Baby Led Weaning - Advice please!

[Amylearningaboutbaby]

Started BLW at 7mo, baby now 9mo (+ continuing with BF[.

1[ Baby often protests at being put in high chair from the start, otherwise protests after 10 mins or so being seated. Does this happen for others? How to get over this? Super tricky as she gets angry/ starts to cry which the BLW founder Gill Rapley recommends to avoid at mealtimes...

2[ Month 1of BLW went swimmingly. However I feel a strong slowdown / less food intake in during Month 2. Is this normal? Is the baby bored ? Interested in any advice to get her more patient and encourage her to taste things! I cant help but worry about food intake as I would like to wean off the breast at 12M and she needs to eat enough to compensate at 12M

Hey

It has been a few years for me but I will try:

1. is the high chair comfortable?
2. Could you sit her at the table next to you eat with her?
3. Could you put her on the floor and sit down to eat with her?

Point being they learn more from you modelling how to eat in front of them.

If I remember correctly, at the start the focus of BLW is not for nutrition so don't worry if she doesn't eat huge amounts at first.

I supplemented with milk and went back to work at 10 mo and 16 mo and while they were eating, milk was still very necessary.

More recent and useful advice will be along shortly I am sure.

Edited for typos and a lost paragraph.

She sits in the Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair - seems OK for comfort?

i sit with her at every meal and try to mirror/ model how to eat and enjoying every mouthful

I hadnt thought of the floor - however I wonder if she would move / crawl away like she does when changing her nappy ?!

Lol yes she would probably crawl away etc but I guess that kind of sums up my point:

BLW is not like “ok DD let’s sit down for lunch now and let’s eat now” and they just sit and eat. It takes ages to get to that stage.

The first stages are just giving them a chance to explore tastes textures and improving their co-ordination in picking things up off the plate / high chair tray table. It’s really not like a sit down meal.

Offer food from your plate as well if you are not in polite / easily offended company.

It takes a while for it to get to the stage where you serve a nutritious range of food in a variety of colours and textures and they just eat it.

I remember finding it so messy / unstructured and also wasteful.

Do small amounts. Offer the food rainbow. Let her explore. Chicken drumsticks are really good especially if teething. Equivalent available I am sure if you are vegetarian.

Buy a waterproof sheet to go under the high chair. This will also be useful later when you start doing paints /glue / slime / glitter so consider it an investment.

Best of luck.

If it’s any consolation I miss those days.

sr_nutrition on Instagram and/or weaning books by Charlotte Stirling-Reed

Do you have the cushion for the Tripp Trapp? My LO would scream as soon as I put her in the chair but is ok after I relented & bought the cushion

Do you have high chair toys? My DS needs to fidget with something (same when breastfeeding, boy does not sit still!!)

At 9 months plus, they really should be at this stage already. I don't know anyone who would still be faffing around so much after 3 months of weaning.

Personally, we did a combination of BLW and mashed up/chopped up food. He's 11 months now and he is also spoon fed. He always has a mix of bits to chew on and something with a spoon. Which sort of reflects real food, you would never just eat pieces, would you? Even adults have sauces and mashed potatoes and risottos.

I think the problem with pure BLW is that for some kids they might just see bits of food as play and you don't know how much they're eating really. He might be getting frustrated if he's hungry and not enough going in. By 9+ months you want them to be on 3 meals a day.

Oh and mine also grumbles when I try to put him in the high chair, same with the pram, car seat, anything to contain him. I have to bribe him with an interesting toy (which is usually my water bottle 😂) but then he's happy once he is in.

My 7month old would always scream and cry in the highchair when it had arm straps .. I have one of these
https://www.mamasandpapas.com/products/baby-bug-and-activity-tray-9868l7600?utm_term=41256673575077&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=uk+-+shopping+-+equipment+-+pmax+-+priority&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20506852032&gbraid=0AAAAADsD1FYzvWM-K6_3K7l76GDmlIBdH&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIj8iV_c-1jgMVgoRQBh35wTiAEAQYAyABEgJ9ifD_BwE and it straps round the waist.. instantly stopped the screaming.. not sure what he hated about the arms so much!

@BedtimeWorries889

Respectfully, I dont agree with you fully. I was still breastfeeding a lot at 9 months. Food was not my girls’ source of nutrition per se. I did offer 3 meals a day as you mentioned but it was really supplementedd with regular feeds.

I also did a mix of purees and food they could pick up. It wasn’t always eaten; hence why I said I found it very wasteful.

By 1 they were eating “properly” but not 9 months, in my case.