Not finding BLW easier than puree. Am I missing something?

[HolidaysQueen]

I started off with DS wanting to do BLW because it sounded easier but also because I like the ideas behind it of him controlling his food intake and learning to feed himself, bite, chew etc from the start. Anyway, 3 weeks in I find I'm more naturally reaching for purees. It's not because he can't pick up food or eat it, but because I just don't find BLW easier. Have I just missed the point? As I understand it you give your baby what you eat, but my general diet doesn't seem very suitable for him.

Breakfast I usually have cereal (Special K at the moment) - too sugary for babies - followed by granary toast - as I understand it there is too much fibre in granary bread for babies. So I would end up having to do something different for him.

Lunch is pretty much always homemade soup - so he would have to be spoonfed - with a sandwich made from the aforementioned granary bread. Sometimes it's a bagel - I suppose he could have that right, but that's only the odd day?

Dinner - I always eat with DH when DS is in bed, and although it's always homemade it's usually some sort of stewy/casserole/curry/stir fry thing which again doesn't seem very BLW friendly as it requires cutlery even if I did save some for DS for the next day.

So I end up specially steaming some broccoli, cauli, carrots etc. for him and then find I don't want to do that fresh every meal so end up microwaving some frozen mixed veg which has a spooky texture. And that is so not the sort of thing I would eat so it is then more hassle and less nice than the food I would choose for him...

So I'm now finding purees easier - bulk make them in one evening and then can just defrost a couple of cubes from the freezer. I try to follow some sort of BLW principles - load the spoon and then just hand it to him and he does what he wants. Usually gets it in his mouth and eaten 50% of the time (about 90% of the time if it is prunes ), the rest of the time it is played with, thrown on the floor etc. which I don't mind. And then when he shows signs of wanting to stop I just don't load the spoon any more and I don't do any tricking him into eating or shovelling it in his mouth etc.

So I'm struggling with making BLW work for us without it being either extra hassle or having to change what I eat as that then seems to be missing the point.

Any ideas?

Surely it's fine to do a mix?

I let our DSs help themselves to anything we were eating if they fancied it from 6 mths (which once meant fish & chips!).

But I certainly did purées too and still do occasionally if I think DS2 (20mths) won't eat our dinner (he won't eat meat so I blend it with sth else).

It's also handy to sneak some veg in that they are not keen on (neither of mine were spontaneously grabbing for the cauliflower at that age - both eat plenty of veg and fruit now though.

When DS first started I adjusted what I ate a bit. Lunchtime I'd do something suitable for him, often along the bread and cheese, sticks of cucumber lines, and eat more or less the same myself. So in your situation I'd have ditched the granary bread tbh, not much of a hardship surely and a very small adjustment to make things a lot easier?

DS loves stew. He eats the chunks of veg and meat with his hands, any more gooey bits he does with a spoon, we used to hand it to him at that age obviously.

For his tea I have various meals pre-prepared in the freezer, usually smaller portions of stuff I've made for us - lasagne, risotto, shep pie or whatever, so I get that out in the morning then when meal time comes, I microwave some fresh veg for him, takes literally 2 mins, just cut up into batons or small chunks, bung in a tupperware with a bit of water, lid on loosely, 2 mins, bob's your uncle.

so if i do something like a shepherd's pie, do i just put it in front of him and let him grab fistfuls of the stuff? i was sort of under the impression that it needs to all be the chip shape type food.

i guess i could ditch the granary, although i love it and kind of dislike white bread (i'm like a fussy 5 year old, me!)

can i give him raw veggies or do they need to be cooked at this age? e.g. red pepper, carrots? i'm doing stir fry tonight for me and DH so could chop veggies in advance and give DS some for tea but i guess i'd need to get the steamer out at least, wouldn't I?

thanks for the quick responses! we're off out for lunch so he'll be eating off my plate at lunchtime for definite it's more the stuff at home that's a problem! I might have to stick with puree for breakfast though as he adores prunes and porridge

I was like you - found BLW more hassle than mashing.

Weaning is a short-lived thing. As long as they get a variety of tastes and textures on a regular basis, I don't think it matters much how you do it.

oh, and one final question - he's 6 mo so I assume pretty much nothing is off limits. Not yet tried any protein, but i assume with BLW that I could give him roast beef on Sunday even if I haven't tried him with any other protein things first...

I found that the only way to get meat into them is to puree it. They need it to for protein and iron. Fish is OK but meet is just too chewy for gums. You need molars for meet and raw veg imo. Combining purees with finger food gives you the best of both. I think you're doing really well.

