BLW Banter Thread

[TheCornishPickle]

I've started a couple of threads lately about our first ventures into BLW with Little Pickle and have had some great reassurance and support on here, often from people in the same position. I've also been lurking for ages reading others' similar threads and was wondering if folk fancied a thread where we can have an ongoing natter about how we're getting on? I felt like I was just coming back again and again with relentless questions all about our situation and I'm sure we could be of support with slightly different issues.

So where I'm at is that I've fallen into the trap of offering fruit and veg in one of those feeding net thingies - yak - but ds seems to love it and sucks away like mad until it's all gone then cries! Problem is that the two times I've offered banana straight into his hand and a tiny bit has gone in his mouth he's retched until it's come back out (the second time followed by a load of sick which I instinctively put my hand out and caught!) Where do we go from here? He's just in the habit of sucking the food through the net and therefore 'drinking' it - how do we move onto chewing and swallowing?

MrsWifty my DS (nearly 9 months old now) sometimes refuses meals, I actually posted on here worrying about it! When he refuses food I offer something else, just to double check it's not because he doesnt like it, if he still doesn't want it I take it away and put him down to play or something. If I think he's still hungry I offer milk ( he's formula fed now) then start afresh the next day.

I've noticed with my DS that when he's had enough he will look around (anywhere but at the food) pick up food and drop it on the floor....if don't get him down quick enough then he bursts into tears.

MrsWifty totally agree about breakfast, that's our favourite meal!

I made loads of purees to begin with but found that they work really well spread on toast, rice cakes or fruity ones mixed in yogurt or porrige/weetabix.

DD (7mo) won't really eat if she's tired so I do tea about 5. Could be worth trying a bit earlier and seeing if he's more up for it?

Mimmee and ...boobs - thanks for suggestions! Will try an earlier dinner - as he's a terrible sleeper, was worried it would make him worse, but not eating anything hasn't seemed to make a difference, so nor should an earlier dinner I hope :)

How's everyone getting on?

MrsWifty did you try earlier - any difference at all?

Did chickpea patties for lunch which seemed to go down well along with sticks of mango and a carrot muffin! Very random but she seemed to like it.

I'm going to try the chickpea patties tomorrow, Mimmee - glad to hear they went down well with you.

My LO seems to eat much more when we're out and about. She pretty much refused omelette for lunch yesterday then ploughed through bread, cucumber, grapes and apple about an hour later when I was out for lunch. And today, also in a cafe, she ate pretty much half an avocado, bread, some banana and more grapes. Don't know if I'm more chilled when we're out, rather than staring at her willing her to eat when we're at home but...

Also gonna try a stew with big chunks in the next couple of days. Interested to see how that goes down.

Hey, glad to hear the babies are eating well! My DS liked the chickpea patties, they are soft and easy to eat, I used fresh coriander instead of parsley.

DS had croquettes today, instead of using tuna, I used kidney beans and sweetcorn as that's all I had...he wasn't really fused about them but his dad enjoyed them :)

Dinner we had baked potatoes with loads of chunky veg (peppers, celery, onions) in a tomoto sauce which he liked.

I'd definately recommend the Spanish apple cake, it really was nice...we just polished the last bit off with some custard -yum!

Hello can I join in too?

Ds is 23 weeks and we were trying to hold out till 26 but he had other ideas. He's been swiping food off plates for the last week or so, (we always sit at the table together for meals) but yesterday he was screaming at his big brother because he had toast and he couldn't reach it!
So I figured he was ready, he's sitting up fine, hand eye co-ordination is good and everything goes straight in the mouth!

So tonight I roasted him a little sweet potatoe and he had some avocado from my salad. Not sure if much got swallowed but he certainly enjoyed mushing the sweet potatoe, the avacado was a bit too skippy and just ended up on the floor although he did have a good gum at a crust of tiger bread.

Was wondering about fruit, do you steam/ micro your apples to soften up slightly?

Was all good fun although I do think my dustpan and brush are going to become my most used kitchen utensil!

