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Weaning

ok BLW novice here , I need some help , feel Im going a little nutso with it all

18 replies

melsy · 13/02/2007 15:48

Well I know I am Nuts , but hey!

Ok sooo dd1 was weaned at 5mths nearly 3yrs ago on puree and jeeez I so cannot be faffed with it this time with dd2, even though I succumbed to it about 3wks ago with baby rice (far to much peer,dh, mil and parent pressure ) . With dd1 by this time I had a very rigid and set routine , knowing when what and were with food. having nicely packed all sorts of moosh inn bags to go out etc.

I do have pear & parsnip puree in the freezer cubed , but she will not take it from me spoon feeding her (comparisons with dd1 are bound as thats my reference , but she would walf down whole mountains), she would much rather I left the spoon with some on for her to take and she nicely pops it in!!

Yes shoot me she wasnt 6mths old 3wks ago , but she kept grabbing our stuff of plates and its soo not baby friendly (salty smoked stuff !!).

Sooo she has had the last week or so ; steamed broccoli florets , which she sucked a teenseee little bit off the top , poached pears, which she gagged and gagged on , melon which she sucks and sucks if she can hold it and today a bit of cheese, this one Im not sure about as its made from cows milk?

Anywhooo Ive started this as Im finding it really difficult to come away from pureee spoon brain and on to choosing things for her to eat herself that are ok in terms of her age and suitability , in light of the no cows milk till a year , wheat etc.

Im just plain confused

also she barely seems to have much at all

say a tiny bite of it or even what seems like a molecule !!!!

despite this tiny intake of food, shes h also decided she doesnt like milk the last 48hrs , so were down to only 2oz a feed at most until bed time bottle were she drains 7oz pf it and then 11 were she has another 5-7 oz. (This I realise could be teething, who knows, as she doesnt seem ill just grumpy).

Im surrounded by well meaning friends & family who have no clue what mumsnet is or what BLW is at all & get quite angry about it all, who all say I shud be giving her lots more meals than she has & do what I know from last time.

Ididnt want to get anxious or het up or confused , ib wanted to stay calm and do it as I am , but every time I get some fruit or some such I start scanning pages and pages to see whether it should be boiled steamed chopped etc !!! Today for eg Ive just read on aitches blog that I dont need to peel or stew the pears , she can have it as it is ????

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bitzermaloney · 13/02/2007 16:46

Hi Melsy, I am in a similar boat to you - ds started blwing 3 weeks ago and it's only really the last couple of days that I'm sure anything has gone in. Broccoli gets sucked and then thrown (intact) on the floor and tbh I have given up with that for now. Have had more luck with courgettes cut into thick chip shape/size and fried till very soft in a little butter. He sucks them till the mush comes off the skin, then either throws the skin on the floor or gags on it and then spits it out.

We have had the most success with wedges of roasted butternut squash, sweet potato and normal potato - I think because they are easy for him to hold and once they get in his mouth they turn to mush anyway. He has also eaten quite a bit of spinach with surprisingly little difficulty (just steamed and put on the tray in front of him in a soggy pile). So things that sort of melt in the mouth seem to be easiest for him as a beginner. He did manage a soldier of toast this morning and actually seemed to swallow it, to my amazement. Oh, and a bit of porridge pancake made with EBM (recipe on the blog). I have noticed his coordination improving over the last week or so, so suspect it is just a matter of time before he can handle other things.

Have you seen my 'gagging' thread? It was fairly recent. Don't know if that is a particular concern for you but I found the replies helpful.

It is really hard to stick to your guns when all around you are pureeing merrily and talking about how many icecubes their lo eats and amounts of protein etc (though in my postnatal group the babies are all getting constipated!). I console myself with the knowledge that I have researched it a lot, that solids are not really about nutrition at this stage, and that the philosophy of it makes sense to me - and that ds is having fun.

No idea whether the low milk intake is a problem - sure someone else will know.

