Any BLW pros who can give me a bit of advice for an 11 month old?

[thedevilisinthedetail]

I began to wean ds at 5.5 months on puree as this is how I weaned dd. In the last 3 weeks or so ds has started to shake his head and close his mouth tight shut whenever I try to feed him (on everything except yogurt!). I've been giving him things like fruit and toast to eat with his hands and he has really enjoyed this. In the last week or so I've really abandoned the mashed up food on spoon approach and given more for ds to eat with his hands. He's had bits of chicken, vegetables, toast etc. My problem is he doesn't seem to be getting as much variation as with homemade food that I could puree/mash and spoon feed.

Anyone with experience of BLW able to give me a bit of direction as to what I should be offering/trying...rather feeling that I've just stopped feeding him at the moment :(

Have a look at this site.

However, he can just eat what you eat (bar honey, whole nuts and whole grapes) so as long as you're eating a varied, balanced diet, then just offer him that.

Thanks Fliss, so anything and everything!

If he doesn't seem to eat much at a particular meal I'm fretting though, shall I just assume he'll eat something he likes if he is hungry? Always eaten quite a lot (before he started refusing!) and now just picking at bits?

Web site is a good start thanks!

i just kept changing, they like to try out new things. pear, pineapple, melon are great as they are soft. also small pieces of chicken. boiled potatoes. pieces of avocado. pomegranate. steamed broccoli, steamed baby sweetcorn, steamed carrot sticks. rice cakes with houmous, banana, peas, beans... lots of possibilities, just always keep an element of change.

Thanks...I'm just going to get more inventive I think!

Also remember some children really drop their intake about a year however they are weaned - I would recommend the BLW cookbook for ideas of things you could have as a family - my DS liked pasta, pancakes, fishfinger at that age

My DD 10mths eats everything we do, tonight she had roasted bite size sweet/reg potato, green beans and crumbed chicken bite sized - I do put a small selection of each on her tray and top up when she's finished otherwise she will just scoff all the chicken and be too full up to eat the beans lol

In the 4mths since we introduced solids she has only ever refused mushrooms, volume probably isn't quite the same as purée perhaps, tho she eats pasta like you wouldn't believe - about half an adult portion!!!!

Try loaded spoons too - good for things like mashed potato. My DD (12 months) enjoys feeding herself with a spoon.

PS we had a tantrum over lamb shanks...not enough could appear on her tray fast enough.

It is handy to make a bit extra of your meals so you can freeze some for him so if you do have a meal he can't eat or won't like (hot curry) you have a meal prepared. Also handy when eating out as some people don't provide suitable food. DS is 6m and eats nearly everything we eat. Have a look at Gill Rapley book, it should help.

Thank you all! Just went for it today and offered everything we ate. He's eaten all sorts though anything he didn't like has all been thrown systematically on the floor one piece at a time. Could not believe the kitchen after both lunch and supper but he has eaten homemade pizza, olives, salad (which made dd 3 think that she should actually eat some too) then beef stew by the handfull! But ds was so happy and I feel like we have turned a corner as so different from trying to force spoonfuls into his mouth...my mother and mil are both visiting next week...they are going to be horrified with the mess! Thanks to those who have given advice though...no longer dreading meal times is nice!

With the weather warming up, perhaps a meal al fresco (if possible) might be a good idea!