Weaning before teeth?

[Sleepyhoglet]

My dd is 5 months old and has no sign of teeth. I wanted to start weaning her next month, but I'm worried about doing this. Can it work? Am I being silly? I just don't understand how she can chew foods

Should have specified baby led weaning. Without teeth surely she can only have purée which isn't blw

DS didn't have teeth until 10 months! He was quite happy chewing on all sorts of things, although I didn't do BLW.

Oh yes of course! Babies have very hard gums - they can mash food with those. I did BLW with my DCs. We started at 6 months and they were both chomping away very quickly. Both were completely toothless until 9 or 10 months.

It's fine. They can use thier gums to chew. We did mashed up stuff and finger food and dd was fine with everthing and she didn't get teeth until 10 months.

My dd had no teeth until she was maybe 11 months. It is amazing what they can get through without teeth. I went for a range of things both actual solid stuff and things I spoon fed.

DS got his first tooth at 14 months and he managed fine with weaning from 5.5 months. He even managed to eat chicken with no teeth!

Another BLWer here whose DS still has no teeth at 9mo. He eats everything

DS introduced himself to blw at a day before 6 months by grabbing a granarybtuns baguette out of my hands. He had no teeth for a furthur 6 months, but he made light work of that baguette and pretty much anything else I gave him.

Start with things that are fairly easy to chew with just gums - pieces of soft fruit like banana or pear, cooked veggies like green beans or carrot sticks. They can do a surprising amount with no or few teeth. Introduce chewier stuff gradually. DD has a fair few teeth now but I'm still cautious about crunchy foods that can break off small bits or get stuck in the throat, as well as little round things (grapes, cherry toms) for the choking risk, but otherwise it's amazing seeing her discover new foods all the time.

Fully BLW-ing here with a ten month old dd and ZERO TEETH! You'll be amazed at what they can do with those hard little gums. Just go for it, and if needed cut things up smaller if they are struggling.

Here is dd's food intake for the last few days, you might find it reassuring. Remember, no teeth!

Fri.
Breakfast - hot x bun, whole satsuma
Lunch - potato wedges, sticks of cheese, broccoli, carrots
Dinner - Chilli and rice, couple more cheese sticks, half satsuma.

Sat.
Breakfast - toast and hot cross bun, apple slices
Lunch - Chilli and fusilli pasta, green beans (though these were mostly thrown on the floor)
Dinner - roast chicken, roast potatoes, peas, broccoli

Sun.
Breakfast - half hot cross bun, apple slices
Lunch - cheese and crackers
Dinner - broccoli, chicken and asparagus pasta bake.

She LOVES beef casserole, Dh and I have very meagre meat rations these days as she gobbles up slow cooked beef like nobody's business. Also very keen on sausages, burgers, meatballs. Peas and beans also a firm favourite at the moment. A couple of months ago she was mad for cucumber sticks. Pitta and hummus used to go down a treat as well.

Don't give in to puree!

As the others said... babies have hard gums. My blw dd is now 13 months got teeth front teeth at 9months and managed everything just fine. Her first food was a corn on the cob which she took from my plate!

Wow that is really reassuring - I've not been pfb about anything but this ! It's scary!

I'm ridiculously pfb and paranoid but blw was the easiest thing. Ds had no teeth til 11 months and he could eat anything!

Yours doesn't chomp your finger then??

They have gums of steel!

Soft cooked finger foods and things like avocado are no match for baby gums!

I did baby led weaning with DD1 and she ate EVERYTHING.

She got her first tooth at 15 months :)

She is still a fabulous eater at 2 and half (spicy curries, seafood, fish, roast dinners, all fruit and veg - demands ice cream as well haha). Still doesn't have all her teeth!

Remember even if babies get teeth earlier they generally get the incisors first. They don't get their back teeth till much much later. You & me don't chew food with our incisors, we use our back teeth. So all babies are chewing food without the relevant teeth if you see what I mean.

I did BLW from 6 months.

DS is now 12 months old and still only has one tooth