some advice pleeeeease?

[NIfirsttimer]

ruby is 5 months old. our plan was to BLW at 6 months, but im thinking she has other ideas!
she had a HUGE growth spurt about 3 weeks ago, where i literally could not fill her, she was permanently hungry. we got thru that on just milk, but since it finished she has just got increasingly more hungry again.
just after the spurt she was having 5 x 8oz bottles, last week it was 6, and for the last few days shes had 7 8oz bottles... twice yesterday & today shes been taking full 8oz bottles an hr after having one.... shes hunnngggrrrryyyyy!
we cant go the hungry baby route as it really doesnt agree with her,(shes on aptamil first atm)
any ideas on how to fend it off for a little bit longer?

 

[moomin_troll]

id always suggest to anyone to start off weaning with the main meal being babyrice to get them used to eating first and so there tummys arent having too much pressure on them.

but u can always try her with veg thats easy to hold or even give her the odd rusk to get her used to holding food.

i never planned on doing blw but zane wanted to be very independent very fast n still wont use a spoon so he eats all his meals with his hands, its such a mess lol

u could always try stage 2 hungery baby milk which i did with zane but i ended up early weaning him at 4 months due to it just wasnt enough for him

edit: i missed ur comment about her not liking stage 2 lol

id say talk to ur hv

 

[Lu28]

It's totally up to you hon. I started giving Aisling food to play with at just a bit older than Ruby on the basis that if she was ready to bite, chew and swallow then she would so maybe try that as long as she's sitting well, doesn't have tongue thrust reflex etc. No reason to start her on baby rice unless you want to. It probably won't help with the hunger though as she won't eat much to start with.

Sorry I'm not much help!

 

[moomin_troll]

zane would eat a whole portion of babyrice to start with so it filled him up and hed have a bottle with it aswel. i tried him with just 1 spoon ans he wanted more so i gave him more lol

 

[NIfirsttimer]

thats the dilema i have. i dont want to do baby rice & stuff. i plan to make puree type things but for dipping & sucking off veg sticks / rice cakes etc, not for spoon feeding (unless she fancies that herself hehe) so i dont want to wait until shes STARVING to start that because, as you say, it wont ease the hunger side of things and we cant use Hungry milk....
even if i could keep her a bit more satisfied for another 2 weeks id be happier to start some BLW then, but im not sure how to keep her satisfied!
is 5 months really too early to BLW?
shes a BIG baby, i know this doesnt mean she needs weaning earlier, but she is very very nearly sitting up unaided, and is physically strong, if that makes any difference to any aspect of it (i know it doesnt indicate that her guts are any more developed than a smaller bby) tongue trust went weeks ago, and she spends a lot of time chewing air and smacking her lips!

 

[fantastica]

Sorry don't know much about BLW...but maybe you could just give her some stuff to hold etc? And then by 6months she may kind of realise what to do etc.

Also about hungry baby...with Jacob his tummy was jippy for a couple of days, then it settled down, think it was just the change over, could be the same for you? x

 

[Lu28]

I can't see that it would do too much harm to let her play with food now so hopefully she'll be ahead of the game with the eating skills when she does become starving and just keep up the milk feeds in the meantime. We were told that Aisling wouldn't bite anything let alone chew or swallow until 6 months but she did it the very first time we gave her some apple to play with at about 5 months 1 week. I panicked but the BLW pointed out that if she had the skills and ability to do this, chances are her tummy etc was ready - it's not as though it was something runny and easy to swallow, there was alot of work involved for her.

 

[TigerLady]

I have been struggling with the same thing -- a baby that is ready to BLW WAAAAAAY too early according to the BLW "wisdom."

I went through all the frustrations of trying to hold him off. He could check off EVERY ready to wean sign I could find -- a dozen of them at least. I finally got so frustrated with his food envy issues that I gave him a few steamed carrot sticks the other night. He LOVED it! He immediately picked one up, put it right to his mouth and started chewing... I was like this:

And he ate some cuz it came out in his dipes. It didn't seem to upset his tummy at all. He didn't have any problems with it that I would have worried.

So, we will be very carefully testing the early waters of BLW early (he's 4 months, 3 weeks). In the end, I went with the idea that I know my baby best and he is telling me he is ready. And isn't that the POINT of BLW?? You let the baby tell you when they are ready!

If you really feel she is ready, then try BLW. Start out with something easy, like a steamed veg. See how she does. Let that be your guide. I don't intend to give my LO complicated bits of my food yet, but I don't mind steaming some veggies or offering up the odd piece of fruit.

