blw - what foods would you reccommend starting with?

[Sprogstersmum]

Am just about to start weaning dd2 - did purees with dd1 which worked fine but have been letting dd2 have bits off our plates for a week or so and she loves it so think blw might be better for her - what first foods would you reccommend as am a bit worried about her choking - she'll suck quite happily on a an apple quarter but it stresses me out!Carrots and banana seem like obvious choices but what else would you suggest? Thanks!

DS started on vegetables, toast, sandwiches (tuna) pasta

We have been doing blw for a week and she has had melon, carrot, apple, sweet potato, broccolli, cheese, toast, pear and other bits of fruit, veg and pasta (whatever we are having). I have just cut everything into big chip shapes and steamed veg for a bit longer than how we would eat it and just kept a close eye for big bits breaking off. The biggest hit by a long way has been brocolli which she has loved but she gives anything a bash and not even a gag let alone a choke so far. Oh and she was very impressed with a ripe pear (I only peeled half so it wasn't too slippy).

The blw book was quite good for explaining the difference between gagging and choking and just letting her get on with it has made me feel much more relaxed.

roasted veg sticks - butternut squash, sweet potato, courgette, etc in olive oil an rosemary, bake for an hour or so, soooo tasty pretty hard on the outside but soft on the inside.

MrsJamin, an hour? How big and on what temperature? In my oven they would be black!! I must be assuming something wrong...

Steamed/Roasted/Raw veg batons. Toast. Fruit batons or hunks.

I was really worried about weaning, but it ended up being totally hilarious. Following the BLW mode of things, the LOs are still getting their nutrients and main calories from milk. The food that you give them ends up being tasty toys. It's so neat when you see them realise that their new tow is edible! Such fun.

Don't worry about choking (though, yes, always have LO seated upright and always be with LO during mealtimes). The reason BLW works is because they can do this. I was convinced at first sight, and then very impressed as time went on as to how well my DD processed a bite and spat out anyting that was beyond what she could handle (a tougher part of a prune, for example). Seeing is believing!

Enjoy!

I started ds on toast, cooked veg sticks and occasionally strips of roast chicken, cheese that sort of thing. It has been going really well for us. Ds is 9 mo and wasn't really interested in food at 6 months though the HV kept on at us but now he is a fantastic eater, and pretty much eats whatever you put on his highchair tray. Favourites at the moment are toast (I swear he would live off toast of you let him), tomato and mascapone pasta, roast corgettes, grapes, raisins, trimmed green beans, scrambled egg and any kind of fruit or veg really. (One tip I have learned, to my expense, is to get a cheap cheap highchair- you can't beat the Ikea antilop because it is just so easy to clean. We started with a chicco monstrosity with lots of nooks and crannies for food to get wedged in!) I think blw is the business really, and ds has made it quite clear that he can feed himself, thank you very much, stubborn little bugger darling that he is

Thin no-salt rice cakes, broken into sticks, liberally spread with houmous/cream cheese/whatever were a favourite here. (Am I the only BLWer whose LO turns his nose up at broccoli?)

Bits of meat from stir fries, casseroles etc. go down a storm. Have a look at Aitch's babyledweaning.com blog and forum for more ideas - I never would have thought of porridge pancakes without it

SMK - you cut all your veg up to a similar size - chunky-chip size and shape. Put into roasting dish and coat in olive oil and rosemary makes them extra tasty. Put in oven - mediumish temperature and just check on them, perhaps they didn't take an hour (been a while since DS's weaning days). They kept in the fridge for a few days and were easy to take out with us too.

Steaming the veg is real easy too. You cook them 'til they're just past crunchy.

right
ds3 is 27 weeks (i think) and in the past week or so has hand lumpy purees of apple, sweet potato and banana
the whole BLW thing scares me as he even gags at purees!!!
oh he has nicvked tiny bits of toast and brocolli off nme t6oo

do the guidelines still count though at 6 months? introducuing stuff slowly

i made all the stuff for ds1 and 2 myself so that bit isnt new

(He might gag less doing blw, as with purees the little ones have to effectively suck the food to the back of their throats. With big chunky/chippy food, it starts at the front of their mouth and they control the movement of the food. It's as if they follow the whole plot of the bite rather than coming in at the climax.)

Re: gagging, give them a chance to work something out themselves. If you're certain they are stuck, hard slaps to the back are they way, according to the baby first aid class that I took. I never had to do that blw-ing.

i have just made roas sweet potato and parsnip chunks for ds3 but i cant stop eating them myself - there will be none left for him soon

i'd avoid apple, OP. it's the only think dd ever had a wee choke on. too hard, really, and too prone to breaking off in lumps. although some people stick them in the micro to steam them a bit.

Beef stew, smoked mackerel, fish pie

oh, also, if you're steaming/roasting some veg for the rest of the family, keep the leftovers in the fridge for the baby. either give them it cold or give it a few secs in the micro.

you know there are a lot of ingredients etc to look at on the www.babyledweaning.com site. (which just happens to be mine...)

It's official. DS3 OVES sucking on roasted sweet potato chips. I am sooo nervous about the whole thing though. He wants to cram the whole lot in his mouth at once!

yay!

I will have to make more though as ds1 and ds2 (and me) scoffed the rest of the cold ones

I ought to buy a high chair....

ikeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Aitch - as you are around, and at the risk of hijacking someone else's thread can I ask a few questions.....

With ds1 (weaned waaay to ealry now that I have more knowledge) and ds2 (weaned around 25 weeks and fully BF prior to that) I did the puree route, homemade, using fruit and veg then combining into recipes. But all spoon fed. I still have nightmares about ds1 chking (yes choking not gagging) on a breadstick). I really have a 'thing' about choking. Still cut up grapes for my 6.5 year old!

How can I get over this real fear!?

And is the BLW thing different only in that they pick up the food and feed themselves? FOr example, ds1 would have some fomrm of chicen casserole at 7 mmonths, but we would spoon feed him....##

Also I am used to tryign new food slowly then combining once they are used to each food in turn

gosh my typing is awful - sorry

and meat
when to introduce
amd how?

i don't do ikea anymore
not if I value my marriage