BLW Questions...

[TMonster]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread so I decided to start this one.

I am leaning towards BLW but I had a few questions.

First... I don't eat 3 meals a day. Some days I will sit down for at least one meal but usually I eat on the go and graze. Also, I am not the healthiest eater. Some days its salmon and salad and other days, like today its just whatever.

Today, for example, I ate a sausage egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast, I had a cranberry muffin for lunch, I had some strawberries and a mango as a snack, I had 3 bites of a steak sandwich from quiznos for dinner (my sister got it for me and I thought it was gross) and then I had an apple with peanut butter as a snack and right now I am eating hazelnuts.

Also, DH and I LOVE spicy food. I've been toning down a bit on the spice while I am still feeding her breast milk but what about when I make buffalo wings or chili or peach chipotle chicken? Do I just make a portion for her without the sauce or give her something else or just not give her solids that day?

 

[ickle pand]

I don't have an answer but there is a BLW subsection in the weaning section. I'm sure the ladies there would be able to help you

 

[iiTTCii]

I've not started yet but I've just read a book on BLW in perpetration.

It does say to try and sit down wherever with LO (whether on the floor, on the sofa, at the table) and eat with her, whether this is you, siblings or dad so they feel like they are joining in.
You never know, it make make you eat a bit healthier and start having proper meals.

Also, I'll be adding herbs and spices to lO's food to add flavour, obviously not hot.

 

[HKateH]

I didn't want to hijack the other thread so I decided to start this one.

I am leaning towards BLW but I had a few questions.

First... I don't eat 3 meals a day. Some days I will sit down for at least one meal but usually I eat on the go and graze. Also, I am not the healthiest eater. Some days its salmon and salad and other days, like today its just whatever.

Today, for example, I ate a sausage egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast, I had a cranberry muffin for lunch, I had some strawberries and a mango as a snack, I had 3 bites of a steak sandwich from quiznos for dinner (my sister got it for me and I thought it was gross) and then I had an apple with peanut butter as a snack and right now I am eating hazelnuts.

Also, DH and I LOVE spicy food. I've been toning down a bit on the spice while I am still feeding her breast milk but what about when I make buffalo wings or chili or peach chipotle chicken? Do I just make a portion for her without the sauce or give her something else or just not give her solids that day?

Take LO's portion out before you season it (salt and spice). The problem with spice and BLW is that their hands get very messy and they rub their face - LO could end up with chilli in her eye

 

[Reno]

We found we started eating regular and healthy meals once we started BLW! He has veggies with dinner every night, and now we do too! Now he's bigger he will only want to eat the same as what we are eating (he doenst like his food cut up into fingers anymore, because it looks different) so if we have a takeaway we have it when he's gone to bed!

Remember that babies in other countries eat spicy food all the time, so theres no harm in introducing spicy foods earlier than you'd think! DS eats curry no problem, and even insisted on sweet chilli dip with his wedges the other night, cos that's what daddy was having. He didn't show any signs of it being too spicy!

 

[GracieGoo]

I think you def start eating properly when you are doing blw for sure. It is quite a lesson for yourself. But like you say one day you eat salmon and salad, then next not as good. Also in the first few months babies don't tend to eat that much. My 10 month old loves spice - curry, chilli whatever... I tend to get a teeny side for her if it is going to be hot - so if we had curry, I would give her a bit of natural yogurt, if it chilli a bit of soured cream, just to take the edge of if need be. We tend to eat a big breakfast - so a choice of porridge, toast, scrambled eggs and pancakes, fruit (ds tends to decide what he wants and we follow his lead) ... lunch tends to be more of a snack - maybe crackers, with some cheese, or ham salad, falafels - it tends not to be a big meal as I don't eat a lot for lunch... tea time is when we have our main meal, so plenty of veg, meat etc... Neither of mine particularly snack throughout the day, they just have never bothered and like to be sat down properly at the table to eat. With blw you don't threat as much with what they are eating, with ds he expects his lunch between 11.30-12, whereas generally dd isn't fussed.

