I plan to BLW but have a few questions I hope some of you pros can help me with

[sweetas]

I used AK when I weaned my DS at 20 weeks now 26 months, this was on the advice of a HV who specialised in weaning, my DS was exclusively BF but by 20 weeks was no longer satisfied with my milk alone the hv advised to offer baby rice instead of topping up with formula - not the best advice I have ever recieved but I did manage to continue BF until he was 10 months at which point he self weaned (in hindsight I would probably of tried to make him go a few more weeks before weaning but this was before I discovered the wonderful world of MN!)

My DD is 23 weeks and is starting to wake at night (the last 3 nights) one of those so called 'tell tale' signs that she may be ready for weaning however i am in no major rush and am quite happy to give her extra BF when she wakes and am aware that these wakings could be for a number of reasons.

So that is the background now for my Q's.....

Is it ok to BLW a few weeks before 6 months? (just in case)

What is an ideal first food?

Are the foods to avoid the same as the healt guidelines? All the usual suspects honey, salt, sugar, peanuts??

I am confused as I have seen many people suggest hummus as a ideal food for BLW however this contains tahini (sesame seed paste) which is in the same family as peanuts and thus should be avoided by allergy suffers.

My DH & DS have eczema will this affect me using BLW?

We are flying to Australia when DD will be 8 months any advice/tips on how/what to feed her on the flight (not a ploblem when we are there as staying with family)
Has anyone done a long haul flight with BLW?
TIA

[hana]

am pretty sure that the food you wean with - whichever method you choose - is the same, some things should be avoided until they are older etc etc , that doesn't change with or without a spoon

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

bumping this for aitch...

[welliemum]

Hi sweetas

Aitch is the expert, but just a couple of ideas:

• I think the idea of BLW is that they eat when they're ready, which might be a little before or after 6 months (or a LOT after 6 months in the case of some babies). As far as I can see, exclusive BF is very good for babies and the longer you can do it the better (up to a point, obviously).
  
  
• we're an allergic family, just were a bit careful about introducing new food, no other difference.
  
  
• have done longhaul with dd1 at a similar age - a bit complicated because of allergies, so I took along some things for her to eat just in case, but in fact she ate lots of stuff off my plate and I BF her quite a lot too and it was easy.
  
  (Actually I was on my own without DH so it was a HORRENDOUS flight, but the food bit was easy!)

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Bump for aitch.....again .....

[lulumama]

www.babyledweaning.com

it might be difficult to BLW before 6 months, as the major factor is that they can hold heads strongly / sit , have lost tongue thrust reflex, can pick up food and put it in the mouth

a few weeks before, the baby might not be able to do that

for a long flight - ...rice cakes, steamed carrot and courgette fingers, banana, cheese sticks, apricots , sweet potato chunks....you can get little cool bags to keep it fresh

[AlbusPercivalWulfricBrianSun]

I believe as Lulumama says losing tongue thrust reflex is key to be able to do BLW. Use the blog - it's great and really helped me chose food for my DS. Our first food was banana as it's easy to hold and is soft, and toast. After that the world's your oyster, within the normal guidelines.

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

You should have given her a go with those strawberries this morning

[Aitch]

aaah, not if you are concerned about latex allergies, vvv. sorry for delay have been wagine war against 4x4s. or avoiding work as it's otherwise known...

it's okay to BLW a few weeks before, in the sense that it's not up to you when the baby eats anyway. it is a hassle, though, compared to milk so for that reason i'd be inclined to leave it as long as i could. but if you can't, a couple of bits of steamed carrot on the highchair isn't goiing to do any harm i don't think.
all usual suspects to avoid, i gave dd hummus but i wasn't overly worried about allergies.
eczema won't affect it other than you mighth want to be more wary of allergens.
and i don't have the foggiest about flights, other than to say that you can freeze yoghurt tubes and they'll keep stuff cool and be edible when the time comes. ll's baby just sucks the yog right out of the tube...

[sweetas]

Great thanks alot for that will have a good read of the blog tonight.

Good news is she slept through last night (well till 4.30, which is her usual 1st feed time) so hopefully i'll get a few more weeks before the fun begins.

The yogurt tubes are a great idea however my DS may pose a problem as he loves to eat them frozen, this is the only way we can get him to eat yogurt! He is such a fussy eater he was puree weaned and had no problems until he turned 1 and has since refused wet food!!!

[Aitch]

i think that's quite common, isn't it? i remember my sister went through a thing of not liking her food to touch. good luck when you get started. it's a right old laugh and no mistake...

[VeniVidiVickiQV]

Sweetas, i think you need to set a profile up to show your gorgeous LO's.

[sweetas]

Aitch - As common as it is does in no way make it any less fustrating! One of the reasons that we are hoping the blw will be a success as then maybe DS will see DD eating pasta with sauce, casserole etc and decide to give it a go.

VVV - They are gorgeous, but then I am bias!

[Aitch]

well, there are plenty of reports on the blog of elder siblings being shamed/encouraged to eat more veg by their wee bros and sisters, so you might be onto something there.good luck anyway.