BLW and evening meal

[lori21]

I'm just thinking about starting baby led weaning and my plan is to offer a bit of fruit / veg when I am having a meal - then introducing different food types as my DS gets used to it. Breakfast and lunch are fine but what about in the evening. My DS goes to bed at about 6.30pm and we eat once he has gone to sleep but I was thinking of having a late afternoon snack with him. What would be the best time for him to have his late afternoon meal?

dd eats at 8am, 11am, 2pm and 5pm. bed at 6,30pm.

it took me a while to get the hang of the teatime thing as dd was eating so well at dinner that it screwed up dd's milk for bedtime and she started waking up. anyway, came on here and was advised to give her something to eat no later than 4.30 and that sorted things right out. now she's a year she eats later, at 6 with us, but in the beginning you really have to focus on the milk i think. what dizzie does is similar to me, except that dd had a bottle at 11am. good luck, and just play things by ear in the beginning. remember, before they're one it's just for fun...

we have

brekkie at 7 ish (dep on when he wakes tbh)
snack 10.30 ish
dinner 12.00 - 12.30 ish
snack 3 ish
tea 5 on the dot - and DH knows to be home then as that's our family time/meal
bath 6 bottle 6.45 bed 7.

j's snacks in the am is water/rice cake afternoon is a bottle normally - we're on 3 bottles /d, b4 thou his am snack was a bottle as well. I only offer water with food as well.

I think you're going to have to move your teatime! Maybe sometime between 5-5.30 would work, depending on what else you normally do before he goes down.

DS goes to bed at about 7, so tea is usually between 5-6 (ie when I actually get it made) and can take up to 30 mins to eat - BLW is fun but slow! This does mean that I eat earlier than before, and that dh quite often has to reheat his tea, but it's worth it.

After a bath, playtime and story I bfeed him before putting him down. I've found it's best for ds to have at least half an hour between finishing his tea and having his last feed, otherwise he tends to wake up early.

I give dd food at breakfast which is about 8.30, lunch at 11.30 and tea at 3.30. I give her half an hour each time to play with her food before giving her milk. She has another bottle of milk at bedtime at 7-7.30.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. DS is a terrible napper so gets very tired and grumpy by about 5pm. This can make it hard for us to have a main meal but I am wondering whether having some food to play with will keep him happy

munz - you mentioned rice cakes - when did you introduce these?

Thanks again

lori - that's how we get around it with J, althou tbh whenstarted off at 6 months with tea at 4, it's only since introducing the snack we have it at 5, also it works better with DH's day as i'm v v insistant that tea should be all of us around the table etaing (J playing) together and chattering away - J likes chattering as well now at the table! lol

rice cakes you can get plain organic ones I think cow/gate do them, I tried them at 6 months and he was really unimpressed - big time, (still is infact) so organix do an apple one which we tried from about 7 months iirc, organix have a good snacks range if you choose that option as a supplement tpye thing. althou not sure if anyone else has seen, tescos do a dried apple rings 'crisps' 100% apple nothing else baked not fried, J loves those as well.

My DS is the same, and goes to bed around the same time too. We stopped having our evening meal after he was in bed because he wasn't seeing us eat etc- he has things like a rice cake, a well cooked bit of veg like carrot, parnsip. If i want a nice quiet meal once he's asleep though, i sit with him and eat a rice cake too (whether i want it or not!)

My DD is 1 tomorrow!

She has bottle of milk and cereal and toast at 7 / 7.30ish

Bottle of milk at 10.30ish and a nap

Lunch at 12 / 12.30ish

Bottle of milk at 3ish and another nap

Tea at 5pm

Bottle of milk and then she goes down for the night at 7pm

that's so interesting TC, sounds like we have a similar routine. dd's just turned one and she's still on a breakfast bottle, an 11am nap one, sometimes a few oz at 4pm then bedtime and if she's teething one at elevenpm as well. not that she finishes them, you understand.
i'd been thinking that i was maybe giving her too much... but of course we're doing blw and so i'm accustomed to giving her what she 'asks' for so i was wondering how cutting back would work...
i should add that she also eats like a horse...

oh and happy birthday tc's dd!

aatich - that's intresting you give an extra one with teething - I have also been giving J an extra one when teething but wondered if I really should?

