BLW - foods like shepherd's pie with their fingers. Really? I mean REALLY?!

[Tinkjon]

I know, I know, you can all chorus "it's messy - deal with it!" at me in unison... But I am just [shudder emoticon] at the thought!!

Hello again ladies, I have just been to boots and bought a stage 2 weaning bowl, it's bigger than the ones we've been using and apparently is non-slip (we'll see about that) and I'm gonna try some of this "let em get on with it". He's gonna have some fishfingers, mashed/boiled potatoes(not decided which yet), carrots, courgettes(fav) and maybe some beans. I'll give him a fork and spoona nd see what happens!
I might also do myself a snack to eat off his highchair tray and see if that helps him.

LOL at this thread- the mess, the mess of BLW! Someone should write a poem about it. In fact, I might.

Anyway, my solution to shepherds pie is dress them in a bin liner, take them to a restaurant and order it- then it's not you who has to clear it up!!!!!!!!!!

just flicked through and thought I'd add my tuppence worth in
case all this talk of mess is putting people off blw. my dd has been blw and very very tidy about it (after 2 v mess boys this is an eye opener). there was barely ever any mess and she learnt to use a spoon quick smart. I don't think she likes the mushy feeling on her fingers. so at 15 months she is competent with a spoon. ds2 is 4.5 years and still not half as tidy or good at eating porridge with a spoon.

it's messy - deal with it!

you wait till you have to start you dc potty training!

Tink'smum, it's too cold here to strip him off at the moment!

Nah, potty training's easy We just left DD until she was about 3 and a half and then she did it in a weekend... of course DS will be completely different and it will take me months

I started in the winter with no central heating. I guess it would depend on where you live and what your heating is like though. The other thing to do is use sleeved bibs.

you don't have to 'deal with it' of course

you could use a spoon to feed him stuff that you think is too messy and let him feed himself other stuff

guess what, how you feed him now won't make a blind bit of difference when he is an older toddler

Letting them do stuff for themselves is always a good thing but not at the expense of your sanity - or even at the expense of 15 minutes extra mess at the end of the day. Why bother?

(and potty training doesnt have to be messy if you leave it until they are ready)

God, what a mess! At least the dog got loads of food even if the baby didn't!
He didn't do too bad actually, he had 2 fishfingers, half a boiled potato, 4 steamed courgette fingers, 4 steamed carrot batons and a whole pear.

Well, at least that's what I gave him,most of it ended up on the floor and all over his jeans, but I've got a dog that's better than the hoover and a washing machine, so no biggie, although wouldn't want to go thru that at every meal time, maybe just dinner when we haven't got to go out again.

I made a fatal mistake and laughed at him when he missed his mouth so he started playing the throwing game which I'm really not happy about coz he was doing so well.
Tomorrow another day

well one of the main reasons i chose blw was so i could mn for 20 mins whilst he ate!!

asda do plastic sleeved pelican style bibs. they are fab.

Sounds like he did really well littleboyblue! Good for you! I gave my DS what I THOUGHT would be a reasonably clean dinner this eve- but he managed to get hold of my pint of water and pour it over everything, making it into one big slushy mess! Luckily my "3 tier protection system" (milk bib, soft plastic pelican bib and tea towel!!!) held fast and his dungarees came out clean. The same cannot be said for the floor but he loves watching me mop so of course found the whole thing a complete delight!

I just love watching him enjoy his food so much. But I agree with you- you can't do the messy stuff every day, save it for when you have the time, energy and sense of humour.

Absolutely yetihed. I bought him a brand new bowl today especially for our first time at a whole meal self feeding and the minute I put it down, he tipped it upside down and started chewing on the bowl!
It's just nice sometimes to try something different, glad I did it, but not doing it every day!

remember that it is a learning curve for them... and at some point they will learn how to feed themselves, no matter how long you delay it. i always felt that going through that curve when dd's throwing arm was weak was a good idea, tbh. and she's super neat now, never drops anything. apart from rice...

oh, and bowl is a hostage to fortune cos you're not holding onto it. just stick the food on the tray...

Think I will have to.
Coz I've always spoon fed him, I'm thinking now, is there a point in getting him used to having spoon in his mouth, to making him eat with fingers, to then make him eat with a spoon again. YKWIM?
Gosh, I'm so indecisive!!

it's not an all-or-nothing for you at this stage, just do what's convenient and easy for you. not spoon feeding him might (might) cause more cleaning but will let you enjoy your meal if everyone's eating together. other nights you might just want to get him to bed etc. don't stress about it is the main thing.

You're right Aitch, I know. We don't eat together as yet but should get him used to self-feeding for when we move and can use our table again!
It was nice coz he had fun with it, although he should have been eating it, was very funny watching him try to bash a courgette stick with a cube of potato!

it is cute, isn't it?

am about to start weaning - am clueless- what is wrong with spoons? i understand that blw is good but does that mean spoons are bad?

not really, in fact ime a lot of blwers do use spoons exactly for some of the foods mentioned here.

personally i think if you've got the message that food isn't something to get neurotic about, that milk will do the job for the most part until they're one and that you should let children eat at their own pace and not over-ride their satiety cues then you won't go far wrong with whatever weaning you're doing.

it's really the full-on 'puree this and whizz that' thing that's anathemic to BLW as so much of the experience of BLW comes down to touch and exploration, which is pretty much ruled out if everything is the same texture and on a plastic spoon, iykwim?

Spoons aren't bad. I think it has something to do with the fact that because babies have such a simple relationship with food, when they blw'd they can have what they want and how much they want.
I'm not gonna self-feed all the time coz I don't want him to forget how to have a spoon in his mouth. Thinking about blw with next dc.

although as it happens i never used spoons with dd, but that definitely wasn't because i was hopelessly subscribed to the no spoons bit of BLW, it was because i don't like blended smooth textures myself much (or yog) so they weren't on the menu. it's what suits you and your family at the end of the day.

I went to a birthday party the other day and the mum put a pot of houmous down on the blanket and my DD literally fed herself the whole thing by sticking her hand in the pot, ignoring the lovely carrot sticks and pitta bread . Fortunately the mum has seen my DD in action and was very cool about the houmous plastered all over her blanket (and me and DD!).

i'm going back to work p/t at 6 mths. ds won't take a bottle, will take a cup a bit. do you think mixing milk in a puree will be enough to get him through the day with his daddy? then bf from 4 o clock onwards?

have you tried an open cup?