BLW - how do babies eat soft foods?!

[HollyFP]

I'm just starting my nearly 6 mo DD on proper food for the first time. We've tried banana a few times this week and today I tried avocado, but she finds both of these really difficult to handle as they're so squishy - they just slip out of her hand. She then gets very frustrated, she obviously wants to eat it!

What do people do to help them eat foods like this?

Maybe she needs something firmer ie strips of carrot?
Or maybe you could give her softer foods like banana from a spoon until she's more confident?

I used to mush some of them up and feed her off a baby spoon so that her hunger would be assuaged and then let her "play" with the rest of it and leave her the spoon too if she wanted. Children will build up skills in good time. Best not to get stressed and just take it slowly.

I have mashed avocado and banana and ds has eaten them off a spoon - they're quite good at sticking to the spoon so he can get it into his mouth before it slides off! Obviously I load the spoon for him.

I've also seen recommended you half peel the banana and trim the skin, so there's a handhold for them.

I've also found roast parsnips and carrots, and broccoli have been the easiest for him to handle so far (just started this week).

I used to mash banana and avacado straight onto the highchair tray, she got great big sloppy handfuls into her mouth no problem.

Yesterday I spread mashed banana onto strips of toast so DS got 2 in 1!

i have found the same nd have spoonfed them both so far. today i spread mashed avocado on a rice cake and that worked well.

In the early days I put mushed banana on rice cakes or toast. They get the hang of holding the banana within a couple of months, though.

Thanks for suggestions, banana on toast sounds good. So 6 month babies can have wheat etc then I'm guessing? Will try the loaded spoon idea too.

If there are no allergy concerns, yes. If you have a reason to avoid gluten then you can try the rice cake option.

Thanks Prof, no allergies so will go for toast :)

if there is a gluten allergy in the family babies can and should be introduced to wheat based foods from 6 months. Check the coeliac society webpage for more on this (on ph so cant link to it myself) they recommend introducing wheat bwn 6 and 7 months and looking for signs of a reaction. Ds' GM has coeliac disease so we followed this advice

oh that's interesting, there is some coeliac disease in my family so was wondering about when to introduce gluten (DS is actually only 25 weeks , we've only started weaning in the last week or so but he's taken to it like a duck to water)

Woodlands my DD is same age...I'm not trying too hard with BLW yet, more sort of seeing her reaction to stuff each day. So far we've only given her banana, courgette and avocado. FUnnily enough she seems to be bf more in the last few days...maybe the new food has in fact increased her appetite?

I think they are getting used to the different feelings in their tummies, maybe! We have had a couple of terrible nights, up every 2 hours. oh please let it get easier soon...

There was a paper on weaning from the British Dietetic Association linked to on another thread that suggested gluten should be introduced between 4 and 7 months alongside breastfeeding to reduce the risk of intolerance.

Moon even though the WHO and UK guidelines state exclusive bf for the first 6 months? How does that work then?

There's not exactly a consensus on weaning - the WHO/DoH have taken one view on it but that's not to say there are no conflicting opinions!

There's a big study going on at the moment (EAT study) looking into whether introducing solids before 6 months actually reduces allergies.

WHO guidelines are probably y the coeliac society say 6-7m. Im sure they also say since the doh guidelies changed in the last few yrs coeliac rates have fallen.

When the guidelines were 4-6 months, I expect lots more people weaned before 4 months - and there are definitely risks to weaning that early, from digestive issues to respiratory problems. At least now the guideline is 26 weeks more people wait til at least 17 weeks.

i struggled with this to start with until i realised that to begin you should not try and give food to your baby when she is hungry, the idea to begin is that she gets used to handeling the food. if she is not hungry she wont get so frustrated when she cant get it in her mouth!