Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Baby led weaning questions

41 replies

gingernut100 · 05/03/2006 23:02

Hi Ladies,
This is my 1st post, but Ive heard that a lot of you lovely ladies are very pro-BLW!! :)
My 1st son is 23 weeks old, exclusively bf & is showing ALL the signs of being ready for weaning (eg sitting unsupported, lost tongue reflex, stealing food, very good hand to mouth co-ordination etc) but I have a few questions about starting.

1)What is the best way to start & with what foods??
2)Do we start with just 1 meal a day or go straight to several meals a day??
3)Do you just offer 1 food at a time for a few days to see if there is a reaction as in 'normal' weaning??
4)Do you give any sauces from jars (eg pasta, meat or curry) or is this wrong because they will contain some salts & sugars???

Sorry if these sound silly & there is so many but Im finding it hard to get help as most people just say about baby rice & purees!!
Thanks in advance for your help!
Lisa & Jamie xXx

OP posts:

PiccadillyCircus · 06/03/2006 20:03

DS is called Benjamin and DD is called Alice - and my user name on ivillage makes that quite obvious

CorrieDale · 07/03/2006 08:29

Kayjayel, you have no idea how much better that makes me feel as I crawl around the highchair picking up semi-masticated bits of toast!!!!

gingernutlover · 07/03/2006 09:36

kayjayel it may have been me asking about purees and finger food a few weeks back. well since returning from holiday dd hates being spoonfed so I am now offering her all kinds of finger food which she loves, not sure she is eating much but is only 26 weeks this week so not too worried. This morning she munched on toast and papaya. She has just been a bit sick which is normally just milk but there was papaya in it - yeah! at least this means some went down!

maretta · 07/03/2006 19:36

It is quite difficult to find information about this on the internet. It seems that many sites talking about blw are referring to babies choosing when to finish breast feeding.

NotQuiteCockney · 07/03/2006 19:50

maretta, in North America, "weaning" means stopping bf, not starting to offer other foods.

If you search for baby led solids, that will find lots of relevant pages.

ruthydd · 08/03/2006 19:28

How are you all getting on ?

I've stopped the semi-mashed stuff on a spoon having re-read the Gill Rapley article. It says this is the worst choking risk of all - opps.

So ds2 is purely on finger food now and loving it. I'm surprised how quickly he is getting the hang of it. ds1 thinks its hilarious.

Any suggestions for breakfast ? He's just had fruit and rice cakes so far, but I'd like to try cereal. Do I let him eat it with his fingers or a spoon (yeh - right) or just leave weetabix for when he's a little older ?

Holymoly321 · 08/03/2006 20:38

Ruthydd - my DS is 25 weeks and I've been weaning him on purees for the last few days but am really keen to get him on finger foods. What kinds of things have you been giving?

bamboo · 09/03/2006 13:41

I've tried DS on carrot sticks for a couple of days now. I'm surprised how well he's taken to it, after saying he didn't seem that interested in our food. I made the batons a bit small first time I think - more french fries than chips but now I'm making them thicker he's getting on better. It's broccoli on the menu tonight.

I have to keep reminding myself, though, that even with purees it can be a slow process but there is carrot coming out so there must be some going in!

Holymoly321 · 09/03/2006 14:59

how old is your ds bamboo? How long have you been giving the finger foods? Did you start with purees?

Original poster

gingernut100 · 09/03/2006 19:48

Thanks everyone who replied
We started Jamie on some carrot this evening & I was shocked at how much he ate straight away & no gagging
I think he was definietly ready as he instanly put the batons in his mouth & chewed...very little got spat out!! LOL

More questions now tho......
How long did others stay with 1 food before moving on & how long before giving more than 1 meal a day???

OP posts:

ruthydd · 09/03/2006 19:55

In order of preference ...

broccoli
carrot
apple (cut into 1mm thin slices)
toast
rice cakes
pear
potato

...but he hasn't refused anything yet. Avocado and banana are a bit too slippery and squashy.... and its hard not to feel tempted to help out.

Broccoli is by far the favourite - al school dinner not al dente. It ends up in his ears, hair, up his nose, and some in his nappy, so some must be going down.

Another great thing is that ds1 whines "I want some broccoli too" which is refreshing. I can't imagine him saying "I want some baby rice"

ruthydd · 09/03/2006 20:04

I think you're supposed to wait a couple of days between new things so you know what is responsible for any reaction. That said, we've only been at it a week, so you can see from my list that we haven't adhered to that rule.

Its difficult, because I thought the whole idea of BLW is to let them eat whatever you're eating, but unless the whole family is going to eat carrot batons for 2 days then you're stuck.

I went to a Sure Start weaning session yesterday and asked about BLW. She said they really can eat almost everything you're eating so long as its healthy. The dh leaflet says that they shouldn't have more than 1g of salt per day. I was shocked - 1g is loads isn't it ? Unless they're eating things like crisps ?

Psychobabble · 09/03/2006 20:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Holymoly321 · 09/03/2006 21:28

I know this may seem like a silly question, but do you put butter on the toast / cheese sandwiches or just leave it dry?

ruthydd · 09/03/2006 22:08

Unsalted butter!

bamboo · 10/03/2006 09:35

Smiling,

DS is 27 weeks. We've gone straight onto finger food, only started this week. Broccoli was a success last night, as ruthydd says, it all mushes up and they can't fail to get some in!

Flip

1 2