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DizzyBint · 13/02/2007 18:07

ok melsy..take some deep breaths...calm yourself!

right blw. firstly they can have cows milk from 6 months old (assuming no allergies atc) just not as their main drink. so for example, porridge made with cows milk is ok, so is cheese sauce, yoghurt and so on. these should all be full fat, babies need the fat.

what do you usually eat? do you make sunday dinner for example with veg either roasted or boiled or steamed? then hand some of the veg to your dd. she can have whatever you're having as long as it isn't high in salt. so if you add salt to your mash, stop adding it, just add it to your plate if you really need it.

you're weaning from 6 months, not 4 months as you did with your first dd. so you don't have to be as cautious.

don't worry if it takes a few days or weeks before she really chomps away at it, that's ok, her formula or breast milk is still her main source of food. weaning shouldn't be about eating to feed a hunger, it should be an introduction to food...if you know what i mean.

pears don't need anything doing to them other than cutting them up. i did mine in quarters length ways, took out the pips and middle bit, and that's it. don't worry about the skin. i think there is a pic on aitch's blog of a 6 month old eating a whole pear, not cut up, not skinned, just whole. let your dd have a go with foods, don't assume she can't do it.

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melsy · 13/02/2007 18:09

thank u for that blitzer, I must look up the pancakes. Ive got a fridge full of courgettes , sweet tats, celery etc , so have some more ideas what to do. Also dd1 3yrs old might enjoy eating the same stuff as dd2 now.

Thing is, its planning too , as have to make sure I a) remember to put the oven on and get prepared before they scream for food, b) actually get home before the "Im hungry meltdown" , happens c) what to do with 10-15 wedges of things once roasted ??? freeze and re heat in microwave , or oven ?

I need to look up some more info on allergies again too , as we have serious serious eczema on one side.

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melsy · 13/02/2007 18:18

oops didnt see u there dizzy.

Were quite foody here , dh loves cooking and makes a lot of all types of food from fresh. Ive just told him he needs to cut out all the seasoning again.

I think its due to being 2mths down the line from when I did dd1 that Ive been thrown. Ive always thought milk shudnt be dropped at all at this stage, well only the night feed now as she wasnt taking a thing in the morning. Im on total ff after giving up bf 2-3 weeks or so ago.

and yes I do need to chill and calm down about it all. I think exhausted frayed nerves are to do with it.

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PinkTulips · 13/02/2007 18:22

mels, it's bath time but i'll get back here later and tell you how caleb and i are getting on with blw and try and answer your questions

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DizzyBint · 13/02/2007 18:23

seasoning is ok, just not the salt. so herbs, pepper etc, all fine. if you are concerned then get your dh to leave a portion for dd out before he adds your extra flavours.

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gingerninja · 13/02/2007 19:57

Melsy, if it helps I'm completely neurotic. I plan to start BLW in a few weeks and already I feel I've been revising for an exam. I also feel under pressure from others to spoon feed mushed up stuff but I'm trying to resist. (Although I'm keen to find out how to feed them mush (ie mash, porridge etc) without spooning it in myself. DD wouldn't have the coordination. She can get a spoon in her mouth no problem but it's never the right way up!

Personally I find fruit quite harsh for my stomach so I'll be cooking pears to give to DD as I think they loose some of their acidity. Maybe I'm imagining it and someone will tell me different but I've got quite a sensitive stomach so I'm just going by me and my experience.

Good luck and see you on the weaning pages again soon!!

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DizzyBint · 13/02/2007 20:01

ginger- you can make 'mush' fairly solid and they can pick it up. think mashed potato. porridge can be made thick in the same way, or made into porridge pancakes. otherwise, you don't really have to give mush. do you eat mush yourself? even things like lasgane, shepherds pie etc are all finger food friendly.

with the pears- maybe try your dc with one as it is first? i don't like houmous but dd adores it. i wouldn't not give something just because it doesn't suit me.

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AitchTwoOh · 13/02/2007 20:15

hi ladies,
just keep saying 'until they're one it's just for fun' over and over again... and if it's not fun or you're getting stressed then give them more milk and forget about it for the day. that's what i did, anyway.

if you want to cook things, fine. i started blw in the height of summer so there were lots of soft fruits like peaches and apricots about so i personally never bothered.

i'd also second dizzy's comment about not assuming that your child will inherit your preferences, i've been surprised to note that DD will eat that weird pustulent broccoli/cauli hybrid romanescu or whatever it's called and it frankly makes my flesh crawl just thinking about it. she eats it at her grandma's .

on the blog in the allergies section there's a good essay written by a freakishly well-organised chum of mine, who prepped all her veggies in advance so that she wouldn't have to do much cooking.

