Baby-led weaning tips please!

[BeingATwatItsABingThing]

DD2 is 6mo now and I’m planning to start BLW with her this week. I’m desperate for food to go right this time. DD1(7) has massive food issues around textures and trying new things. She has a very limited diet. She started on purées for weaning and then meals with pasta, etc. She was quite good to begin with and tried everything and ate it all. She had a sickness bug at about a year old and she became really funny with food and it’s been awful since.

I’m planning to start with soft-cooked carrot sticks, apple, broccoli, sweet potato, parsnip and banana... But how quickly did you go from this to more formal meals?

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

Not going to try and give you advice myself but I would recommend following FeedEatSpeak and Newwaysnutrition on Instagram (if you use it!). They both have tons of advice on BLW and often do Q&A sessions too

Good luck 😊

Thanks @ChelseaCat. I’ll look into that.

DS2 was beautifully BL weaned, happily eating oranges, bananas, broccoli, pasta, and all foods a baby will eat. Today aged 7 he is picky, hates hard to chew things, only recently started to eat meat (chicken nuggets) vomited at the texture of banana, and existed on cheese sandwiches, brioche and biscoff. Won't touch cereals... you get the picture.

BLW is a myth when it comes to encouraging good eating habits.

My purely blw 4 year old is a picky eater now

Oh no! 😫

Just a positive story My 9 year old BLW baby eats most things. From around 7 months we have him what we were having but in hand sized chunks for him, so vegetable curry, roast, casseroles ect

Thanks @Chillychili

I hope DD2 doesn’t have the same issues around food.

Try using a crinkle cutter when you’re cutting fruit and veg. The ridges will make it easier to grip.
Make sure you have an easy-clean highchair with a wide tray. Or a highchair without a tray and bring it up to the table.
Don’t worry about plates or bowls when you start. The likelihood is it will end up on the floor anyway. Shower curtains are handy for putting on the floor under their highchair.
Discover the genius of fresh filled pasta.Takes 3 minutes to cook and its good to go!So many different flavours. And it freezes! So you can literally freeze it in bags and get out a few bits at a time. And just cook it from frozen for 5 mins instead of three.

Both mine did BLW and are amazingly good with food, I did not start weaning until 7 months which I know is contrary to most advice. They usually were given about 30 minutes per meal sometimes longer, if they ate one meal a day, until they were one I felt I was winning. I was very lazy and just gave them whatever was available. I also aimed to get in as many flavours and textures as possible and even though they were little sold it to them as a great culinary adventure. I still try to do this and explain the nutritional aspect of the meal, and where it comes from, farming methods etc. I think it works quite well.

Yesterday they ate guinea fowl poached in white wine and garlic with rosemary with peas, shallots, courgettes and new potatoes for supper they had curried green lentil soup, with spinach, carrots and green beans, tomato and cumin. They are 8 and 9 now.

Possibly it is just luck but I was much fussier at their age.

Also the mess was pretty horrendous, they frequently massaged food into their hair etc, but we had great bibs.

Mum2mum sleeved wonder bibs available on Amazon were brilliant I had about 8 and just washed them after use and they aren't uncomfy

@Fivemoreminutes1

Try using a crinkle cutter when you’re cutting fruit and veg. The ridges will make it easier to grip. Make sure you have an easy-clean highchair with a wide tray. Or a highchair without a tray and bring it up to the table. Don’t worry about plates or bowls when you start. The likelihood is it will end up on the floor anyway. Shower curtains are handy for putting on the floor under their highchair. Discover the genius of fresh filled pasta.Takes 3 minutes to cook and its good to go!So many different flavours. And it freezes! So you can literally freeze it in bags and get out a few bits at a time. And just cook it from frozen for 5 mins instead of three.

Thank you for this!

I put the carrot for DD2 in a bowl at lunch and she immediately dumped it out. That told me.

@TheWashingMachine

Both mine did BLW and are amazingly good with food, I did not start weaning until 7 months which I know is contrary to most advice. They usually were given about 30 minutes per meal sometimes longer, if they ate one meal a day, until they were one I felt I was winning. I was very lazy and just gave them whatever was available. I also aimed to get in as many flavours and textures as possible and even though they were little sold it to them as a great culinary adventure. I still try to do this and explain the nutritional aspect of the meal, and where it comes from, farming methods etc. I think it works quite well.

Yesterday they ate guinea fowl poached in white wine and garlic with rosemary with peas, shallots, courgettes and new potatoes for supper they had curried green lentil soup, with spinach, carrots and green beans, tomato and cumin. They are 8 and 9 now.

Possibly it is just luck but I was much fussier at their age.

This evening my DD1 ate a few mouthfuls of carrot! Nowhere near as exciting as the meal your DC ate but a big breakthrough for us.

Small steps.

Baby steps definitely. One new thing on her plate every day. Bribery is the way forward. If she manages to eat something new every day for a set amount of time, she gets £10. I’m not even ashamed!

@TheWashingMachine

Also the mess was pretty horrendous, they frequently massaged food into their hair etc, but we had great bibs.

Haha. I’ve just come on here looking for blw recipes and this made me chuckle. Tonight we had fish cakes massaged into the hair and dog and table. It’s cute.

I'm sure a lot of it is attitude. Try to include baby in family meals with the same food and allow them to explore the food. This mostly means let them throw and smash it around 😂 Always make sure there's a safe food when giving something they might not like and then don't offer anything else. Make mealtimes relaxing and fun, don't stress if baby doesn't eat anything sometimes. This should help make new foods exciting instead of scary