ok so BLW...What CAN'T I feed her?? (summons Aitch)

[SherlockKnomes]

Ok so embarking on BLW - DD seems up for it and happily grabs and chews but I'm petrified of giving her the wrong thing. I got a terrifying NHS leaflet saying I couldn't give her wheat until she was 1yr, but she'd happily nommed some of my sandwich the day before :( and meat? is that ok? So what are the no's? heeeellp!

Honey before one year. Best not to do anything too hard to digest before 6 months (I just gave dd fruit and veg). Eggs, wheat, cows milk etc are fine from6 months. Before that the digestive system is immature and there is a greater risk of allergy or intolerance. From DD's nappies I'd say she wasn't digesting anything properly until she was closer to 8 months and it was around that point she dropped her milk feeds.

I give dd everything now (11 mo). It took her a little while to sort her swallowing out but less that two weeks and only a couple of proper coughing incidents. I've only recently stopped skinning veg and fruit, I don't give whole or chopped nuts. With meat I give slow cooked or casserolled meat, wafer thin ham and boneless fish. Things like steak I finely chop because she doesn't have molars to break it up. With minced beef I let it clump in the pan, she can pick those up easily or I make meatballs.

When we're out and about veggie burgers seem to go down very well.

NHS leaflet not recommending wheat until 1? Where did that come from?

See here for a report on the current advice, gluten (the only concievable not wheat reason) should be given from 6 months, there's no advantage in delaying even if you are going to be allergic to it.

Honey - tiny risk of botulism which only applies to an immature gut, easy to avoid so do so.
Things that are often "dodgy" for food poisoning -raw eggs, unpasteurised milk etc. Not because there's likely any more risk, it's just that with young babies there are less options for drugs, and they have less reserves to fight it.

Mostly just relax, you really can't give the wrong thing, babies are humans too, they can eat the same as you. Transferring your nervousness about food to the baby by how you act is likely the biggest problem you'll have. So relax, get on with your own food, and just keep an eye out for actual choking.

We were recommended not to give bits of nut (like chopped walnuts and stuff I guess) until over a year as they can be a choking hazard. Same with whole grapes, but cut in half is fine. Try not to give too much salt or too much sugar and avoid honey before 1 year. Otherwise anything I think!

Honey, whole nuts and salt. Anything else is fine from 6 months.

Agree honey, too much salt and anything which could be a choking risk which pretty much is:

Whole nuts (until 5, apparently)
Anything round like grapes, cherry tomatoes, boiled sweets - you can cut tomatoes and grapes in half or even into quarters if you are paranoid
You must not help them bring foods to their mouth - which means things like peas, sweetcorn kernels, cereal etc is out of bounds until they have developed a pincer grip.
Anything which could easily break off large chunks such as apple slices or raw carrot sticks. Breadsticks etc are okay because they dissolve. You can steam these foods, grate them, or cut into very thin slivers, or give something like an apple whole once they have teeth as they will scrape away at the flesh.
Anything with small stones or hard parts, like cherries.

Basically, use your common sense. Always sit them upright and not reclined to eat, too.

Meat's fine - often if you give them strips of it they will gum it to death, get all the juice out and spit out the connective tissue - yum!

So is anything grape sized ish basically chew-able I'm incredibly paranoid about this as I can really visualise how small or large her throat is so I cant figure out choke-able dimensions. So is pasta cooked with salt a no no?

arrgg bertie I give her apple pieces cos she holds onto the end and chews the other but just gums it to a pulp or drops it, didn't occur to me she could break bits off an choke on them!

Cut things into chip shapes. You want her to be able to pick them up so smaller chunks are less good. No need to add salt to pasta or veg, so better to leave it out. They can have up to 1 gram of salt per day until they are 1,so check packets etc.

A baby can choke on almost anything, and the biggest part of weaning is teaching them how not to choke! Certain things are just a little more likely, hence the whole grapes, and it's not just the size, but also the texture - grapes are pretty tough skinned so they're harder for them to break down into smalle bits with their hard gummy mashing.

You might not need to completely go for chip shapes, DD got a scoop immediately, so could eat mash like food in scoops straight away. Just try what you're eating.