But one thing for sure it makes you look at what you eat xx

 

[MindUtopia]

I think having a child you have to cook for is the perfect excuse for overhauling your own bad eating habits. If you're going to be feeding a baby, you'll have to cook (or at least heat up) some food for them, so you just make the same thing for yourself. Then while your baby eats, you sit down and eat too. It actually solves the problem of always eating on the go or being too busy to make yourself something proper to eat. Whether you do BLW or not, your baby can't just eat a muffin for lunch every day. Maybe you could do purees to start and not do BLW, but eventually you'll have a toddler you have to cook for who needs real food. So you just find time to do it and you'll find you eat more regular and balanced meals yourself. Actually, I found when we started weaning that I finally had time to sit and eat myself and it was great!

As for cooking, we make a lot of spicy food as well (my husband and I actually met working in India so we cook a lot of really spicy curries and things). We just make a meal and then scoop out some for our daughter before we add the salt and chillies. We try to go easy on the chillies in her food, but she eats plenty of other spices (cumin, tumeric, paprika, etc.). If we had spicy chicken, we'd roast the chicken first, cut some off for her and then add a sauce or glaze. Some days we eat things that there isn't an easy way to make a salt-free (or whatever) version for her. For instance, if we got Domino's. But I always have alternative things I could give her. I freeze some meals I made extra of in the past. Or I make her a sandwich. Or I'll quickly cook her some pasta. Etc. So we still get to eat things we always have that aren't baby-friendly. At the moment, she doesn't notice much. I think when she's older, we won't be able to get away with that as easily, but that has nothing to do with BLW. I imagine even with a 3 year old, we're still going to have to adjust the salt and spice levels, or sacrifice eating things you really want because you have to have a healthy family meal.

You manage though. I think whenever you wonder if BLW is for you, you have to remember that BLW and TW are really only different for the first few months. Even TW babies need to be having finger foods before a year. And then you'll have a toddler who will be eating what you are. You can either get organised with cooking differently now or you can do it in a few months, but you'll have to do it eventually anyway.

 

[sillysapling]

Doing BLW definitely encourages you to be healthier yourself. You can look up baby-friendly recipes, many of which sound damn good for adults! I made banana bread muffins for kiddo the other day, and my partner was very interested in trying them because they smelled so good.

I agree with a PP- make it without salt, then separate baby's portion, and add salt. Avoid recipes that have foods babies can't eat

 

[nevernormal]

I typically cook without salt anyway, and that's a good place to start.

But I think you could easily work things in for baby in the day that you described. For breakfast, baby can have egg, and maybe some whole grain toast. Maybe a few shreds of cheese, though you do have to watch the salt content there. Your muffin probably had a lot of added sugar, but you can look up baby friendly recipes and make a batch of muffins you can share with her each week, if that's one of your go-to foods. She can have the fruit. If we went to quiznos, I'd probably ask for any sauces on the side and then pull some veggies off the sandwich for him to play with/eat.

Babies don't typically start off eating tons with BLW, so during that time you can figure out how it's going to work for you. I try to give our son at least a little taste of everything we eat. Tonight for dinner I made one of the few meals I make that has added salt, and actually it's probably a significant amount really, and it wasn't really possible to just pull some of the food out before I added it (would've had to cook it completely separate). Part of it was rice & beans. So we gave him a very very small spoonful of rice, and he ate maybe 1/4 of that. 1 gram of salt is your limit, so I just try to keep an eye on the day overall. If I know I'm making something salty for dinner, avoid anything salty the rest of the day. In the future, when he's eating more volume, I would also be more cautious about feeding him anything that I know to be more salty.

HKateH has a good point about the spices and them rubbing their faces! When my son is a more confident eater I don't think it will be a problem, but while he's still experimenting a lot with the textures in his hands, I probably won't give him anything spicy (though we love eating those things!). We do clean him up afterwards but he rubs his face while eating too.