Oh god I really should know all this but I'm tired and I need some hand-holding re what to feed ds2 (now 7 months)

[Miaou]

We aren't doing BLW, partly because I got stressed by all the gagging and worrying he wasn't eating enough. However I'm wanting to move back in that direction now. He has been eating purees (well, not totally pureed, more sort of grainy really) but feeds himself (I hand him a loaded spoon, he chews on it and gets some of the food in his mouth, I swap the near-empty spoon for another full one). So far he has had butternut squash, broccoli, pear, apple, banana, parsnip, carrot and - er, I'm sure there was something else ...

Can I give him toast? Breads? Porridge? Meat? He has been having single "tastes" so far, should I start giving him blends? He is still only eating about 1 ice-cubesworth of food at each sitting (mainly I think because he gets tired rather than full!) so I can't give a huge variety in one meal.

I know it's probably all in Aitch's wonderful blog but I've been looking at it for about 40 minutes and can't find the info I'm looking for and I'm too tired to keep looking ... hellllllp any advice welcome (except "use jars" )

[purpleturtle]

Try bread - it's softer to chew to begin with. Porridge is fine. In fact, at 7mths almost anything is fine I think. If you've successfully introduced single flavours, you can put them together without worrying.

Try sweet potato. Try weetabix if you like. Cheese? Yoghurt?

Any of that any help?

[Miaou]

yoghurt - why didn't I think of that??

He's still only having two meals a day atm - that's mainly a practical thing - it takes him so long to eat, he often doesn't wake until it is time to leave the house (I often have to wake him) and waking him early to eat is a disaster

[PrincessHunker]

Have you seen Aitch's forum, Miaou? Am off out right now - but there's a link on the left of her blog iirc.

Sorry you're tired, my love. And I didn't reply to your email either - I will later

xx xx

[Miaou]

oh thank you hunk - I have managed to delete my email account this afternoon and feel like crying

[beansontoast]

my dd is just seven months.....ive been told to try to offer her a range of protein,veg and carbs in each meal....(however ive heard that it is important that babe is used to processing volume/bulk before you get onto animal protein)

this is roughly what i am doing
one cube of either
whizzed bolognese,fish in white sauce,fish in tom sauce,mashed up boiled eggs,lentil caserole,

with three cubes of a range of veggies...like you have been giving..

i also give her fruit and greek yoghurt,ready brek,porridge,weetabix etc

havent done bread yet...cos i am chicken

[Miaou]

thanks beans - ds just isn't able to eat that quantity atm! If he'd let me help he'd have more I'm sure

[purpleturtle]

Just because weetabix is traditionally a breakfast cereal doesn't mean you have to offer it as breakfast. It might make a quick-to-prepare option on a busy day.

[Miaou]

Hmm, I'd probably not go for weetabix yet because of the added salt/sugar issue (or am I being too precious?)

And what's the deal with honey - are you not supposed to give it to them for a while yet? Ds1 has honey on his weetabix (see, I'm not that precious ) but I can't remember when I started using it ...

[purpleturtle]

Honey is 12 months.

[purpleturtle]

Mine have all had weetabix from 6 months. Although dd is nearly 7, and who knows how the guidelines might have changed since then. I've pretty much done the same with the ds's as I did with her.
IIRC the HV was happy for them to have cornflakes and rice krispies too.

[Miaou]

thanks pt. Am seeing double here so will try and apply my head to this topic tomorrow!

[AitchTwoOh]

toast or crusts are better than better than bread, especially if you're worried about gagging. the best place to start imo is with what you and the rest of the family eat, givvus yer menu and we'll finger food-ise it (opp of liquidise) it for ya.

[Miaou]

Thanks aitch, you star

Well, we eat things like chilli, curry, sausages with pasta, lasagne, soups etc - all home made (apart from the odd jar of sauce with the curry). Breakfast is usually toast, weetabix or cornflakes (or hot cross buns!)

Today I gave him whizzed up broccoli on a spoon (well, two spoons), then gave him some slices of apple which I had cooked so they were soft. He couldn't put them in his mouth though - picked them up but couldn't get them in! (he can manage a spoon fine though)

I might try him with some toast tomorrow morning

[Habbibu]

Ok - finger-food-ising in the House of Hab. Overcook rice a bit (and don't rinse it first) so it's a bit starchy and sticky - mix chilli, curry etc into that. If you are concerned it might be a bit spicy (though you'd be surprised), stir in a little yoghurt. They can get handfuls of rice/chilli/curry mix pretty effectively. DD (16 mo) now insists on a fork for these things - kind of yearn for the fistful days!

