Anyone just started, or about to start, BLW? Care to join me?

[Jojay]

DS2 is 27 weeks and from last week, is now joining us a mealtimes.

I tried spoonfeeding for a few days but he didn't seem keen, so I tried him with some roasted veg and he was well away. So BLW it is for us.

But I did purees for DS1 2 years ago, so BLW is new to me.

So far he's had roasted sweet potato, carrot, aubergine, courgette, sweet pepper, some lightly steamed apple and pear, banana, mango, and a chip.

When I say 'had' I mean I've offered it to him. Some probably went straight on the floor, but I've found some lumps in his nappy, so some is definitely going in.

The mango was the biggest hit - he loved it!

So tell me what you're doing and how it's going...........

Belle- I think the same about the milk too and at this stage, ds is just 7months, I'm not going to start forcing him to drop a feed. We went to Cyprus, hope you enjoy Sicily, we've given ds a bit of pasta and he seemed to like it.

While I was shopping yesterday I found an Ella's Kitchen pasta sauce, I think I'll try ds with it. Finding lunches a bit tricky as I'll normally have a sandwich but don't want him to be having that everyday but also I always seem to be going somewhere so don't have lots of time to make something more extravagent. This way I can be a bit lazy and use the sauce with some pasta, I'll let you know how it goes.

Choc- don't feel guilty, ds has had cake and chips and other naughty tastes. Maybe blw will make us all extra healthy! I've never been a fruit lover but am starting to eat more now when ds eats it

Hello forgive this long post - I could really do with some help. I've been feeding my dd purees for the last three weeks - she was 25 weeks but had lost 3oz in three weeks (birthweight was 8lb and she's still only 13lbs) so was advised to get on with it. I've been using shop bought (plum baby, Ellas, Organix) because I'm terrible in the kitchen - (I developed OCD a few years ago due to doc prescribing me too much thyroxine - going from a 'it's just a bit of dirt' person to complete paranoia - a complete turnaround in attitude. It's better now (in fact was pretty much gone until a hospital infection nearly killed me!)but can still be a battle and has reared its head with weaning where I just get paranoid about the whole cooking, pureeing, freezing thing) I'm feeling just enormously guilty about buying pre made food for her and it's really upsetting me but the whole choking thing of BLW does worry me. There's no point in discussing it with HV as her response to everything is 'she should be eating meat now' - even when I rang her recently about dd's constipation DD has taken to eating from a spoon really well but doesn't show any sign of wanting to grab the spoon or any of the food. She's a bit of a slow developer (the last to do everything!)- do you think this would work? Sorry for the length of this - but this is the first place I've been honest about the OCD interfering with weaning (and yes I've made an appointment with the doc as I'm determined to bring her up in happy filth just like I was!) I'm really less of a nut than this makes me sound

Sorry- don't mean to hijack this thread - just got really interested in reading the posts.

Hi everyone - i'm back after some time away from the computer, and am really excited to report that we've just had our first brocolli poo! I texted DH to tell him but haven't had a reply so i don't think he's as excited as me about it

DD's been getting on great with the food despite being only 22 weeks. Have also been a bad mummy and let her have meringue! She seemed to love it but it came back up after a few minutes. We've been having mostly fruit and veg though, and she's just had her first rice cake for lunch which she had a great time gumming!

makedoandmend so sorry to hear about the probs you're having and the lack of useful support from your health visitor. I think its completely natural that weaning is going to affect your OCD. I think all parents are prone to a bit of paranoia when it comes to their children, so can only imagine how it must feel for you. Hope you get some useful support from your doctor.

I don't know a lot about OCD, but my DH has a very obsessive personality and i know it helps him to have a definite plan or rules in place for something that's worrying him. BLW might work for you as it avoids the whole pureeing and freezing thing, but you need to be able to go with the flow and trust your baby to feed themselves and to know how much they need.
Hopefully someone else will come along with a bit more knowledge than me. Have you looked at aitch's blog? babyledweaning.blogware.com/blog
or looked at Gill Rapley's book?