Aitch - thanks hon
The fact that we have similar routines fills me with confidence that it's all going ok my end, seriously. Everyone has such different routines and I wondered if I was giving her one more bottle than she needs but she's taking them and is very happy, loves her food, is running around grinning etc so I guess I'll carry on like this till she tells me different.

She is sat here as I type, on her 1st birthday feeding herself smoked mackeral, from a fork! She's decided she doesn't want to use her fingers as of yesterday and grabbed the cutlery from me as I was cutting her dinner up and fed herself from the fork.

mine does what yours does too

DS eats at 7-9 (depending on when he wakes and how long he breastfeeds), 12-1 and 6. I moved my dinner time, and its better all round really. I dont think its good to eat late

Mmmmm looks like I'm going to have to get my self more organised and get dinner ready for 5pm.

Went out and got some rice cakes - DS loved them - sucks them whilst making a 'mmmmm' noise! He is so funny with the carrot and butternut squash sticks. Its OK if a short amount is sticking out the top of his fist but has not quite got the idea if they are longer. He was not impressed by the feel of the broccoli but they say you have to offer a food at least 15 times.

This BLW thing is great fun.

that's because he can't control his grip yet, so when he's eaten the bit he can see he drops the rest. perfectly normal. you'll be amazed at the development in even a month's time.

Hi, don't know if this will help,

Ds
6oz milk at 6:30am
1 weetabix with milk and some fruit at 7am
Two types of veg and some yogurt at 11-11:30am
nap from 12 sometimes for up to 3 hours
6oz milk at 2:30ish
4:30 he asks for tea which is meat or toast and more fruit sometimes pancakes
6:30 bath
7pm 6 oz milk and straight to bed
occasionally some dilute juice, specially if he has a cold or is teething (the cold juice helps)
He is one, and I've tried getting him on Milk from formula, what a blooming problem, he just refuses milk point blank, tried for 2 days, and then gave in and decided he needs the liquid!

I don't offer snacks, he knows where I keep the raisins and some go-bars for myself, he can reach them and usually bring me the packet and then take a few to chew on, but he decides this.

my dd has just worked out that grip problem thing! she used to eat like her tray was a lucky dip, just grabbing and putting things in her mouth then dropping them. now she's very selective, goes for the brightest coloured things first. picks them up, has a good look at them, passes them from hand to hand til she thinks she's holding it well then eats a bit, looks at it again, maybe adjusts her grip, eats a bit more and doesn't really stop til it's all gone, or there's just skin left.

like aitch said, you'll be amazed over the coming months how your baby works it all out.

we offered broccoli again today and he loved it. i am amazed already by his grip. he tries so hard to do a pincer grip and had a lovely time chasing the brocolli round his tray. there is certainly a lot of exploration going on, I am so pleased I went for this approach. At baby and toddlers the mums were discussing methods of force feeding their lo I love seeing my ds really enjoying exploring his food and have always been a firm believer in children controlling their own eating.

lori - we have the same thing going on - I get 'but your son has teeth' - or 'I do mash it or I do do chunks of veg butt hen you have to stop to feed them as well' - and i'm like well J has what we have, literally and he does as he wishes, ( incl meat - I was weary about that but he's fine) if he doens't eat he doesn't eat - the responce I get (much the same as mine to you atich) 'is yes but surely he'll wake more during the night if he won't eat as much or they won't eat as much as normal and they need to eat, they have to have something' - to which I say - he does he has more milk! lol. no point forcing food with him.

I really am amazed as we've been doing BLW for about a month ish, how quickly J has picked it up, and I suspect you'll find (as DH and I were commenting the other day) that J's hand eye co ordination and motor skills are really good, also his 'speach babble' is really good and has come on ten fold from when we first started.

keep going as you are and offer as wider choice as you can - LO might not take to it at first but eventually they will do. pasta bake/spag bolg are fun ones to try! lol. (and who said babies can't eat those things theirselves! lol)

yes i am a bit worried about meat. when did you introduce it and what kind of pieces.

big chunks are best, fist-sized is best. i started with pork, DD loved it.