Best foods for BLW

[amazedmummy]

So we start weaning on Wednesday! Eek.

He's 6 months on Wednesday and is showing the signs of readiness so we're off. He loves trying to put his own bottle in his mouth so we thought we'd give baby led weaning a go. I was just wondering what foods people found best for it. So far we've though off things like carrot, broccoli and avocado obviously cooked if appropriate and cut into hand sized stick kind of shapes for him. I'm off to do the shopping tomorrow so I thought I'd check for ideas.

The health visitor advised to introduce one food for a few days and check for allergies etc and then try another.

We started on very similar foods - I think sweet potato featured early and cucumber. One thing I will say is that DS isn't overwhelmed by BLW and much prefers to be spoon fed - I don't really make purées but make sloppy food like curries and risotto which I feed him. He can feed himself finger food but he's mainly too lazy so a lot of my plans went out the window quite early on!

Oh I loved BLW! My youngest is 6 now and I really miss it! My dd loved oranges cut into segments she just used to suck and chew on them, great for teething as well if they were straight out of the fridge! Broccoli, cauliflower, banana cut length ways, sweet potato, squash, yogurt and a spoon, Pitts bread and omelette cut into strips.

Time flies doesnt it!

Honestly, I wouldn't start with BLW. It looks like fun but the reality is an unfed baby, wasted food you have spent hours preparing and mess everywhere.

We started with baby rice mixed with fruit puree I made by mashing pears/berries etc and gave it to her once a day, usually late afternoon.

After a couple of weeks we moved on to mashed veg, mashed potato etc - just mashed with a fork, not put in a blender.

By the time she was about 8mo and she could happily chew/swallow, we started giving her soft boiled sticks of veg as finger foods (but still using a spoon for messier stuff). At this point she was on 2 meals a day.

Now she is 9mo and has 3 meals a day, usually toast and yoghurt for breakfast (toast as finger food with peanut butter), porridge and fruit puree for lunch and veg with meat/fish/lentils for dinner. From watching us she has learned how to use the spoon and can (a little messily) feed herself now.

BBC has some great recipes. Good luck, it's all fun!

We didn’t faff about with it really, a couple of days of just simple things then straight on to whatever we had. She had chilli con carne in week 1!
Sweet potato wedges, fine beans, sticks of cheese, hummus, cucumber sticks, roast carrot and parsnip, omelette strips and toast all favourites here.

I recommend the Gill Rapley books. We are 2 months in and it’s brilliant.

I have found baby led weaning so much easier than when I weaned my own two at 4 months old (I foster, my kids are adults) although I have been doing a mix of letting him feed himself and spooning a bit in too. The baby we have now has taken to it like a duck to water and this morning grabbed my toast so I gave him the crust which he sucked and chewed to death. I do spoon feed some mashed up food (I pureed stuff for about a week before we discovered he was quite happy with a lumpier consistency) so I have been mashing up whatever veg we have and feeding it to him while he sucks on fingers of whatever veg it is. He is six and a half months and loves waving as spoon in the general direction of his mouth and the dog thinks he has died and gone to heaven as he hoovers up the aftermath.

I just tended to give baby-safe versions of what we were eating. But it's amazing what they can shovel in with their hands. DS would eat adult-sized portions of porridge from about 7 months - just shovelling it in with his little fists.

My other breakfast favourite for them was mini shredded wheat. Soft enough (when they soak up the milk) for them to pick up but not soggy.

Toast fingers dipped in soup is another good one

Whatever you're having. Except scrambled egg. Smeared scrambled egg was grim in the early months, and can't be swept up with a dustpan and brush. It smears. Everything else was fine

We just gave ds a little bit of what we were having, it wasn't planned I had bought a new blender and lots of weaning pots to make my own purée. But ds refused everything until he grabbed something off my plate and gummed it to death. So BLW from that point.

