ok, so how do I REALLY start BLW?

[littlefrog]

DS is 25 weeks and a couple of days. I'd planned to wait till 26 weeks and then felt that I was being stupid fetishising the 26 week mark, and he is SO keen on the few bits of stuff I've given him that I feel that it's a good time.

we have a tripp trapp chair, and he sits up really nicely in it. So far I've held food out to him, and rather than taking it, he's stuck his little head out and chewed at whatever I've offered him. Tried bits of pear (v slippery) this morning, and when I put the piece down for him to pick up he just chased it round the table with his nose, hands held out behind him! Very sweet, but ineffective! Is it a bad idea to hold food out for him to peck at? How can I make holding easier? Any ideas for good easy first foods? Please advise!

The whole point of baby led weaning is that baby initiates it!!!!!
the usual sort of time is around the 8 - 10 month mark , just have them close when you're eating and you'll know the right time- it's the moment when a handful of your lunch disappears
If you don't feel comfortable with letting him tell you when he's ready then you really aren't relaxed enough to go the baby led route
Sorry to be so harsh, but 25 weeks is the time at which the usual sort of weaning is recommended so you're jumping the gun really.
lisa x

gosh, lisa, that was indeed a bit harsh! particularly as the point i was trying to make was that he is definitely really interested in food. I'm all for him initiating eating, but he's not going to get a chance to do so unless there's food around for him to try - and I'm really wary about having him on my lap/close enough to get my food, after a bad encounter with a hot bowl of soup...

anyway, i tried both bits of carrot and broccoli today (thank you, psychobabble, much easier for him than pear!). And rice cakes - not popular. Wasn't sure how much to steam it though. First bits I didn't steam much, and he got them into his mouth and sucked enthusiastically without anything coming off. So I put a couple of bits back and steamed them some more - he then bit off a big (2cm or so) bit of carrot and got it to the back of his mouth and coughed and spluttered and retched until he got it out again. So I'm guessing somewhere in between these two extremes would be good? Or stick to harder pieces?

have a look here, i've rather geekily detailed all my early blwing for your delight and delectation.
and i think yes, about pinkie finger sized is good. yours, not his. mind you, i used to steam the carrot to within an inch of its life.

try to see the retching etc today as a success... he didn't choke, he gagged quite spectacularly, but he didn't choke. that gag mechanism is mother nature's anti-gag mechanism. and for the record, my dd ate quite a lot from 6 months. sometimes an awful lot.

sorry, anti-choke mechanism.

oh, aitch, thank you! you've made me feel better, i was feeling as if i was going to fail horribly at this weaning thing and mess my poor wee boy up for life somehow...

Not sure why, but I'd been dreading weaning since before he was born, and was just beginning to get excited about it - he's so enthusiastic about it now that he's been given a few bits of food to play with, though if food is within nose reach he'd rather try to hoover it off the table than pick it up.

tomorrow i will try the steaming to mush technique and see what happens!

ps where on your blog do i find how you started out? I've not done so well at finding my way around, though I've found lots of really helpful stuff as I've wandered about!

sorry I was a bit mardy last night (minging SPD and a DH that thinks I'm laying it on)
What i kind of meant was that you don't need to sweat it - If he wants to play with food , mouth it and investigate it it's fine -if nothing goes down or he gags and spits it out then he possibly isn't as ready as he thinks he is and you shouldn't be bothered by it - by 8-9 months there'll be enough going down to call it eating
Lisa X

try pear with the skin on - much easier to hold onto (gum off the soft bit and chuck the skin on the floor). see also: peach, fig, roast squash, bread with a good crust. i've never had any success with carrots - either too hard to get a purchase on, or so soft they break off in scary big bits.

i am familiar with the hoovering technique. also licking yoghurt off the table.

He's doing fine if he's eating like a baby bird!! DD is 9 months, does eating, bird-feeding, and lots and lots of whizzing things around. As long as he is doing the nibbling, and you are offering stuff, it's fine to let him eat from your hand a bit.

You're doing great, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

now now now... 'failing'? are you kidding?

it's just food, that's all. it has it's social aspect but at the end of the day it's just fuel. you can't fail at fuel. kids don't grow because they eat, they eat because they grow. feed up a poodle and you don't get an alsation, you get a fat poodle.

just keep offering milk and food separately, and don't offer food when he's hungry imo, as it's more about the experience than appetite at this stage. and start here. i'm sorry the blog is such a mess, i'm trying to get it sorted out but it's grown and grown... which is great but blimey it's confusing.

