Baby lead weaning terrifies me.. anyone else?

[MumofHennHals]

?

We did it to start with when baby had a tummy full of milk so they don't get hungry and frustrated while they are figuring out while it all works. What helped me was learning that babies' gag reflex is much further forward than adults so they will gag and help expel any food way before it gets far enough back to choke.

I did BLW which I really didn't think of as particularly radical - it was how I was fed as a baby too and is normal for my family.

Lol at the idea from @MarketValveForks that I was some sort of earth mother who gave up work and practiced attachment parenting.

For me, it was by far the easiest choice. Much nicer and easier to give the baby some toast to munch in the morning while getting my work bag together etc, than sit there spoon feeding. Also meant didn't have to puree things, mine just had components of what we ate.

Perhaps because we didn't wean early or perhaps just luck, neither of mine gagged at all - I actually see more spoon fed babies gagging as they aren't in control of their food.

Purees are fine if that's what you want to do - but nurseries tend to expect children to feed themselves by 14 months or so so if you are planning to go back to work, I personally think just starting with finger foods is easier.

We did it for our kids because I couldn't be arsed with the faff of purees and not feeding them what we were having.

I do think a lot of people think choking and gagging are the same thing.

And yet here you are

Nope. Why would it?

You make normal food without the salt. Give it to your baby. Add salt for everyone else. Job done.

Why would that be difficult? It's literally less work than purées would be. Literally less.

i did BLW and in retrospect it really doesn't matter. Purées are fine too and if it makes you less anxious go for it

I thought babies were supposed to be getting most of their energy and nutrients from breast or formula milk until the age of one?

They are and that is what is stressed when I was taking mine to be weighed at 6 months. Think it says the same thing on the NHS website about weaning.

None of mine lost weight or dropped feeds when we started weaning.They stayed on their growth lines.

I would say just follow baby’s lead.

With DS2, he was constantly staring at our food and mimicking chewing from five months. We didn’t give him anything until he was 6 months starting with a bit of banana and moving to more foods.

DD1 is an independent sort. I knew she was ready when she latched off from nursing while I was eating and grabbed my utensil to try and feed herself. She doesn’t want anyone to feed her and must do it herself. Her brothers have learned not to have their plates within her reaching distance. She would pull herself up to stand and hook her finger into their plates and pull them closer to her. The moment she started walking at 10 mo it was all over and at 13 months no one’s food is safe. You have to give her food first otherwise you’re going to find a tiny hand inching towards yours and she is quick like many tots.

One meal prepared, so you all ate jars and pouches?
Mine ate what we did minus the salt it was way easier and cheaper.
Two of the four preferred feeding themselves the other two preferred being fed. They all had fussy stages now they're all good eaters.

Do what you feel comfortable with. I used the Ella’s Kitchen First Foods book and basically followed that! It had some nice recipes too. I liked having something to follow that kind of told me what to do, as the whole process made me so nervous!

To begin with I started on baby rice/porridge and puréed loads of different veg and froze them in ice cube trays so I could introduce them one by one and I had smaller portions for him to try everything. Once he’d tried most veg I then moved on. We did a mixture of baby-led and purées (some homemade and some shop bought) until I got more confident with what DS could manage. We started off with soft finger foods like toast, steamed veg, salmon and fish fingers, baby biscottis, banana, homemade fish cakes etc. alongside puréed food or soft foods like pasta, omlette/scrambled egg, porridge, overnight oats. DS absolutely loved puréed apple and blackberries and we used to mix Greek yogurt with a bit of a fruit pouch. We moved onto meat like sausages, burgers, mince, meatballs etc as easier for him to get used to eating than tough meat.

I did homemade at home but out and about I took the pouches with me that were appropriate for his age group so I always had something for him - HiPP organic and Ella’s were good ones. I found looking at the consistency of the pouches for his age group gave me a good indication of how much I should be mushing/not mushing his food up alongside the finger foods.

Something my friend and also our HV told me to reassure me is that they will gag. It’s normal. They’ll make noise while they do it. It’s when they’re silently gagging that you need to worry. If they’re making noise they’re getting air. That always reassured me.

Now? It was popular when my now 21 year old DS was a baby. Also did BLW when DD2 ( now 30) was a baby.

I'm not sure why it would be terrifying though

Really? I was never a sahm( although with maternity leave being long these days you could have weaned before returning to work), longest I breastfed was 10 months

Nor did I have an endless budget

Babies would have milk before being dropped off to childminders or nursery. Then have meals there.

At dinnertime they were up at table with the rest of us, doesn't take long to scoop up the mat under their chair and wipe table down

It’s certainly got more popular.

I agree about the terrifying part. I just wanted to start with purées so that’s what I did.

Lol they can manage without teeth. None of mine had a single tooth until about 13 months

All jars and pouches - ingredients were perfect for them. Good variety and it introduced them to a wide range of textures and flavours.

Ella's kitchen and the aldi ones are fine. But the jars are full of shit

Are they?

I just picked a random one out.

The ingredients of a Heinz cheesy pasta jar.

Vegetables (42%, Tomato (21%), Carrot (14%), Courgette (7%)), Water, Pasta (14%), Water, Durum WheatSemolina), Vegetarian Cheddar Cheese (9%,Milk), Rice Flour.

It doesn’t look full of shit to me.

I did purées to start with; first singke vegetables or fruits and then combinations, slowly moving onto mashed foods then finely chopped up dinners. Eventually they would just be eating a portion of whatever we'd had for supper the previous evening (so that it could be ready at a moments notice when the outraged hungry screaming started!)

Chasing frozen peas around the high chair tray was always a good option to keep little fingers busy, too!

The rice flour isn’t great. It’s just bulking it out.

I was more than happy with the contents.

One thing? So not full of shit then.

I didn't say they were?

There is however no need for rice flour in pasta. You wouldn’t add it if making your own?

pp did though and it simply isn’t true.

The thing about jars is they are usually bulked out with sweeter veg like carrots or the fruit ones apple. They don't really give babies a full range of flavours.

Fine once in a while, not the ideal choice for 100% of their meals in my view

All good stuff - I was more than happy for them to be for every day.

• Organic vegetable stock 32% (water and organic vegetables: carrots, onions)
• Organic cooked rice 16% (water, organic rice)
• Organic tomatoes 12%
• Organic carrots 11%
• Organic beef 10%
• Organic onions 7%
• Organic red peppers 6%
• Organic kidney beans 5%
• Organic extra virgin olive oil <1%
• Organic cornflour <1%
• Organic paprika <1%
• Organic cumin <1%
• Organic black pepper <1%
• Other stuff 0%

I mostly use Ella’s kitchen to be fair which are very good. I do use different brands occasionally.