BLW support thread anyone?

[MrsNPattz]

Just wondered if anyone wanted to join me on our BLW adventure, I could do with it (see my earlier thread)! We went to my uncles today, luckily my cousin did BLW with her two little ones so they were very accommodating and he tried carrot, sprout, broccoli, turkey and potato! It was very successful and it was lovely having my cousin to talk to! Unfortunately she doesn't live near us, but is at the end of the phone! What did your babies eat today?

[sparklekitty]

Quick question...when did everyone start giving theirs meat? I know I should start with fish and chicken as they're easiest to digest but as a veggie I'm totally clueless on this :)

[Andcake]

Sparklekitty I'm keen to know that too. I'm a veggie but DP isn't but only eats meat out. Ds is 7 mo and I was thinking of giving him meat when I know he is eating iykwim. Although I do get a bit mournful thinking about my little innocent boy eating a dead animal :-( DP is going to take control and do some chicken soon. I worry about cooking something I won't know whether it is done properly.
Latest success btw (and I was checking salt closely) was some carrot and coriander humous from sainsburies we gave him a taste and he wolfed it down and started to try and get his cucumber he'd licked it off back in the pot!

[HabitualLurker]

We had a bit more success this morning in that there was no gagging and puking. Yay.

Toast fingers and strips of omelette. I tried a different kind of bread this time - one from the local bakers with quite loose cakey texture and it dissolved in his mouth much more easily than our usual loaf.

As usual very little got swallowed, but I'm not too bothered by that.

Cucumber and avocado for lunch later on I think!

[Kyzordz]

Poking my nose in, ds is 22 weeks and I don't know what I'm doing still :/ so I'll lurk and gather lots of info from you lovely people if that's ok?

I am paranoid about choking, am booked on a first aid course on 4th may so hopefully I'll feel better after that. I think we'll end up doing a bit of blw and spoon feeding, but it's up to ds really. I have offered him tastes before and he didn't seem interested so I left it

[Quak]

Kyzordz I've just got back from a first aid course and it made me feel a whole lot better. I'd recommend it to anyone, if only just to ease anxieties.

[CornishYarg]

Hello! As a relative veteran at this blw malarkey (DS is nearly 19 months now), I just thought I'd say what we did about introducing meat. I stuck to fruit and veg for maybe a week or so but then I basically went for it and offered a bit of everything on our plate including meat. I definitely didn't worry about waiting a certain number of weeks or until he'd tried a number of other foods before introducing meat, as I just wanted him to have the opportunity to try all sorts of tastes and textures. But as DH and I eat meat, it was obviously a much easier step for us than if we had been vegetarian.

Someone also asked about ham. It's OK to give but obviously very much in moderation due to the salt, so not too much, not too often and balance it out by serving it with non-salty stuff like veg.

Hope you all enjoy the weaning journey!

[Voodika]

My 11 month old still has no teeth so I do some spoon fed food and some finger food so that she can have the biggest range of things possible.
If meat is trick try fish, she loves pieces of salmon, fish fingers without the breadcrumbs and mixed fish pie.
If you boil cooked meat such as pork or chicken in water or salt free stock it makes it really soft for gummy chewing.
Top favourite foods here are bolognaise, kiwi fruit, scrambled eggs, cheese on toast, homemade pancakes, Shreddies (in a bit if milk so thy can still be picked up) and cake. Noodles and spaghetti are fun and if you need time for something to cook peas and sweetcorn keep her occupied and happy for ages!

[MyPlugInBaby]

I'm trying DS on spaghetti bolognese tonight (but with gluten free pasta instead of spaghetti for him) so think we might do the strip before tea thing.

He's been weaning 2 weeks, his first food was a strip of steak! Which he just gummed, but hasn't looked back since. He seems to really love meat, goes mad for it, he has chewed and swallowed a huge chunk of chicken the other day and just wanted more.

I was a little worried he's going too fast, I mean two weeks in and he's actually eating food, and EVERYTHING I give him as well. DD was not like this, she has never had much of an appetite, wasn't interested in food at all!

Made some biscuits for him today: 2tablespoon butter and 2 tablespoons coconut oil melted, mixed with a mashed overripe banana. 4 tablespoons ready brek and enough gluten free flour mix (I used doves farm) - I guess you could use reegular flour but I'm trying to minimise gluten at the moment - to mix to a dough then cut into fingers and baked in the oven. Added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon too. He seems to love them so far!

[Forgetfulmog]

Slightlysoup - I gave dd spaghetti with homemade tom sauce this eve. She loved it! She was actually sucking the pasta up & swallowing it! I wonder if it'll come out whole??

[Forgetfulmog]

Those biscuits sound good plugin. I'm going to make some sugar free mini banana muffins for dd, will let you know how they go!

[MrsNPattz]

Those biscuits do sound good! Thanks for sharing!

[MyPlugInBaby]

That sounds good too forgetfulmog might do some savoury muffins tomorrow.

Well the pasta didn't go too well, he couldn't pick it up well, I could only get Penne and it was too slippery. He gets awfully upset and frustrated though. If he has finished or can't get something he ends up crying. I don't remember DD being like this at all, let alone at only 6 months!

