BLW - I won't spoon feed him - can he spoon feed himself???

[SAEJ]

Hi,
Need some advice - am BLW my 6 month old. He is doing really well and enjoying carrots/rice cakes etc etc I want my LO to be able to have some gluten free porridge at breakfast but I do not want to spoon feed him - is it ok to just give hin a bowl full and let him eat it with fingers and a pre loqded spoon or should I avoid all soft food?

Also - any idea if/when it is ok to give him gluten free pasts?

No harm in trying - he will def make a mess!!! I would do the pre loaded spoon to start with.

He can have pasta now with or without gluten.

Soft food is fine! It's just about letting him do his thing. I gave my DD a loaded a spoon for yogurt and the like.

TBH at that age my DD couldn't really cope with porridge at it's normal consistency, I used to make porridge pancakes which worked a treat.

You just make the porridge extra thick and let it cool on a plate/in a shallow dish. It setts as it cools and you can serve it in slices.

Gluten is generally OK from 6 months, although you should get proper advice if there are serious alergies to gluten in the family.

It wasn't that DD couldn't handle eating soft stuff, she just wasn't skillful enough to grab it well and got frustrated...

yes do porridge pancakes, DS has them for breakfast every other day!

you could spoon feed it for him. Nothing wrong with helping if he doesn't have the motor co-ordination.

...and nothing wrong with letting him self feed if he does have the motor co-ordination.

DS just has extra-thick (not pancakes) porridge, and eats it with his hands, although that might be a bit difficult at 6mo. We tried pancakes, but he preferred being handed a loaded spoon at that age, same as with yoghurt. I held on to the spoon as well to keep it the right way up, but he guided it to his mouth etc. He made a right mess, but never mind!

I use loaded spoons so far as my dd never eats mushy stuff with her hands. If I just put a dollop in front of her she puts her hands through it and makes food art Loaded spoons work pretty well, it's surprising how much goes in. I use three and hand them to her one after the other and she usually drops the one she's got to grab the next. I hand them to her sort of sideways with the food pointing at her mouth - that way it usually goes in! The stickier the food the better.

i could never get the hang of porridge pancakes so i make a thick porridge with a good mix of all sorts of grains - millet flakes/quinoa/oats/rice flakes/coconut/wheatgerm/lecithin/sultanas then take teaspoons of it and roll it in coconut (like truffles). looks a bit odd but porridge truffles go down a treat with my twins. easy to pick up and no mess and are good for on the go (as long as you don't mind people's disgusted looks when you tell them they're porridge truffles!!

Thanks for this - am avoiding gluten as minor family history of probs with wheat. Have some quinoa porridge so will try to make this into pancakes! Lots of great suggestions though - am just not keen to spoon feed - trying to BLW without purees or spoon feeding at all - DS is doing fine on just milk and lots of food play so far but am certain he will love having a go at pancakes!

Thanks again!

If you add some rice porridge (or crushed rice cakes) to your quinoa porridge it's stickier and makes better pancakes IME.

thanks for pancakes idea - my 7mo DS has been struggling with a loaded spoon of rice porridge the last few days so will try this tomorrow!