BLW book

[BabyMamma93]

I wont be weaning LO for like 2 months yet but these months are going fast.
i really want to do BLW, but im kinda confused as to what he can and cant have, i have read many threads on here and even been on a website that people have posted, but i still cant seem to get my head around what he can and can not eat and the sizes they should be cut into, i would really like a book to keep looking at more so to reassure me, as im also para that he will choke, can anyone recommend a book that i should buy?

 

[irish_cob]

The classic blw book is Gill Rapley

 

[BabyMamma93]

thankyou

 

[MindUtopia]

Yes, the Gill Rapley book is THE book to get. As for what food to offer, he can literally have anything from 6 months besides honey, whole nuts, and too much added sugar or salt (eventually a little will be okay, but I'd avoid it completely for now as you don't need it). To start things in stick shapes were the easiest to eat, so toast fingers (with butter, hummus, peanut butter, mashed banana, mashed avocado), cucumber or melon sticks, roasted sticks of veg, banana (cut roughly into 3 pieces so each is about 3 in long), homemade roasted chips. We also had lots of success with stone fruits (peaches, plums, nectarines), cut in half with the stone removed. Things he can dip his fingers into like porridge, soup or yogurt are also great. But the Gill Rapley book was really helpful just for coming up with ideas. It can be overwhelming at first because you really have no idea what to offer, once you start getting some ideas, it becomes much easier to imagine all the other possibilities. He may not be able to at first, but in a few months, he'll also be able to use his pincer grip to pick up things like peas, blueberries, grapes, sweetcorn, raisins, etc. But I'd probably stick to 'stick' shapes and dippy things to start and see how he does.

 

[BabyMamma93]

thank you ill have a look at getting this book. im more just scared of him choking but i really dont like the thought of mushing food up. ive read that spag bol is also okay, but isnt there a choking risk with the spagetti or pasta?

 

[BabyMamma93]

is it the 'helping your baby love food' or the cook book?

 

[wishuwerehere]

Helping your baby love food explains why and how to blw. I don't ha e the cookbook but i imagine it'd be good for ideas! It's a great book, obviously i am yet to start weaning my second lo and i did purees with my first but am super excited about blw this time :and keeping my eye on threads like this for ideas

 

[BabyMamma93]

i really cant wait to wean my little boy, im also nervous, i just dont want to waste money on crappy jarred foods, and dont want to sit spoon feeding him when obviously, babies are capable of doing it them selves at 6m anyway! i just need to know what i can and can not give him, like i said before i read you can give them spag bol, but i thought they would choke on the spaghetti or pasta?

 

[MindUtopia]

Get the book and read it, it really will explain everything. I found it all made a lot more sense once I read it and really boosted my confidence. Nope, he won't choke on pasta, not anymore than he will on pureed food. He might gag (which is what lots of people think is choking - kinda sounds like a cat trying hack up a hair ball), but he'd likely also gag on puree too. It's just the gag reflex at work, which helps them learn how to move food around the mouth and to know if something is too big to safely swallow. So gagging is a good thing! It keeps them safe. He should be perfectly able to handle pasta. He'll learn how to move it around his mouth and gum it before he swallows it (so again, there may be some gagging as he learns how this all works), but he can definitely do it. It's amazing actually what they can eat. They know how to do it. Just like baby cows or baby rabbits or whatever, baby humans are just as capable of handling real food from the start of weaning (you don't see mama cows pureeing grass for their calves). It just takes trusting the process. We started BLW at 6 months and never did any purees. My daughter has been eating real food from the start. She's now 18 months and she's never choked once. She did gag a bit the first few weeks, but that was just part of figuring out how to eat. She's now such an adventurous eater and we get compliments everywhere we go about how lovely she is to have at the table and the sorts of foods she loves.