If you decided not to do Baby Led Weaning...

[PlaytimePolly]

Looking for advice from anyone who started with purée. My DS is 6.5 months and we have been weaning for 3 weeks as per the NHS guidance. Unlike the recommendation to start with BLW I have gone with puréed veg and then moved onto puréed or mashed fruit and veg, natural yoghurt, scrambled egg... so far. I found that when the moment arrived I couldn't get my head round BLW or finger foods and felt too nervous. (I'm not a nervous mum generally so I surprised myself).

Yesterday I tried him with a small bit of finger food (sliced avocado and soft pear sticks) but he struggled to do anything much other than mush them in his hands and down the chair, and when he did eat a bit he started choking, which was scary. When we use a spoon he eats well and is able to hold the spoon and feed himself.

For anyone who started with purée and not BLW, how on earth do you progress from here? (Ie now that he's confident eating all kinds of purée and mash). He has now tried a vast array of veg and a bit of dairy. What next? I have the River Cottage book and another 'mummy cooks' book but they just have normal recipes in them like frittata, muffins, pancakes, pasta, pizza etc. I know how to cook so I don't really need recipes. I just need advice on what to start introducing now in order to move him into normal food.

Blended meals like spag bol but gradually make it lumpier / textured (little pieces of spaghetti etc).

Really really wish I'd done BLW, both my DDs have issues with texture and are extremely fussy, everyone I know who did BLW doesn't have those issues. Plus it saves on hours of steaming, pureeing and freezing.

Why not try one of the Annabel Karmel books, like the complete baby and toddler meal planner. It has recommendations for what order to introduce which types of food, and a lot of recipe ideas that you can purée and then gradually start leaving lumps and chunks in.

Are you sure your baby choked by the way? There's a big difference between choking and gagging, and gagging is actually a really useful and normal thing to happen while they learn to eat. 

This is good to remember for future reference

The grabbing and mashing is normal. It's what happens in BLW at first too. I'd make your purées gradually lumpier but give steamed veg or fruit for baby to play with.

But...

I have 2 children

DS3.5 puréed food - SUCH A FUSS POT! Really funny about texture and colour.... limited diet and has massive tantrums if we try to force the issue.

DD 2.5 BLW - will eat most things and try anything at least once...

Was he actually choking, as in blue and silent or was it gagging as in noisy coughing and spluttering and looking a bit red, which can look really scary but is actually an important part of learning how to deal with more solid food.
All you can do is just keep on offering safe finger foods, no nuts, grapes etc and let him figure it out himself. Also, it's a good idea to do some first aid training so you know immediately what to do if they do choke. St.John ambulance have some good videos on their website.

Cross posted with addler!

@Catnuzzle

Really really wish I'd done BLW, both my DDs have issues with texture and are extremely fussy, everyone I know who did BLW doesn't have those issues. Plus it saves on hours of steaming, pureeing and freezing.

Sorry, same here too. My eldest wasn't BLW, I was a massive bag of nerves about him choking - I weekly read over the NHS guidelines for how to stop a baby from choking (I do actually recommend to keep it fresh in your mind but not weekly!) It took him years to accept eating 'tough' meats like bacon and beef fillet because he didn't like the texture. It could just be fussiness but I BLW my other DC and non were like that.

Seconding exactly what @addler and @EmmaJR1 have said - try not to worry about the gagging too much, it’s just them learning how to handle their food with their mouth and also where their gag reflex actually kicks in! And I have had an identical experience - DD1 is fussy as anything, DD2 eats everything without a second thought.

I’d try again with the finger foods, no need to push it too hard but they do need to get used to it eventually, so you may as well start! I found melon sticks, pasta shapes, toast fingers —and pizza— a good place to start.

Don't worry about how to move on, it's not like he'll still be eating purée age 18!
I live in France and I did a mixture of finger foods and purée. The French only do purée though and carry on for a long time. The kids here are generally not fussy, much less
Fussy than most of the British kids I know.
So anyway you can just continue with the purée if you're More comfortable with that and introduce finger food as and when

Oh that was meant to be a strikethrough 😬 no idea why it hasn’t worked, sorry.

I would just like to say both of mine were BLW and they are both mega fussy. Once they hit the toddler stage they both started refusing all veg and anything with sauce. So its not a fail safe method! Do what makes you comfortable- slowly blend the purees a little less so there are a few soft lumps and go from there

more anecdotal evidence here... dc1 was puree fed as this was before blw was a thing... a bit fussy but of no concern. dc 2 and 3 are twins and we did the blw thing... twin 1 is a fab eater, tries and eats literally anything... just fab. Twin 2 is literally the fussiest eater EVER .. hates texture etc , really picky. I say just feed your kid however you're comfortable, I'm not sure it affects them massively in the long run.

