6mth old - first 2 weeks good, now getting upset!

[caspercat]

DD 6mths old tomorrow. Started weaning 2wks ago as showing all signs. Started with baby rice which she loved and couldn't wait for next mouthful. Have since been introducing new food every 3 days. Last 2 foods (melon & banana) she started taking well, but after 5/6 spoonfuls, started getting upset and trying to get out of bumbo. Didn't force, etc, but just wondering - am i trying to get her to take too much, is she not ready, or just doesn't like these foods? Any ideas would be appreciated x

[caspercat]

I know, sorry. Am a born worrier and on ADs for PND aggravated by worrying so much! This is me on a good day! Thanks again for your help

[DizzyBint]

just wait and see what happens tonight, go with it. try not to think about it all so much. if she wakes hungry then give milk. if not just leave it. if she keeps waking then yes maybe move things round a bit. it's all trial and error anyway. as soon as you've sorted things she'll strat waking with teething or whatever so i really wouldn't worry about things being set up perfectly. enjoy it!

[caspercat]

Sorry, i mean should i give tea earlier??

[caspercat]

OK. For the 1st time in ages i couldn't get her to finish her bedtime bottle. She left 2oz. Is this what happens when weaning, especially when only just started? I guess we'll see what happens re waking through hunger, as hasn't done so for ages!! If she does wake, should i offer her a bottle? don't want to get back into that habit! She has her solids tea @ 5pm, bottle 6.45pm. Should i bring her tea forward? I know this is all based on 'what ifs?' and no-one has a crystal ball, but just wondering if this has happened to anyone else!!!

[caspercat]

She's 6 mnths next Weds - got my dates muddled up! Have tried most of those things, courgette a hit! Guess only a few more days to go, i'll hit her with a mini Babybel then and see how we go! Thanks again xx

[DizzyBint]

'papery' things are quite difficult at first. by that i mean things that are sort of flat, like potato skin, cabbage, lettuce etc. but they do get better. i think they tend to get stuck on the roof of their mouth or side of their cheek and there isn't much texture to it to get it unstuck.

when is she 6 months? your first post said she was 6 months tomorrow. if you're still sticking with fruit and veg i would just have a good look round your supermarket/veg shop and pick as many things as you can and give them a go. sweet potato? white potato? (sainsburys have some gorgeous vivaldi ones which are sooo creamy, less crumbly than normal potatoes) courgette? grated apple? nectarines?

[caspercat]

Thanks for all your help again. I realise yoghurt isn't an essential! Had a bit of a ?is she choking moment yesterday with dd when she ate a bit of the skin off a jacket potato and it got stuck. Obviously not enough to choke her, but enough to make her eyes water and a prolonged coughing fit. Luckily Dh and i didn't panic, and also i didn't get the "i told you so" anti BLW argument i was expecting! Again we're still v happy chose this route, only sticking point i guess is still the actual amount dd is eating. Not in a "she's hungry" kind of way, more the fact that all the food i can think of to offer her is so damn slippery that she picks it up but it slips away before she gets it in her mouth! Is there anything particularly non-slippery anyone can recommend or it just something that will improve with practice? BTW, not quite 6 months yet so not ready for toast, pasta etc! Sorry for the long post....!

[DizzyBint]

oh yes peas and sweetcorn. the idea with them is that baby can't pick them up until he can manage to swallow them without choking. so you watch how he eats, see how he develops his pincer grip (thumb and finger rather than all of hand) then the idea is that he can handle peas. a big thing about blw is that the body only lets the baby do what it is capable of if that makes sense. so at 6 months baby might choke on a pea, so the body is designed not to be capable of picking one up yet.

dd did have peas and sweetcorn mixed in with veggie burgers before she could have picked them up whole, but then they were squashed up. so you could do that.

[DizzyBint]

i think i answered some of your spoon questions in my last post. really it's up to you. spoon feed the yoghurt if you like, but to me it seems a shame when dd is used to feeding herself. so what i do is have two spoons, i give her one to bang about and i load the other one up. when she sees the food loaded up she drops the first spoon and grabs the loaded one. then i do it all again. however, i do this quite rarely. i try my best to give her foods she can feed herself. there is no need for yoghurt IYSWIM. there isn't much that she can't feed herself.

as i said, don't worry about them learning to use utensils. they develop hand eye co ordination very quickly so utensils are an easy next step. when babies learn to sit you don't worry that they'll never progress to standing do you? these things just follow on. it's fine. babies like to copy you, so watching you use utensils is half of it.

[caspercat]

bump

[caspercat]

Hi all. Enjoying the BLW thing, can't wait till next wk when lo 6mths old so looking forward to toast, cheese, pasta etc. Is wholemeal bread o.k, or can it cause constipation? Also, if i want to give yoghurtor other 'spoony' things, do i wait till she can hold a spoon, but how does she learn that if using fingers? If i spoonfeed her things like that will it confuse her re BLW? Or do i load up the spoon and give her one end and let her get on with it? Last Q! Sweetcorn & peas - do you mush them up or give as they are, and bubbs will pick up when pincer grip kicks in? Sorry if dumbass questions!!! DH keeps bugging me...

