to ask for your best bit of BLW advice?

[moxon]

Yip, pretty much that. There are too many websites on the topic and too little time. The latter of which is heavily invested in MN anyway, so I thought I might as well see what's on offer from the wise.

Distract yourself! The baby will sort herself out, as long as you give her time and space - so don't hover and do just eat your own food, chat, potter around etc

The BLW cookbook has some good stuff - I still use it, five years on.

SillyBillyz bibs (the snuggle neck ones) are good at holding a whole bowl of soup :-)

BLW amounts to "give the baby some food and see how they do." Don't overthink it. And if you give purees now and again, the world won't implode.

FWIW BLW worked very well with DS but was a disaster with DD, who to this day far prefers mushy food that she can spoon up to solid food that she can eat with her fingers, so don't be despondent if it doesn't work very well and you have to switch to purees. As long as the baby is getting food the method doesn't really matter IMO.

Gagging is normal and is not choking

Bibetta sleeved bibs are fab.

Don't be disheartened if it takes them a before they swallow anything (DS spent the first month happily sucking food before spitting it out)

Don't get too hung on them doing everything themselves, it's baby led not baby has to do everything. DS went through a stage of wanting me to hold the food whilst he guided my hand into his mouth. I worried that I was undermining the principles but he was still in control and soon he was wanting to do it all himself.

The River Cottage Baby and Toddler cookbook is excellent.

Get a dog. He will 'help' clear most of the mess, just a quick mop needed afterwards.

Stay away from Quinoa. It's great and my DD loved it, but it goes everywhere.

Agree with the 'just let them at it'. Try not to interfere.

Watch you tube clips to understand the difference between gaging and choking.

Lastly, ignore any advise from people who have not done BLW

Don't think of meals in terms of 'mains followed by desserts'. Just offer a few bits and bobs in any order, for the taste and texture.

Never panic about 'baby not getting enough'. Babies know best whether or not they're hungry/full up.

Ignore 'well meaning' members of the older generation, they are mostly clueless and their info is outdated.

Enjoy and encourage the weird tastes that babies love; my DS (22mo) loves lemons...

Yy to ChocolateTeapot, learn all you can about choking vs gagging, learn the first aid and don't fret. My DS has been exclusively bl weaned - and only twice have I fished anything out of his mouth, and neither before he was 11 months old.

Their gag reflex is solid.

Don't force or cajole. Babies are ready from 6 months onwards. THey will survive on milk alone until 12 months.

Give them whatever your having and leave them to it. I agree with pp on the advice to get a dog, they make fabulous hoovers.

Gagging is normal and is not choking

^^ as said up there, but well worth repeating! As is ignoring any tutting and 's/he'll starve'. Nope.

You just have to be prepared for the almighty mess & cut yourself some slack on the days where you feed them things you can bear to clean up afterwards!

When s/he's bigger I would have a few 'will be fed' meals that I will take/order if eating in a restaurant because I'd rather not have the hassle. Then I'll let them have the less messy elements of whatever everyone else is eating.

They really will find a way of getting it in them if you just leave them to it and don't fuss :)

You're all my heroes!

DXB "choking vs gagging" might be a somewhat dodgy YouTube search phrase...

As a nanny I have done lots of BLW and I would suggest a plastic sheet under the highchair. You can just pick up the dropped food and give it back to baby! Then pick up whole mat and empty straight into bin....good wipe then reuse....

Oil cloth is about £3 a metre, an Ikea antilop high chair fits nicely on 1m

Don't bother with bibs, just strip the baby down to their nappy

Sunlight removes most stains if you don't follow my second piece of advice

Not banana. Nothing gets rid of banana.

Rachel's Greek yoghurt is the stiffest for eating with hands. We get through pints of the stuff.

Don't cook them anything special. Just give them exactly what you are having, makes life so much easier and a lot less fussy when older.

I did what I consider a mix.
Honestly, it's the only time the dog has been useful

Communal eating. Made a salad? Stick a bit of each part of it on their highchair and sit and eat your salad with them. Made a bolognaise? again, big dollop of it on the high chair and a slice of garlic bread and let them smoosh around with it and lick it off their hands etc.

Baths become essential and always factor in the clearing up when you go out for a pub dinner.

I also used to cold soak vests before hot washing them. Heat sets stains!

Wait til they are 6 months old and then just give them bits of food. If they are interested they'll eat, if not they won't. It's not complicated! I understand (having never done purée weaning) that blw babies take longer to drop milk in favour of food, but they do it their own way.

Biggest tip - take away the phrase BLW and replace it with "giving the baby some of what you're having". Or "finger foods". Then go!

Sainsbury does a stain remover spray in a purple bottle which is ace.

Don't expect blw to stop your dc being fussy. Ds was blwed and is the fussiest child out there.

Finally hide the knives when staying with your mil who insists on wiping dc's hands and face with a dish cloth between every mouthful! Ds is still a very messy eater.

Another couple of tips

Buy Anchor Unsalted spreadable to replace when you have butter

Buy the blw cookbook. It has the same info as the blw book - but less waffle and lots more ideas and recipes. It's very good.

Be patient. DD didn't 'get' it until about 11 months. Until then she mainly messed with it and threw it on the floor. As long as you stick to milk they won't starve while they are practicing!

Get a dog.