I started with cucumber because that is what was on the table at the time - so not really too much thought gone into it!

Sometimes I hold out food and let him eat it from my hand - if we are out and there is no highchair for example

One thing littlefrog - we have Tripp Trapps but have put DS3 in an ordinary booster seat with tray as he finds it easier to eat from a tray rather than the table as he can "catch" the food at the edge

Would agree with the others that broccoli is very good for holding and chip shaped carots, sweet potato, parsnip etc.

DS3 now eats apple (with skin on) and peach very happily - after 6 weeks or so of BLW

Thank you everyone, really helpful and supportive advice! (sorry you're suffering so much Lisa, sounds horrible...)

Yes, I know that 'failing' at weaning sounds stupid, but for reasons I can't quite work out I've been really nervous about weaning since before DS arrived. Never worried much about breastfeeding, and we were super-lucky with that, and he's grown like a weed. But weaning... Part of the reason for wanting to do BLW actually is because of watching others spending hours making disgusting concoctions that nobody, least of all the baby, would eat, and then just throwing it all away.

Anyway, I really like the alsatian/poodle idea, and will keep that firmly in mind!

And he did get some broccoli in him yesterday, because I found it in his nappy this morning - I never thought I'd be so excited about bits in poo! This morning he had a go at some peach (he couldn't hold onto it for long, but kept chasing it round the table, and trying to get it in), and at lunchtime today had some artichoke! we were eating them, and he kept reaching for them. Not sure whether they're really that ideal for this stage, as there's such a lot of each 'leaf' that's inedible, but it was very easy for him to hold, and he worried away at it for quite some time. Not much enthusiasm for apple though - would you cook it a little at this stage? He's got no sign of teeth yet...

try just cutting the peach in half, leave the skin on, take the stone out. that leaves it nice a big to hold onto.

agree with norah, that's how we did peaches. apples, meh... well i'd steam them, they're pretty hard. tbh raw apple was our nemesis for a while. plenty of thoughts on that link.

Cauliflower florets are good. DS is 26 weeks and he's been having them for the last couple of weeks with some success (evidence in nappies!). Also broccoli, roasted squash, banana and avocado seem good.

Why didn't I think of cauliflower? Steamed broccoli seems to be a favourite, and so cauliflower should be nice and squishable as well!
He ate nearly a whole piece of steamed butternut squash yesterday evening, though we did have one nearly alarming choking moment - he went purple, and tears streamed down his poor little face. I think he'd actually got it under control, but I did pick him up and bang his back and tip him forwards, and (actually a fairly small) lump came out. Straight back for more, he didn't seem to find the experience traumatic!
What do people do for breakfast foods? So far I've just given him the same stuff, but he's not really eating anything at that time of day. Which isn't a problem, but I'm wondering whether it would be better to stop even offering food in the morning, or whether anyone has any good ideas of appealing morning foods?!
x

hi littlegrog -reading this with interest - what are you giving him now for brekky? do you know if porridge with oats (like quaker oats for example) is ok? with whole cow's milk? or ready brek? read somewhere about dry weetabix too.........anyone have any thoughts?

excuse typo - littleFrog!

porridge is great, gerbo. you can make it normally or like this

This is fun! I'm feeling much better about things, though I'm a bit cross with myself that we didn't wait until the 'magic' 6 months, which happens tomorrow - hurray!

the small bean had an amazing lunch and supper today (didn't give him breakfast) - he's eaten most of 3/4 of an avocado (ok, some smushed, but not nearly as much as I'd expected), 1/4 of a fresh fig - some of that with the skin on, and real bites of broccoli, potato, sweet potato, butternut squash, apple. Oh, and a finger of rice cake, which he held in his hand and worried at until he reached fingers and couldn't work out how to get at the bit inside his fist. Yes, there's more mess than I would have believed possible, but we're both enjoying it!

It does feel strange though, talking to fellow mummies about weaning (they all did it at a little less than 5 months), and hearing about all the puree-making. Not that I want to do that, but in a weird - good - way I feel left out!

that you're enjoying yourself
at alsatian typo.