Baby led weaning

[Sparrowlegs248]

Not far off starting BLW , have bought the Gills Rapley book, and thought i would ask for tips/advice here too. Or maybe there are others in the process or who are about to start to compare notes with.

Having read a bit of the book it seems i can give a variety of foods right from the start to.

Would be interest to know what you offered to begin, how soon you gave bread/toast and pasta .

DS is 5.1 months. He's ebf, refuses a bottle (took an ounce or two of ebm a couple of times but won't take anything now) He is starting to learn to use a sippee cup instead.

[onesteptotheleftofme]

Following asim interested in this.
How did you introduce the sippy cup?

[Ohb0llocks]

I started with very soft things, banana etc. You can buy mesh nets that they grasp to put foods in if you're worried, DS used to love bananas, strawberries etc in his.

I introduced toast at 6 months however he didn't take well to it so tried again at around 7 months and he got it right away. Also helps to sit them with you whilst you're eating so they can see you chewing etc.

[Artandco]

Anything at 6 months. Just logic that things like a raw carrot will be too hard but cooked one fine.
I didn't really give mine much bread/ pasta, but they still don't have much now at school age as I don't think too much wheat is good for you.
But they ate oats/ rice/ potatoes etc at least once a day

Remember their stomachs are tiny so your better off giving things that are higher calories in smaller amounts than excess carbs. Avocados and cheese and Greek yogurt were all favourites here from small. And things like salmon as easy to cook and flake for them to eat easier

[Ughnotagain]

We gave toast the first day we have her food (with some avocado).

My DD definitely seems to prefer it if she's eating the same as us!

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

Just give them whatever. At the weaning workshop I went to the HV advised fruit and veg for the first 2 weeks, just to get used to chewing etc, then anything from there on. Low sugar and salt of course, but herbs and spices fine.
We give sticks of fruit, veg, toast etc, scrambled eggs, mashed avocado and banana, breadsticks, rice cakes, also purées as well. Things that are slimy eg avocado and banana I just spoon feed, as otherwise they end up on the floor and I'm lazy when it comes to clean up!

[BathshebaDarkstone]

I started with well-cooked broccoli and cauliflower florets, he used to hold them and suck the thumb of the same hand at first! It was annoying because he'd put anything else straight in his mouth, just not food!.

[BendydickCuminsnatch]

HV was basically like, just chuck food at them willy nilly and they'll get the hang of it

[stqueen]

Watching with interest. I have just started BLW'ing DD (6 months) over Xmas whilst DH was home, I tried purees for a week-ish but DD would not take from a spoon. At all. FFS. But tbh I'm not sue why I even considered purées - BLW isn't for all babies but it's so much easier but fuck is it messy

I'd highly recommend a dog or two for hoovering up the droppings although they are slowly becoming fat bastards

So far DD has sampled toast with boiled egg, cheese, avocado, banana. Pancakes, plain oatcakes, hummus, turkey, potato, carrot, parsnip, weetabix moistened with formula & pear. Pear & weetabix being particular favourites.

I've dropped the number of milk feeds but kept number of oz per day the same IYSWIM, otherwise I'd always be bloody feeding her. Seems to have taken eel to it.

Very messy but it really is quite fun.

Good luck, OP!

[stqueen]

Well, not eel!

[reni2]

Throw the book away and just give him food. Bit of what you eat (leave out spicy or bone hard stuff obv). Get a BIG sheet to put under his chair. Enjoy, it is fun to watch somebody discover food.

[reni2]

Throw the book away and just give him food. Bit of what you eat (leave out spicy or bone hard stuff obv). Get a BIG sheet to put under his chair. Enjoy, it is fun to watch somebody discover food.

[Sparrowlegs248]

Oh loads of replies, great!
onestep i just got fed up with him getting upset and stressed at the bottle, so i tipped the milk into the sippee cup. He held the handles and brought it straight to his mouth. Lots dribbled out as he's not really sucking from it but i expect it will come. I took the ludicrous off and he drank from the open cup for the last bit. Surprisingly successful.

I think i will get a dog! another wipeable table cloth for the floor (old quarry tiles.....) and probably start with breakfast and lunch (when mess phobia dh is at work)

[Sparrowlegs248]

That's a great selection queen!

What do you so about yogurt, porridge, weetabix etc? Just spoon feed or what? Thinking my usual breakfast is yogurt and fruit or porridge. Neither of which is in stick form......

I do need a book to refer to. It keeps me happy.

[Sparrowlegs248]

I was thinking of starting with some fruit for breakfast, banana, pear etc. Maybe a piece of toast?

And some cooked veg, with chicken or cheese for lunch.

Will have to keep an eye on the diabetic cat.......

[chandelierswinging]

Banana was our first staple! Just be warned that banana only poo has green/black worm looking things in it! I was not prepared for that!!

Re. sloppy food stuffs like yogurt, I used to give something to dip in it, like bread/toast/fruit slices. One of my fave pics of weaning is my youngest, grinning manically, and pretty much wearing a mushroom soup lunch that had been gobbled up with bread strips.

