bit paranoid about size of finger food for blw

[lucysnowe]

Hi all

Thinking of blwing my almost six month old dd but have a few really stupid questions... am finding the blw vids on youtube a bit confusing because on some of them babies are given huge nectarines but on others only little bits of carrot etc! So should I start with really big stuff and then make it smaller? or vice versa? Sorry to be an idiot.

[charitas]

I used these guidlines from the guru herself www.rapleyweaning.com/assets/blw_guidelines.pdfand the mans finger size food seems to be working for us so far only 1 week in though.

[ChairmumMiaow]

lucy : start with the chip shaped bits of a size that your LO can easily hold them in their fist and chew on the top of it.

Some like to chomp on bigger things - you can try this, and start by helping your LO to support the weight (I still hold a nectarine for 8mo DS to help him otherwise he drops it all the time and it rolls away!)

As they get old and better at it all, you'll be able to offer them smaller stuff - I just take it from DS - if he picks up part-chewed stuff off the highchair tray, he can generally manage it, and I might later offer stuff that shape/size if it happens to come like that.

[lucysnowe]

Aha chip shaped. English chips rather than American I suppose? DD is quite good at holding stuff and likes licking my arm so could try with something bigger.

Thanks charitas I have been googling blw and found the message board etc but guidelines in one place is v. helpful!

[ChairmumMiaow]

definitely big fat english chips.

Here's an example of how we do things in our house. Of course the bits are longer when a large portion haven't been eaten, but hopefully you get the idea (DS sucks the flesh off the roasted courgette and spits out the skins - we love that photo because he looks like he should be in the xmen or something

the courgette monster!

[JFly]

I'm finding it hard to figure out the shape/size thing, too. After about a week we've tried nectarine, pear, carrot, parsnip, broccoli, banana and sweet potato. He really likes nectarine, but it's so slippery! Banana is really difficult, too.

If he can even get it in his hand, it often slips from his grip as he gets it in his mouth. I think we'd actually get more in him, if I could find a way to keep the food in his hand! Also, I think it frustrates him to have to food slip away.

I also find that if I cook things enough for him to mash in his mouth, that they're too soft for him to hang on to.

[ChairmumMiaow]

JFly - they can "mash" stuff in their mouths a bit harder than you'd think. It took us a while to figure it out but we just experimented.

I find something with a good skin helps - Courgette holds together pretty well on the skin, or potato wedges that are a bit crispy so LO can suck out the middle (DH bites the end off of really crispy ones even though DS can manage fine!)

With the nectarine, try holding the whole one and letting your LO chomp on it - DS loves this. Just peel a section for chomping and off they go.