BLW Beginner! Top tips please!

[Somersaults]

DD is 6mo and we're heading down the BLW route , hopefully in a nice, relaxed manner!

Any top tips/advice/ideas greatly appreciated.

What can I give her that's healthy but piss easy to prepare?! Also any advice about when to introduce the dreaded wheat/dairy/eggs etc. we have no known food allergies in the family so do I really need to be so careful? Or can I just charge full steam ahead and five her anything? What about strawberries and tomatoes too? When should I start giving her meat and fish?

Sorry for so many questions! I've read a fair bit online and short snippets in books but nothing I've read answers all my questions. I walked down to the library last week and they had not one book about BLW. All the weaning books that referred to it (and most didn't!) suggested it was a new crazy fad and then said nothing more about it!

So to the combined wisdom of MN I turn. C'mon, share your best tips and advice with me!

Laughed at dd tonight who couldnt get her orange segment into her hand and then mouth so just leaned forward onto the tray and sucked it from there

Am not the best home coom but was thinking of doing some sort of stew for dinner for her to try more sloppy suff

at the orange segment!

Honestly, spag bol is great! If you use fusilli or the pasta shells then the sauce sticks in the twirls or in the shell and they can suck it off and it's not that hard to make. You could even use a jar of Ragu to make it easier.

I used to make a huge batch of pasta sauce, used passata or chopped toms, garlic, herbs, onions, borlotti beans, mushrooms...whatever was hanging around really. I freezed it and then just boiled some pasta and pulled out a portion when I needed it.

Haven't done that for ages actually. Must give it a go because there's loads of beans in the cupboard.

DD's poo this morning smelt nasty, and had a lump of something in it.
Not entirely sure how, because she wasn't given any solids yesterday. (we have decided not to give her raw food, because she looked like she had been nettle-stung after she'd played with a slice of green/yellow pepper the other day! , so we're just giving her cooked food)

My idea is now to make an entire tray of roast veg, then freeze them, and microwave (and then cool down thoroughly!) for her to eat.
she hasn't had any reactions to roast veg yet.

I did let her eat some bread, and the last two days, her poo has been full of seeds (oops), but the first time she tried, most of it just sat on her palate. I'm not sure that's good.

She seems to go "enough of this toy stuff, give me some real fooooood!" when she joins in with us eating solids!

Just put of DD on Youtube, but shame I didnt add in yesterdays dinner, she made a right mess with her sweet potato wedges

I'm a 3rd time BLW'er, when I weaned DD1 the only info was Aitch's blog, my eldest is just a few months younger than hers!

DD3 started eating a week or so before she was 6mths by taking my toast out of my hand and eating it. She is by far the most keen of the three!

With apples and pears, all of mine have found it easier (and it is less choke-y) to be handed the whole fruit with a bite taken out. DD3 is 6.5mths and can manage pears like this quite happily but not apples yet as she has no teeth!

I go for the hand over whatever we're having method. Oh and just feed them naked.

Just survived a baby-led week in Spain. DD had a cracking week, foodwise, sampling everything we ate. Most ended up on the floor at some point, but I have no germ qualms (probably should), so it came back on the plate. In spite of spending most meal times taking it in turns to scoop up, it was still easier than having to do the jar thing whilst encouraging a toddler to eat.

Incidentally, I may move abroad as the toddler ate many, many more things than he would at home (although granted, that's not much).

We've just started, so far ok with all bread, avocado fingers, sweet potato and carrot sticks, loves rice cakes, and I've dipped them in yogurt and he eats them off my hand. No interest in pear or banana or broccoli. I'm not much of a cook so am trying to adjust to a fresher way of eating..otherwise he'll just end up with cereal for every meal.
We've got a second hand Tripp trapp but he seems to prefer eating on the couch sat on my knee. Lots of j cloths, Eco cleaner and washing powder is handy to have in.
We have eaten out...a multi wipe experience but not too bad. Sort of easier on my own with him as I can't concentrate on him and hold a conversation yet.
Not managed dinner yet, purely because of timing. Depending on when he wakes up, he's in bed for 7/7.30 , and the last few hours of the day are normally a bit cranky. What time is dinner for everyone else?

my ds helped himself to some mint leaves in a friends garden on saturday-he loved them- I haden't considered herbs at all really in thier raw state. Obviously things I cook may have herbs in them

I also offer cooled herbal teas such as fennel or chamomile in a beaker.