General chat thread for puree lovers!

[Neenztwinz]

Before I started weaning my twins, I read about BLW and thought it looked like an amazing idea.

When I tried it I found my darling LOs didn't pick up a single thing never mind get it into the mouths.

So now I puree food and spoonfeed them and they are eating massive amounts and loving it - and sleeping all night!

So I thought I'd start a thread for others who are doing the same as me - we can swap ideas for meals and say what works for us (ie what makes them sleep ).

I gave my twins four plums plus ebm and baby rice for breakfast and they have had a big bowl of sweet potato, haricot beans and brocolli for lunch. More of the same for tea (plus maybe some swede and parsnip). They are 6.5mths old.

What did yours eat today?

Yeah, I have some seriously sarky responses all ready for anybody who suggests BLW. My baby is 30 weeks and 14lb. 0th centile. NO BLW here, thank you!

thanks all for your tips, am going to give it a rest for a couple of days then revisit weaning.

Glad to see you haven't had any arsey BLWers come onto your thread yet, Essie, to tell you 'if only you did BLW your baby would not eat anything have this problem.'

Unfortunately it has not kicked off on MrsMagooo's thread - I was really itching for a fight. But all this BLW v puree stuff has made me think twice about coming on MN (never thought I'd say that). I just can't be arsed with it. I am not very well at the mo so maybe I am just a bit down in the dumps and don't have the energy for much at the mo never mind MN. Just a bit of a cold/sore throat but it is hard looking after the DTs when not on top form.

I just read neentwinz's post for BLW- well said- BLW amongst the general populus is totally unheard of !

Hi, I'm Maria & I'm a puree lover So can I join this thread please?

I haven't actually read anything on this thread but have bookmarked it ages ago. I'll read it bit by bit... but I'm impatient & wanted to join anyway! My boy is not yet exactly 6 months (he's 24 weeks) but I gave him his first taste of baby rice (with quite a bit of milk) 2 days ago & he seemed to love love love it, he even licked the spoon . So I'm really excited about gradually weaning him, & would love all the tips I can get.

Neenz: really sorry to hear you're not feeling well...

Yes, totally unheard of, Freakgeek! So it is really getting on my nerves that it is talked about on MN as some sort of utopia of weaning.

I am also getting annoyed at the comparison to BF v FF (a comparison I have made myself I might add) when it is nothing like that...BFing is proven to be better for babies, BLW is not proven.

FFing is fine for babies and I know it is a very upsetting topic for lots of people who had to FF for various reasons, but everyone would agree that BFing is the ideal and FFing comes a close second. That is not the case at all with BLW v purees. So why are we being made to feel like freaks and posting on our own little thread when what we are doing is totally normal!

Maria, how are you? I read your thread about your accident . I wanted to post but didn;t have time to read it all but I have been thinking of you since. How is the BFing going now, have you been able to carry on? How is he sleeping now?

Hi Neenz (sorry for hijacking the thread everyone)

I'm better, but I'll need extensive dental treatment (which will take months). I had to stop bf for 2 days but the breastfeeding has now started normally again!! It was so important to start again, it would be quite traumatic (on top of the accident) to have to stop bf. I do find that for the moment I offer a few more top-ups than I used to. I used to give only 1 bottle of formula at 11 pm, since DS was 4 and a half months, but since the accident it's slightly more. But I hope to reduce it again & keep my milk feeds breast milk only (or mostly) until DS is one or so. Anyway, that's my HOPE. Hope it happens...

By the way, Neenz, just wanted to say for all it's worth, I agree with all you say about BLW (I read your response in the other thread too). However many nice ideas there are in the BLW book (which I've bought & read) it seems to me all this is simply this, ideas, not proven research of any kind. But still, I accept that it works for many people (and I also plan to give finger food sooner than I would if I hadn't read the book). What really gets on my nerves (and I suppose it's what annoys you, too) is when people who are doing BLW respond to threads that have nothing to do with BLW & try to convince a puree-feeding mother to totally change her outlook, when in practice she's just asked a particular question about something specific.

Ok. Rant over. Speaking of particular questions (and since this is the puree thread... ) here's one. I am trying to follow (loosely & gradually) the Gina Ford weaning book, as well as the Annabel Karmel meal planner. So after a few days of baby rice at lunch, I plan to swap the baby rice for dinner time, and add pears at lunch. Question though. In the Gina Ford book it stresses that at this point the rice (or pear or whatever) needs to be given AFTER the milk, to make sure they're getting enough milk & not cutting down too quickly. However, my boy is very used to his bedtime routine (bath/boob/bed)... so I can't really imagine giving rice after the breastfeed, I think he would be too drowsy by then. How did you do it Neenz? And when did you start giving the dinner early (at 5, before the bath)?

Hi there Maria - thought you'd be here sooner or later

good luck with it all - will leave Neenz to answer your q about the timings - at the beginning of the thread there are lots of schedules for how we fitted in the bfs and the solids at 6 months...

I did/am doing a mix of finger foods and purees and its working really well for us...I would also say that the AK recipes are really ott and unneccessary if you're used to cooking - a chicken/lentil casserole/fish pie etc dont need to be all that hassle and involve stock and lots of arsing about as if you were doing a dinner party...

Mroning all. Just marking my spot.

