To have a lot of questions about baby led weaning?

[lizzlebizzle33]

I have started blw with my 6 mo old, so far he has tried cucumber, pepper, toast and crumpets, eggy bread, chicken, banana and pineapple.
Well when I say tried I mean mushed around his face and hands and dropped on the floor.

I guess I'm just wondering what foods you tried your babies on first? What you found they really enjoyed.

How do you get over feeling they're going to choke on everything?

Do I have to steam Apple for him or is it ok just to give as it is?

And did you find that it was worth it or did you try blw and then end up giving baby food?

I think I'm just getting stressed at how little he's actually eating, whether it matters or not and how much food is being wasted on the floor.

(Well I say wasted, usually whatever he drops is my lunch, I'm circling like a dog 😂)

I’m a nanny and I don’t particularly like BLW but if a parent were to ask for it I would research etc and do it. One advice I would have is do the BLW but have puréed veg and fruit to offer as well, that way you know something is going in.

Best of both worlds I would say.

The idea is no they don’t choke so yes you can give a slice of apples, toast etc and let them go to town chewing away...but yeah I have Weened all my nanny children with finger foods on the tray for exploring etc and then I also spoon in some veg n fruit

Sorry also the first year milk is important don’t worry to much about food, as long as he’s having fruit and veg and eventually some meat etc let him just enjoy the new experience

I did a mixture. So she would always have finger foods to eat but I would also spoon feed as well. It has worked well for us as she likes most food now at 15 months. It may of delayed her slightly using a spoon herself compared to some eaters but then when I had my eldest 20 years ago she still wasn't using a spoon herself at this age as weaning was done very very slowly back then.

BLW is more like food therapy to begin with,they really don’t eat much of any of it. It’s a way of feeling textures and getting used to handling it... then they will start eating it when they’re ready try some puréed food if you want to make it go quicker (more likely to shove a hand in it and lick their hand) but pretty much anything goes

Cooked carrot or parsnip sticks? A big stick of steak?

It's bloody scary when they gag. Just remember 'loud and red let them go ahead, silent and blue, they need help from you'. It's normal for them to gag but not pleasant to see.

Personally I didn't like giving apple because ds used to always gag really badly. I didn't give apple really until after 12 months.

I didn’t BLW by choice, my DD didn’t wouldn’t take pureés I just gave her a bit of whatever I was eating at the time. When cutting things like apple I made the slices big enough so she couldn’t choke. She’d suck them until they went translucent, it was quite remarkable!

At 6 months he doesn’t have to be eating much at all. Milk is his main food source and if he’s giving it a good go (I.e not just staring at on in the tray) something is going in. You don’t need to control or know exactly how much he eats, it will just sort of happen naturally.

I tried blw but tore my hair out with frustration as nothing went in! DS then choked on a bit of fruit and I had to employ some baby first aid menthods I had learnt when pregnant, at which point I stopped. I now do puree and he has a good breakfast, lunch and dinner. Works well for us. I do give him bits and bobs as finger food but on the whole stick to puree/ mashed food.

We entirely did blw with our DD and intend to with DS. It was brilliant! They don’t choke - but if you are worried a maybe consider a child first aid course? (Useful skill anyway and I am suggesting because what kept me calm was knowing that DH - who is the primary carer - is first aid trained). The little mantra is “food before one is just for fun” as they get most nutrition needed from milk (DD was still having a lot of expressed breast milk until well over one). Purees etc are unnecessary but I’m sure they wouldn’t do any harm if they helped you to relax. We found that the first couple of months DD just played with the food (she particularly liked lightly steamed carrot at first, and strawberries). From about 9 months onwards she was actually properly eating a fair amount. Good luck!

There's a book called baby led weaning by Gill Rapley if IRC. It's a lot of waffle though for what boils down to 'give your baby finger foods' but it may make you feel a little more confident. I liked the River cottage baby and toddler cookbook as it explains BLW without being evangelical about it.

My little boy liked broccoli, chunks of banana and porridge on a spoon.

I did a mix with ds. I don't like how people have to be so religious to one way of feeding. He would have a selection of finger food and a bowl of chopped food. He has always eaten what we have for dinner/lunch but cut up.

As for the choking fear. Remember it's more gagging than choking. They have really sensitive gag reflexes and can easily move the objects back up.

One tip is just in case, if using a bib with arms, put it on first and then the straps otherwise it can be hard to get them out of a high chair in an emergency.

As for favourite foods, ds loves large oranges cut up to suck on, cheese sticks, pear, quiche and toast.

When giving food with skins on, if you're worried you can crisscross the skin with a knife so it comes off in small parts.

I planned to do BLW but ended up doing a mixture of purées and finger foods. My HV was concerned that she wasn’t gaining enough weight and thought she might just have been bored of milk feeds, (we were FF by then). So we introduced solids at about 5 and a half months and HV said to use purées and baby rice as well as finger foods. I did some formula mixed with baby rice and fruit purée to begin with, plus some avocado, (which she hated - still does), and sweet potato roasted in tonnes of olive oil (which she hated - still does)! She didn’t particularly enjoy or consume much of either, so sometimes I think I may as well have ploughed on with BLW! She’s still quite a picky eater. Although, she did start to gain weight shortly after we introduced solids - maybe a month and a half or so later.

