BLW and spiciness

[MadamoiselleMango]

Gonna start BLW in a few weeks and just wondering if you reduced the spiciness in your meals? Me and DH like things very spicy. I breastfeed and hear they get a taste of spiciness from that? Not sure how true that is.

Tell me your experiences! Thanks

We eat a lot of spicy food and I breastfed and BLW. He's OK with mildly spicy - but not hot food. Eg. Things flavoured with cumin etc but not chili. I tried giving something a little bit hot once and he cried like he was in pain and gave me such a look of betrayal!

I love spicy food and ate it loads whist pregnant & breastfeeding. My daughter (BLW) ate a very mild spiced dish & screamed her eyes out until she had milk (cows)... Twice. I now can't even add pepper to her food. Her brother loved chilli & pepper (ridiculous amounts to the stage where strangers would warn me he had too much pepper, he didn't, he put it on himself) but aged 2.5 he suddenly hated it! Now he can't even have pepper...

Try a bit & see what happens I say! They'll let you know...

Yep same as the above I made chilli once and LO started crying and scrapping his tongue! I felt awful. So perhaps build up to it and focus on flavour rather than spice to begin with

I did BLW and planning to do it again in a few weeks with DC2.
I did give DC1 spicy things but generally toned it down a bit because I think they need to get used to it and I didn't want it to put her off spicy things if it was too hot - breastmilk does have flavours but I doubt it's really spicy. My main worry, however, is that they will touch their eyes / face with spicy hands because with BLW they get very very hands on with food!

As an aside, when I was in Thailand I saw babies (about 18 months) eating raw veggies dipped in a mind blowingly spicy fermented chilli paste - so clearly they can get used to it!

As above!

DS fine with milder Indian type spice but won't eat chilli type spice. If me and DH are having a spicy dish I try and make it something I can add yoghurt to for DS

Wean them on to your home cooking. May have to do a slightly milder version and build up over a few months but certainly give the baby what you eat. We have 4 excellent eaters this way. Dont worry about calorie intake (milk is THE thing till 12 months) and let your baby finish eating when she feels like it. She needs to followed her internal cues in relation to hunger.

BLW doesn't mean that she has to have everything you have. She should have no salt, no added sugar, very little spice to start up with. You can increase spices etc as she gets older. In my experience you should start with quite plain food, and introduce stronger tastes as she gets older.

Thanks everyone!

Oh I didn't think about the chilli fingers thing! I've been so paranoid before when I've been chopping chillies and then need to put dd's dummy back in!

Yeah I know about the salt and sugar and "food for fun before one" etc I just wondered about the flavour side of things as we eat a lot of curries and don't want to scare her off eating, but it sounds like the best thing to do is to start mild and build up.

I've always just given my DC whatever we have and don't see why children need to be given bland, plain food. If I think it is a bit spicy, I add some natural yogurt.

One time, DC3 asked for (in a very determined 9 month old baby way) a piece of my, quite spicy chicken curry, so I decided to give her a piece. She loved it and kept scoffing it yet DC1 finds toothpaste too spicy!

DD's never seemed to mind spice. She's 18 mo now and since 6mo has had curries, etc. Think they get used to it as you introduce more flavours.

Yep, my ds didn't get on well with spicy food to begin with, but at 2yo he's much better now. I used to add coconut milk to his curries and yogurt to his chilli, etc to make them baby friendly, then gradually introduced spicier food as he got used to it. I still give him a milder version if we're eating something really hot, but otherwise he's fine now.

I's say start milder and see if they like it. DS has always eaten spicy foods and has always requested more after tasting really hot food taken from grandparents etc. DD isn't so keen.

I don't find BLW means I can just feed them our meals from the get go. Half of the stuff yes but not all. 6mo old DD has two teeth but can't eat rice, mince. Kind of gags on the bits. I tried just eating on my tongue and wasn't nice! She loves chewing steak or strips of meat. Eats food cut into chip shapes. So can have finger foods or purée but can't seem to manage just whatever we are having just yet.

BLW babies don't just use their tongues though. Their gums are pretty tough even without teeth!

(Would agree though that all our meals looked slightly odd for a bit as I cut up with veg/meat etc into strips to make them easier for each DC to pick up. I have had to apologise to friends coming round for dinner a few times that dinner looks a little odd!)

