Confused re BLW!

[Paris2019]

DS is 5 months and I'm pretty sure I want to gp down the blw route from 6 months. I'm reading the book by Gill Rapley and have done other research and yet... I'm still a bit confused re exactly what form food should be in?! In some places I've read that you would just half-peel a banana, for example, and give it to baby to explore like that; in other places I've read that you'd cut it lengthways into finger-sized sticks. Same with a whole strawberry... would you just give it to baby to suck on/gnaw whole, or cut it into quarters??

With textures... does everything have to be squishy? Or could you give slices of apple as it comes, for example?!

I think my confusion is that the concept seems to be around giving baby food that you don't have to specially prepare, and yet, some sources talk about how best to prepare specific foods.

Am I just over-thinking this?!

Got to be short but I'd recommend a crinkle cutter for things like melon or they slide out of their hands like a bar or soap !

I started with puréed and mash veg to ensure baby was swallowing ok and got used to eating, then quickly moved onto sticks of steamed veg, soft fruit etc. Then added dairy, yoghurt, eggs, omelette slices, sticks of cheese, then bread (I removed hard crusts) crumpets and so on. Finally built into recipes like healthy breakfast muffins, eggy bites, mac&xheese balls, fishcakes etc. But all of that took a couple of months of building up.

Bananas I just give half to be honest. Apples would be too hard so you would need to poach slices. Just think finger foods, easily grabbable.

Strawberries - give whole as their pincer grip isn't developed enough to pick up yet.
Don't give Apple or carrot for a long while as it's a choking risk-you can grate apple.
The food needs to be able to be held in the Fiat with a bit sticking out.
Avocado, banana, mango-you can leave a bit of skin on (washed) for grip.
I made little veg pancakes and fritters, served things on unsalted rice cakes/toast.
They quickly get the hang of things! Good luck.

Fist-not Fiat 😂

I just popped things on DD’s tray and let her crack on. She liked things she could swipe her hands in and kick off - so Greek yogurt and chopped fruit, porridge, scrambled eggs were all hits for breakfast.

They are surprisingly good at gumming, but you can steam fruit like apples if you want it a bit softer. Make sure you peel the apples because Dd used to gag on the skin and it was horrid.

Remember gagging is entirely normal, and whilst it’s horrible to watch they will be totally fine. You need to sit on your hands and let them work it out, you can make it worse by trying to help. Remember - loud and red let them go ahead, silent and blue they need help from you.

Food cut lengthways, easier to grasp, easier to get out of a throat. Most stuff you just let them go at it tbh. Both of mine just got what we were eating, just used baby stock and any salt was added to adult portions after it was plated up.

Food doesn't have to be squishy, you'd be surprised how strong those little gums are.

Thanks for your replies and advice! I can't wait to get going!

Second the crinkle cutter!

Just recently started and my understanding is that hard things like apple and carrot need to be steamed initially. This is so they are soft enough for toothless babies to gum and also because of they managed to snap the end off eg. a hard carrot stick it would be the perfect shape/size to be a choking risk. With firm fruit that wouldn't react well to steaming, like melon, you should cut it in a way to minimise choking risk (suggestion for melon is ruler-thin slices). I've just googled each fruit/veg before trying and found good suggestions online - there's a website called Solid Starts that seems to be good for this. Also, some will develop a decent pincer grip relatively soon - DD is just turned 7 months and can pick up fairly small chunks of things, though getting them into her mouth is a bit hit and miss!

OP, I see a PP mentioned them already but they didn't sell them enough. SOLID STARTS.

solidstarts.com/foods

^ It is a database of practically all foods. It goes into great detail of how to prepare each food for babies of different ages in the safest way. It is amazing. You can just search for a food and it tells you exactly what to do.

They also sell guides (I have them and they're good but you don't need them!) and have a really great instagram account where they showcase different babies and what they eat BLW style for dinner/breakfast etc every day, as well as what the founder feeds her own children. Great for inspo.

I really rate the Caroline Walker Trust weaning guide - you can download for free as a pdf and it has fecopies as well as pictures of what the food should look like. Just skip the puree pages.

Thanks all, those resources are sooooo helpful!!!