BLW first foods?

[toastandeggs]

hi DD was 6 months on sat and i have gave her a few puree bits of veg and fruit, but i gave her some apple and a carrot the yest and today and seems to cope reaaly well with it but not sure where to go with it?

when do i give meat and how? isnt it too chewy?

Should i still give puree for breakfast?

What about cheese and pasta? im so confused... i really want to do BLW as pureed with DD1 and dont really wanna go down that route again.

Tried to find a book on it in boots or mothercare but no joy,

thanks in advice :)

There's a book called baby led weaning by gill rapley and somebody murkett. Should be on amazon.

The theory is that you just give them everything. Except honey or whole nuts. And watch the salt content.

I think the really hardcore folk just give their DC whatever they're eating. I'm a bit more of a wuss than that.
My DD loves beef done in a casserole in the slow cooker. Also bits of chicken breast. Normally I grill it in the George foreman. We've also made kind of sausage shapes out of mince when we've been having spag Bol.

It's amazing what their gums can do.

Re breakfast, we have given her reddy Brek on pre loaded spoons, toast with various things on. She also likes fruit loaf and malt loaf. I've bought some weetabix to see what she can do with that.

I think you'll be surprised at how quickly they learn to pick things off the highchair tray. My DD is now picking up smaller bits and learning that she has to open her hand to get to the food. We've only been going for about a month.

I'm still really new to this but more than happy to do my best to answer any questions and give suggestions.

Oh, and there's a website babyledweaning.com which has a chat forum which can be good for questions. I find that a good place if I need my hand held!

thanks for your reply, yes im definatly a wuss so scared of choking-as im sure every1 else is!

was thinking about weetabix, i bought the aptimal porrige so shall use that first the move on to weetabix and toast i think.

Do you just give bits for her to try when your eaing or have set meal time at this stage? was going to just put her in high chair when DD1 (2.10)is having her meals so she gets in the same routine.

what about milk intake? keep it the same until about 7-8 months?

i will definatly buy that book and take a look at the website too :)

DD hasn't ever choked. I think it's quite rare. She did gag a lot at first. I read a tip which said to sit on your hands and count to ten. If you rush to pull them out of their highchair and smack them on the back, that will probably scare them more than the actual gagging itself. I also make exaggerated chewing faces at her when she has a big bit of something in her mouth but that just seems to make her smile!

I tend to give her Dinner at about the same time each evening. But other than that I just offer her a taste of things whenever.

I'm not sure about milk intake. My DD isn't taking in much food yet so I don't think she's reducing her feeds. But she is BF so it's hard to tell. She certainly hasn't dropped any feeds.

I think just keep feeding on demand and they'll give you the message by not taking as much (or maybe refusing a feed?) once the solids are satisfying them more.

that website is brilliant, check it out.

I only have one dc but i made sure he has 2 meals a day plus a snack and now we're moving up to 3 meals on days when thats possible. Milk intake is the same, there's no 'dropping feeds to create an appetite for solids', you wait til theyre taking enough food in and they naturally drop feeds themselves.

I find it difficult to give ds dinner at the same time as me so he has dinner while im in the kitchen doing something or ill have a snack with him so he can see me eating.

I'm mostly doing BLW with my 6 month old and am just giving her bits of what we're having. So far she's gummed away on roast parsnips, green beans, potato wedges, omelette, eggy bread, toast, spaghetti, cucumber, rice cakes. But I do give her some purees in with that too and things like porridge. I basically just take a component of what we're having and give her that. She's not taking much in at the moment so I'm not worried about her having a 'balanced meal' of carbs/protein etc just aiming to give her a taste of lots of different things.

Oh and I just pop her in her high chair when we're eating at lunch and dinner. She's in the kitchen with us anyway so she might as well have a munch on something!

I've also just started BLW with my 6mo. I was also terrified of choking but he seems to be managing fine.

Good starter foods are finger shaped and easy to pick up.
Try roasted parsnips/butternut.
Bananas, slices of pear, avocado(maybe try leaving half the skin on so as not to be too slippery)
Pieces of toast (DS is now an absolute toast monster)
Broccoli is also a good one.

I want to try cheese and pasta too but so far have only done the fingers. I'm not sure how easily he'll manage. I guess I'm about to find out.

I also recommend the babyledweaning.com forums they're fantastic.

I'm still giving DS baby porridge for breakfast by spoon. BLW isn't against purees/spoons as such, just letting the child lead the way on it.
Some people may think spoon feeding doesn't count as BLW but if DS gets furious because I don't load the spoon up fast enough and then lunges for it, then I think it counts

thanks very much for all your replies, im a little bit more confident about it all now!

ordered the book and looked on the website and i think im getting to grips with it

DD had a rice cake today (coped really well) and a banana which she got fustrated with because she found it too slippy!

Toast and parsnips here we come...

Toastandeggs I like you am terrified of choking.
Could I ask about meat, how do you serve it?
Mince sausages- do they stay together when cooked?
Bananas- im not sure how to cut them( I know, I know I'm ridiculous!)Would banana sticks be better or are just round bits fine?

Meat - my DD can manage beef or lamb slow cooked in a casserole so it's nice and falling aparty. She used to be keen on meatballs but now seems to have gone off them a bit.

She loves loves loves chicken livers, just fry them in a bit of butter and oil - they go all nice and soft, really easy to gum. And they're iron-tastic too, but I don't think they're supposed to have them too often as they contain a lot of vitamin A (same reason you can't have liver when you're pregnant).

Bananas - to start with I used to mash them onto the high chair tray with a fork, she found big lumps too slippery but could pick up big gloopy handfuls of it when it was mashed.

Hope that helps!!

Can I ask - what do you put with your meat in the slow cooker? I've always used stock cubes with water, but obviously they're too salty. I've noticed Heinz do baby stock cubes but haven't actually looked at the ingredients yet - are they any good?

My favourite recipe is cubes of lamb, onion, beans, and loads of kale - so much water comes out of the kale that you don't really need to add any unless it's looking dry.

Or just loads of root veg and water - that's what stock is anyway!

Or if you ever have a roast chicken, it's really not that difficult to make your own stock... just collect up all the bones, and simmer with a halved onion, a few sticks of carrot and celery, a bay leaf and some peppercorns for a couple of hours. Salt free and you can freeze in ice cube trays or takeaway boxes.

Or I think Kallo do a low sodium version but I haven't tried them so don't know if they're any good.

HTH!

Re banana, I cut them in half, skin on, then peel down from the cut end an inch or so and trim the peel to make a banana lolly. She does try to eat the skin end sometimes but mostly it works really well