Baby led weaning thread

by **Nov Bridie 09** » Thu Dec 01, 2021 1:40 pm

Hey girls,
We've been BLW for 6 months now & I am so glad we stuck with it at the beginning when we were so worried about whether she was eating anything, were ready to pounce if she gagged, etc. After a week or so, your LO's will be flying it & remember that food is just a game to them right now ... no need to rush them. With one meal they may scoff the lot and then the next they may throw the whole thing on the floor, but they will get there in their own time. DD still now has a habit of throwing food off her tray once she's had enough! Good luck with it!

by **chocolate lover** » Fri Dec 02, 2021 12:46 pm

Hiya girls,
I jus started my 6mth old on baby rice the other day,only a few spoons,which he took no bother,jus wondering if anyone cud put up a good link to blw?I dont know much about it,is it to avoid giving baby pureed food and start them on more textured stuff?Really havent a clue,with ds1 i gave him the milupa cereals to start with.My ds2 is exclusively bf'd if that makes any difference?Have heard great things bout blw and wud like to try it?Is it to late as i have given pureed already?Hes only had it 4 times,once a day,thanks!

PaniniRoses · by **PaniniRoses** » Fri Dec 02, 2021 1:04 pm

Chocolate Lover, there's no harm at all in having given a few spoons, tbh, a lot of the Mammies on this thread have done a mix of spoon and blw, depending on the food and what suits at the time! DD was spoon fed a lot in the creche, and it made no difference.

You'll find some outline info on www.baby-led.com and if you're looking for more detail, the cookbook is probably the best source (and you get some recipes!) http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Baby-le ... 0091935283. As a lazy Mammy I found it great, no need to cook special food for DD most of the time, or worry about whether the lumps were too big, she just got a bit of whatever we were having, and let her work away with things like porridge and yoghurt and fruit. It does take a bit of a leap of faith letting her work through gagging, etc and all the mess, but sure that's half the fun! DD is great now, she eats what she wants and leaves the rest - like Nov Bridie's little one!

by **wideeyed** » Fri Dec 16, 2021 9:44 am

We are 3 weeks into weaning, doing a mix of BLW & spoonfeeding some mashed stuff (no purees so far). LO loves broccolli & plain yoghurt but gags & spits EVERYTHING else out. I know a bit of this carryon is normal at the start but 3weeks..?

Any advice/shared experience welcome...?

by **wideeyed** » Fri Dec 16, 2021 10:02 am

Also meant to ask if in BLW you do the whole introducing one new food every 3 days? I havent stuck to that all, wonderin if thats bad..?

by **Baby Babs** » Fri Dec 16, 2021 12:22 pm

I never bothered with introducing one food at time. I'd trust the baby to know if something wasn't right.

Regards how much they should get it. The key is take it slowly and let the baby led. When they are ready, they will start getting more in. For now food may be just a learning experience and haven't associated that food satisfies hungry. But then again you may be surprised by how much they are getting in. Watch the nappies, what goes in comes out again.

If he's gagging and spitting he's probably not ready either, and just needs time before he's able to swallow it. Remember, they must first learn how to manage the food in the mouth with the tongue, teeth, gums before they are ready to swallow. A normal process.

spanishb2b · by **spanishb2b** » Fri Dec 16, 2021 7:13 pm

We didn't bother with the whole introducing one food at a time thing either when we started. We let dd eat anything we were having so she was introduced to a lot of different foods in a short space of time.

by **wideeyed** » Fri Dec 16, 2021 10:19 pm

Thanks for the replies girls. Was starting to think alright she may not be ready. Will take it slowly I think. :thnk

by **Nov Bridie 09** » Tue Dec 20, 2021 10:47 am

Girls, for those of you with older BLW babies ... how did you start introducing cutlery? We are often handed her a plastic baby spoon & she loves playing with it & kind of knows what to do, but it's kinda hard to eat chicken with a spoon for example! Prob a silly q, but do plastic forks exist or do you just give them a normal fork & watch like a hawk?!!! Am dying to see how the family react to her sitting at the table munching xmas dinner!!!!

spanishb2b · by **spanishb2b** » Tue Dec 20, 2021 7:15 pm

Hi NovBride09!

