Weaning help for a first time mum! :)

[kt0326]

Hi everyone

I would just like a bit of help/advice really on weaning for my daughter who is 6 months next week.

She has started solids, having mashed food morning and evening for a few weeks as she gets very hungry, breastfeeding every hour. She seems to like eating, opening her mouth and having a few spoonfuls. I would really like to do baby led weaning though, i just feel so unsure and find it VERY stressful asking family i.e mum and MIL as they have only every pureed food and started at 4 months, so me starting at nearly 6 months and doing BLW they think I'm strange!
A few questions I have about BLW are;
do you offer your baby food every meal time?
what types of food?
how big/small does the food need to be for them to eat it?

Thats all I can think of for now, any advice would be really appreciated, thank you

 

[noon_child]

Hi everyone
I would really like to do baby led weaning though, i just feel so unsure and find it VERY stressful asking family i.e mum and MIL as they have only every pureed food and started at 4 months, so me starting at nearly 6 months and doing BLW they think I'm strange!

Even doing traditional weaning you'd be starting to introduce finger food along side purees, so maybe if your relatives are rolling their eyes at BLW just call it finger food - they might be more comfortable with this phrase.

do you offer your baby food every meal time?

Totally up to you. The easiest way to be baby led is to have LO on your lap at meal time and see what she is interested in and allow her to grab it and play with it. Once you know she IS interested you could move her to her own chair if you like and just keep putting bits of your meal on her plate. Once she gets better at picking things up and chewing/swallowing you can think about cooking her own portion.

A few questions I have about BLW are;
what types of food?

Past 6months there is really very little you can't give. Do not give honey, whole nuts or raw/runny egg and limit the amount of wholewheat (excess fibre goes straight through them!) and be careful about salt content - processed food can easily contain more than a baby's daily limit.

I gave my LO whatever I was eating for lunch and breakfast but more baby friendly suppers as I was eating after she went to bed so it was whatever I could prepare easily and quickly.

how big/small does the food need to be for them to eat it?

Size and shape is more about how easily they can grab and hold food and less about how easy it is to eat. Chip (fry) size and shape food is easy to hold and can be explored and nibbled without having to have the whole lot in the mouth. However lasagne and slag bol are really fun and there's no way of making that easy to handle!!