Pasta - spirali or fusilli easy to hold and bite. Soups - make them thickish, and serve chunks of bread to dip in and soak up. A lot of soup can get eaten that way. Also chunks of veg in soup go down well - I take out about half, blend the rest, and then mix back together.

[Habbibu]

Back from putting dd to bed - lasagne easy - just chop roughly into biggish chunks. Broccoli steam till quite soft, then give him whole florets to hold and chew. If you want to give him less meat just now (I'd limit sausage to a rare occasion for a while), make veggie chilli, lasagne etc.

[AitchTwoOh]

chilli, curry - wot hab said

sausages with pasta, lasagne - perfect, go right ahead, maybe chop up the lasagne into squares.

soups - to this day, dd doesn't like liquidised soups. nor do i much, as it happens, in fact habbibu has proposed in the past that my deep dislike of blurry soups may be the reason i warmed to BLW. so all of our soups have big chunks of chicken (off the carcass) and big veggies or pasta in them. dd loves barley, that really got her pincer grip going.

Breakfast is usually toast, weetabix or cornflakes (or hot cross buns!) - again, go ahead. the weetabix is a bitch to get off the furniture if you're slow. raisin wheats, mini shreddies (or non-nestle alternative) and overcooked porridge (in the form of pancakes if you like) are good. as is fruit.

risotto is also great, as it's so sticky. i think we ate a lot of pea and asparagus risotto, that sort of thing, when dd was very wee.

thing is, if the baby doesn't like it or can't manage it one week, they'll probably like it or manage it the next, they're growing and changing so fast. (which is why high-cal milk is the most important food, tbh).

[AitchTwoOh]

depends on the sausage, dd loved the long pork chipolatas from our local (highly-decorated ) butcher. they had filler in them but just breadcrumbs and the salt was something i kept an eye on. but yes, she didn't have them every day.

[Habbibu]

ooh - pancakes pancakes pancakes - shove everything and anything into the mix for perfect finger food.

[Miaou]

thank you for all the suggestions aitch and habbibu - I'm definitely going in the right direction then!

However at the moment he simply can't pick the food up and get it to his mouth (or if he does, he can't then put it in his mouth, or let go of it ) - he just gets frustrated and tired before he eats anything. If I give him spoons he manages fine but he can't pick up and eat yet - argh... what can I do? I am giving him pieces of food on his tray but he can't pick them up (sorry repeating myself here, falling asleep again)

[Habbibu]

A highly decorated butcher? What, fairy lights and all that?

Miaou, nothing wrong with you holding something so he can lurch himself at it - it may interest him sufficiently to really want to do it himself. It can take quite a while for them to get the hang of it - I think Baby Hoover Hab was the exception to the rule...

[Miaou]

Thanks habs, am very wobbly about all this for some reason (last baby syndrome I think!)

[AitchTwoOh]

oh aye, hab, deffo the fairy lights.
i had dd on my knee in the beginning, she used to lurch for things in my hand so i knew i was on the right track. BLWers would say not to worry if they can't pick it up, it will come, and in the meantime give plenty of milk.

[Miaou]

I'm doing the "stuff 'em full of milk" thing, ds2 has just slept through the night for two nights in a row (so why am I so tired then??) so no way do I want to do anything to stop that happening again (er, like what I don't know ). He is lying on the floor playing with ds1's mat currently (SLEEP, child!!)

[Ceolas]

Hi Miaou!

at the sleeping through the night!

We've just started finger foods with DD3 (6 months) and she's not overly keen. Not sure what you did with DS1 but it was purees all the way with our other 3. It's all a bit daunting this BLW!

[Miaou]

Oh hellooooo lovely!!!! I was looking at your book today and feeling massively guilty that I still haven't sent it back

yes ds1 was purees, though he moved on pretty quickly to proper stuff - I just didn't have the confidence to do blw from the start (and the same this time round!)

(I bet the sleeping doesn't last though