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?

Thanks for your mouli responses - it did sound a bit like overkill. And now I've had time to read this thread it sounds really useful - plus the least confrontational and argumentative long thread on MN I've ever seen!

Well, my DS is 25wks and I have been forcing food into his gob for a couple of weeks now. Carrots, parsnips, swede, squash, apple, pear and banana are all a hit (although banana blocked him up and resulted in pellet poos!) Papaya is a no-no and sweet potato has not been a hit, bizarrely. Avocado later...

Most of you are obviously a couple of months into it now - did you have a routine from the beginning? Due to teething/growth spurt/cold, we are all over the shop now, mainly due to nights being so unpredictable. It sometimes feels impossible to find the time to cram in all the BFs, feeds, naps and nappy changes! I am still BFing five times a day (and 1-2 times a night). I feed him after the mid-morning feed and after the afternoon one. We don't have breakfast at the moment. Does it get easier/more predictable?!

Also, I know it's a thread in itself but have you found weaning has made any difference to sleep over a couple of months? DS eats and eats and still wakes up in the night - I have not had more than a 5 hour stretch of sleep since he was born and so cling to any hope that one day he might sleep through! I know that weaning is not the big answer but does it make a difference?

Thanks for your experience! (sorry if this is a bit long)

Know what you mean arthymum: there are not enough hours in the day to bf, feed, change nappies and nap. Sounds like you are doing well though! Anyway, from the early days we have had a routine of sorts, based on whatever time she gets up. Nap after 2 hours being up, that sort of thing. For me, weaning has really improved her sleep. DD is now 7.5 months and on 3 meals a day plus 4 bfs, and since a week or two, she sleeps from 7pm until 6:30/7am [still pinching myself in disbelief emoticon]. And now she can stay awake about 2.5 hours between naps, so we're down to 2 naps most days. She has slept so much better since she started sleeping on her tummy too. Do you do a feed around 11pm? DD stopped night feeds when I dropped the dreamfeed, strangely enough. I think waking her then somehow disrupted her sleep. Hope you do see some improvement once you're on 3 meals a day!

Anyway, I'm sure neenz will weigh in and tell you about protein at lunch, sweet potato at tea and lots of Oatibix! This thread has helped me a lot

Oh my reputation precedes me

Weaning made quite a difference to the lunch nap - they were only having 45 mins, now they have 2hrs. At night they were doing fine at first then it went terribly wrong (I think it started with a cold and then it was just bad habits as I was feeding them back to sleep every time). Now they are OK again but onyl after sleep training. I think at night it is as much to do with habit as hunger so it might be worth waiting a few weeks and then trying some sleep-training techniques such as cuddling instead of feeding, sitting by the cot or controlled crying. If he has never slept through then food is unlikely to be the magic cure, but you never know!

At first it is quite hard to fit everything in and yes you do start to get into the new routine eventually so just keep going. It can be really hard when they refuse stuff or go through phases were they don't seem to eat anything but if this happens just keep going and try not to get too down about it.

I can't believe sweet potato is not a hit! What a strange child .

Wait until 26wks to introduce protein (fish/meat) cos it can be a bit tough on the kidneys, but then you can add some fish or meat to his lunch meals. I always find that something stodgy like potato at tea time fills them up and helps them sleep. And Oatibix for dessert helps too!

I used to give lunch at 11am and tea at 5 or I found they got too tired.

Hi new here. Will be ready to start weaning LO soon. He's 5 months & have started making purees in preparation. So glad that arthyum asked the question about Moulis as I was contemplating buying one. I do have a stick blender & used that at first but decided to sieve veggies to be on the safe side. Once he's used to that I will just puree using the blender. So you have saved me some money!

Looking forward to having time to read the whole thread!

Well, the avocado went down okay, not a favourite but tolerated. And I mixed up sweet potato with parsnip for tea which was a big success (barking for more!) so I think the previous sp rejection must've been down to his cold. I agree, Neenz, anyone who doesn't like it must be bonkers.

Went to get him weighed today (two weeks ago his weight had plateaued) and he's put on 8oz in 2 weeks, so v pleased. All those night-time BFs must be doing something! The HV wasn't impressed that I wasn't giving him breakfast though (2 weeks in, give us a chance...)

He's never been a terrible sleeper and went through a great phase of 8-9 hours until 3/4 weeks ago when he went growth spurt crazy. So hopefully all will settle down again. Since he's been on solids he has had one night of ten hours so that's good (alas, I spent all night worrying if he was still alive rather than sleeping!) And I've already noticed that his naps are getting longer.

What do you do re bibs etc.? He usually has a regular bib and a muslin across his tummy and knees but everything ends in a right old mess. Any good tips?

Thanks everyone. Off to puree some plums!

Oh - mookickkick - never bother with the dreamfeed as it never did anything. He would always just wake a couple of hours later after more! So he's down at 7/7.30 until...whenever. Hence why I have never had a decent night's sleep. Dreamfeed, schmeamfeed...

hi deanna - and welcome what do you mean by sieving by the way? If you wait til 26 weeks you wont need to bother - on fact you wont need a smooth puree like the jars either - you can just start on mush - so pulse stuff but dont blend it til its runny.

and I agree about the weaning and sleep - if it helps thats great but its never been my experience - what helps is them knowing how to settle themselves when they come into a light sleep and having a 2 hour nap at lunch.

fwiw - I kept my dreamfeed until mine were sleeping through til 6 reliably.

