeding anymore. Which formula do you all use? I have no clue where to start to be honest. I know I don't want to give him any Nestle formula but that is as far as I have got. lol

Cow and Gate has been great for us. Ruby isn't very fussy but when we were feeding both EBM and formula she had no issues taking the formula...

Maybe get a few cartons to start off with rather than getting a big tub of powder, see how you get on.

Ruby ate most of a whole slice of cheese on toast again at lunch. I obviously gave her some water from the doidy after but I am now wondering whether this is a too-big portion for a not-even 8 month old. I mean, I only had 2 slices myself. So yeah Lu I do see where you're coming from about the porridge portion!

When your LOs eat toast (as the whole meal) how much roughly do they eat?

Ruby is only getting 6oz for her midday and 4pm bottle now. I had to give her food when she was really hungry today because the bottles came out really odd from the steriliser for some reason so had to re-do them, she was fine eating food when actually hungry.

Countingdown, that sounds so cute! Olivia sounds like she's really into her food now.

With xmas dinner I think we'll eat at about 3pm, so Ruby should have napped by then. Fingers crossed anyway.

 

[faille]

Lunch was a complete disaster...

Violet had her morning bottle at about 8.15am, then I gave her some toast at roughly 10am (which she ate a very small amount of). I'd usually give her a bottle at 12.30/1pm but decided we'd do food first. She was being really grizzly (teeth I think) so didn't actually get round to eating until 1.30 and she just wouldn't have it, she was not stop whimpering and bashing the food on the tray... She did eat some but whilst whimpering the whole time. I gave up and gave her a 6oz bottle, which she guzzled down but stopped just before she finished so I think dropping to 6oz is right but the timing was so wrong


And I'm so jealous of you ladies who are saying your LO's are eating that much! It's a rarity that Violet actually eats anything of significance... If I offer a slice of toast, I'm lucky if she'll take a quarter of it.

She can eat and does eat, she just doesn't eat much. She's really good at picking it up and everything so I don't know what's stopping her from actually eating it.

I might do some before and after pics of what I offer her and then ask for comparisions from you lot just to reassure me

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

But as Violet CAN eat, then I guess if she doesn't eat, then she just doesn't want to/doesn't need to at that particular time. I was worried when Ruby showed little signs of being able to eat, but now I know she is definitely capable of eating, I won't worry if she doesn't, if that makes any sense. Babies and children are notorious for eating loads one day and next to nothing the next.

I don't think we really need to obssess over quantities, if our babies seem satisfied. I am half tempted to puree up the amount of food Ruby would eat to see what it looks like compared to a jar of pureed food but I should seriously get out more if I'm considering that!!

 

[faille]

I am half tempted to puree up the amount of food Ruby would eat to see what it looks like compared to a jar of pureed food but I should seriously get out more if I'm considering that!!

Hahaha I know how you feel

 

[Lu28]

I am half tempted to puree up the amount of food Ruby would eat to see what it looks like compared to a jar of pureed food but I should seriously get out more if I'm considering that!!

I've thought about doing this a few times!

When Aisling eats toast, sometimes she'll eat nearly all of it, other times she'll barely touch it, it's very hit and miss

 

[CountingDown]

When Aisling eats toast, sometimes she'll eat nearly all of it, other times she'll barely touch it, it's very hit and miss

This is just how Olivia is at every meal! Sometimes she will eat lots then others she will take a bite or two and throw it aside. Olivia never seems to eat enough not to want milk soon after though. She has not dropped any milk feeds yet but I but seems to feed for shorter periods after some meals. Sometimes I wonder if she becomes lazy eating the food and has the milk because it is an easier option (ie fills her up quicker)

 

[faille]

Sometimes I wonder if she becomes lazy eating the food and has the milk because it is an easier option (ie fills her up quicker)

That's exactly what I've thought about Violet too