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?

[ThreeWheelsGood]

Second attempt at banana yesterday was great, she properly nibbled some off and swallowed! Her faces of confusion were great. The (white) babygrow she had on is now all stained though (washed it this morning) - never mind!

Drmcdreamy - thanks for your reply. I thought it might be a growth spurt. She slept through again last night. We have deduced that she has grown out of her up-to-six-months sleep bag and it was prob waking her up when she rolled over in her sleep!

Going to try houmous and pitta later. At 25 weeks old we are just trying one meal a day, is that ok do you think? Otherwise I feel like we'd be eating all the time...

[ThreeWheelsGood]

Another question - has anyone been to a children's centre weaning info session, and was it useful?

[ThreeWheelsGood]

MsJupiterJones - that's exactly what we're doing, propping her up in the highchair with a cushion, putting some bits and bobs in front of her to let her play. It works well for us as we know she'll only swallow if she's ready!

[Andcake]

MsJupiterJones - same here it took a few days to a week for things to be swallowed. Cucumber is definitely a good place to start. Ds ate v little at first but. at 7.5 months we really turned a corner and I feel he is eating well having 2 meals a day :-) nappies become so interesting in the early blw days as you discover what has really gone through. But now (tmi) he just has grown up poo.

I did only one meal a day for the first few weeks as actually ds got a v runny tummy when in the early days I started with two. I then backed off a bit.

Forgetfulmog- we have days where he seems less interested sometimes I think he just is too tired, still full of milk or distracted. Teething tended to chomping on v hard things like cucumber.

[TallGiraffe]

It really varies day by day here as to how much he actually consumes. I just keep chanting "food is fun until you're 1" on days when he doesn't et anything!

[TallGiraffe]

eat

[Forgetfulmog]

Thanks Andcake. I think I'm just over thinking things really - even on the days where I think she doesn't have much, her poo is still like you described so she must be getting something!

Bit of a success this evening; dd had:

A breadstick
Some watercress
Some mashed up gigantes plakis
Some lightly fried potato
Some asparagus

& she loved it all!

[MrsNPattz]

My little man does not like tea time, he barely touches anything. He is pretty good at the other two meals though. He loves cucumber!

[DrMcDreamysWife]

My dd loves cucumber too. On the same lines she loves courgettes, lightly fried in olive oil. Sucks all the flesh off and spits out the skin.

We had lots of fun tonight with spaghetti! We'd done pasta before, twists, but spaghetti is so much better!! She had so much fun playing with it and stuffing it in her mouth to suck off the sauce!!

At lunch she had mango which went down well too, I cut it with my new best friend...a crinkle cutter...it's great for making slippy things easier to hold. I totally recommend getting one.

I love this weaning malarkey, it's so fun. And the best part is dh cleans the highchair/floor while I do the bedtime feed! Tee hee!!

[Quak]

You know, I have tried getting a crinkle cutter in shops - have scoured everywhere but no luck. It'll have to be amazon. Although it's quite funny watching the slippery fruit and veg ping about, and her confusion about it!

Does anyone else's dc overload their mouth? Sometimes DD gradually builds up a fair bit of food in there but doesn't swallow it. I doubt she could either so she just bleurgh's it out. Today she cried out, I think because her mouth was too full Her little face was so sad.

More experienced BLWers - we are not yet 2 weeks in, should I try giving her a spoon and something runnier (beans/yogurt) yet? Or stick with things she can directly hold still....? I am not sure she would understand though.

Fadbook have you always allowed that long for meals? DD has had enough after about 10 minutes at the moment. Maybe her concentration span isn't developed enough yet? (6.5mths)

I'm not sure I would call it fun yet. And I keep forgetting about meals here and there. We have no proper routine (dh shift work/different activities on different days etc) and sometimes I forget to do a lunch or a dinner. I have never personally bothered with regular meals - I'm going to have to set alarms I think!

[FadBook]

Quak - it varies, honestly. Definitely for the evening meal, dp and I have always tended to 'linger' around the table and chat about our day. We noticed that she'd have a break from food, and then go back to it and end up polishing the lot off

For breakfast/lunch probably about half an hour.

My friends all have more than one child so they tell me I'm lucky because I haven't got a school run or other kids to think about in the morning and/or clock watching

From the beginning, I taught her a "finish" sign (not sure if its the official sign language for it - just shook my hands from side to side and said "finished") she picked this up quite quickly to be honest; so there was pushing food away and coming back to it and then the "finished" sign and I knew she'd be definitely done!

[MsJupiterJones]

Thanks for replies.

Fadbook that is a really good idea about the "finished" sign although I don't think DS gets signs at all yet. But I am making a note of it!

We got a crinkle cutter from Amy's if any of you have one near you. They always seem to have everything.

[slightlysoupstained]

Good idea with the signs Fadbook. I've been trying to remember to sign "more" and "full" (which is basically flicking the tips of your fingers against the underneath of your chin - like the gesture people make when they say "I've had it up to here!") - DS doesn't seem to recognise them yet but I figure that I need to get myself into the habit and at some point he will.

Crinkle cutters - I use a biscuit cutter, if you can't find a proper crinkle cutter thingy. (A rectangular one not a round one).

TallGiraffe: "It really varies day by day here as to how much he actually consumes. I just keep chanting "food is fun until you're 1" on days when he doesn't eat anything!"