Apple, children yes but not babies. Generally speaking, babies have a stomach and gut flora which is used to digesting just milk. It is generally accepted that for weaning, mild food is less irritating on the stomach lining. It's different if we are talking about children above one who have already been introduced to a variety of food and mild spices, herbs, etc. Of course some babies will be ok with stronger spices but it might cause pain, reflux and difficulty with digestion in other babies.

I agree with countess, no reason that babies should have boring, bland food (unless that's what they prefer). I'd try them on what you're having and see how you go, with something cooling (milk, yoghurt) on hand just in case.

When my DD was about 8 months we went out for lunch and the menu had sweetcorn fritters with a Scotch bonnet sauce, so I asked for those without the sauce. It was only after she'd eaten 4 of them I realised they actually had Scotch bonnet in them. Oops! Wouldn't advise it but she was absolutely fine and she does have a taste for chilli/spice now!

Oh yes, agree with previous posters, don't not add spices! More flavour the better I reckon. On the hot front - Test them with chilli and see. Honestly, she only cried for a few minutes and she was better after some milk, no lasting damage but now I know not to add any chili or pepper to food we're sharing.

But flavour! Yes!! We go all out with spices and herbs.

It doesn't have to be bland

I'm more of a traditional weaner but my 9 month dd is fine with some spice. If I make a curry I siphon off a small portion of the veg etc before I add the spice and salt and cook hers in a separate pan with less curry powder and no salt. I usually batch cook for all of us, I use a quarter of a teaspoon of medium curry powder in dds pan which will make around 4-6 portions.

I do spice but not chilli and add sour cream/youghurt/coconut milk to tone it down. DTD is a wuss for spice but DTS quite likes chilli con carne and curry. Ds2 is following in his brothers footsteps and at just 8mo likes chilli too

I added natural yoghurt or sour cream to spicy foods. DS was fine with it.

We eat a lot of spicy food and DD was breastfed until 9mo and blw. Initially with the weaning I made our food slightly milder and we added hot sauce to ours at the table. She happily ate anything mild (say masala level) and quickly upped her tolerance to medium spiced (dansak level). The only thing I found we needed to watch was spicy poo making her bum sore, but the mouth end was never an issue. She's now 22mo and has scaled back a little on the level of heat she will tolerate, although if she likes the taste of a dish even if it is quite hot she will shove a load in, cry for a second or two, then shove in a bit more She's actually usually quite bright, but her greed sometimes over-rides it and if it was really that bad she'd stop. As a PP said, no lasting damage and it certainly doesn't put her off the next time! We always offer her to try what we have if she wants it, but if it's too hot for her tastes we stir through a bit of yoghurt or sour cream.

OP start gently and see how you get on, they often surprise you with their eating habits. It's as much about the experience at this stage (in fact more so) than nutrition, so offer as wide a variety of tastes and textures as you can. On the spice front (not just chilli), one of my favourite 'lazy' blw meals for DD was chunks of whatever veg I had kicking about in the fridge tossed in oil and a random herb or spice picked from the cupboard, then oven baked. She loved it and got to experience most of the spice cupboard that way (left out a few like Cheyenne obviously!). They can definitely eat stuff like rice, but your biggest challenge is presenting the food in a form they are able to get into their mouths in the first place, particularly when starting out and their fine motor skills are still developing. Over-cooking or sticking it together with a sauce/other ingredients helps with that. I really enjoyed weaning, it was lovely watching her experience so many new things every day and I can't wait to do it again with the next one!

Thanks so much for all your advice! So good to know I don't have to avoid chilli completely but will start gently and work our way up, but will be nice to try and share some toned down meals. Will have yoghurt/sour cream to hand at all times!
I was going to joke and say I'll avoid the scotch bonnets for bow but then the pp came along who said her dd liked scotch bonnet jam

Love the idea of veg tossed in oil and spice! Aubergines fried in oil and oregano is one of my personal faves currently actually.

Anyway I'm excited to get started!

I just make things a bit milder for the dcs. Ds1 and ds2 love spicy things but dd really doesn't so she will often have plain chicken and rice if I'm making a curry.