You can get small size metal cutlery for them. We got a set in Boots for dd. Forks are much easier to use than spoons but be prepared that your dd will still probably use her hands alot. DD is always given cutlery when eating but her hunger level dictates whether she'll use it or not (If she's very hungry hands are much quicker!!). She usually uses a combination of hands and fork/spoon.

by **Nov Bridie 09** » Wed Dec 21, 2021 9:49 am

Thanks spanishb2b ... I'm such a div ... someone actually gave us one of those cutlery sets when DD was born. Had totally forgotten about it! Must dig it out ... thanks!

by **chocolate lover** » Wed Dec 21, 2021 12:43 pm

Hi girls,posted a few wks ago bout starting my little fella on solids and wanted to do blw.
Anyway,was too chicken to start trying for fear of choking,but today i began.I gave him a fairly good size piece of banana and he chewed away happily and im going to order an A.K book from the book depository..but while im waiting,any other suggestions of finger food i could give him?Nothing too adventurous yet,as im still bit nervous!
I didnt do anything like this with ds1,which in hind sight i shud have as hes not a great eater!!!!Oh well,live ande learn!

by **whiterabbit** » Thu Dec 22, 2021 1:16 pm

Hi chocolate lover, I've been BLW for about 3-4 weeks now. Finger foods that DD likes and can manage well are bits of cooked potato (wedges are a good shape), well cooked carrot sticks and her favourite is cucumber (especially straight from the fridge - I think it is nice and cooling for her on her gums). I've also found that rice cakes are handy to have out and about, as she can kind of suck on these and they turn into mush!

Good luck with it. DD is really enjoying her food and I'm delighted that we're doing BLW.

by **Nov Bridie 09** » Thu Dec 22, 2021 2:19 pm

Hi Chocolate Lover,
The first foods we gave DD were Fried toast (literally just dip the bread in mixed up egg & fry in butter and then cut into fingers). It's a nice way to introduce toast as it's softer with the egg. Also made pancakes & just put melted cheese in, rolled them up & cut them into easy sizes. Steamed Broccoli & Carrot sticks dipped in humous & Fruit fingers (apple, pear, etc) dipped in petit filous (spg) as she LOVED licking off the yoghurt! The Organix rice cakes are great for out & about too. After a few days of those kind of foods, we got braver &just tried her with everything we were eating and she was grand! Took a while before she swallowed rather than spat out, but sure that does;t matter at your stage!
Good luck!
PS - give some xmas dinner!!

by **Buzzo** » Wed Dec 28, 2021 10:54 pm

Nov Bridie 09 wrote:Girls, for those of you with older BLW babies ... how did you start introducing cutlery? We are often handed her a plastic baby spoon & she loves playing with it & kind of knows what to do, but it's kinda hard to eat chicken with a spoon for example! Prob a silly q, but do plastic forks exist or do you just give them a normal fork & watch like a hawk?!!! Am dying to see how the family react to her sitting at the table munching xmas dinner!!!!

you can use the little weaning spoons you can get in the supermarket/boots for them to use at the start. Now we've a mix of mini metal cutlery (with chunky plastic handles) and the chunky plastic ikea cutlery.

DS is almost 2, and is attempting to use a knife sometimes. He used spoons right from the start - pre loaded with porridge/thick soup etc. Fingers were more fun, and more dextrous for a good while. I've had a look back through my blog to see when we might have started with a fork... it looks like here - december last year when he would have been nearly 1 http://properfud.wordpress.com/2010/12/17/baby-led-weaning-cookbook-%E2%80%93-frittata/

Stick with it all the newbies - on xmas day, DS sat down with his 2 similar aged cousins, and his 3 older ones and was the only one that ate his dinner, and had seconds. Now there's any number of factors involved on such a day I realise, but I had a cynical mum (the mess! sure he's eating nothing! would you not give him a few spoons? it takes ages!) and sometimes she really doesn't connect the dots, whereas my sis actually would say, jeez that blw might have something to it, when she sees how well he eats now. He's had a bad few weeks of eating before this, and definetely has his picky toddler days (weeks!) but I'm so glad I chose BLW & will definitely do it again. Also, I can never remember anything, so I'm delighted to have the blog as a record of what happened when. :o)ll

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