BLW

[notanothernamechangebabes]

Begins in a week!!!

I'm a bit nervous- no idea why- maybe because he was quite a chokey newborn? Because I think he won't want to breastfeed any more (daft I know)...

I've read the gill rapley book- but wonder what tips you guys have for the early days?

Awww I remember that. Trust me, dc will still want to bf! My best advice is take it slowly, don't underestimate them but also understand it can take weeks, even months, before they start eating. Everybody will look at you like you're an alien when you say you don't give purée and the more effort you make towards making something the less likely they are to eat it.

Best thing we did is just gave our daughter exactly what we were eating and adjusted our diet accordingly.

Also first aid course if you can, for reassurance rather than requirement.

Thanks glitter - Yeah my mum in particular is a bit ... but then she was about breastfeeding at first, and now she's like the patron saint of BFers.

I was thinking of starting with the ubiquitous steamed broccoli, and maybe like a rough sweet potato mash? (For him to scoop, not be spoon fed). I have an afternoon mango most days (don't ask) so he can obviously get in on that too.

Actually just thought... are mashes not a good idea until they're a bit more on the ball with totally solid textures?

It's entirely up to you. Some start of with softer foods for their own nerves but you can just go in whole hog. Babies have a brilliant gag reflex (though it'll no doubt scare the pants off you a few times) and blw encouraged learning to chew before swallowing. Purée and mashed food etc tend to be easily swallowed which can be counter intuitive but that is how some food is served so totally reasonable.

My daughter's first "meal" was fajitas though not all put together :)

Mash is fine. I did a mix of solid food and softer food such as shephards pie its worked well for us.

Pasta is good also as they can hold it well

Pasta is great because it's easy to hold. Likewise a bit of toast or bagel with butter (I use unsalted) and maybe a but if smooth peanut butter.

If you're giving chunks of soft stuff like like banana or avocado or whatever then I find 'roughing it up' a bit round the edges helps make it easier to grasp.

Blw is brilliant my lo is 16 months and will eat everything! As someone said babies gag reflexes are really good. My lo never chocked on anything when they were little and starting blw. The first thing they chocked on was a baby crisp and they were about 12 months. They were being cocky pit a crisp in and then had a drink. But they coughed it out and all was well.

The only thing was that they always wanted to do it themselves. Like a yogurt they didn't like to be spoon fed as they'd started doing it themselves. Got very messy but after a little while they would let someone spoon feed them. Good luck and I hope you have a dog for hoovering

My 8 month old is blw and I love it! Wish I'd done it with my first who was on purees until 13 months and now will only eat a total of 8 things.

It's quite scary in the beginning but mine worked it out really quickly. He eats anything and manages to get loads down!

Just remember that your baby doesn't know you want him to eat the food, so to him it's just another fun experience. So it might not look exactly like eating but your baby will be getting loads from it, even if it takes a while for them to swallow anything.

So don't worry about food consumption, BF is for that in the early stages. And expect mess!

Make sure you're ok with the difference between gagging and choking. Choking is silent and needs you to act fast. Gagging looks scary but it's baby doing exactly what they need to so that they don't choke!

DD's first foods were steak and avocado - our BBQ tea after arriving on holiday! Have fun.

I'm a BLW fan and found some ppl were scared DS would choke so I had to hold firm at times. I believe starting this way and not going down the purée route has helped him learn how to feed himself with a spoon more easily too but I could be imagining that. DS is now 14 months as I just stopped BF'ing. It's exciting but messy - enjoy it, all the foods you mention sound good to me

Thanks for the support all! And excellent tips. I'm very excited to buy one of those crinkly edged knives to cut up his fruit and veg... possibly a bit too excited. Think I'm a frustrated 70s caterer. I'll be making carrot ribbon roses and sides of salmon with cucumber scales before long...

Can't get to a first aid class - but have earmarked several vids on "what to do when your baby is choking" to watch with DP. The teddy that was baby stand-in for baby carrier simulations may find himself being resuscitated this weekend

We do indeed have a very hairy, smelly, permanently starving lurcher, who is on vacuum duty standby (we live on a narrowboat, so don't actually have a real live Hoover ... )