Yep handfuls of shep pie yum! Only chip shaped food too restrictive I find.

DS has always had raw pepper, can't remember earliest age, but generally have always steamed (in microwave) all veg, it's virtually no more effort than raw.

Absolutely roast beef, that was one of DS's favourites early on, especially with an Aunt Bessies yorkshire pudding.

Guidelines say lots of stuff is off limits until they are 1 e.g. soft eggs, wheat, strawberries, kiwi, chocolate etc.
I'm not sure how many people avoid wheat that long but I guess if there was a history of coeliac you would. We gave
ours all of the above before they were 1

Do whatever feels easiest for you and your ds.

Fwiw I won't buy white bread so both of mine have been weaned onto wholemeal/granary/seeded bread and brown rice and pasta with no obvious ill effects.

Just to say you're doing fine, I think being laid back about it is more important than anything.

Wheat is fine from 6 months as are all fruit and veg (unless specific allergy concerns). Peanuts are off limits though

I would be surprised if Speacial K has more sugar than Weetabix (which is pretty sugary). And I too gave lots of wholemeal bread - it's not like he ate so much of it it was a problem!

Also, they don't need meat for protein. All they need for nourishment should be coming from milk (breast or formula) at this stage. Until 1 year you can relax and enjoy because it's about learning, not about nutrition. Of course, the healthier the food they get used to at this age, the healthier the food they'll get accustomed to (in theory ..!).

No need to stick with chip-shaped stuff. Had never heard that too muhc fibre could be a problem, dd sucked on wholewheat bread from 6 months, it seemed fine. And clearly they're all different, but dd loved meat from the beginning - she'd just hold a chunk and gum it to death. It did take her a while, but also kept her occupied.

Am also finding weaning a bit awkward, i give ds crusts which he adores but that is all he actually eats but then i give whatever bread we have. He is only interested in eating other peoples food!

I do think you will need to buy a baby friendly cereal, when i weaned dd we started and she has the choice of weatabix, shredded wheat, porridge or now she is two cornflakes. As they will continue to eat this cereal when sucessfully weaned.

Soup should be ok in a few weeks so ride it out, strain out some lumps (before pureeing if necessary) add pasta to soup?

roast beef fine, he will probs suck and chew for AGES so at least you can eat

HQ - [noolia waves from march thread]. Just to say that I could have written exactly the same as you. I wanted to do blw but it turns out that what we eat isn't really suitable, so like you I'm doing a mixture. Porridge for breakie, puree + finger food for lunch and toast + fruit for supper. I've come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter if this method has no name as she hardly swallows anything but seems to be enjoying it!

weatabix sugary? i always picked it as lowest sugar, are you thinking of weetos or something else?

according to the sites listed weetabix is 4.4g sugar/100g and special k 17g sugar/100g

obv baby wouldnt consume 100g either

www.kelloggs.co.uk/specialk/products/Cereal/Special_K.aspx
www.weetabix.co.uk/brands/weetabix/weetabix/

sorry post is a mess, must attend to children now

I think that strawberries, wheat, and so on are fine if you have no reason to think your child might be allergic. DS has had strawberries, wheat, dairy, citrus - no food allergies in the family, and no problems with him.

I really sympathise with what you're saying though, because I also hit the problem of 'give him some of what you're having'. We eat our supper after feeding DS and putting him to bed, so supper with him isn't an option. You could, as was suggested to me, save some leftovers from the evening before. For lunch I was giving him roasted root veg and fruit and then some new stuff like cheese sticks, or pitta toast, or bits of roast chicken (fray the chunks at the end, and they can gum it off) but I felt in a bit of a root veg rut! So I'm making an effort to cook something we can both eat. We had frittata the day before yesterday (eggs - he wasn't that impressed, sadly) and cheese on toast yesterday, which he loved. Today - maybe pesto pasta?

I think once it's up and running - and maybe once ds has teeth! - it'll be second nature and a lot easier for us. Suspect it takes a couple of months, though. IME, it's not easier than purees, just different.

Nothing wrong with purees/lumpy spoon fed food. Much better to be eating what you are eating and he will learn to spoon feed himself quite quickly. Nothing wrong with porridge, soup, stews etc esp if homemade - in fact what could be better? BLW made-up nonsense as he will have finger food as a normal part of an otherwise spoon-fed diet anyway - it's not an either / or situation.