I gave up with plastic mats and bought cheap single bed sheets so they could be chucked in the washing machine instead of having to be wiped down all the time and that worked for us.

Enjoy!

[SleeptightDaisy]

I cook the porridge for longer so it goes really stodgy\sticky then Dd just grabs lumps and picks (shovels) it up porridge is a particular favourite food. She doesn't like the texture of banana but I keep offering often just in stick pieces. Pear again in sticks and some apple which i just microwave slightly to make it softer. Just be careful when offering round items like grapes and cherry tomatoes make sure they are cut in half as it's easy for them to get stuck. Scrambled egg is another good one that they can just grab. Dd will try with a spoon but prefers to use her hands also remember to get every last bit up with weetabix as it goes rock hard like super glue if you miss a bit Really she has what we have just less spicy goat curry went down a treat. ☺

[Ughnotagain]

We don't spoon feed anything. For things like yoghurt I put some on a spoon for her, hand her the spoon and let her feed herself (we tend to have very thick yoghurt!).

I honestly don't think we've found anything she doesn't like yet (though we have discovered a potential egg intolerance). Green beans and crumpets seem to be her favourites. She likes sucking the little beans out of the middle of the long green bean outer

[Ughnotagain]

*don't spoon feed her anything, that should say...

[Sparrowlegs248]

Those of you feeding thick porridge/scrambled egg etc, are your babies a bit older to be Abel to get at the food within their hand, rather than a stick?

Really looking forward to starting. Yesterday DS was on my lap as i ate a banana and pulled it straight to his mouth and started gumming/sucking away. :-) He wasn't happy when i ate it.

[Sparrowlegs248]

able.....

[eltsihT]

My DC are 24 months apart. Ds2 didn't take to weaning well until I gave him exactly what ds1 was eating. His first meal was shepards pie, which he ate/ smeared over his face and table. He always had his food on a plate and with appropriate cutlery, not always successfully used. I did have to paint the wall and wash the curtains after he threw tomato soup at the wall.

As he was dc2 everything was reduced salt etc so I just gave him the same as ds1 and saw how he got on with it.

I would tend to bf about an hour before offering a meal and the. On demand afterwards so he was always getting enough milk if not eating much. He self weaned off the breast at 9 months. Good luck!

[ingenvillvetavardukoptdintroja]

Patience is important. Mine didn't actually swallow anything for the first month, just picked things up and tasted them. Quite often gagged and was sick. We sometimes still hold food up to his mouth because he struggles to pick things up but he v clearly wants to eat!
He definitely prefers having the same asuus as opposed to food prepared just for him, so even less work!
We don't bother with plates or bowls as they just get flung on the floor, just dump food straight on tray. Have been away from home for 2 weeks and really missing the high chair!
Be prepared because I am still breastfeeding just as much. He is sleeping more at night but think that's more down to being in his own room now

[Joskar]

I don't worry too much about spices. I don't make it blow your head off hot but otherwise just how I have it myself. Children all over the world eat spicy food as a matter of course.

I avoid sugar more than salt. The actual amount consumed rather than spread over the face/hair/table (by dd1 anyway) is so low that I don't particularly make low salt food. I don't add it once it's at the table but I do cook with it. Just be aware of salty foods like cheese, ham, anchovies etc

Sloppy stuff like soup can be eaten soaked into bread or on preloaded spoons but I also helped a bit with that.

Strips of meat work really well.

About to start with dd2 in a few weeks. Hopefully she'll be enthusiastic and that'll encourage dd1 to start eating again!

[stqueen]

OP, there are some great recipes for porridge bars you can bake in the oven & cut into strips for a finger food - I'm going to attempt one with bananas & raisins to see how it goes down not sure I can cope just yet with a wet porridge explosion

FWI was worth I tried a spoon again this morning pre-loaded with yogurt and was swiftly swiped away with mouth clamped shut. An outright spoon rejecter here. Hopefully that's not a bad thing & she'll eventually learn to spoon feed herself.

Anyone have any pointers or tips for introducing a sippy cup, specifically what to put in it? I'm not keen on giving any type of juice but water seems to be outrightly rejected Would it be worth trying a bit of formula in the cup at meal times, or it would that be bad association for the future i.e. sippy cup, something sweet?

V helpful thread BTW.

[Artandco]

Mine used a doidy cup rather than sippy cup. It's open topped but angled so you can see the water pour in. At 4-7 months we would help them tip it, but after that they could use it alone. Only put a little water in at a time so it's not too heavy or all spilled. Only water

At 6 months mine would use a spoon themselves for the sloppy stuff. We loaded it for them a few weeks, and then got the hang of spoon in bowl and to mouth. At first it would be spoon dipped and in mouth so not full but say yogurt all around spoon rather than spoon up right way fully loaded, but they ate lots like that. For every roughly 10 dips they Did we would then load one fuller and guide it to their mouth so they learnt soon enough to keep up up one way.

Porridge think so it's sticks to spoon. Mix banana etc in so even gloopier

Things like avocado would just give in pieces rather tHan mashed so easier for them to pick up

There's no rule saying you can't feed them as well as and when if they allow