BLW: when did your LO start eating well?

[Loops81]

My LO is six months old and I started weaning a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to start off with purees and she seemed excited about it at first but very quickly got bored, started grabbing the spoon and flinging it around. She’s much more interested in feeding herself so I’m switching to BLW. She’s getting food into her mouth ok but not much is actually being eaten yet. If you did BLW, when did your baby start to properly chew/swallow food and be satisfied by it? I know it’s supposed to be all about letting them explore the food for now, but she’s on the small side so I’m keen for her to get eating!

Mine didn't eat much finger food themselves until around 9 months - didn't have the dexterity before then. I used to spoon little bits of purée - more to introduce the taste of foods rather than expecting them to eat very much (especially if they have just had some milk and therefore not very hungry).
Keep giving her little bits alongside her milk and she'll get there when she's able to.

8 months before noticed a change to solid poos about 9 months before reliably 'eating' at most meals

Generally they gradually eat more between six and nine months, but it’s quite a slow process. Tbh if you’re worried about her being ‘on the small side’ weaning is not going to help. Whether you spoon in purées of veg and fruit or they inefficiently feed themselves, compared to the nutrient density in milk they’re both non starters - purees are basically only water and fibre, and with blw they don’t eat a huge amount, so if you’re worried about her size and weight it’s the milk feeds you need to major on, not the ‘real’ food which they can barely digest at that stage anyway.
Just like walking and talking, learning to eat solids can’t be hurried, so just keep her milk intake up while giving her time to learn!

Ds1 didn't click with food until between nine and ten months old, then suddenly he ate everything in sight. Ds2 shovelled from day one.

She was eating something, enough to see it in her poo, after about 2 weeks. But not a substantial amount until 9-10 months. It really doesn’t matter though. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It was such a wonderful experience and she is such an adventurous eater. Shes 5 now and people still remark about how good she is at meal times. I think it’s because we gave her time and let her explore.

I'd say the same as above in terms of really eating. But Really became noticeable after his first birthday when all day time feeds were cut.
I should add that although it felt like it took longer for him to start eating proper amounts (I actually think we were expecting too much too early!) it has paid off hugely. He eats anything and everything and it brilliant at feeding himself to the point people comment when we are out.

My first wouldn’t eat food until he was 1 (tried everything 😫) so we just let him figure it out and he survived. Second figured it out early because he watched his brother I think.