Aaaitch, oh aitch, put the baby down a minute, lovely as she is, VS and Scorpio need you!!

[VictorianSqualor]

So. That magical age has arrived.
Scorpiolette is nearly 24 weeks and Squalorite has just turned 24 weeks.

I'm all clued up on the baby gut 17-26 weeks thingy, and know what goes on blah-de-blah.

But we have a couple of questions.

Will they really not eat the food we give them if not ready? So does that mean we can start now?

We've both been reading the blog (shameless plug) but somewhere it says you didn't give babybear tomatoes, why is this?

Cheese? Can we give it grated?

[MerlinsBeard]

scorpio, i am a 3rd timer too and weaned all mine differently!

BabyMonster just has chip size chunks of whatever we are having if its ok for him (ie not takeaway/chocolate/honey) or he has rice cakes while i shovel some mashed something else in his mouth!

Thats not really BLW i know but i did think it was relevant. He is 7 months now and will DEF let me know if he doesn't want it.

[MerlinsBeard]

BabyMonster help[ed himself to cheesecake last night! I had left it too near to him and he grabbed a massive fistful! Funnily enough, he didn't waste a drop

[ruddynorah]

here's a good one

i'll stop looking now!

[MrsJamin]

yes fusili is the twisty one, it's good as the sauce gets between the twists e.g. tomatoey or cheesy sauce.

I'd do omelette rather than scrambled eggs as it holds together well and then you can put goodies in like peas, spinach, etc.

DS also gets a bit blotchy if he eats tomatoes when he's tired and wipes his hands on his face -but it doesn't linger.

I'd give it a go, VS and Scorpio1, just let them do all the work and stand well back to view the full splendour of the mess! It's great fun watching them try to work it out in the early days.

[ruddynorah]

you'll have to do apasta variety meal to see what shape goes down best! spaghetti is hilarious of course.

[scorpio1]

what about meat please? Im not a huge lover, but cottage pie, fish? How would you give meat - say a roast dinner, would you just offer veg for a while?

[ruddynorah]

meat is fine. just hand over a big piece, don't be tempted to chop it small or anything. they'll deal with it like the girl eating the apple at first.

cottage pie, fish pie yes fine. remember don't add salt. if you like it add it to your own serving.

a good idea is to keep things very chunky. so meat ball type things are easier for them to handle than loose mince. maybe don't break the mince up too much? same with fish, keep it chunky.

and only give a little portion to them...cos the mess is...well...you'll see

[cmotdibbler]

Yep - you can just plonk cottage pie or fish pie in front of them. A roast - big strip of thick meat and let them gum at it, potato, yorkie the lot. I treasure the memory of DS aged 6.5 months having steak, chip and salad with us in a pub. The looks he got ! It took him 45 minutes to finish his chunk of steak, in that he chewed and sucked and gummed it till all that was left was a grey bit of connective tissue

[VictorianSqualor]

I read about meat on the blog they say give big bits of it so they can suck and chew it, a fist sized piece.

Oh btw, cmot, I PMSL at 'I just chucked lumps of cheese at DS and he would gnaw at them.'

So the age thing?
Both mine and Scorpio's Dh/p's are going away at 26 weeks. Would it be safe to start in the next week or so or not?

[ExtraFancy]

Mine used to swallow fusilli pasta whole - he would suck them out of his fist! I've got a very cute video of it somewhere

He also likes being handed half a ripe peach, skin and all, to munch away on. And mini shredded wheats soaked in milk always disappear quickly!

[ruddynorah]

the idea is that they can't feed themselves until their body can handle digesting the food. so the beauty is you aren't by passing this by spoon feeding.

this happens around 26 weeks, sometimes sooner, sometimes later. personally if dh's are away i'd start when they come back (are we talking a week or so?), but no big deal if you do it sooner. you're what 24 weeks?

plus, to start with they can't eat much anyway, they mostly lick it etc. so not a problem really if early as you can't bypass their ability.

make sense?

[VictorianSqualor]

Yeah, DS is 24+ a couple, Scorpioette is 24 next week.

[cmotdibbler]

What can I say VS ? I really am a scummy mummy Since the little beggar realised that what we had, he could too (ie 6 months and 1 week), life began the pattern that has followed since of anyone else getting something to eat - DS points/waves/signs/now says 'I want it xxxx' until you hand it over. So you just skid your lunch across the table.

You haven't lived till you've sat with an under 2 who is dealing with a baby octopus out of your paella.

You can start chucking some food in front of them now (not feeding them, putting it in their hand or mouth) and see what they do with it. This is what Gill Rapleys research was after all

[scorpio1]

Mimi stole french bread (we were in france) and gummed it to death before ds1 told me she was eating....she seemed to love it, this was 2 weeks ago. Sort of think she may be ready to try?

[scorpio1]

24 tomorrow!

[LittleMyDancingForJoy]

we did use spoons for weetabix and yogurt, but we would fill the spoon and wave it at him, and he would grab it and shove it into his mouth, eye, ear etc, whatever occurred to him as the best place at the time...

he got very frustrated with yog and things like that otherwise, so we figured as he was in charge of the spoon it was ok.

[LittleMyDancingForJoy]

When DS was about 7 months he ate three enormous capers (not the little ones, the big huge berries) off my dad's plate without batting an eyelid. I had one and they blew my mouth off, he is clearly made of harder stuff than I.

[ruddynorah]

pour thick yoghurt on fruit. they'll eat it that way.

[Peachy]

Funnily eough, tmatoes and bas don't mix at all.... I know we had to early wea but still makes me as its in addition to the dairy, and also he's guten free until 3.

Should just give him lard and vtamin tablets really

I was told by an allergist that pear and lamb are the least allergen-likley foods to start with.

[Peachy]

Oh is this Gill Rapley? met her, studied BF with her.

Finaaally I get to name drop; tose celeb threads are useless for a somerset person LOL!

[VictorianSqualor]

I'm allergic to toms, well slightly allergic, or at least I was when a child.
Weirdly I can eat them cooked, never thought about it much.
Does these mean I should be more careful with ds2?

[VictorianSqualor]

Really Peachy? cool.

[Peachy]

Probably tbh, leave until a yaer I would suggest?

I get severe reactions to kiwi so bas doesn't get that (not that he could, i react by touch anyway)

[ruddynorah]

here she is..with a link to aitch's site

[Peachy]

Damn, I've got an e-mail for her (ex?) colleague- had I realised I'd have contacted before agreeing to early wean Bas. Ah well. Seems to be going OK this way and am starting to introduce the BLW thing on top of the puree (which is why I am here)