Hi Makedoandmend, and welcome You don't sound like a nut at all - you sound like a concerned mummy who wants to do the right thing, just like the rest of us

if you are happier giving your DD bought baby food then you go for it. The ones you are buying are the top end ranges that have good quality ingredients and no 'fillers', and she will do just fine on them.

If you want to give finger food a go - and you will have to at some point - why not just give her a bit of your sandwich or something like that, and see how she gets on? Or if you prefer bought food, there are some good rusks sweetened with fruit juice around, and they will dissolve in her mouth, so very low risk re choking.

I wouldn't worry too much about the meat thing at this stage (she's 28 wks?) - how do vegetarians manage? Her milk is still the most important thing and is likely to have more calories than anything else she's having at the moment, so don't cut back on that yet.

If she seems happy to be spoonfed and isn't asserting her independence yet, that's fine too. My DS1 was like that, still is a bit at 2.6, whereas DS2 is very different, hence BLW. I did purees with DS1, and he eats just fine now.

There are many roads to Rome, don't feel you have to follow one concept or another to the letter. Take on board the safety rules set by the DoH about which foods to avoid etc, but then go with what you and your baby feel comfortable with, be it purees, finger food, home made, pre made, BLW. It's all just feeding your baby!

Hi makedoandmend I think Jojay's post is great advice. I know nothing about OCD so don't want to advise but good luck with it all.

Broccoli poo greensnail - interesting?? I feel like a real saddo, DS pooed this morning at 5am so I went in and changed his nappy in the dark very quickly and quietly and put him back to bed. This morning whilst thinking about it I felt disappointed I didn't get to fully inspect the contents to see what had come through. OK, not just sad but gross and weird too!!

DS had sardines on toast for lunch (waitrose sardines in tomato sauce from a tin, they had the least salt) and strawberry's - and he would eat a mouthful of sardine and then a mouthful of strawberry - yuck!!

chocorange - that's not sad, gross and weird - digging it out of the bin to have a look might have been though

Hi makedoandmend I'm a bit neurotic germ wise myself - emetophobic so a bit obsessive with constant hand washing and alcohol gel . Trying very hard not to let it impinge on my parenting, but tis hard as everything, food and otherwise goes in DD's mouth! I have been lucky so far with BLW with no spectacular vomit incidents, but I fear it is just a matter of time.

Chocorange I expect the watery sweetness of strawberries is quite refreshing in between mouthfuls of sardine. Sensible boy

Hi - thanks for all your advice and well wishes - I don't feel so guilt-ridden now. Will try dd on some finger food tomorrow (and try not to eat it all myself)- am actually quite excited about it. Am about to go and check out Aitch's blog and went out to buy the BLW book this afternoon.
Thanks again - it really was what I needed - I'd had too many 'I'd never buy shop bought' conversations with my NCT group who are lovely but do things like turn up to our monthly meet with freshly made scones (I just sit there clutching my Sainsbury's bag thinking how the did you find the time to do that?) - not the best bunch to discuss my inadequacies with a blender

makedoandmend I can't believe you don't make freshly baked scones every day . I want to be in your NCT group - to eat, not bake!

One of the things I have found great about BLW is that I can just give DS leftovers - do you cook for yourself? If so just make a bit extra - this week my DS has had leftover roast chicken, risotto, BBQ-ed veggies, chips. And then if I need to make anything else I stick to easy stuff like toast with stuff - sardines, peanut butter, cream cheese. Fruits are great finger foods too but very slippy!

HTH!

ChocOrange05 do you reheat the leftovers? Also one of the things I've wondered about BLW is how you eat together if it's hot food - obviously you have to let it cool for the baby so do you just stick yours in the oven (not so good with beans on toast I'm guessing).
And while I'm on 20 questions - can you give stuff straight from the fridge or is that too cold?

