BLW ideas and Allergens

[deedol]

Hi there I've started my baby on baby led weaning and he loves it so far he's had banana, scrambled egg and sweet potato cut into chips. Has anyone got any other ideas of what I could give him for breakfast lunch and dinner? Also, is it ok to start meat, did you do it in finger sized pieces, do they need teeth to eat meat? The NHS website says this about allergens:

foods that contain gluten, including wheat, barley and rye

How did you introduce all of those into your baby's diet? What food did you give?

Sorry so many questions but anyone that could answer I would really appreciate it! TIA

I gave bread, weetabix, ready brek from 6 months. You can also give pasta which is wheat based

This is something you only worry about with your first honestly!

Providing they are six months you can literally give them anything. Try not to worry about allergens unless it's an issue in your family history.

Chicken is a good meat to start with as it shreds easily but any meat that's been slow cooked is also fine. One of mine used to love pulled pork, another liked sucking on beef chunks out of a slow cooked beef stew.

Cut bread soldiers (you can toast them if you want) for them to suck on. Anything that ban be cut into chip shapes e,g carrot, cucumber, cheese, actual chips etc

Give them a soft spoon and a yoghurt pot, they won't eat much but will have great fun trying.

Try not to get too hung up on salt, it's fine for them to have bits of family meals that have stock cubes in etc, as long as they aren't eating crisps and cheese all the rest of the day.

Okay thanks a lot because it says about introducing all the nuts and seeds and fish I thought blimey how am I going to introduce all this and continuously give it to LO!

@pastabest says everything I was going to say!

solidstarts.com/foods is an AMAZING resource. They have a data base of so many foods (and are always adding more) and they show you in brilliant detail how to most safely serve each food to your baby depending on age. They sell guides and stuff too which are also really good, but you don't really need more than using their free database (which they're bringing out as a free app soon!). They have a fantastic instagram account too which I love to follow for ideas. I'm always banging on about how good their website is. (If you have a low income, they will give you the guides for free if you email them).

For allergens, we have LOTS of allergies in our families so we were very careful. Best to give a new allergen in the morning rather than at dinner time. If you don't have a history of allergies in your family you really don't have to be as obsessive as I was over it. Just keep an eye on them and try to give them each one periodically, it doesn't have to be once a week forever and ever - just don't only give it to them once and assume they don't have an allergy.

• Just do plain toast (wheat) one day, then yoghurt (milk) a couple of days later, then eggs couple of days after that, then make some baby banana french toast (combines all three allergens), the do a nut butter on toast or mixed into yoghurt etc. You can combine the allergens once you've safely introduced them. I don't think we introduced all of the fish/shellfish/mustard etc until a good couple of months into weaning but you absolutely can if you want to.

• For the nuts/seeds, you can get lots of different nut and seed pastes/butters/oils which are great for drizzling or spreading thinly) onto other foods (nut butters are a huge chocking hazard when given in globs). Ground nuts and seeds are great too for adding to porridge or even on toast with soft cheese etc. Sesame seeds/oil is an important one as it is often an undiagnosed allergy.

Mince is quite good for early weaning - pasta bolognese was always popular. Bit messy

Such amazing advice thank you so so much!

My baby's first meal was chicken stir fry, as long as it's not ridiculously salty/ sugary stuff often, has honey in or you re giving them whole nuts they can have anything.
We ve no family history of allergens so went straight in with everything.

Breakfasts; Weetabix, toast, crumpets, bagels, pancakes,banana and eggy bread are what I ve switched between so far.
Lunches; hes loving pasta with a simple sauce, grilled cheese, omlettes, mashed potato that sort of thing.
Dinner; anything goes really, he's had anything from Thai curry to Bolognese to roast dinner. His favourite thing has been wrap pizzas so far.