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

Original poster

BLW - slippery foods

15 replies

bunglecat77 · 04/01/2014 07:43

We're doing BLW with our 6mo and giving him sticks of soft finger foods like carrot and banana.

Problem is that anything soft enough to eat seems to slip out of his hand (or just disintegrate) so he's having trouble getting any in.

How do I deal with this?

OP posts:

addictedtosugar · 04/01/2014 08:15

Make sure the pieces are big enough for him to grab and get into mouth - ie longer than a baby fist.
And then leave him to it. He WILL get the hang of it.

Spoons? Loaded or not (I did half hearted blw - if it was designed to be eaten off a spoon, I fed him)

Bakerof3pudsxx · 04/01/2014 08:16

There's not much you can do!

Dd struggled lots with banana, now at 9 months she is a master!

Sheissmallandveryspidery · 04/01/2014 08:22

Get a crinkle cutter. I got one from Amazon. Make my melon sticks like crinkle cut chips. They are less slippy then. !

CornishYarg · 04/01/2014 10:20

Yes, crinkle cutters are good. Otherwise just give it time. DS wouldn't eat banana till he was nearly a year because he found it so frustrating to pick up. Now he's banana mad! There's no need to stick to soft finger foods only; firmer foods are great for them to gum on too.

FrumiousBandersnatch · 04/01/2014 13:33

Aha! I couldn't understand why Amazon suggested that I might like to look at crinkle cutters after I ordered the Gill Rapley BLW book!!

stargirl1701 · 04/01/2014 13:36

We didn't cut the skin off bananas and pineapples. DD managed really well as it gave her something to grip.

Splatt34 · 04/01/2014 22:30

As with stargirl. Have had great success leaving skin on melon, avocado etc. Admit, though, to having forked quarter slices of banana for 7 month old today as she was so upset that her sister was having something she couldn't get to her mouth.

clairikins · 04/01/2014 22:44

Just keep trying. Eventually they will get it

ExBrightonBauble · 04/01/2014 23:13

With banana, instead of cutting it up, you can split it into 3 long sections. If you peel it, and then press down on the top pointy bit, it should start to split down the three natural segments. (I hope I've described that clearly?! There's a if not.) You can then break these into shorter halves/bits to give as finger food. The segments aren't so slippy as they haven't been cut, and they are triangular shaped so a bit easier to pick up.

Original poster

bunglecat77 · 06/01/2014 06:38

Thank you - we'll give these suggestions a try. DS's own idea has been to mush the banana sticks into a pile and then take his face to the table! Very funny, but probably not a long-term solution...

OP posts:

redsquareyellowsquare · 06/01/2014 06:50

skin on banana works really well (and melon, avocado etc) but it was the banana that worked the best imo. i took off top and bottom and then in quarters length-ways.
obv just wash your fruit if you do this!

no where near as nutritious of course, but bread sticks are excellent practice-getting-in-mouth food.

we also used strips of chicken right at the beginning as it is grippy and tasty.

have fun

Brugmansia · 06/01/2014 07:02

I mashed up banana and avocado and spread it on toast fingers. They were easier to hold and DS would then suck offoff the banana. It was a while until he started eating much of the actual toast. We were lucky as it was summer when we started so I also gave lots of soft fruits like peaches and apricots in big chunks with the skin on to make it easier to hold. DS would chew off the flesh and discard the skin. Pears would also work in this way oror you could fry wedges of apple with the skin on in butter to soften them.

AndMiffyWentToSleep · 06/01/2014 09:08

Agree with pp about crinkle cutter and 3-segment banana.
Another idea is to roll slippery foods in ground flaxseed to give them more grip.
And when they're a bit older, try cereal with yogurt instead of milk - it sticks to the spoon more!

waitingforwombat · 09/01/2014 19:04

My DD has exactly the same problem with banana and so I very roughly mashed it and it and loaded spoons with it which mainly went in her eye/ear but eventually some got into her mouth! She seems to find the spoon upside down much easier to get stuff off. Also let her mush it in her hands and then suck them like mad/smear it over her face with a camera at the ready for some seriously messy banana face pictures to show her first BF....

Kokapetl · 10/01/2014 12:53

With melon I take a very small bite out of the outside of the slice. This leaves indentations which fit my 7mo's fingers and have allowed him to pick it up right from the start. It also maybe helped him to learn to grab it in the middle so that there's an end sticking out to go in his mouth.

Flip