Thanks for the tips everyone. We're armed with spoons and bowls and a little blender I picked up on the cheap so if he's not a fan or isn't eating much then we absolutely will try other things. He's just so fiercely independent with some things that we thought he might like some DIY. We have a splash mat and bibs with sleeves and a bath for when he's covered in whatever he's attempted to eat. I just can't believe it's rolled round so fast.

Anything really, just as you say make sure they're cut into finger shaped pieces where possible, and long enough so they'll stick out the ends of his hands. It takes some time for them to get the hang of not squeezing things too hard, so he might struggle with soft foods initially (although it's all fun!).

Some other suggestions are pasta (penne or fusilli are good), porridge fingers, eggy bread. You can cook wedges of apple slightly in a frying pan with some butter to soften them a little. Just try and give what you're having as much as possible to make life easier, just adjust how you cut and season baby's portion. Won't be long before he's able to just shovel anything in though

Don't give couscous though. My god, the mess...

The health visitor has said puréed veg for the first week at least but I can't find anything online that suggests it's not ok to give him something to eat himself if he's up for it?

Oh I also meant to say that unless there are any allergies in your family, there's no need to introduce one food at a time - very outdated advice from your HV. And absolutely no reason to only give puréed veg for a week (although I think that's what used to be advised with traditional weaning so I guess that's where she's got it from?).

There's no need to give purées at any time unless that's what you want to do. No restrictions on what you can give past 6 months other than no honey, watch salt content and choking hazards (whole nuts, grapes, sausages, popcorn, cherry tomatoes).

Ooh banana pancakes as well! Can't tell you how many batches of those I've made in the last 2.5 years 😂 just mash a banana and mix in an egg, I find they work better with a spoonful of flour as well. Then cook in a frying pan for a few minutes on each side.

Thank you @Spam88 you're putting my mind at ease. I went out today and bought all kind of things for him to try then she said veg only and I started second guessing myself. We've got different veg and fruits and cheese and yoghurt for him to try. I tried to get things with different shelf lives because I'm not shopping as often just now. The banana pancakes sound brilliant especially because I always seem to have a banana or two loitering about in the freezer it saves me from making any more banana bread.

Sounds like you know what you're doing so don't second guess yourself :) the Gill Rapley book is good if you want some reassurance though.

Straight in with what the rest of us were having. I think he had roast dinner on day 1 and spag bol on day 2!

Definitely go with whatever you are having, thatvs part of the beauty. One thing my dd loved was a whole corn on the cob cut into inch thick slices

Agree that your HV advice on purees isn't necessary. We gave DD a bit of whatever we were having (I just made sure there wasn't loads of salt etc) as long as it was soft-ish and able to be picked up. BLW is so convenient - we'd meet up with the NCT lot and they were all there with special pots of pre-prepared food while we didn't need to take anything and just gave DD whatever we were eating!

@LoisLittsLover I remember discovering when DD was about 1 that a corn on the cob could keep her quiet for twenty whole minutes

You were all right, he's tucked into a few stems of broccoli and had a great time. Definitely managed to eat more of it than I thought he would. Took to it like a duck to water so I think BLW is a winner in this house.

Is your hv perhaps mistaken about your ds's age? You don't need to give only pureed fruit and veg at 6 months (unless the advice has radically changed in the last 4 years!), dd's first food was toasted teacake pinched from ds's plate. We didn't do BLW as it seemed a bit restrictive, just had what we had sometimes, spoonfed some stuff etc, no nuts, honey or choking hazards but lots of other foods.

I loved BLW. I pureed for the 1st and it's taken forever to get him to like flavour - he's nearly 10!

With my 2nd she was a spoon dodger so I eventually tried BLW and never looked back. Her first meal was avocado, mozzarella and cucumber. From then I basically put everything on the high chair tray and away she went. It's messy, but she has always had a good palette and will eat anything and try everything. She is is 7 now.

Good luck and enjoy!

Oh a dog is very helpful in cleaning up too

@Spam88 I wanted to resurrect this thread to thank you on behalf of DS for your banana pancake recipe. It would appear that they are the best thing ever and both hands must be used to shove them in your face as quickly as possible.