[DizzyBint]

pour soup onto bread, or dip bread into it, then let dd pick up soggy bread.

weetabix etc can be made quite thick, ie not loads of milk so baby can pick it up. think of it like thick mashed potato.

and yes, another good option is to get a load of spoons, load them up, let her do her worst. or have 2 spoons, one you load up for her while she plays with the other, then you both swap.

don't worry about her learning to use a spoon, with blw she'll develop hand eye co ordination very quickly and then utensils are an easy next step. dd is 8 months now and can take a fork of food and eat it. i load it up, she can shovel it into her mouth.

[caspercat]

Hi. BLW going really well. LO had a broccoli beard today, and loves roasted courgette! Will be 6mths next week and can't wait to try new things, but as ever have a few qs. i.e, when giving Weetabix & milk, do i just make it up and plop a spoonful on the tray in front of her and let her play with it and hope some goes in her mouth? Same for rice pudding, soups etc? Also i presume she'll still need to learn how to use a spoon, so if want to give her yoghurt etc, if i spoon feed her is that taking a backward step? Do i load the spoon up and give it to her? Feel like i need a DVD instruction manual!!

[AitchTwoOh]

casper, the thinking is that if they can do BLW, then they are probably ready internally. no-one's had an endoscope down there to check, though, of course, but that's the theory.
if the pork will have had salt rubbed into it and then the juices will have basted the roasties, then you could always give the roastie a quick rinse before handing it over. someitmes i do that ust to cool things down quicker anyway. enjoy your lunch.

[caspercat]

Thanks for that. Didn't want her to miss out on her 1st scrummy roastie, just thought pork might be a bit salty. Best keep the crackling for DH though

[AitchTwoOh]

it'll be fine. delicious, in fact.

[caspercat]

Hi all. Quick silly Q. Is it ok to give bubs veggies/potatoes that have been roasted around meat (pork roast today) as long as no extra salt has been added? And olive oil used? Or is it best to cook her separate ones? NB she's 25wks old, so not quite the magic 6 months yet, but coping with BLW v well xxx

[AitchTwoOhOhSeven]

yeah, it takes them a while to get that pincer grip thing down. funnily enough, dd now likes having her food cut up bite-sized ao everything is subject to change..

[Plibble]

Aitch - They do give some finger food at snack time (just chopped fruit really), but Mini-Plibble is not so good at picking little bits up, so I will be asking them to provide bigger pieces for her. There was a thread about BLW at nursery somewhere on here a few weeks ago, so I shall have a search for that in a sec.
DD ate a large peach today and growled at me at one point when I tried to take it away - very funny! I took a lot of photos as proof that she doesn't need mush for the MIL!

[DizzyBint]

aww bless you caspercat!

plibble- my dd started nursery last week. they're fine with blw. she has what the call toddler food rather than lumpy puree like the other babies in her room. we've agreed if the toddler food for that day isn't suitable, ie soup, then they make her a sandwich. so far so good! she had tuna wrap on monday, beans on toast thursday and on friday she had sandwiches. also, when they would be giving yoghurts, dd has fruit, same as the toddlers. i did wonder how she'd feel being the odd baby out, but i figure they'll all catch up in the end, so it's only for a few months. she doesn't seem bothered! she's 8 months now.

[AitchTwoOhOhSeven]

it might all be plain sailing, you know...
and if you want to poach the pears, poach 'em. do whatever you feel comfortable with, honestly. i didn't bother, but then my prime reason for doing blw was laziness.

Plibble, have you asked the nursery about finger food? maybe print off some info about it for them? it's much less labour-intensive for the nursery, and you are paying them, so it's worth asking them to try i think. plenty of other people have... you could maybe start a thread asking how they broached the subject?

[caspercat]

Just wanted to say, DIZZYBINT, thanks loads for pointing me towards BLW. i know it's early days, but dd taken to it brilliantly. At such a young age she is already a very strong willed, contrary baby (but obviously wouldn't have her any other way!), and i could foresee probs with the lumps issue (post purees) and it def suits her to find out for herself. Have already become quite evangelical about BLW with friends (they all think i'm mad). I know it won't all be plain sailing, but we'll have fun getting there xxxx

[Plibble]

I can't do BLW because DD is off to nursery and they won't be able to cope there, but I didn't want her turning into one of those kids who refuse lumps. I also didn't want to spoon in little lumps because it seemed to me that they might surprise her by being in her mouth all of a sudden. So for the last 3 days I have given banana (cut up as described on Aitch's blog), papaya (similarly chopped), pear (no skin as she was finding it rather too hard to cope with) and strips of chicken (which she sucked and then threw at me). Already the gagging has lessened and she smiles right away after each grimace. Personally I think it helps to act like it is nothing as I have met people who suspect their children of gagging for attention. I also let her have a spoon if we're eating puree (cue parsnip in the eye), but at least she seems to be having fun eating for the first time since we started weaning.

[deaconblue]

Ds hated bumbo and highchair until I gave him washable toys to play with while he was eating. That might help. We then moved on to finger foods. He went off eating after about 4 weeks of weaning though and I jsut went right back to the things he's liked at first like pear and carrot, and then started building up again.

[caspercat]

Re : soft pears! Is there a particular type to buy or do u just use v ripe ones? Could i quickly poach them?