BLW suggestions for keen to eat but not yet able 5 month old...

[LadySanders]

ds2 is 5 months - appears desperate to eat, he is currently sitting on my lap delightedly sucking my apple, has grabbed fine beans off my plate, takes big swoops with open mouth to get at my lunchtime sandwich... but he's net yet quite sitting up or able to hold the food reliably enough to eat it... tried slice of apple but he keeps dropping it and gets frustrated... carrot bit hard for his gums (maybe could lightly steam it???)

any suggestions of finger foods that he might have more luck with? i am blw virgin as ds1 is 7 and was reared on puree! from 14 weeks!

excuse erratic punctuation, typing one handed and covered in appley dribble...

I've just started BLW this week with roasted carrot, sweet potato and courgette - it makes them a bit tastier than steaming. Also I've given DS rice cakes and cucumber. I'm seeing it as 'practising eating' - he's not actually swallowed anything yet (I think!). Here's my list of foods that I've made from viewing other posts about first foods:

own bread
pitta bread
peach slices
philadelphia on something
broccoli
carrot
corguette
butternut squash
sweet potato
rice cakes
banana
mango
parsnip
shredded wheat
avocado
cucumber
melon
pepper
houmous

Wait til he's 6 months old anyway. But you know that.

do you want him to eat it? or just explore/play?

not bothered whether he eats it or not, he's excl b/f and is enormous so getting plenty of milk... just that he is clearly interested in food, and want to find things he can eat/explore without him getting too cross.

Its kind of the point of BLW that once they are capable of sitting and grabbing the food, transferring it to their mouth and eating it, that then is when they are ready to eat. So, you just wait until then really !

mrsjamin, thank you for helpful list

no gluten until 6 months, though. i'd be inclined to let him keep swooping and makig a hash of it, that's how he'll learn. personally i'd steer clear of the apple until he can scrape at the whole one with his teeth. i think apple's a bit chokey, tbh.

he seems ready imo. if i had waited until ds2 could sit he would still not have been weaned at 8 months!! thats my opinion though!

you could steam a carrot and give that to him? ds3 had a good old suck at ds2s pear y'day (I hads niped to the loo) and has dunked his hands in my soup (cold)and he is 5 months so we too are starting to think of weaning.

i suppose i'm not all that bothered about labelling it as BLW and rigidly following those "rules" - broadly speaking i like the concept of it, but since he is making it plain that he would like to try some food, i was looking for suggestions that didn't involve puree-ing and me spooning it in.

or, give him a soft spoon to chew on while he is on your lap. not food but will help him get things from hand to mouth

there aren't any rules to BLW... really. there are to weaning, however, or at least there are guidelines about what's safe to give when. and gluten is not good until 6 mos.

Somebody will say it so it might as well be me - babies this age are interested in everything -that doesn't mean that it's good for them or they are ready for it. I bet he's really interested in the steering wheel in the car too - but he's not old enough to drive!

well if he can pick it up and put it in his mouth he can eat it

So that goes for wax crayons, gravel, cat litter, chocolate buttons, cherries with stones in, chicken nuggets, crisps, toothpaste, toffees.........

agree with aitch and seeker... especiaally with no gluten before 6 months. let him keep swooping and grabbing and when he is sititng a bit better and able to get the food in and chew it, then you can let rip with all sorts !

DD like big florets of cauliflower and broccoli

erm seeker, it was a joke. Hence the

Sorry I should have deleted the items from my list that contained gluten, my DS was 6 MO last week so this is the list that I'm working from.