Essie have you thought about going back to just one course for your DS and going back to making the food really bland and simple and building up again slowly? Is there any pattern to things that could be making him sick e.g. dairy etc? Maybe keep a food diary and see how he reacts in case there's a hidden pattern that you haven't hit upon yet? Sorry, you've probably tried all of the above, I've just been racking my brains to think of things that could be causing it as the amount of food you're giving doesn't seem a lot, however, I think he's quite little so maybe he cant eat as much as bigger babies the same age?

Maria - I'm kind of following a GF routine, but been using AK for recipes/inspiration. I'm not much of a cook so I'm kind of learning to cook with AK .

Anyway, to the routine... I kind of adapted both the AK meal planner and the GF weaning plan to suit me. So I started with lunch, then moved on to breakfast, and then dinner. With dinner, I started straight away at tea time and just skipped the post milk stage. I was really cautious and only gave him an ice cube or two's worth to start with. He now gets a full tommee tippee pot worth of puree, rice cake some nights, plus a yoghurt or fruit. He isn't finishing all of his bedtime milk now but he still has around 6oz and is getting his 600mls a day as per guidelines.

Another point about the AK meal planner - there are no fish or chicken meals given before 7 months, and you can give these from 6 months plus. We also have the AK 100 purees book and that has chicken/fish recipes in the 6-7 month section.

neenz I just ignore the threads about BLW and BF/FF that I know will upset me. I value the opinions of those that respect mine, both on MN and RL, over those that want to hammer home their one-sided views and tbh, am not really that interested in what some random online stranger that I'll never meet thinks of me.

LOL at AK being like cooking for a dinner party!

When I first did tea I bf at 5pm, then baby rice at 6 then bath and another bf at 7pm before bed. I suppose it depends if the last feed of the day is the proper tea feed or if it is just a top-up. For me it was just a top-up. I agree it would be wrong to add baby rice to the end of the bed routine.

BDQ (I think?), I use formula with Oatibix but HV said yesterday there is no need, should just use cow's milk cos they are getting enough vitamins and iron from the other food and drops I give them.

All wise words on BLw v purees - will try to ignore from now on not get annoyed!

Yeah, that was me neenz. I might start him with formula and then move on to cows milk. Am trying to watch that he doesn't drop too much formula at the mo.

Ethan wolfed down butternut squash, some sort of white fish(didn't translate to a fish I knew) and parsley sauce(home made without salt) for tea. Just thought someone else may fancy trying it.

Hi Maria. Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better. Was really upset to hear about your accident, you poor thing. DD is now 8mths and we have done the GF weaning guide. We started at 25 wks but followed her 6mth plan. I always did the baby rice before the bath. So I did, feed, baby rice, bath, stories, feed and then bed. After a few wks, can't remember when, we cut out the feed before the baby rice.

And also, the thought of giving food after the bath! Wait until you see the mess...

Hi, can i join you?

I "know" neenz.... not sure if i know anyone else here Hi anyhow.

My ds is 25 weeks - we started weaning on Sunday (sssssh).

I did purees with my dd who is now 5.5. Back then I was told 17 weeks (though hv still basically saying this at my clinic but that's another story) - considered blw with ds but was too scared.

So purees it is.

At the mo (all of 5 days in ) i'm convinced he'll never eat a veggie or never eat a lump in his life (over reacting, me? ) as he's grimaced / shuddered/ gagged/all of above/ delete as appropriate on each day at carrot and sweet poatato but wolfed down pear and banana.

He will get used to the different tastes etc won't he? I just forget - plus I think dd was less extreme in her reactions lol.

My advice is find something he likes (in our case sweet potato ) and just hide everything else in it! Bit more difficult when fruit is all be likes... but I put fish and meat and green veg etc with sweet potato, but they also eat Oatibix, yogurt and porridge without sweet potato!

I think be prepared for it to be hard for quite a while and try not to get demoralised. He will go through phases of eating loads and then turning his nose up at everything! It is horrible and depressing sometimes but try not to get bothered by it (easier said than done). By this time next year we'll have all forgotten our weaning woes (hopefully)

Hi Alittlebitshy, welcome to the thread (who am I to welcome people, I've just joined the thread myself ) We've also just started (DS is 24 weeks on sunday, so even a bit earlier than you)... so we're going relatively slowly, not just because we don't want to rush things, but also because I haven't bought any nice pears yet, which is the next thing I'm going to introduce (after the rice has been such a great success). Anyway, will chat more soon, as we're at the same stage more or less!

HI Maria - have seen you around lots on the bf boards. never get the time to post though....

hi alittlebitshy - we did the more savoury foods when my dd was a little bit hungrier - ie in the evening when you introduce dinner and that seemed to work well.

was the texture different between the pear/banana and veggies? did you put some bf/ff in with the veggies - that can make a difference then you just gradually lessen the amount.

neenztwinz - against my better judgement I posted on the other thread...I blame you...(or it could be my inability to keep my mouth shut ahem)

giantkate - sorry that sounds rude....
Today I mixed some baby rice and ebm with the carrot and he yummed it up. Success. Will keep doing that for a bit. thanks.

Hello everyone. Having a bit of a crisis of confidence with the weaning, but a bit too knackered to write it down just now. If I still feel the same tomorrow, I will be back to tell all about it and get some lovely MN reassurance.

oh no - sorry BDQ...

OK whats BLW?

baby led weaning - lots of info about it on other threads and a useful book by Gill Rapley...