BLW and purees

[Jammee]

Hi,

My DD is 27 weeks and we have been giving her "solids" for the last week. She has Ella's Kitchen baby porridge with breast milk for breakfast, Ella's fruit/veg pouch for lunch and then we do a bit of BLW in the evening; broccoli (which she loves) avocado, humus, pear, carrot, banana and sweet potato tried so far. I have also been giving her a bit more of the Ella's Kitchen pouches at the end of her dinner as she doesn't eat much with BLW ATM (unless it's broccoli or avocado).

I am going on holiday next week and when I get back we are moving house, so for the next few weeks or so I'm not going to get the opportunity to make special homemade meals for her so my questions are:

Ella's pouches: how much should she be eating in a day at 27 weeks old? The first pouch lasted 48 hours, but I am on the second one now and she seems to be eating it a bit quicker. Can I overfeed? She has a big portion of porridge for breakfast and still has 6 breast milk feeds a day with a "solid" lunch and dinner. I had heard that bf babies won't overfeed with solids as they are used to demand feeding but my DD doesn't really demand feed with milk. If she is hungry I feed her but I have always fed her every 2-3 hours (even if not complaining for food) because she had issues with weight gain.

As I am doing a combo of puree/mashed and BLW can she have a Stage 2 Ella's pouch instead of the really watery stage one pouches? She is 3 weeks under the recommended age but surely with BLW she is encountering lumps already?

Dairy: When should I introduce this? My DD had a milk allergy so I have been on a vegan diet for the last 6 months (as I'm bfing and we are a vegetarian family anyway). Recently I have been eating dairy and DD is now completely fine with it in my breast milk, but not sure about giving her dairy directly? Advice greatly appreciated.

BLW: I did a baby first aid course last week as I am paranoid about choking but the technique they showed her for dealing with choking has only made me more nervous. I tried one of the mesh spoon things but it is now impossible to keep clean. Any tips on things with are less likely to be choking hazards? Also, DD is very keen to eat solids, and likes to hold her a bottle when I've expressed milk or a spoon when feeding porridge but when I put finger food in front of her she won't hold it if it is wet, sticky or slimy. She wants the food but refuses to hold it so I have to hold it to her mouth so she can eat it. Is this normal? How can I encourage her to try touching the food herself? The only thing she will willing touch and eat ATM is broccoli.

Sorry for all the Qs. DD is my 1st and I have no mummy friends with experience of weaning.

Thanks!

It really doesn't matter if you do BLW or purees or both. Just do what works for you and your baby. My daughter isn't keen on holding food either, but she'll get there. Try not to worry too much, sounds like you're doing fine to me!

Splatt, don't be too quick to judge on the bouncy chair front. That's how I had to start weaning my dts because they were so prem, they went for food very quickly but wouldn't sit inmost high chairs or pick up finger foods for aaaaages. Not ideal but that's how it goes sometimes.

The highchair I have does recline but we only feed her in the upright position. Just got to our holiday accommodation though and the highchair they have provided is far too big for her; no support and she just slumps over and can't reach the tray (which is too far out in front of her and above the height of her mouth). In the end DH had to hold her on his lap and I have had to spoon feed purees. Grrr!

I was really looking forward to weaning as it sounded fun and I was getting bored of just breast feeding every 2 hours but it seems to be a bit of a chore!

Definitely going to continue trying BLW at home with our own highchair though, as she is really good at it with broccoli so I know she can do it. I will look at those books too (I stupidly though looking on a BLW website and the course I did was enough but turns out not!)

Thanks for all the tips, everyone.

Can't help on the purees question but wrt the sticky food point, do you eat the same food? My DS is much more keen on trying food if I eat it too. I put his food on his tray and then pick up some myself, wave it around a bit and eat it is a very exaggerated style, chewing with my mouth open, that kind of thing. We make it into a (slightly disgusting) game, with me sticking out my tongue with food on etc. All with lots of smiling, singing and laughing. He likes to copy what I do so it's how I've got him to try food that he didn't initially seem keen on.

Oh and Ds eats a lot of his meals whilst sat on my lap. I still do finger foods, they're just on the table in front of me.