Hi clarabella18 sounds like you had a good start! Avocado's a bugger for being slippery isn't it? I've started mashing it a putting on toast/rice cakes.

I tend to microwave pears and apples to soften them a bit. I've found coring apples and cutting into rings work well. Softer fruits like ripe nectarines you can just quarter/halve.

Raspberries are DD's current favourites, she loves squishing them. Just working on getting the stains out now

Hi clarabella. Have you got a crinkle cutter? I got one from amazon for just over £2, and it helps to make slippery food more grappable. I microwave apples but not pears as the conference ones I get are very soft already.

On the food adventure front, I find out DD definitely doesn't like chillies. She cried when I gave her aubergine that's been cooked in tomato sauce with chilies in it. I skipped the chilies the next day and she's fine. Will need to get her used to chilies somehow as we used it a lot in our cooking . Also DD is sick today and was off food the first time since weaning 4 weeks ago. She didn't touch her tomato and cauliflower for dinner. Instead just sit quietly watching us. This is so unlike her since she always give everything we give her a go. Hopefully she will get well soon.

Mimmee - earlier seems to be working better, although I think last night's enthusiasm was down to the excitement of eating out! In a high chair! While mum and dad were eating too! Or maybe it was all the zombies milling round, who knows? But yes spaceal, DS always seems to like eating when out too. I think it's mainly feeling like he's one of the grown ups.

I, on the other hand, am now starving. 5.30pm is a ridiculous time to be eating dinner.

Today's mission - buying a crinkle cutter.

Just out of curiosity, which high chairs are people using? I got the Cossato Noodle, and after being initially annoyed I didn't go for the smart Ikea choice (while secretly lusting after the Tripp Trapp), I am now loving its super-wide removable tray. The straps are a bit shit though - the shoulder bits keep snapping off.

lilham Hope your DD is feeling better today.

DD is using her Bebepod sat in the middle of the kitchen table or a Cosatto Polly high chair. I bought the high chair when suffering from PFB ness with DS and wanted a nice soft chair he wouldn't bump his head on . The tray is a bit too high for DD yet. It's also a right bugger to clean. DS was moved to a plastic booster seat at the table asap.

I've got the cheap Ikea one - it seems to do the job just fine and is v easy to clean. Think it also helps when we're out and about as so many places have them that DD feels at home (though that doesn't explain why she eats better when we're out than at home!!).

We were going to fork out PFB-style for a lovely wooden one and bought the Ikea in the interim, but now think we've come to our senses and are just to stick with this one.

Chickpea patties went down v well yesterday (and at home!) though I wondered if they'd be nicer baked than fried. We also made some meatballs which will be today's lunch.

Breakfast this morning was a bit of a non-event - porridge fingers largely ignored. I don't know whether it's because she's feeding at night, but my DD never really seems hungry in the mornings, for solids or BM.

Hi all.

We have a Chicco (polly I think) highchair that my DF bought us, which was extremely generous of him but it's an absolutely bugger to clean and is enormous! Loads of padding and nooks and crannies that food gets into. But it does have a fantastic wide removal tray and does seem very comfortable.

My DM bought a cheap argos basic highchair which is great and just wipes down clean, but live and learn!

Made banana muffins yesterday which DD seemed to enjoy and have gone down well for breakfast. DP pronounced them the best thing I've ever made (Although I've only been cooking for about 6 weeks so taking that with a pinch of salt ) and has taken some to work today.

spaceal I baked the chickpea patties too and thought they were nicer.

Hi all. DD back to her food yesterday. Bug lack of sleep for a few days has turned me into a zombie. All I can think of now is when DD will sleep so I can have s nap. Its nearly 1130 and I don't even want to think what I will have for lunch. How did we survive the newborn months? I really can't remember if I was feeling this tired everyday!

Glad to here everyone is doing well.

