Comradeship and advice!

[pastrycake]

Hallo, I'm completely new on here, and looking for people to share with about BLW. No-one I know has done this, when I talk about weaning, other people's babies always seem to have "loved it" from the start with purees. Can this really be true? Anyway, we're trying with BLW after few weeks of DS showing how much he hates having a spoon shoved in his mouth, and he's definitely so much more interested with BLW.
Loads of questions though.....I'm awaiting the arrival of the Gill Rapley book, but in the meantime -
what do you do when little one has a lump of eg bread. Do you really just let them gag (OMG, SO hard to watch already) or do you stick a finger in and push it out (did this today, and sadly he sicked up a bit of his milk feed, leaving me feeling very guilty

what would you suggest for breakfast

how do you give bread then it doesn't go into huge lumps in his mouth. Thought of bagels, do they work

good sites to look on

Looking forward to sharing with you all, the boards I've looked through so far show loads of support, just what I need if I'm to keep on with what right now seems very scary!!

Yay! Another BLW-er! I'll try to answer your questions:

Lumps - tricky one I know. Generally I find that if I just leave DD to it then she works the lump around with her tongue, sometimes coughs a bit, and it comes sliding out. I have occasionally hooked something out with my little finger, but tbh I think on those occasions she would have coped anyway. In fact, sometimes you can push it further back while trying to get it out so now I just leave it.

Bread can be tricky though as it can go into a big lump when its been chewed a bit - have you tried toast instead? We get the medium presliced loaves, she has them lightly toasted then with loads of butter or cream cheese, cut into fingers and seems to manage ok with these. I have heard bagels recommended but haven't actually tried them yet myself.

Breakfast - anything you like really! Babies don't have any preconceived notion of what should be on their breakfast tray, so leftover whatever-you-had-for-dinner-the-night-before is a quick one - I find the trick is to serve some straight into a bowl to go into the fridge so I don't "accidentally" eat it all. Otherwise, we do shredded wheat bitesize or oatibix soaked in milk (don't get the bitesize oatibix though, they are coated in sugar for some reason, but the full size ones are ok), or porridge pancakes, "recipe" here plus any fruit that happens to be lying around (steamed a bit if hard).

There is a fab forum here with lots of helpful people with lots more experience than me. And a good thread here although it might take you a while to read through it all!

Sorry for mega long post, have fun and good luck.

Thanks v much.

Do you give those cereals even in the very early days? DS is just 6 1/2 months so I'm not sure whether should wait for some things until he's bit older.
Bread - yes it was toasted, I think maybe slices too thin. Will keep experimenting.
Ta too for the links, will have a read.

DD had those cereals from the beginning.... what is it that you are concerned about? Just check the ingredients to make sure whatever you choose doesn't have loads of sugar or salt as most do.

But it's up to you of course, whatever you're comfortable with.

Concern as ever around gagging on bits, but will have a look at these cereals and maybe have a go. I can see that with soaking they could be ideal thinking about it....
Did toasted bagels today, they were really good with butter/banana spread on them.

Still early days so afraid still have to get used to relaxing a bit about it!
Finding that various pates we make are fantastic for him with his bits of vege and bread "spoons". All an adventure!!

Welcome to the great world of BLW!

Have a look at the BLW Forum, tis great: www.babyledweaning.com/forum/

Hi Pastrycake. Good luck with BLW. We did it and loved it and I have a fairly non-fussy 2 year old who has been known to eat all his veg and turn down pudding (but don't hold out for that - he loves chocolate and crisps too!). But please don't stick a finger in their mouth if they gag. Try and go on a paediatric first aid course or get a book that teaches you the difference between gagging and choking - and how to deal with the latter. Good luck and happy messy eating

Hello - I did BLW and spent most of the next six months on here asking if I was doing it right (I only knew one other person whose baby did it very differently!).

My DS took a long time to eat bread, but he did like any bread products toasted (bagels were a favourite!) and often had these for breakfast. Once he had developed a pincer grip (finger and thumb) he loved shreddies or cheerios in just a little milk (although these are quite sweet) and even now he often has a mini-breakfast snack pot of dry cereal and raisins before nursery.

The most important thing for BLW, I think, is to relax and try not to worry about how much, what and when they're eating. But that is much easier said than done! Enjoy.

Thanks very much to everyone for supportive comments, I'm going to join that BLW forum, and the other very long thread on here too, have read about 1/6 of it so far!
What paediatric first aid course did you do Tondelayoooh ? ie who was it through?