6 mth old today and first day of BLW-anyone want to start BLW journey with me ?

[fakeblondie]

I`ve never done this before even tho dc 4 !
DD1 18yrs
DD2 15 yrs
DS1 7 years
DD3 1/2 !

Totally breastfed to date and very content.
Allowed her to help herself to my plate tonight where i ensured she could reach soft green beans if she wanted to.
She loved it-made a mess-squashed it and mushed and and ALMOST sucked it !
Well thats my experience so far !
Am about a quarter way thro eading the BLW book and very confident that she`s totally fine just breastfeeding for quite a while yet as omly have to look at her to see that nature is working wonders x
Bit scared about the whole lumps bit tho but willing to give it a good go x

Im sure your dd will like curry eventually. A lot do. Saccharin is still rubbish imo

I'm just hoping it doesn't affect BFing too much, it's his bottom tooth t the moment so we should be ok.

Does the book have ideas on salt? I can avoid it when i cook but with eating out or processed food how can i avoid going over the recommend 0.5g daily?

Helen - my DS has 2 lower teeth and is still bfing fine - I've had the occasional wee nip and one sharp grab'n'hold effort but it wasn't was bad as I was expecting [wince]

Hello all. A few days in to weaning ds2 (dc3) here. Did the other 2 blw too, so am just going with the flow and chucking him a few bits of whatever we're having when it occurs to me. He's mostly enjoying playing with it and is eating a little bit.

Noticed some discussion about baked beans lower down. You can make your own, but is quite time consuming, and i can't say that they were that nice when I did it before (with pfb, natch).

That's reassuring applejelly.

DS had banana and toast for lunch, he really enjoyed it, but a fresh set of clothes and a bath were required afterwards...all further meals shall be taken in vests...

mylife - yes, you can freeze home made baked beans.

mylife - we are also dairy free as both dd and ds1 were intolerant, so we have assumed that ds2 is too (I have to give up all dairy myself whilst bf, as even a tiny bit has been enough to affect them). Mini wheat pillows (like tiny shredded wheat but not nestle) are a good size for a blw breakfast, soaked in just enough milk (I use oat milk) to remove the crunch but not go soggy. Oat milk also makes good pancakes, so you could try those if you are ready to introduce egg. Or porridge pancakes, which you can read all about here.

Noticed amiable on this thread, so a big wave and congratulations on dc2. Hopefully you remember me from an/pn 5 years ago! Our pn thread is still going (though more quietly) if you want to pop in and say hello to everyone.

Helen - no reason for teeth to affect bf (except poss an odd nip when they are first coming through). I fed dd til she was 4, by which time she obv had all of her teeth, and I still feed 2 yo ds1 as well as ds2.

Well there isn't much that they aren't 'allowed', but some dc don't react v well to citrus, so if yours is miserable afterwards then give it a miss next time, but otherwise keep going!

Helen ooh a tooth! How old is your dd? No teeth here yet, also hoping the bf will be okay once the teeth start coming through!

We've been out today so haven't got round to giving any food [putting it off emoticon], but have bought some rice cakes, cucumber, avocado and broccoli in preparation. Should toast / weetabix etc wait until the 6 months or have folk given that a bit earlier? Think we are going to try banana / rice cakes tomorrow now.

Will report back tomorrow!

Oops Helen sorry, I obviously meant your ds not dd!

He's just 6 months.

He had toast today and has had a couple of bits of pasta and cheese in the last couple of days, so started a little.

He has been absolutely fine on just veg and fruit up until now though

Think we'll stick to fruit and veg for the first couple weeks then, til she is 6 months, there's plenty to be going on with there. MIL is desperate (for some reason) to start letting dd have 'nibbles of this and nibbles of that' have been putting her off for weeks! She'll be so excited we've finally started!

Am nervous about the gagging but trying to prepare for it, but until it happens (as it almost certainly will from what I've read, and is A Good Thing, no?) then I don't really know how I'll handle it. Sit on hands and count to 10? Assuming it is gagging and not choking, of course.

Square, that's basically how I cope. Until she looks like she's really struggling, I fight myself to not get involved and panic her. Hard sometimes!

Anyone know anything about allergic reactions? What they look like, and where they appear? DD had some chilli for tea, followed by some yoghurt and came out a bit blotchy by her temples. It didn't last long and didn't seem to upset her (until I took the yoghurt away).

Helen, we had the same issue with mushroom - black sleeves. Still hasn't quite washed out, 3 washes later. Also, DD has teeth, and she's bitten a couple of times if she's grinned while feeding. No blood drawn yet , but I do have yelp to get her to let go

Dancing - pull her in to the breast if she bites - it blocks her nose so she opens her mouth and releases you.

Allergic reactions can manifest in all sorts of ways. Hives or blotchy skin most common. A bit of red blotchy skin often isn't anything to worry about. Is very common with tomato btw, so look out for that - prob just because they are quite acidic.
Hives are more raised white bumps, and can be cause for concern, because proper allergic reactions tend to become more severe on later exposures to the same food.
More worrying allergic reactions include swelling. My ds1 had the roof of his mouth swell massively on first exposure to seafood other than prawns. This type of reaction should be discussed with your GP, and the food not offered again, because another exposure could mean swelling of the airways, stopping the child from breathing.

Do you have allergies in the family?

Thanks CantSleep. No allergies that I'm aware of. I used to have a very mild wheat intolerance, but DD hasn't had a reaction to that yet.

Interesting about the tomato. I thought I'd given her some to try, but maybe I hadn't. She just had blotchy skin today, no swelling or white bumps. I'll give her a tiny bit of the ingredients separately over the next few days then to see if the same happens. Won't try her with the spices though, as that can't be pleasant. If she doesn't react, I'll know not to include any of the spices in future. I'll keep a very close eye then.

Hi all,

My little one is six months old and we started with purees just before Christmas but now I'm introducing more finger food.

So far he's had toast, cucumber, cooked carrot sticks, ready brek and rice cakes. Most of it he has only chewed/played with but at least he's getting used to the tastes and textures.

I'm probably going to keep going with one pureed meal a day just as he seems to like it and some definitely goes in (though sadly he much prefers shop-bought to the stuff I've made), but I want to try and keep breakfast and dinner to finger food (or porridge).

I'm struggling a bit with dinner as we eat very late (due to DH coming home late from work), so my DS can't really have what we have, because it'll be prepared separately. At the moment I'm just thinking I'll focus on veg strips and perhaps some pasta.

fortunate - could he have what you have but a day behind? You'd just need to pop a bit aside for him and reheat (if necessary) the next day.

Hi fortunate hamster
I have the same problem with dinner, as dd goes to bed at half 6 and she's usually a bit irritable for the last hour before bed. I don't want to eat my dinner at half past 5 so I just make dinner when she's gone to bed and save a bit in the fridge for her to have the next day at teatime. When she's eating at teatime I sit at the table with her and have a drink or snack on her leftovers!
I'm wondering if I should be doing a bit of spoon feeding too, as not an awful lot is going in yet. But then I need to remember 'it's just for fun before one'! She has turned her nose up at some things like roast potato, parsnip and broccoli so sometimes nothing is eaten at all! Pear is the most reliable thing so far, she just gobbles it down and gags on the skin (cue holding my breath and stopping myself from interfering!)

x posted again. Too slow with the typing, or perhaps just rambling on.

alfonzo - if I hadn't already started with spoon feeding I would probably just stick with BLW now to be honest. But because I've started I feel like he'd miss it if I'd stopped (which I'm sure is silly) so that's why I'm keeping going with a lunchtime puree.

MyLife and CantSleep - I might well see what I can save from leftovers, cheers :)