Advice on blw

[Aimzxo]

my baby turned 6 months yesterday and I want to do baby led weaning, would like advice from fellow mums, my mum and mil cannot get their head around it as they had babies 30 years ago and it was all purree then so they have no advice lol

What foods did you give at first?
I've read to give fruit and vegetables and to only give a few spoonfuls a day and try something different a day, but does it really have to be like that? I know every baby is different

I also don't want to overwhelm her or her stomach by giving her a sunday roast straight away for example

What are your experiences on blw and how did you start it? Xx

My experience of BLW is that you give sticks of soft foods for the baby to eat/maul/suck. So soft cooked carrots/potato etc etc. No spoons involved really (unless she already knows how to use one?). Ive known parents give puree and then give the equivalent soft food for then to hold and eat. So giving puree carrot and feeding it to them, and giving a soft cooked stick of carrot at the same time.

I love BLW! We started off with veg and fruit cut into the right shape and size. From there we pretty quickly introduced breakfast so things like toast, porridge fingers, cereal (something like shredded wheat minis they can easily pick up) and then added in the other meals. We just gave what we were having (within reason). Every food is finger food! We didn't introduce a spoon until about 9 months but by 1 she could use it by herself (bit of help needed sometimes obviously!)

It is messy so I recommend putting a wipeable mat under the high chair, loads of flannels for wiping and stripping baby off before meals - mine ate in her nappy for a long time! Eating out can be hard in the early days when there's a lot of mess but we just put napkins on the floor and made sure we cleaned up well before we left.

If you want to go for true baby led weaning then baby should be eating whatever you're having (obviously using some common sense). They will watch you intently, learning how to manipulate food, feed themselves, it's quite amazing.

Gill Rapleys book is great.

Start by cutting the things you can in to finger shaped sticks as it's much easier for them to pick up. Start with one meal a day, about 30 minutes after milk, when they aren't too tired.

Only exclusions are honey, undercooked meat, choking hazards (uncut grapes/whole nuts) and anything too salty.

I tried a single food a day for a week then two for a week. Her first foods were boiled carrots, brocoli and runner beans. I followed a baby lead weaning app, it just gave me some guidance/confidence for a few weeks. Then suddenly she was really interested in my food and let her join in with our meals, always at her pace.

Whether spoon feeding or blw I was told start with veg and the bitter tastes, don’t go straight for the sweet fruit.

Thanks ladies this is all very helpful!! Whats the name is the baby led weaning app?

I've bought things like mango and pear and stuff I know with the pear I need to put it in boiling water for a little while to soften it slightly do you do the same with mango? Probably sounds like a stupid question but I'm a ftm and just want to do it right for her as I have a little bit of anxiety about her feeding

I will check out that book xx

We're doing BLW. It's great. We started with fruit and veg then quickly moved on to what we were having, we just make sure we cook without added salt and sugar. He's 8 months now and can manage most things. Yes it is a mess so we have a mat down and a long sleeve bib. I was given a recipe here for banana pancakes. They are amazing! 1/2 bananas, an egg and a table spoon of flour, in a frying pan and then cooled, they work for breakfast or desert. He loves them.

I've managed to find lots of recipes for things and I'm a confident cook so thats not an issue its just knowing if she's ready for these different flavours and textures straight away, or do I wait 2 weeks a month lol xx

The good thing about BLW is that if she doesn't like it she just won't eat it. DS took to everything really well. By week 2 he was eating pizza (homemade). He struggled a bit with avocado because it was so slippery but other than that he's managed everything we've given him. Toast was a firm favourite early on. DH is a chef so I'm not the cook around these parts.
The book suggested up thread is brilliant, it explains why BLW works and helped me to not worry about not managing certain foods.
There's no need to hold off on any food that is age appropriate. The worst thing we've had happen is that he didn't manage to eat much, we left it a while before we offered it again and he's still getting a milk feed so he won't go hungry.

So long as the mango is ripe to over ripe, it'll be fine. Just cut into finger sticks and let baby run amok.

As for the flavour thing, your baby will let you know if they're overwhelmed. Most tend to take introduction of new things completely in their stride, so introduce at a pace you are comfortable with. They don't know any better after all!

I started with vegetables first, as babies are already predisposed to like sweet tastes. We went for broccoli first, then introduced something new every other day. Spaghetti bolognese was her first real meal, which was after a few weeks. The mess was glorious, and she reacted so well to the flavours, we never looked back.