If you're having soup at lunchtime, try soaking bread in the soup for him to pick up. My baby loves this. And then he could eat the sandwich fillings without the sandwich, or, if you have a spreadable filling (eg cream cheese, ripe avocado, nut butter) just make him a sandwich and squash it down so it doesn't fall apart when he picks it up.

For evening meals, it's surprising what they can pick up themselves. Shepherd's pie is a favourite here, pasta (fusilli is good), baked potato with various fillings etc etc.
Just serve up whatever you're having -if he struggles there's usually a way to make it easier to pick up.
HTH

I guess it's horses for courses. 6 month old ds won't entertain the idea of picking anything up! Therefore I end up shovelling puree into his mouth However, I always give him something - piece of toast, broccoli floret etc - on his tray, in the hope that some day it will happen!

Thank you guys - some really helpful suggestions! I guess I have always expected I'll end up somewhere in between - don't have a 'philosophical' problem with purees, just with forcing it down a baby if they don't want it! - but was finding that I was veering towards just purees as finger food seemed so difficult/boring somehow. Toast/pasta was off limits until this week as we started him at 23 weeks and he has just turned 6 months. Still not sure on that anyway - my dad is coeliac and I'm getting conflicted advice on whether it is appropriate to introduce wheat (coeliac society says I should but just go slowly, others seems to wait until 12 months). But that's a whole other topic I'm about to start...

It's been 50:50 today - plum, peach and porridge mush for breakfast then we shared a banana on the train this afternoon

I think we'll stick with our puree for breakfast - pureed fruit and porridge is something I could imagine eating myself so may start doing that for both of us (healthier than Special K for me!) and carry on with giving him that on a spoon - but then try and get a bit more creative with lunches and dinners.

You need ricecakes in your life

My problem was always stopping myself from devouring half the packet along with the obligatory hummous or full fat Philly ...

HolidaysQueen, my DH is coeliac and diabetic and we were initially planning to delay gluten introduction. But then I read a study suggesting that pre 4 months and post 7 months introduction increased the risk. I think we gave gluten at around 6.5 months IIRC.
I'll see if I can find it for you.
Your approach sounds excellent, wish mine would entertain the idea of spoon feeding occasionally as I'd love him to have porridge for breakfast.

sorry if this has been covered before, but is the salt content of some of these food not too high? i remember being careful not to give dc1 food with salt in it until he was 1. i'd love to do blw with dc2, but am worried about too much salt in things like bread, soups, stews, etc? am i being silly?

it's the same as anything else with children and food, rr, if it's shop-bought it probably will be salty and if it's home made it's got as much salt as you put in it.
cos i made all our food (more or less didn't smoke my own ham obv ) i wasn't fussed about her having bread and cheese for lunch. me and dh could have salted the rest of our food at the table if we wanted to.

i've been thinking about this last night and this morning and with your ideas i'm feeling much more geared up for the idea of BLW so thank you all e.g. I made DS some mashed up fish stew on Tuesday but as it is the perfect texture for fish cakes I may just make it into those and bake them so he can have a go himself rather than with spoon. I guess I'd just got caught up in the "it must be chip shaped" idea so was finding it all a bit difficult and limiting.

we stuck with porridge this morning as it's a big favourite - he ate it all himself from the spoon (when it didn't go in his eye or on the floor ) so i gave him a chunk of banana afterwards. It quickly became very slippery and he had great fun trying to pick it up as it slid around his tray

lavendermist - if you have that study readily available that would be great, but don't go out of your way. i can google it - good to know though. i figured the coeliac society advice seemed sensible (don't delay introducing gluten but then take it steadily) and you've confirmed that.

robin - you aren't being silly - the salt issue is a really good point with the whole BLW thing as it could be dead easy to give a DC too much salt when handing over your own food as you wouldn't necessarily think about it, whereas with puree it is sort of naturally controlled as you prepare that food consciously for the baby so would exclude salt. As aitch says though, if you cook a lot from scratch at home then you can easily eliminate all salt. As most of my soups, casseroles etc. are homemade anyway, it's easy for me to do that and then just add at the table if I want it myself. So as it's only the few 'processed' things we buy like bread, cheese and ham that we need to worry about for DS then we don't have to worry so much about them provided he eats plenty of other things as well IYSWIM. As an aside, I've just discovered Kallo Organic stock cubes - they do low salt versions in vegetable, chicken and beef which don't contain any added salt so ideal for baby food, puree or otherwise.