If you still don't think that is satisfying her, or if it doesn't work for her... then try purees and switch to BLW when you think she is ready.

Good luck! This is a complicated decision!

 

[Mum2b_Claire]

I would offer her some bits of finger food and see what she makes of it. It prob won't help much with hunger, but you could also giver her pre loaded spoon of quite thick porridge to try and feed herself, as she may be able to eat more of that. That's probably what I do would do in your position. To be honest though, feeding loads of milk is still easier than making and trying to feed purees, which she may or may not take anyway! Also just a thought but have you tried another brand's hungry baby milk?

 

[NIfirsttimer]

thanks guys!
i really dont want to start feeding purees as i really want to give BLW good shot, and i think to start feeding her puree now then switching is only going to be confusing, and i want it to be about her choosing to eat not me spoon feeding her. i spent the day with a friend and her baby who is 4 weeks older than roo, and she literally fired a full jar into him in about 3 mins flat, i just cant see us doing that!
tonight when we were eating, as usual she joined us at the table in her highchair, and i laid some batons of steamed carrot in front of her, and she was mesmerised!!!
she was completley fascinated by them aand had a great suck on them. she had no probs getting them into her mouth, and knew exactly what to do!
should i keep it up?

 

[Lucy_lu_84]

How about making some purres and loading a piece of cucumber or rice cake etc and giving to LO. Then she can suck the purree off and is still getting some food and is learning about handling food.

i'd keep giving her things to play with ... my Lo has been playing with food since jsut over 5 months. We're doing a small amount of spoon feeding but mostly he take the spoon and tries himself. We are loading homemade purree onto veg tho.

 

[NIfirsttimer]

yep thats an idea...
i just didnt imagine starting so soon..... im not sure its the right thing to do yet... help!!??

 

[Lu28]

Sounds like a really promising start! I'd keep that up with really simple foods for the time being like steamed veg and fruit etc. I'd keep away from the purees if possible. I started Aisling on purees cos of GP advice and wish I hadn't. In the early BLW days it meant I wasn't comfortable in her not eating because she couldn't get the food in her mouth - she was hungry and knew what food was, just didn't have the skills to get it in her mouth and it was confusing and frustrating for us both

 

[NIfirsttimer]

Sounds like a really promising start! I'd keep that up with really simple foods for the time being like steamed veg and fruit etc. I'd keep away from the purees if possible. I started Aisling on purees cos of GP advice and wish I hadn't. In the early BLW days it meant I wasn't comfortable in her not eating because she couldn't get the food in her mouth - she was hungry and knew what food was, just didn't have the skills to get it in her mouth and it was confusing and frustrating for us both

yep this exactly what im trying to avoid!

 

[TigerLady]

I think you should keep going, too! It sounds like she had a great first start. Like you, I will be doing very basic steamed veggies and similar until probably 6 months. That way my LO can get his need to wean needs met, but I don't have to worry that he is getting things that are too complex or harsh for his young system.

Steamed carrots was a great hit! Next we are going to try steamed sweet potato and then probably cucumber sticks. Just keeping it really basic for now.

We can both tip toe into early BLW together!

 

[faille]

I'd say keep offering food but just one meal a day for the time being and only offer 'simple' food like cucumber and carrots - nothing that can cause gas etc.

They don't actually "eat" anything for a while yet so digesting things shouldn't be a problem but they do still get nutrients from sucking so gassy foods could still potentially upset their tummies.

When she hits six months then she's got a headstart on handling food and there's no reason you can't up to 3 meals a day and start giving more complicated food x

 

[TigerLady]

Good idea on the non-gassy veggies! I probably would have tried broccoli, but will wait on that now.

 

[moomin_troll]

i dont no much about blw feeding but i do think she is too young for all her meals to start with being done this was, food is more of a toy up until 9 months ive heard anyway so i dont see the harm in feeding her with a spoon using purees and baby rice did fill zane up and he loved it so i dont get why ppl say it doesnt fill the child up when with the rice and a bottle it does.

she needs to get used to food before she will feed herself but theres no harm in giving her fruit and veg to munch on.

zane started to hold food and stick it in his mouth from 5 months more food ended up in his hair then in his stomach tho lol

 

[TigerLady]

If you choose to do BLW, then you don't do spoons and purees to begin. It is a weaning style choice, just as spoons and purees are for others. That is why she is reluctant to use purees.

 

[Lu28]

If you choose to do BLW, then you don't do spoons and purees to begin. It is a weaning style choice, just as spoons and purees are for others. That is why she is reluctant to use purees.

I was trying to figure out how to word that in a good way, you've done it for me!