hel and advice please

[tdog]

I started weaning my nearly 7 month old when he was 5.5 months now I'm hearing all this about blw can someone explain what it is and what I feed him (sorry if sound thick) and would I mash it up or just leave him to chew it (try and chew) tia xx

 

[MindUtopia]

Baby-led weaning is basically offering finger foods (food in the form you would eat it in, not altered, pureed, mashed specially for baby, etc.) and letting them feed themselves. So basically, if you were having a roast chicken with all the fixings for lunch, you'd offer the same to baby in a form they could pick up and feed themselves - a chicken leg or strips of chicken, some roast potatoes, roasted carrot sticks, etc., not pureed or mashed, just how you'd serve them yourself pretty much and allow them to feed themselves what they want and as much as they want. The point is to allow them to have control over what they eat, how they move it around the mouth, and how much they eat, rather than spoonfeeding and to get them used to real food rather than puree or mash. You can feed anything except food with lots of added salt or sugar (in small amounts its probably okay for an older baby), whole nuts (before they have the molars to chew them) or honey (before 1). You can also offer things with a spoon (spoons aren't bad), but the point is that they should themselves with the spoon rather than you doing it. 'Wet' things like soup, porridge or yogurt can also just be offered for them to feed themselves with their hands or with a piece of bread or fruit until they're able to manage a spoon on their own (for my daughter this was around 10 ish months).

We did BLW and our daughter's first meal at 6 months was roasted carrots and parsnip sticks with garlic and rosemary, mashed potato, and a yorkshire pudding (it was Sunday lunch). We didn't even have any teeth yet, but she loved it.

 

[tdog]

Thank you for the reply hun so would I be alright still to try hun on stuff as he has been having jars! What about like breaded chicken or fish fingers I'm so nerves about him choking on stuff xx

 

[MindUtopia]

I would just think about what you eat and offer him those things (modified in small ways sometimes - like before you add salt or chilli, or cut into pieces he can easily pick up, usually things in finger or fist size chunks work best at first). I'd probably steer clear of breaded chicken or fish fingers to start unless you're making it yourself, because the commercial brands have lots of added salt. But you can pull of some strips of chicken from a whole roast chicken or chicken breast or offer a small piece of baked fish. There's a great list of finger food ideas on here somewhere. I'd recommend trying to think beyond the usual 'kid foods' - they can have curry and rice, chilli, a burger, soups, pasta, anything you'd eat.

Try not to stress about choking. Actually there's more risk of them choking on spoonfed puree than on finger foods because they can't control where it goes in the mouth when they're being spoonfed. If they're feeding themselves, they can stop or pull it out or they'll gag and spit it out. We only did BLW, never did a single puree, and at 19 months, my daughter has never choked. She didn't even have teeth when we started. They really can do it. Actually, she's only ever choked while drinking water! Which goes to show you that it isn't whether it's finger food or not. They can choke on purees too or a drink. But giving them as much control as possible will make that less likely.

Also, try not to stress about amounts. When given finger foods for the first time (especially if you've been spoonfeeding), he probably won't know what to do and won't each much at all for awhile - could be a month or two or longer. But they don't need solids before 1, so just keep up the milk while you're making the switch so that he's getting all the calories and nutrients he needs.

 

[tdog]

When would you reduce the bottle amount as well xx