I’ve got an 8 month old and I’m doing a mix of purées and BLW.

For example, for breakfast she fed herself bits of boiled egg and sausage.

Lunch was a puréed chicken casserole.

For tea she’ll feed herself some toast with hummus or something like that.

I try to ensure at least one meal a day is something she feeds herself but she needs a filling puréed meal as she’s very big for her age and needs lots of food to keep her full on top of all the milk she is also having.

@Catnuzzle

Really really wish I'd done BLW, both my DDs have issues with texture and are extremely fussy, everyone I know who did BLW doesn't have those issues. Plus it saves on hours of steaming, pureeing and freezing.

Ironically my completely BLW - literally food off our plates - DD hates anything with a smooth texture. No sauces, mash, custard, cream even 12+ years on. It’s like she can’t stand anything without texture. She loves lots of flavours though.

@Koolandorthegang

I’ve got an 8 month old and I’m doing a mix of purées and BLW.

For example, for breakfast she fed herself bits of boiled egg and sausage.

Lunch was a puréed chicken casserole.

For tea she’ll feed herself some toast with hummus or something like that.

I try to ensure at least one meal a day is something she feeds herself but she needs a filling puréed meal as she’s very big for her age and needs lots of food to keep her full on top of all the milk she is also having.

The reverse is actually true. Milk is far more calorie dense than food.

Catnuzzle if I can make you feel any better I did BLW and my child can't deal with any sauce and also has big texture issues! I often say to my friends that I'd wished I'd done the traditional weaning methods.

We have done a mixture. Ds still has no teeth at almost 9 months, and was breastfeeding literally every hour, so I needed some food to actually go in him

We generally did a purée which we fed first, then gave him finger food whilst we ate. Gradually have added texture.

Tonight as example he has:
Blitzed broccoli and courgette, with mashed potatoe and flaked fish. At 6 months I would have puréed the fish also and added more formula. Then he will have whole pieces of broccoli and courgette after as finger food.

Breakfast I always do porridge and purée fruit. Then he gets half a banana to eat as finger food

Spaghetti Bolognese used to be puréed, but now I purée the sauce part a bit as he just spits out mince lumps otherwise, then add small pasta shells and he eats most with his hands or off a fork.

Basically, offer what you do, but just a bit more texture overtime.

You need to do things even softer. Like roast sweet potato sticks. Or aubergine. Was baby actually choking as in blue and floppy, or gagging? Gagging is nerve wracking. Blue and floppy is heart stopping.

@DicklessWonder - milk is more calorific, but I couldn’t cope with 6/7 month old wanted to be fed literally every hour 24/7. Since he’s on solids it’s more like every 3 hrs 24/7 which is slightly more manageable. Obviously I tried to give things like Greek yogurt more than just purée veg

I agree with PPs about the mushing being fine and absolutely natural. They want to explore and it's all new to them. We did a mix of both BLW and purées.

We tried cauliflower, broccoli and other veg initially to avoid LO developing a sweet tooth. It wasn't pretty messy and they didn't like the fruit we tried either but it just took time. We also tried Ella's kitchen snacks like melty puffs and melty sticks which pretty much are like giant Wotsits. They give babies a chance to practice grabbing and feeding themselves while avoiding the worry of choking.

My way isn't full proof as my LO didn't like fruit, solid or puréed and they only ate very small amounts at first but they did enjoy the range of food. We tried boiled eggs, pasta and veg and they enjoyed playing and tasting. You don't have to choose one way or another. Quite a few mums I know did a bit of both and my LO now likes a bit of both.

6.5 months is still very young in the weaning journey. All their main nutrition is still from milk at this age, so you aren't feeding them solids to fill them up, you're offering them food to teach them what food is and how to eat it. BLW is messy and most babies will spend a good few weeks licking, crushing and dropping the food. They are understanding what is sweet, what is sour, what is hard and what is soft etc. Don't worry at all if they don't eat anything, the milk is taking care of that. After a few weeks they will start swallowing (and gagging which is normal), but up until then don't put any pressure on and let them explore.

I'm too much of a scaredy-cat for BLW too.

I think as long as you move through the textures it's fine. I know a couple of BLW kids who are just as fussy as the rest of their pals.

Plus, none of us were BLW in the 70s/80s/90s and most of us are eating proper food by now!

DS had a mix of purée & BLW. There are advantages to both so I didn’t see a problem mixing it up. He eats pretty much everything but I can’t say that it was down to our weaning methods.

I started with puree with both of mine then added strips of cooked veg like parsnip, carrot, broccoli for them to eat along side or when we were eating, then added toast and slowly progressed.

They soon get the hang of it though so wouldn’t worry too much.