BLW- ok to start at 24wk?

[Onacollisioncourse]

Ds is almost 24wks. he can sit comfortably upright in his bumbo, but when sitting up alone, completely unaided he can only keep his balance upright for a couple of seconds. I introduced food last weekend with a couple of florets of broccoli, which he seemed to enjoy sucking! Only did that the once then a couple of days later tried some mango in a morning but I think he was a bit tired and kept slumping to one side in his bumboo. (we've not got a high chair yet). When I saw that he was slouched I got worried maybe we wasn't ready to start, so stopped.

However, he's been grabbing at mine and dh's food now whenever we eat for the past fortnight, and mimicking mouth movements when we eat. I know babies are interested in everything we do at this age and everything goes into their mouth anyway, but he really does seem ready and I don't want to miss a potential 'window of opportunity'.

But, as he's still not quite 6 months and is not holding himself upright properly when tired (he's perfectly fine when not tired) I wondered should I still be waiting? Or just plough ahead, (when he's got the energy to have more control of his posture)? I'm keen to start.

The key to baby led weaning is the first two words. Sit your son on your lap during mealtimes, if he grabs the food of your plate and puts it in his mouth and chews it and swallows it, he is ready. DD started baby-led weaning at 19 weeks because she chose to start eating food at that point, though the truth is a lot of food didn't start getting digested until around 24 weeks.

The best judge of when your baby is ready to eat is them.

I agree with world except they may be ready to play with food before they can swallow it. DS is 6 months and just about sitting up now unaided so we sat him in his highchair and he is very good at picking food up and putting if in his mouth - but then he has a bit of trouble and does a lot of mouthing and pushing the food back out.

I wouldn't use a bumbo because it gives a false sense of stability. Not sure if anyone else has a better opinion on that.

Both DDs started about 24 weeks as they seem interested. DD2 is now 27 weeks (can't sit unaided for more than a few seconds and is on my lap for meals) and has tried rice cakes, breadsticks, grapes, banana, avocado, broccoli florets, potato, carrots, chicken, blueberries, butternut squash, bread

So yes, if you feel they are ready. Also, with BLW, milk is their main source of nutrition until 12 months.

Have fun and good luck!

Thanks everyone for your replies, sorry I've not posted. I did lurk and decided after reading the posts to carry on. We've had broccoli (hit), roasted pepper (flop), mango (likes the taste but I think it's too hard), kiwi (jury is out), and boiled apple (hit). We try one or two veg a day and a piece of fruit....too much too soon?

Any other first suggestions?

Also, dh bad barely been pooing since I first gave him something. 2 small poos in 2 weeks. Worrying? He's very windy?

And finally can anyone off me any reassurances on gagging? How to gain confidence for me and dh....and dissaproving relatives!

Oh crap sorry pressed post instead of preview. Sorry for typos. And I mean ds's poo....not dh's!! That would be way tmi!!!

DD2 has only been having small amounts of solid poos (much less frequently than when she was solely bf). Don't worry too much if you're still giving milk frequently. I think it's just their body adjusting.

I've been giving a varied amount of foods too. Although I think they suggest you try one food for a few meals to make sure they don't have any adverse reactions to it.

I would give them a beaker of water to play with too. If they don't drink - at least they are learning coordination skills. If they drink - great!

Gagging is normal - best advice I had was to sit on my hands and count to 10. Babies have normally sorted it out themselves by the time you get to 5.

Choking is different - I've never seen it myself but others who have say you definitely know the difference.

We don't have allergies in the family so we never restricted the number of new foods - DD just eats exactly what we're having.

I'm glad I found this! My DS is 23 weeks old and has this morning stole some of my breakfast for the 3rd time, so thought i'd mooch over to the weaning boards.

He can sit up unaided (for a short bit!) and is definitely taking food off our plates, but was worried be was still a bit young.

Might put some banana infront of him later and see what happens!