[Andcake]

Ohh the biscuits sound good. With pasta we found spaghetti was great he thought it was amazing pulling strands apart. Omelette for tea tonight went down v well :-)

[slightlysoupstained]

ForgetfulMog I want to try tomato sauce next, just dreading the cleanup... I guess cream sauces would also be good to try.

Plugin - have found the really big chunky penne was big enough for DS to hold, but it tends to be the fancy expensive stuff! (That was rougher too so not so slippery, at least till I put pesto on it).

DS not keen on anything too small at the mo. I bought some Organix mini cheese biscuits which turned out to be the size of a postage stamp. After failing to get the first one in his mouth he just swept any further ones to the floor rather crossly.

Today was a bit of a loss tho, the only thing he ate was some toasted fruit bread this morning. Been feeding lots to try to stave off mastitis

[MrsNPattz]

We had the same problem with those cheese crackers Slightly!!

[Forgetfulmog]

Actually the mess wasn't too bad with tomato - I didn't put much on & we put her in the bath after. She made more mess when she had mashed potato the other day!

Don't know if this is helpful or not but wrt rice cakes, don't bother buying the ones specially made for babies - complete waste of money in my opinion - just buy no salt ones (Kallo make these) & break them up before giving to baby. I also keep a small Tupperware box of them in the changing bag. Also if anyone's Dcs are teething - bickiepegs are really good. They're teething biscuits made without sugar & dd loves them. You can get them from boots.

[Quak]

Success with the porridge cakes! Thanks, DrMcD! (I have actually made them before by accident when I've left my porridge too long in the microwave...)
DD is a week in now. Although she's only swallowed about two times, she's enjoyed playing and squishing the food, so I think we're doing well. I am not waiting to introduce foods one at a time because very little gets into her mouth. So far she's had carrot, squash, broccoli (who knew it broke into such tiny pieces ), melon, mango, rice cake, the porridge cakes, and a green bean (today in a restaurant!)
I've still a couple of other things to try and one was cheese. BUT, you're not supposed to give them proper cows milk until they are one, right? I have some dairylea triangles. Should I let her play with them? What about regular cheese? What did you do regarding cows milk dairy?? She has no allergies or intolerances so far.

[slightlysoupstained]

Quak I thought the "don't give cows milk" until one was just about not giving it as a drink (i.e. don't try to replace breastmilk/formula with it), rather than avoid it entirely. The advice does sound confusing, that's how I've interpreted it. Anyone?

I've given DS some sticks of cheese (emmental, which was the lowest salt I could find), and grated a few sprinklings onto pasta. He initially enjoyed the sticks of cheese but when it started to break up in his mouth he looked less impressed, don't think he liked the texture and it broke into some quite large lumps. Tried making cheese on toast soldiers but he'd lost patience by then so never got to try them out. (I ate them.)

Good tip re: rice cakes ForgetfulMog, have been buying the little baby ones as they're easy to stuff into the changing bag, but they stain like crazy and am not that keen on everything being covered in sweet stuff. Had rice cakes in the cupboard but it just hadn't occurred to me to put them into a box. Doh!

MrsNPattz - glad it's not just us with the crackers then. Might have to just eat them myself. (BLW is turning into a bit more "I just eat what the baby eats" rather than "He just eats what we eat" at the moment.)

[MrsNPattz]

I think Slightly is right about the cows milk, I'm sure it's ok to use it in meals/cooking etc but not to drink before one. My little man had a dairy intolerance/allergy - he keeps breaking out in a blotchy rash when he has cheese and yoghurt! A hv advised me to avoid, and then try again in a month!

Haha Slightly I know what you mean, sometimes little man does eat what we eat but others he makes do with random finger foods!

[MrsNPattz]

*Has not had!

[Pinebarrens]

oranges.

i forgot how much my DD loved them at the early weaning stage.

just give them a good wash and cut into eighths with the skin on.

DS (6 months at end of March) is loving them, gums them to just skin.

so far his favourites are broccoli, oranges, rice cakes, yogurt, fruit puree (both loaded spoon - very messy), porridge, veggie chilli and bizarrely chicken buhna (home made).

he doesn't seem too keen on carrots or pears or pasta which im surprised about.

i really had forgotten how messy BLW can be.

[Forgetfulmog]

Pinebarrons - oh yes, the mess. There are times when I'm like I literally don't know where to start to clear up

Btw you can give cows milk to babies from 6 mo but as someone said (sorry cant check as am on iPhone), you mustn't use it as a replacement for breast/formula milk until the age of 1. So cheese is fine, as is anything made with cows milk (rice pudding etc).

[MrsNPattz]

Yep totally messy! Thanks for tip about oranges, I hadn't thought of those!

[AJBthesecond]

A couple of really daft questions.

Do you bother with plates or just pile onto cleanish high chair?
Just made a cottage pie and absent mindedly put wine in during cooking, baby not really fully started yet but in future should I avoid this?

[AJBthesecond]

Oh and also, is it okay to give food from your plate or should they have their 'own' food?

On reflection these seems like very stupid questions. Oh well, I'm not getting a lot of sleep at the moment, can't imagine why.