Weaning newbie - advice would be fab!

[pbo]

Ok, so DD is 18 weeks and I was planning on holding out til 6 months before weaning her but I reckon she's ready to try stuff now. For the last couple of weeks she stares at anyone eating near her, if I'm holding her while I'm eating she grabs and tries to shove it in her mouth and she just wants to be involved in anything food orientated. I've given her some baby rice for the last 3 days and she gets so excited for it!
I'd really like to try BLW but obviously at this age I can't be giving her chunky stuff so is rice the way forward at the mo? She can't sit unaided either.
Do I just try one small meal of cereal a day if she wants it? Or do I ignore her flailing arms and not give her any solids?
Anyone have any ideas/suggestions cos I have no idea what I'm doing with this whole weaning business!!

She's almost certainly not ready to eat now.

Sorry, but shes probably very interested in you driving and using lovely shiny knives, but you aren't going to hand those over ?

She'll be ready to eat much close to 6 months when she can sit unaided, grab food, convey it to her mouth, put it in, chew it and push it to the back of her mouth.

what signs of readines is she showing?

ability to sit unaided? loss of the tongue thrust reflex? good strong head control?

and what cmot has described

you are not helping by giving cereal now, milk , milk and more milk is all she needs

the whole point of BLW is hte baby is able to sit, grab , get food to their mouth, chew and swallow without you spooning in the food

PBO, whilst I think the above posts are harsh, I do tend to agree. My DS (14wks) also shows an interest when we eat (particularly crisps), he also tries to stick things in mouth, which I believe is just part of a development stage.

Not sure when I will be weaning DS, but it will be when milk fails to satisfy his hunger and his weight gains start to slow... hope this helps!

pbo I know it is exciting. But you really will be doing your DD a favour if you wait.

I will admit - I cheated slightly and started BLW at 23 weeks. I was so excited to start weaning and fed up of having to hold all my food out of DS' way, lol. But I'm really glad I held on for that long, I feel he can really get into food properly now and since I just did BLW - the only things which have gone into his mouth, he has put there - I know he was ready to start eating. Interestingly enough as well he is 26 weeks this weekend and it's only been over the past week or so he has been swallowing anything. I think our babies know when they are ready!

To help hold myself off, I bought the Baby Led Weaning book and read that, then went on a drive to replace most of the junk food in the house with nice healthy alternatives, stocked up on Boots baby stock cubes, and compiled some new recipes we could try which would be baby friendly. I started practising cooking without salt but still making our food taste nice.

It was even more difficult when my friends (DS is the youngest in our group) were all starting weaning, most of them early (all on purees) but now DS has started solids, he's overtaken them all as they are all still on purees.

Be a mean mummy and deny her the food for a few weeks!

I actually don't want to wean her - I like having her on just my milk cos when I see how much she's growing just on that it's awesome...so I really don't need convincing that I shouldn't wean her cos that would make me an awful mum, I just wondered whether some babies liked to start earlier. And she hates being in the car and hasn't noticed shiny knives - she honestly is obsessed by us eating.

If she's not sitting up unaided, she's not ready for solids, IMHO, despite whether she'd "like" to or not. It's too much of a choking hazard if they are not sitting up straight.

I weaned both of my boys (20y and 9y) earlier than 6 months, because that was the recommendation at the time, and I so wish that I hadn't and that the recommendations back then were 6 months.

It may not have anything to do with their asthma or allergies, but I will never know that.

It is so much better, and much more fun, if you wait until they can sit unaided and have a go at feeding themselves. Also you never have the problem of "introducing lumps", which made weaning my DD Sooooooooo much easier.

Well actually I'd disagree slightly with the sitting totally unaided point. My DS still can't sit unaided and he is 6 months - but he can now sit up straight in his booster chair, which he couldn't do 3 or 4 weeks ago (he would fall sideways).

Technically the theory of BLW is that, barring any developmental delays, babies will develop their handling skills at the same or a slower rate than their gut matures. You could sit a newborn in your lap and offer him a carrot stick but I doubt very much he would put it in his mouth and chew, let alone swallow! So the theory is if you have to spoon-feed them, they probably aren't ready. As long as she's sitting up straight I don't think there is any harm in letting her play with the food but I think she would just get frustrated and/or mash the food into everything but her mouth at this stage. I kept DS off food for ages, it seemed, when he clearly wanted to join in!

my dd1 didnt sit unaided till 8 and a hlaf months hv recommended weaning her from 5 months as not drinking much milk.
what to wean dd2 from 4 months
with dd1 used gfs weaning bk

my dd1 didnt sit unaided till 8 and a hlaf months hv recommended weaning her from 5 months as not drinking much milk.
what to wean dd2 from 4 months
with dd1 used gfs weaning bk

tink - do you mean you want to wean dd2 from 4 months?

pbo if you want you can give your DD a weaning spoon and an empty plastic cup to play with at mealtimes and let her sit at the table with you so she can feel involved.

I'm another BLW cheater and gave DS some brocolli to play with at 23 weeks. He spent the longest time gnawing on it, nothing swallowed but he did have loads of fun with it. Didn't actually start swallowing anything till he hit 26 weeks anyway.