mocat- do you really want a microwave for a stage that'll only last a few months? We happily have one (well, we don't stand next to it when its on, but can live with it)but if you're not happy, that'll be hard for you. Could you put DS's food in a bag or sealed box and put in pan of boiling water for a minute or two? I do the reverse (bag of food in cold water) when its too hot.
BL21- the bit that has got me doing BLW is the NOT making anything special for J at all! I remember the frustration of K not eating her special mushes.....But J literally gets the food off my plate. Well, this week she's graduated to a bowl of her own so I can see how much actually seems to dissapear, but its the same food (and means if I want salt on my food I don't feel as guilty). J eats things I don't expect- spicy sauces (chinese, chilli, harissa, chilli flakes so far)!! Its stuff I make myself so there isn't neccarily salt (or soy sauce) in but there sure are a lot of spices...and the 'spicy' nappies are no worse than the non-spicy days! SHe's happy,so I'm not worrying- after all, the aim is to get them eating what you normally eat (ok, for us a bit healthier than we eat!). With K I spent hours making and freezing purees, so I'm finding this much easier. We've already cut out salt in our food for K anyway, so its not a big change for us with J eating it.Hmm, I seem to be rabbiting on about this, sorry. Its taken me a little while to get comfortable with the whole thing (and throw out the baby rice!) but seeing J making such a mess and having fun has (OMG) become fun for me (and I hate trying to get bits of broccoli out of the carpet!).
So glad the drs aren't worried about you're LO, that must be a relief for you, though all that crying must have been stressful for you.
Oh, one last thing about BLW is seeing the difference between gagging and choking. here's something Gill Rapley has said :
3. Won?t he choke?
Many parents worry about babies choking. However, there is good reason to believe that
babies are at less risk of choking if they are in control of what goes into their mouth than if they are spoon fed. This is because babies are not capable of intentionally moving food to the back of their throats until after they have learnt to chew. And they do not develop the ability to chew until after they have developed the ability to reach out and grab things. Thus, a very young baby cannot easily put himself at risk because he cannot get the food into his mouth in the first place. On the other hand, the action used to suck food off a spoon tends to take the food straight to the back of the mouth, causing gagging. This means that spoon feeding has its own potential to lead to choking ? and makes the giving of lumpy foods with a spoon especially dangerous.
It appears that a baby?s general development keeps pace with the development of his ability to manage food in his mouth, and to digest it. A baby who is struggling to get food into his mouth is probably not quite ready to eat it. It is important to resist the temptation to ?help? the baby in these circumstances since his own developmental abilities are what ensure that weaning takes place at the right pace for him. This process is also what keeps him safe from choking on small pieces of food, since, if he is not yet able to pick up small objects using his finger and thumb, he will not be able to get, for example, a pea or a raisin into his mouth. Once he is able to do this, he will have developed the necessary oral skills to deal with it. Putting foods into a baby?s mouth for him overrides this natural protection and increases the risk of choking.
Tipping a baby backwards or lying him down to feed him solid foods is dangerous. A baby who is handling food should always be supported in an upright position. In this way, food which he is not yet able to swallow, or does not wish to swallow, will fall forward out of his mouth, not backwards into his throat.
Adopting a baby-led approach doesn?t mean abandoning all the common sense rules of safety. While it is very unlikely that a young baby would succeed in picking up a peanut, for example, accidents can and will happen on rare occasions ? however the baby is fed. Rules of safety which apply in other play situations should therefore be adhered to when eating is in progress.
And here's another bit:
General principles of good nutrition for children apply equally to young babies who are
weaning themselves. Thus, ?fast foods? and foods with added sugar and salt should be
avoided. However, once a baby is over six months old there is no need (unless there is a family history of allergy or a known or suspected digestive disorder) to otherwise restrict the foods that the baby can be offered. Fruit and vegetables are ideal, with harder foods cooked lightly so that they are soft enough to be chewed. At first, meat is best offered as a large piece, to be explored and sucked; once the baby can manage to pick up and release fistfuls of food, minced meat works well. (Note: Babies do not need teeth to bite and chew ? gums do very well!)
There is no need to cut food into mouth-sized pieces. Indeed, this will make it difficult for a young baby to handle. A good guide to the size and shape needed is the size of the baby?s fist, with one important extra factor to bear in mind: Young babies cannot open their fist on purpose to release things. This means that they do best with food that is chip-shaped or has a built-in ?handle? (like the stalk of a piece of broccoli). They can then chew the bit that is sticking out of their fist and drop the rest later ? usually while reaching for the next interestinglooking piece. As their skills improve, so less food will be dropped.
if you want to read the full blurb (and aren't completely bored!) its here