GL with it. My mum and sister were horrified that I was going with BLW over puree (she'll choke! she'll be picky! you need to start with baby rice!). DD is nearly 11 months and a phenomenal eater. She loves mexican food, gnocchi, stuffing balls, and curries.

Think I'm definitely going to have to buy that book! Have just tried her with mango and banana and she took one look at them and cried, when I managed to calm her down she just played with the plate took no notice in the food at all lol so will just keep trying and I guess when shes ready she will do it! Thanks ladies you've all been very helpful xx

We've done a bit of both, at most meals a bit of mash and some stuff to pick up which means she can have a wider variety.
Don't do fruit for the first two weeks, get them used to savoury/bitter.
Also our HV said they don't ever need puddings so best to not get into that habit (makes sense).
Good luck

Ahh okay ill steer from fruit then for now :) xx

@Aimzxo

Think I'm definitely going to have to buy that book! Have just tried her with mango and banana and she took one look at them and cried, when I managed to calm her down she just played with the plate took no notice in the food at all lol so will just keep trying and I guess when shes ready she will do it! Thanks ladies you've all been very helpful xx

Try having some yourself at the same time. She needs to see that you’re putting it in your mouth to understand that’s what you’re expecting! Leave her long enough and she might do it anyway but seeing you do it should help 🙂

We didn’t stick to vegetables for the first 2 weeks, we went straight in with fruit and cheese and bread Too. She eats all sorts now.

The difficult thing is is I dont like fruit, don't mjnd strawberries so have to be in the mood, don't mind brocoli and carrots so can try that, my mum doesn't eat fruir and veg so she never gave it to me as a child, sounds ridiculous but I'd never tried a strawberry till I was 19 with my now husband I was a very fussy eater I will try things now, so I really don't want my baby growing up to be the same, but my husband will eat anything so maybe he should eat what she's eating so she can see him eating it xx

I know what you mean, I'm a pretty adventurous eater but I am overweight and often make unhealthy choices.
I'm so desperate for DS to be healthier and smarter than me. I've started batch cooking healthy things (often with DHs help) so that we can eat the same things. Often we'll give DS extra veg. E.g. last night we had a risotto. It had veg through it, DS loves asparagus so I steamed some for him to have as well as his dinner. It's a really good opportunity for me to start making better choices myself too. He's my inspiration.

Yeah I know what you mean I'm desperate to make good choices for my baby now so she grows up and has a good healthy balanced diet with treats now and again but is willing to try new things and eat a variety of things but its hard to expect your children to when it's not something you do yourself so I definitely need to be better for her, good idea letting him help you, I will get DD to definitely help me when shes older, probably more likely to eat it if they've helped, give them a sense of achievement plus its a good life skill to have isnt it, I left home not having a clue, have had to learn it all myself so I'm definitely learning from what my parents didn't teach me xx

Another vote for the Gill Rapley book, it covers everything.

I found just feeding finger shaped foods a bit restrictive so we used spoons and forks quite early on, but pre-loaded rather than expecting a 6 month old to scoop. So I’d load a spoon with thick porridge and leave it in front of baby. He worked out very quickly which end to grab and which to put in his month. He loved pre loads forks too, I used rounded plastic ones. You can mix sloppy foods (like baked beans) with thicker foods like mash to make then easier to eat too.

Just to add though, BLW doesn’t guarantee good eating habits! DS are everything from 6-12 months. After 12 months he slowly cut things out until, by 18 months, his diet was stupidly restricted. I tried being tough as in “that’s for dinner, no alternatives” but he really would just refuse to eat. So then we just let him eat what he wanted for a few months, then slowly started to add new things back in. He’s now 2.5 yrs and getting a lot better. He’s even started eaten veg again! He’ll eat broccoli, cauliflower, pea and sweetcorn. We’re now working on carrots 😆

I’m a massive massive fan of BLW - I did it with DS2 and he has such a great relationship with food. We had roasted root veg with almost every meal for weeks but we pretty much just gave him what we were having. Big bits that they can grab/suck/gnaw are really good. Be warned: it takes forever for them to actually start eating decent amounts, but that’s not what it’s about, it’s about having fun and playing with food

@FizzingWhizzbee123 oh no absolutely! The main reason we're doing BLW is because when we tried to spoon feed DS he would take the spoon right from us, he's just too independent. All I can do is hope and pray that he's not too picky as he gets older.