Baby Lead Weaning - bluffers guide?

[bluesatinsash]

My DS2 is 21 weeks and still exclusively breast fed. I'm keen to go down the BLW route with him. Planning on starting to introduce solids on his 6-month 'birthday'.

DS1 was traditionally weaned at 22 weeks on baby rice then pureed fruit/veg then chicken at 7 months and so on.

What's the jist of BLW? Wait until they pinch the chicken drumstick off your plate ?

DS2 is also on a bottle strike and I'm hoping that introducing food will get him used to other tastes and textures..

You've got it just about right with the drumstick thing - cook your food without adding salt, if you are feeling generous cut it into larger pieces than you would have normally, and chuck some bits off your plate towards the baby as you eat. Easy peasy.

At what age can they cope with this and do I continue to give him purely milk up until then?

6 months, and yes, just milk till then.
Don't stress if he doesn't seem to actually eat much to begin with, and don't drop milk feeds, just let him drop them.

You'll be amazed what they can eat though - DS was eating steak and chips by 7 months (a strip of steak that was gummed and sucked to death), and I've got lovely pictures of him shortly after having pizza and salad with us all

I have blw'd both my DC. Breast fed and then started giving them things like chunks of peeled pear, roasted 'chips' of sweet potato, chunks of avocado to chew on.

Other than that I let them nick bits off my plate. Start with soft things that they can gum easily.

I gave mine porridge in the morning (made it with water as didn't want to do cows milk under 1 and didn't want to give formula). Mash in a banana or grate in an apple to give sweetness. For me it established one 'proper' meal a day at the beginning and made sure they got some iron in.

Mine just loved eating any kind of fruit (you are lucky that all the soft fruits will be coming into season soon!), so that made it really easy.

Good luck and try and enjoy it!

I have blw both my dd's. Just give them a bit of whatever you are eating. Just pop things on the high chair and then let them pick up things and put them into their mouths themselves. Don't try and help them/interfere.

Really give them anything. With dd1 I used to give her 'chip' shaped bits of food. By the time I got around to doing it with dd2 she would just have anything. Cereal for breakfast, rice dishes (they just grab fistfulls and stuff it into their little mouths!), pasta, sandwiches and so on.

Obviously I didn't give fiery hot curries although dd2 at 1 year does like lots of slightly spicy things.

When my children were small BLW 'hadn't been invented' apart from by me
be prepared for lots of mess, on the baby, the floor, clothes and on you when you extricate them from the high chair!
I used to but the food directly onto the very clean high chair tray, so bits of anything really, like grated cheese,fingers of toast, meaty sauces with rice or pasta, fromage frais,fish

You do have to watch them like a hawk to avoid choking and be very chilled out about grubby faces and clothes even with bibs. I seem to remember banana always went down well but was bugger to get out of clothes.
you can not speed up eating.