Just started BLW - feeling impatient!

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Hi all,

DD was 6 months old a couple of weeks ago, so I have since been offering her little bits of whatever I am having (as long as appropriate) for her to play with. Baton shaped fruit, veg, meat and carbs. I know she has put things in her mouth and sometimes sucked or chewed on them, but I do not think she has ever swallowed anything.

I keep thinking "food is fun until one" but she seems to have a very short attention span for playing with food, and I end up throwing away everything I offer her after she has looked at it, maybe poked herself in the eye with it, and then dramatically dropped it off the edge of the table. Give her Sophie the Giraffe, and she will chew all afternoon!

Can someone just reassure me that this is fine and I do not need to worry - she will get the hang of what it is and what to do with it soon (or at least, eventually) she is still VERY keen on her breast feeds (especially in the night, obviously )

This sounds like what I found. I'm a huge fan of BLW, but this is the bit I found the hardest - the fact that so much of the food ends up in the bin to begin with. DS didn't really start eating real meals until he was about 11 months and he didn't consistently eat bits of food until he was 9 or 10 months. For a good few months early on he existed only on a diet of petits filous, toast and fruit (and milk)!

Patience and patience are the key

(And possibly just giving him some food from your plate rather than doing his own plate)

very normal. Just offer tiny amounts but plenty of variety.

Mine have always loved soft fruits - peel a pear and watch them go for it (bit slippy so need help holding it) and small slices of melon - keep some skin on to help them hold it.

Enjoy it it is wonderful!

My dd is 15mths now and insists on cutlery - can prod food with her own fork now and eats really well.

DS is 7 months-odd and I can absolutely empathise with you. He's not dropped a milk feed yet (though has a cold atm so that may explain some of his boob-hound activities), but in the last week he's really increased how much food goes in (and stays in) when he eats. When we're eating softer stuff we pre-load spoons for him (things like bolognese are a huge hit) - and he'll shovel in porridge and meaty sauces like no-one's business. He loves other finger food (specially eating broccoli heads) but a lot does get gummed and end up on floor/in dog.
I sometimes put apples slices in the microwave for 30 seconds, then let them cool (without him seeing them!) and THEN hand them over. Just that tiny amount of pre-softening seems to make it much more possible for him to eat most of it.

He's eating a LOT more now than he was at the end of Jan, so that's reassuring.