Hi Giantkatestacks. I just made the puree by pushing the veg through a sieve so it was really smooth. I will use a blender from now on! I am not planning on starting for a few weeks as he's not 26 weeks yet but I like to be prepared. I have ice cubes of carrot, swede, potato, apple & butternut squash waiting for him!

hi all
can i ask when you know if they are ready for lunch? my 8 month old has been on solids for over a month now but we just do breakfast and tea/dinner . am trying to put off aslong as poss as we are out most days and it's so much easier to just bfeed him during the day!

oh i see Deanna - sorry for being dense he really will take to mush if thats what he gets first though honest.

lou - I think we were doing lunch by about 7 months - if you cant be arsed to muck about with purees when you're out just take an avocado or a banana maybe? We were out at a museum today (half term - god its exhausting) and I just fed dd some cream cheese finger sandwiches instead of a proper 'meal' lunch.

lou, we started with lunch so i can't really help you there! as your dc is 8 mo, you should be able to do finger foods?

arthymum, i think regular bibs are fine. i bought a plastic smock thing and a pelican bib at first, and dd tried to eat them! too much of a distraction over here. mind you, once dd starts feeding herself i expect a major mess!

ooh forgot to comment on the bibs - we dont bother. Our dd just pulls them off so we just let her get dirty - especially at dinner where she just goes in the bath straight after anyway.

We use the long sleeved fabric type bibs. We go through lots of bibs but rarely have to change DS's clothes. He hates putting them on though

We had our first gag/choke type incident tonight when some organix rusk got lodged. He managed to cough it up before I even got him out of the highchair but I got a real fright!

Nightmare, BDQ.

Bibs - we use the long sleeve ones and at lunch I put a plastic pelican bib on too because they take in quite a lot of water from their beakers now but spit a lot of it straight out again.

I did dried apricots today and DS sucked on it but nothing else and DD just ignored. Prunes were ignored by both!

Did you give the apricots whole neenz?

yes I'm not quite sure what to do with apricots as well - we 've always got some in the house cos DS likes them but whole and they're just too big surely. Yesterday I tried strips of them and some got chewed and eaten and a large wedge got gagged and shot out.

btw you should always try to find dried fruit without sulphur - more tricky then it seems grr.

Tesco sell dried apricots with no sulphur - in fruit and veg aisles. Do prunes have sulphur in or is it just the orange fruits?

I gave them the apricots whole. I gave them the prunes whole too but when they didn;t go for it I broke them in half, but they still didn;t go with it. I think the apricot was just too hard to chew, but he did seem to enjoy sucking on it.

They had salmon, butternut squash, sweet p and spinach for lunch and wolfed it. They are so much better now (especially DD who was more fussy before). I tend to just give them 'meat and two veg' for lunch (meat/fish plus potato and a green veg) and it seems to be working well.

Well, DS is wolfing back all the sweet root veg and fruits (plum was a yes this morning ) and so I was thinking about starting to try some of the less sweet veg from the weekend - ie cauli, broc, peas etc. Am I more likely to get the papaya-face for these? Is it better to mix them in with some BF milk and baby rice?

Am very entertained by his poos-of-many-colours at the moment!

BTW Neenztwinz - you sound so organised and with twins. Wow. (Arthymum surveys the chaos around her and picks apple puree or possibly vomit out of her hair...)

Arthymum, I have gina ford to thank for that . I am feeling a bit smug today actually because I have scrubbed the kitchen surfaces, cleaned the cooker top, cleaned the bathroom and given the floors a good mop. Usually I come on MN instead of doing these things . So I am sat in a sparkly kitchen while on MN instead of sitting in a load of mess and feeling guilty for being on MN!

WRT mixing veg with sweet veg, that's what I have always done. Either that or mix it with baby rice and milk (achieves the same effect - making it taste quite sweet). I have probably condemned my kids to a lifetime of only liking sweet-tasting things but I was happy to go for the easy option.

What toddler doesn't hate cauliflower and broccoli anyway? My mum used to always hide veg in pasta sauce etc and I don't mind having to do the same. I love all veg now so perhaps when they grow up they will too.

ahem [whispers] my ds has always eaten brocolli and caouliflower - he draws the line at sprouts though.

I think its best to try and get them to eat the veg without it being sweet tbh - you might just be surprised.

I think all the dried fruit have preservative apart from the organic jacks type ones.

Still havent tried the salmon - completely ran out of time at the weekend...

Second giving veg a try without disguising if too. DS always got on fine with it from the off.

Am I right in thinking the only problem with sulphur in dried fruit is in case it sets off asthma in susceptible babies? Our families are pretty allergen and asthma free so do we need to worry about that?

DS been doing more choking today. Very strange and more than a wee bit scary!

Veg are popular here too! I used to mix them in: broccoli with squash, peas and potato, avocado and banana. Now they go down undiluted. In fact, I think someone switched dd because today she cried when I offered sweet potato straight up!!! WTF

Oh, about the choking: very scary indeed. I think late in the day dd is too tired to chew, so I give her more 'difficult' things at breakfast and lunch.

Yes my dd will have a gagging episode every day and some food will come shooting out and she will have a look at it and then it will go back in again. It is horrible but I have never had proper choking yet. [touches mdf desk]

Am not sure about the dried fruit preservatives - I thought it was something else apart from the asthma but have had an exhausting day and cant google it right now - am heading for the sofa with a tea and a Twirl.