Re the NCT group - they're hideously capable last time we met I was really chuffed with myself that I'd managed to get to a mother and baby group during the week (it involves two buses to get there for 10am so was happy with my little achievement) - until one of them announced she was hosting a dinner party for six that evening

makedoandmend I just give him leftovers straight out of the fridge - he's never refused it, unless its meat which I reheat and then let it cool down. I don't really eat meals with my DS (apart from breakfast) as he has lunch at 11.30am and dinner at 5pm and I eat with DH when he gets home but I tend to eat some of DS's to show him how its done. I think its good for me actually as I am having 2 small lunches now rather than one big one.

From experience it doesn't take long for hot food to cool down - 5 mins or so (stir it and blow!) so you could make it and then sit them in the highchair while you're waiting for it to cool.

Does anyone else find they're actually eating more with this weaning lark? I help DD eat her meals and then have mine when she's asleep cos her meal timings never coincide with mine!
Maple syrup ... I know honey isn't ok til after one but is maple syrup alright? Obviously in very small doses, like in biscuits. I've got some oaty recipes but they need honey and I was wondering if I could substitute.
Also - I know this has been discussed already but do we need to supplement our LOs with vitamins once they start on solids? I don't feel like DD's taking as much milk even though she doesn't seem to be eating much either...
Sorry...massively boring post...off to pop some toast in, marmalade or marmite?

makedoandmend re cooling food for the baby. I sometimes put DD's onto a plate that I've had in a fridge so it cools quicker, but if i've forgotten to do that I just put her's out first and leave it by the window while sorting ours out and getting her into highchair - that seems to work just fine.

Hi all - we've had a great day today - isn't BLW so much easier when you can do it outside?! No scraping bits off the kitchen floor, and I just hosed the highchair off when we'd finished

As you know I've been giving DS the odd puree nad tonight I gave him a chikcen casserole one I'd made. Some days he'll be spoon fed quite happily, but sometimes he;'s in an independent mood and keeps grabbing at the spoon. tonight was oneof those nights, so instead of battling with him I just tipped the puree straight onto his highchair tray.

He LOVED it. Before I did it, he was either grabbing at the spoon or turning his face away and moaning, but once he could get his hands on it, he was away. He was scooping up fistfuls of it, and managed to eat a huge amount - it was quite a gloopy puree, more mashed than pureed really.

I think I've been a bit obsessed with finger shaped food, and by it's nature it tends to be quite firm and a bit more difficult to actually eat. I think going to try more soft foods, things like well cooked casseroles with veg in chunks, rice dishes, pasta etc, things that he'll find easier to eat once he can get it into his mouth.

The mess was something else though..........

jojay - garden eating is the way forward! I even found a blade of grass in DS's nappy the other day .

DS was completely different eating today, usually he wants to pick everything up and do it himself but today he didn't want to hold anything - he wanted me to feed him so I just held it by his mouth and he went for it - more sardines, cheese and apricot (which he loved and ate the whole thing, except the skin).

I am also a bit stuck on finger foods jojay as DS doesn't seem to stick his hands in food and put them in his mouth - his hands only go in when there is solid food in them IYSWIM? Anyone else's DC like this?

ChocOrange i've also been finding grass in DD's nappies, i'm hoping it got stuck to her bum while having some nappy off time though, rather than going through her.

I thought it was time to start DD on a cup with some water so bought her a tommee tippee one. I was a bit anxious she might just fill herself up with water and not leave room for food and milk as she seems a bit obsessed with water - she laps it up in the bath and swimming pool, and even sticks her tongue out to try and catch some in the rain! I think i might have been right - she thinks the cup is the most exciting thing she's ever seen - huge squeals and arm waving when it appears. She picks it straight up and takes it to her mouth but gets frustrated as she can't work out how to tip it to get the water out. Very excited when i help her and she manages to drink some, although most of it then gets spat back out!

greensnail my DS is exactly the same with water - and all liquids in fact, we have a great photo of him trying to drink rose wine by frantically sucking the side of the glass!