I tell myself that I am not trying to feed DS, we are just doing messy play with stuff I don't need to worry about him eating by accident. That somehow makes it fun to watch him carefully pulling apart his fruit bread, transferring it from hand to hand, dropping it, picking it up again, etc, instead of stressful because it's not going into mouth.

[Andcake]

Approaching it as messy play is definitely the right approach. Ds definitely starts and stops... If he loses interest I get something else out like a piece of fruit. We usually sit for about 30 mins - I have something and a nice big cup of tea!
Quak with sloppy stuff I think we started it after about 2 weeks but we cheat a little I hold the spoon and he leans his head forward the after a few spoonfuls I give him the spoon- the food then goes everywhere. When he first leans forward he does a little connoisseur face contemplating it :-) we don't give him alot of sloppy stuff a lot to be fair mostly just yogurt ( I eat one at his tea time with a baby spoon and offer him spoonfuls (just full fat Rachel's in different flavours) and some left over home made soup. I like this recipe and he seems to like it to www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1974663/curried-squash-lentil-and-coconut-soup
Sneaking protein in via lentils.
This mornings breakfast wheetabix with whole milk absorbed in then cut into two fingers went down well but a v yucky mess.
Also tesco direct has the tiny diner mat for about £3 I've got one delivered to my local shop so no delivery either :-)

[HabitualLurker]

We've had a good few days of trying things out here. I'd say in the 4 weeks or so since we started he's definitely getting more interested and better at swallowing and not gagging.

He'd gone off being spoon-fed porridge, so I made some extra-thick stuff with some cashew nut butter mixed in and he seemed to enjoy picking that up and feeding himself. It was very messy though!

I've bought rice cakes (mainly as an easy thing to feed him when we're out and about since they're reasonably clean) and he likes them a lot. I'm trying not to give them when we're at home though, seing as they're not exactly all that nutritious.

We tried cut up orange with skin on again and he loved that (much like cucumber!). Cooked apple was less popular. Ripe pear went down well.

The surprise hit was plain yoghurt. He usually isn't keen on being spoon fed at all. Will grab the spoon and try and feed himself, but ends up putting his fingers in the bowl and swiping most of the food off accidently. Well, not so for yoghurt! He made the most fantastic 'man that's sour' face, and then opened his mouth wide and swooped in for more! Seems to love it. It's so funny watching his face as he eats it.

[Nicknamefail]

Feeling a but down about weaning. Only being going about ten days, but today she kept making a slightly distressed noise during breakfast and lunch. Still put stuff in, but nothing swallowed.
Also went to be weighed today and the beast has dropped from 50th to the 25th.
Finding the whole planning and cleaning difficult too. Today, dc will only be held, so can't get anything done.
Only good thing today us that the HV made me laugh by saying blw is fine, but why don't you try some baby rice as well, and put vitamins on a spoon with ebm. Because I am friggin trying to avoid crappy baby rice and silly spoons!

[MrsNPattz]

Nicknamefail I know how you feel - I get down about it too! I wish he could just have milk forever lol but I keep plodding on and it's so lovely seeing him trying new things and making a mess and it's just weaning in general for me, I think I would feel this way if I was pureeing. Keep going!

[Forgetfulmog]

Nickname - dont worry, I think everyone feels that way at some point during the weaning process. Today was a not great day, but tomorrow could be different. Dd might be teething, which could explain her needing to be held. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere once that sometimes babies do lose a little weight when they're weaning & they're more active as well, which of course burns off calories. If you're concerned, try offering more higher fat foods like avocado or nut butters (if you have a good food processor you could make your own). Also 25th centile is absolutely fine.

[Nicknamefail]

Thanks MrsNPattz and Forgetfullmog, I, am feeling a little as the beast tried mango at dinner which went down well.
Hopefully she will give me a good nights sleep and by that I mean only wake up 4 times and then bring on tomorrow. I will also try nut butters. once I find out what this is

[Doretaball]

Agree with the good days and bad days my DD2 cried at all three of her meals today. Do you think maybe I'm overdoing it going straight to 3 meals? It's just that I sit her at the table when I'm giving DD1 her meals.

Got new blender today so going to make some hummus tomorrow. Any good recipes?

[Forgetfulmog]

Nut butters - peanut butter, cashew butter etc. if you have a good food processor you can grind the whole nuts (shelled) until it becomes a paste (ie but butter).

[Nicknamefail]

Nut butters- sounds very yum. I shall try some after the next shop.

Is anyone else's dc taking less milk now weaning has started? The beast usually has lots over night finishing with a 5 am feed, and then used to eat at 8.30. Today she had some porridge and water to drunk at this time (although barely had any) but didn't have any milk till 10am. Feels like a long time to me.

I don't think she's taking enough food to drop a milk feed yet.

[DrMcDreamysWife]

Hi all.... Sorry to hear some people have been feeling down :( . I don't think weaning is linear, I think they can go forwards and backwards. My dd has been slightly off her food the last 2 days, after a run of lots of success :(.

I think she is dropping day milk feeds a bit but then asking for lots at night...she's always fed a lot over night but getting a bit sore in the day as the monkey would prefer real food to milk!?

Bought a butternut squash this morning but have no idea what to do with it...any tips??

[Forgetfulmog]

Roast it with black pepper & cumin seeds. You could then add the pieces to a risotto or pasta sauce or curry

[MrsNPattz]

We love it roasted too!

Little man hasn't really dropped feeds but definitely spends less time on the boob! He makes up for it at night though!! He's done well today food wise