I have a 3mo ds now. I will probably do a mixture of finger foods and purées for him too. I don’t know how convinced I am by BLW tbh. I haven’t decided though. We may give it a go.

BLW is brilliant! DD1 wouldn't let a spoon near her mouth, so we did BLW from 6 months. We did a lot of roasted veg (parsnip, carrots etc) as this makes them a bit mushy but still with enough structure to hold. Strips of meat are good as well (think DD1 was about 8 months old when we gave her the bone off a rib of beef to gnaw at).

Remember "Food before 1 is just for fun" - it doesn't really matter how much they "get down them" (but you will see by the nappies as they get better at it).

It made meal times so much more relaxed as we would all sit together and basically eat the same stuff. Yes, it can be messy (a cheap shower curtain under the high chair is good). Couscous is better left until they are a bit older as it goes everywhere...

We didn't consider anything else with DD2, and she was almost 6 months when she grabbed a lump of duck from my plate (as sitting on my lap) and started chewing it.

My 2 are incredibly unfussy eaters (much less so than me) - and I think BLW helped as they were always in charge of what they ate and there were never any battles.

You can given them youghurt etc with BLW - just give them a pot and spoon. Might be best when you can do this outside though.

You need to weigh up the time spent making purees and the time spent cleaning up after BLW - but the one time I made purees I had to clean the whole kitchen anyway as I had made such a mess.

One of the downsides is that meals will take quite a long time (until they get better at hand eye coordination). Feeding purees is quicker and hence many people think it is more convenient- however it is much easier to override their natural feeling of "fullness" like this.

I tried blw but anything bigger than an atom made my son gag and vomit so other than the occasional finger food, we did purees. I preferred purees tbh as 1) way less mess and 2) I knew what his intake was. It hasn't impeded anything. He likes a huge variety of food when he actually wants to eat, can use cutlery etc... blw is great if it works for both if you. But ignore the evangelists that tell you your baby will be a fussy eating simpleton if you puree instead. It's simply not true.

I intended to do BLW with my DS. He is now just over 6mo and I've been to afraid to give him finger foods because of choking so have just stuck to purees. He has eaten quite a bit already and is drinking small amounts of water from a sippy cup.
I'm a complete chicken I admit but it does mean we have had no instances of gagging and I figure either way he will eat food eventually.

But ignore the evangelists that tell you your baby will be a fussy eating simpleton if you puree instead. It's simply not true

I second this- it appears to be largely down to luck if you're child is a fussy eater. Besides, I was weaned on purees and always have eaten most things!

I did BLW. That said, I also offered yoghurt, soups, porridge..etc. (i.e. soft purée foods, that I too would eat) I wasn't bothered that they didn't eat much as they still breastfed as they needed. It was very messy but I really didn't mind as I never had to sit there spooning food into their mouths. 6 months is still very early days of BLW.

We did BLW (partly because I wasn't about to start making my own purees- bugger that!). It was very messy and DC didn't really eat anything for a LONG time.

I did get a worried about choking with certain things, but think I'd have been like that anyway whenever we'd gone onto proper solids otherwise.

At 2.5 DC is now a good eater most of the time and is much less fussy than me (my biggest concern; not that I attribute that to BLW particularly).

I did a bit of both. Started with purees and added in fingers foods, had pouches and snacks, and worked our way up. We didnt start with hard foods because he gagged a lot and choked twice. We didnt do things like bolognese on his plate though it wasnt worth the mess - i just fed him it! He’s 17mo now and just eats the same dinner with us every night.

Hope I didn't come across as too evangelistic! We found that BLW worked brilliantly for us and our kids, but every baby is different and will have their own minds (They have also not read the books). I was worried when DD1 refused to be spoonfed as this was what I was "supposed to do", and then found out about BLW which worked brilliantly for her. Find out what works for you both and do that (and before 1 milk provides the vast majority of nutrients).

I also am a big fan of slings - they worked brilliant for us and the kids loved them, the pram was not a good buy for us. I could also go and bagsy tables in cafes whilst my friends were struggling through with their prams. However, doesn't work for everyone (and I had light kids which helps).

I found it best to do a mixture of both. I'd spoon in fruit puree or whatever they liked. And they'd pick up a piece of broccoli or whatever and gum on that. But don't stress if you end up feeding them more than they feed themselves. It makes very little difference in my opinion. And if they are very hungry babies, like mine, they might appreciate the help!

Very true^^. I loved my sling with dc1, not so much now with dc2. Think it might be because he’s much heavier than dd was at his age! Or maybe I’m just getting old. I find carrying him much harder work. My friend’s ds couldn’t eat finger food without gagging till he was about 1yo. BLW obviously wouldn’t have worked for them at all.

Just another point and sorry for small hijack; didn’t that whole “food before one is just for fun” thing get debunked? I’m sure I read that on mn, but not sure.

Thank you all, it's really good to hear of other people's experiences, you don't get that from a book!
I will keep on with it for now I think, he is a big baby but I don't think he's any hungrier than smaller babies his age and he seems quite happy to breastfeed still so he's getting what he needs from that I guess.

Does anybody else get a bit crazy about the amount of food on the floor though? It seems such a waste of time cooking it sometimes, it breaks my heart a little as I put love and effort into it! Ha ha AIBU to eat it? (My floor is clean)