He drinks, or tries to, lots of water during meals - today I was worried as he didn't seem to have much BM so I gave him some formula in the cup and he lapped that up too.

My DS is 6.5m and still having 5/6 feeds a day (6 if he wakes up in the night) but I thought you were supposed to get them down to 3 big feeds instead? Has anyone else tried reducing the number of milk feeds?

DD is still only 22 weeks so that's why i'm so concerned she doesn't fill herself with water and reduce her milk feeds. Am conscious of the fact that she shouldn't really be eating at all yet, but the only way I could stop her is not to eat around her as she's grabbing it out of my hands!

I haven't tried to cut back any milk feeds yet, and Ds2 is 7 months. He has, roughly, 7 am, 10am, 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm, 10.30 pm, and 2.30 am ish.

I'd MUCH rather he dropped the 2.30 am feed and until he does this I hesitate to cut back during the day for fear of him catching up at night. The feeds do seem to be getting shorter tohugh, and he does seem more content to wait ofr the m a bit longer. A month ago he would demand to be fed at 3 hours on the dot, not a moment longer, whereas now he can stretch to 3 1/2 sometimes without complaining.

Still can't get the little horror to take a bottle though!

Had a nice day today - we went to a bbq at a friends, and he had a great time 'eating' avodado out of the salad and cold new potatioes - yum! He also had a very runny risotto, if that makes sense, which he ate with his hands - he loved it!

Hello ladies, can I join you?

My DD is 27 weeks this week and we started her on BLW at 25 weeks although she didn't really eat much at that stage. Now she is better at getting things in her mouth, but I have yet to find any evidence of it going any further!

She seems to favour carbs and dry foods, like rice cakes and breadsticks, and is a bit reluctant to hold wet or slippery foods in her hands - see the pic on my profile of her steering a strawberry! I held it out for her to lick, I did not put it in her mouth, I hasten to add! She loved it, but she wouldn't hold it - touched it a few times, then would lean forward, tongue out lapping like a little cat, it was very funny to watch! I'm sure she will get the hang of it eventually.

I'm very interested in all of your ideas of what to give, we are mostly doing lunch times, although I intend to try breakfast tomorrow, as she's supposed to be in bed by the time DH and I eat dinner.

Hi Pookamoo - I've just had a look at your pics - your DD is gorgeous! You're very brave giving food in your smart living room too - I bet that one doesn't last

Good luck with breakfast tomorrow - it's ds2's least favourite meal of the day for some reason, and often isn't that enthusiastic, whereas DS1 will eat a mountain of breakfast then hardly anything else all day

Hi all- quite excited today as ds accepted chicken for the second time. I'm still not convinced he's eating much but before he'd lick it and spit it out whereas he's now sucking on it for ages. So hopefully he'll get some juices at least.

We are now trying to give him some spoon food each day as long as he is happy to accept it. So far he has been and has actually been taking the loaded spoon and feeding himself. This morning he had some porridge and then some toast after.

Is anyone else out there still at the point where they're not sure much food is going in? Ds is 7 months now and he gums a lot of food but I still don't think he eats much. I'm not dropping a milk feed yet either Jojay & Choc- I'm hoping once he eats more he'll drop them for me. Ds is still having 5 bottles a day and has between 5-7oz each time.

Hi Pookamoo- good luck with breakfast too. I've tried the following, toast fingers with butter, jam, marmite (he likes that one), fruit (fingers of pear or kiwi or melon) and more recently after a suggestion on here wheatabix bitesize with a tiny bit of milk to soften them. He's also had some baby porridge with a bit of apple puree mixed in (left over from my initial decision to be all Annabelle Karmel- which lasted 2 weeks).

Hi greensparkles! Glad your dd is enjoying blw. I've given ds banana with the skin on, so I'll maybe eat half myself and then give him the end still with the skin on. I cut off some of the skin otherwise it gets in the way. He hated mashed banana when we started with purees but will suck on it in it's true form. Today he kept trying to eat the skin end