i'd be concerned, though, about a milk intake dropping to a couple of ounces at a time... are you giving milk and food separately? i treated the two things completely differently, never one then the other.

also i never fed the baby solids when she was 'hungry' iykwim? milk is for hunger, food is for playing. if it goes in, great, if not, it's a laugh.

and when you see flecks of broccoli in their nappies you will feel ludicrously proud, considering it's a dirty nappy. (i kept dd's first BLW nappy for her father to see... )

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PinkTulips · 13/02/2007 22:31

the experts got here before me, lol.

mels, Caleb literally has chunks of whatever we're having, the only seasoning i leave out is salt and i don't give him very spicy curry but except for that he has had, and enjoyed, some of most of our favourite meals. if what we're having is simply unsuitable (ie the aforementioned curry) i steam some chunks of veg for him and leave him at it.

the milk thing could be down to teething too, but like aitch said i treat milk feeds very differently than solids. solid meals are for play and learning and he's never starving when he has dinner. milk is his food and will continue to be so for a while.

i haven't cooked any fruit at all for him, i do peel stuff (just for neurosis's sake really ) but he's perfectly able to manage pear and most other fruits.

i'm having a fuzzy brain night and can't think of any of the other stuff i should tell you so sorry if i've not been very helpful!

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gingerninja · 14/02/2007 20:51

Mush Dizzy? It has been known but cooking never has been my strong point.

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melsy · 14/02/2007 21:59

thank you for replies , all taken in and digested lol !! thank u aitch for visitng apon my nuerotic bint thread !!! Im sure your fed up now repeating yourself !!! pink thank u too for giving us a bolster. Dh however thinks I need a kick up the backside!!!

I wont turn this into a milk feeding thread , however I do need to say, (just to bolster the impression that im hopefully quite a mindful mum),I DO feed milk as a separate issue. She has feeds away from any solid food times , and often the foodie bit is may be an hour or more after milk. I would always give a bottle before giving food at this stage as Im very aware of the calorie/nutrition value of that over her tiny food intake. dd2 like dd1 seems to have that HV "mmmmmmmmmmmm shes dropped percentiles , give her more milk than she wants" syndrome !!

may be a thread on milk intake drop should be started , it cant be anything to do with foodn intake ,as I only offer little bits of food here and there.

I think I will probably now calm down a little about the food side and give some of the sugestions on here. she did quite enjoy ateeny bit of davidstow chedder chunks yesterday and seemed rather partial to mashed egg yolk on toast today. So on that front , I think Im getting into it a bit more. I will however use up any precious moosh mush I have made , but now will present it on the spoon and see if she wants to take it. Once gone , (save me from myself I will have to wean myself off of mush in ice cube trays), I hope shell be tucking into dh's special reserve long aged preserved lemon morrocan chicken tagine!!!!!.

WARNING food ponce area !!!

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AitchTwoOh · 14/02/2007 23:50

melsy, you can use up your purees by slopping them onto crusty bread or using them as a pasta sauce. or as a face pack, should you so desire...

maybe you should start a milk thread, though, it's not something i know much about but that does seem a big frop.

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AitchTwoOh · 14/02/2007 23:51

and in all seriousness can you post the lemon chicken tagine recipe? it sounds right up dd and dh's (and my) street.

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melsy · 15/02/2007 10:39

recipe now posted !

hmmm sweet potato face pack , wonder what skin thats good for!!!

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PinkTulips · 15/02/2007 17:21

sweet potato facial

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AitchTwoOh · 15/02/2007 17:21

PMSL!

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claireybee · 23/02/2007 12:13

I use purees on bread, as a sauce for lentils, couscous veg etc but thats because everyone around me is paniking me about how little my daughter eats so I'm trying to shove a few extra nutrients into her unwilling mouth lol! No seriously, it's a good way to use up any purees and although i was paniking a little bit, having not intended to do BLW but having a baby who wont entertain a spoon anywhere near her mouth, going on the blw blog site really helped me to stop stressing. Also lentils=boring, lentils with beef, sweetcorn and carrot=much tastier! She eats lentils, couscous, mashed potato, porridge etc in much the same way as scrambled egg, by grabbing handfuls of it, mushing it up a bit then licking it off her hands-is very messy but hilarious-especially as she has a full head of curly semi-afro tangled hair that invariably ends up coated in dinner

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