I have a ikea antilop and it's fantastic. I was also dreaming about a Tripp trapp but I don't think I want one now. The ikea is so cheap I'm not worrying about tomato sauce stains on the high chair tray. It's brilliant.

lilham sorry to hear your DD has been ill but glad to hear she back to normal now. I hope you get a nap. My DD's sleep is no better than a newborns. I love a morning nap (2 hours this morning as she was up at half 5)

Chickpea patties sound nice, although banana muffins sound nicer! I think I'll give them both a go soon. My DD seems to prefer "wet" food though - fruit, veges, yoghurt, meat, things covered in sauce whereas "dry" stuff like bread and rice cakes get left.

spaceal How old is your DD? I don't do breakfast for preciously that reason, no interest. Now my DD is coming up to 7 mo I guess I should try again.

DD doesn't seem to be eating any more at the moment but her poos have just started to change. They are thicker, stinkier and more disgusting. This is a sick face, not a jealous face!

Bad news for us - we have to move into my IL's as the house we are buying isn't ready but we want to go ahead with the sale of our flat. I wonder what they'll make of BLW?!

Another antilop fan here too.

Well I'm
Not sure exactly how much is getting swallowed but he's certainly getting stuck in!

So far we have tried roast sweet potatoe, pear, toast, rice cakes, yogurt and banana purée and avocado. I think he's liked pretty much everything so far.

Loving the sound of the muffins and the patties, are these recipes from the gill rapleys book? I'm still waiting on my copy.

haloflo oh yes the stinky poos. I really don't think DD is eating much at all. But she has certainly turn into a poo machine. I have changed 3 dirty nappies already today. All of them stinky.

We love our antilop highchair for BLW, it's perfect!

Just a quick question, I'm BLW my nearly 7mo, and have tried a wide variety of recipes, mainly veggie as I don't eat meat. I found a recipe for new potato gnocchi in the new Hugh F-W veg book but wondered, can I give him goats cheese? I've avoided giving him soft cheese, apart from Philadephia type cheese up until now, am I being over cautious? Thank you.

fiorentina I have looked into the exact same thing! I checked in the NHS birth to 5 and it didn't say anything about soft and blue cheese. I assume means it's ok. It is very strange though because you have to avoid it in pregnancy. Btw I also have Hugh F-W veg book. Am going to make the pizza with potatoes and blue cheese from it. I'm thinking blue cheese in small amounts should be fine to DD.

How do you guys cope with the frustration? DS loves his food and really wants to eat but his motor skills and chewing ability aren't quite there so he gets pissed off.

We have a tripptrappalike by a German manufacturer. No Ikea out here :(

Lilham thank you. May pop to the weigh in this afternoon just to check. There are some lovely recipes in the book, hoping we'll all get to try them together. I think I may avoid giving him blue cheese for a while unless I'm told otherwise though. Seems a v strong flavour if nothing else.

haloflo my DD is getting on for 8 months now. I guess it's not critical to get to 3 meals a day for a good while so I'll just keep trying with breakfast. She had a fair bit of weetabix and pear this morning so...

She really struggled with poos to start with and I fed her a lot of prunes! But it all seems to have settled down now, though she does have 3 or 4 dirty nappies a day. We're using reusables and I have to say it's easier to deal with solid poos than BF poos, a much less messy job!

fraktious my DD doesn't like food too much. She eats hardly anything. But she is a curious monkey and lovely playing with the food (and everything else). At her waterbabies class in the weekend, we have to do something on the side of the pool and I couldn't get her to do it because she was so busy licking the side of the pool lol. No other baby was doing that so I'm not sure what's wrong with DD. Today, DH was using the notebook PC in bed, and she keeps crawling over the top of the screen and mouthing it. It's hilarious.

Lilham. I asked HV today and she said yes to goats cheese as long as it is pasteurised but no to brie, blue cheese etc at this stage. Your HV may differ in her advice, but just thought I'd let you know.

Thanks fiorentina. I won't give the blue cheese to DD then. I originally planned to spread some on rice cakes, so wasn't worried about the strong flavour. But like you I have my doubts given it's not recommended in pregnancy.

Tonight we have the moroccan chicken from the BLW cookbook. DH and I thought it really bland, but DD loved loved loved it. I've never seen her so enthusiastic about the food. She couldn't stop sucking on the courgettes and the chicken pieces.