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...........

Hi all - bit of a scary lunchtime today. I gave the boys an omelette. Ds2 has had omelette a few times before and once or twice it made the skin round his mouth a bit red. It faded quickly though and didn't seem to bother him at all. He had omelette a couple of days ago with no redness at all so I thought all was fine.

Today he came up in a really blotchy rash with proper lumps like nettle rash. He was crying and frantically itching at it ubt calmed down once I'd bathed it wth cold water and cleaned him up. Poor boy - he was really upset, so I just bfed him and he's in bed now.

I guess we'll have to steer clear of eggs for the time being, but I'll mention it to my HV at clinic tomorrow, haven't been for ages

I agree, it is hard when you're out and about. I let him get on with it, but give him less messy food, a sandwich rather than risotto for example. It still ends up everywhere though

I haven't found a bib thatcovers everything but I use some Ikea ones with arms that I had for Ds1 - not sure if they're still available now. they're light and flexible nad go in the washing machine too. I sometimes put a tie on fabric bib underneath to stop hte nekline of his clothes getting dirty, but at teatime I don't worry too much as it's bathtime next!

Sour cream should be fine norma.

Oh dear jojay How random that he suddenly got a big rash! DD came out in a rash after eating a strawberry the other day but she's had them quite often before that so we're not giving her any more for a while.
Is it bad that I pretty much only feed her weetabix for breakfast, toast for lunch and Ready Brek for tea? I do add banana/apple/plum for variety and every few days she'll have something different but most of the time I give her the same things cos it's simpler...she snacks on cheese and carrot sticks but I don't give her a huge range of stuff out of laziness really. She doesn't have much fun with pasta/rice/potatoes and I have to admit to getting fed up with picking bits out of the carpet, she always manages to throw food further than the reach of her plastic mat. Maybe the lack of sleep has somewhat curbed my enthusiasm for messy stuff!!

I am about to start offering food to DD2 when we all sit down for tea this evening. I have just put the chicken in to roast and have got a load of veggies all ready in 'chip'shaped pieces to see what she fancies (if anything).

It's all rather exciting although I'm not sure how quickly they take to food. I still haven't managed to read through all of this thread so am not sure what successes everyone had at the very beginning of BLW.

Right now she is napping having just had a feed so hopefully will be awake and curious when we eat - sometime between six and half past.

jojay my DD1 also used to react to eggs when she was younger. We stopped giving them - I have a peanut allergy and we considered having her tested and everything...

She also used to react to strawberries and prawns.

Anyway, she is now 2.9yo and no longer reacts to anything... still not keen on eggs but that is out of choice rather than any reaction.

Dysgu - that's good to know. I also react to prawns,all shellfish really, so maybe they're linked in some way.

Hope it went well for you this evening. Often they're not that interested, so don't be despondent if she's not bothered, she'll get there

DD2 sat with us for tea tonight - was fascinated by her plate! (Do you give them the food on a plate or simply place it on the table?)

She sucked on a carrot and threw the pepper and parsnip on the floor. No interest in the chicken I don't think but it did end up on the floor.

For dessert she sucked on a strawberry but was VERY taken with the melon! She grabbed a chunk and mouthed it until there were bits missing from the edge. I then gave her a big slice - still with the skin on and she mouthed off bits of that too.

Fun to watch

Dysgu that sounds like a very successful dinner! DD had no interest in food today. It's very early days but can't help feeling a little disheartened, mainly because I've had an awful day. DD was up five times last night, refuses to nap for more than 30 minutes (so is overtired, hence, I think, awful night) and I'm exhausted - and today I managed to put a dent in our new car

I don't think DD's really going to take to food (or playing with food) until she's happier sitting up. She can't sit up at all and will only tolerate being in her high chair for a short time - so not much time to play with the food/ perhaps eat some.

Thank god today is nearly over. Though as I type DD is screaming upstairs refusing to go to sleep.

Aw Kiwi don't be disheartened we have on and off days here as well. Tomorrow is another day and all that . Sorry to hear about the car though - I pranged mine last week as well.

Love all the long-sleeved bib links, but struggling a bit here as DD is very small (2nd centile ish) and I haven't managed to find a coverall bib thay doesn't hinder her ability ro get food to her mouth. Usually end up feeding her in nappy only and sponging down well afterwards (usually both of us )! Not very practical for eating out though!

I mean sponging both of us - not both of us in pants!

I think I would worry more if this was DD1 but, having survived once, I figure we will get there in the end.

And as for books - even those written by Gill Rapley - I always remind myself that babies have never read the same books as you! So that explains why they just do it their own way.

Yay Dysgu - sounds like your DD had fun

I don't give Ds2 a plate - they're on the floor in no time. I have a Babydan highchair that Ds1 had (like Tripp Trapp, no tray) but since starting BLW I've bought an Ikea Antilop for DS2.

We have an oilcloth on our table and it was getting so stained by tomatoey stuff when I put food on the table, and plates last a matter of seconds before they're on the floor, so the Antilop suits us well for now. I'll probably go back to the Babydan when his table manners improve!

Sorry you're having a tough time Kiwi - it's so hard to stick to BLW when they sleep badly isn't it? It's so tempting to try and fill them up a bit with spoon feeding if they'll take it.

Many of us have spoon fed a bit, including me, for the same reason. At nearly 8 months we are back to Ds feeding himself 90% of the time, and he's just started sleeping through at last, but I did spoonfeed him for a few weeks around the 7 momth mark - there's no law against it.

Conversely it may make no difference at all. Who knows! I hope today is better for you

Does anyone else have a DC who doesn't like being in the high chair for long? I think it's that that DD is objecting to rather than playing with food per se. She had a massive tantrum this morning after about 2 minutes playing with a bit of peach, no interest in apple. I even tried a bit of spoon feeding but she wasn't having any of that (I've never tried it before so I was probably doing it wrong anyway ) I'm also absolutely knackered after another awful night and a 5.30am start so I probably wasn't being as patient and fun as I should.

Can I just BF her until she can use cutlery??

pushmepullyou I don't know if it helps but I've been using the Tommee Tippee rubber bibs. They don't have sleeves but they cover the front bit and catch any dropped food. I just push DD's sleeves right up if they're long (although with this weather they're mostly short anyway). It seems to protect her pretty well and it's a lot easier to clean - just a wipe down and you can reuse it.
I'm doing more spoonfeeding at the mo but it's just a phase. This morning DD bit her toast into bitesize pieces and spat them out, whinged and then opened wide when I picked them out of her bib [sigh] - a little bit lazy, just like her mum! She is only 7mths though so I don't expect miracles!

Pushmepullyou I have similar problem - DD is 9th centile and a very little thing - everyone is always astonished when I tell them she's 6 months... the John Lewis bibs which I got yesterday are a little big but not too bad, I think, but in this warm weather I might go for the nappy-only option. I did buy some non-arm bibs from Green Baby yesterday too (yes, I am a sandal-wearing lentil-eating leftie) which are very flexible and soft which I think might work well. If, that is, she ever decides to eat anything...

Wow, I just popped on to see if I could find how best to cook butternut squash for the BLW baby and came across this thread, it's good to see!!

I made the choice to follow BLW with ds3 as my ds1 didn't like the transition from puree to lumps and ds2 was just a nightmare to feed full stop (hospital force weaned at 8 months due to failure to thrive, put him straight onto 3 meals a day and now he has multiple food allergies). We are following an allergen free diet until ds3 is at least a year. Same really as ds3 is now falling down the centiles and I am sure you can imagine the oh so helpful suggestions I am getting from HV's. It goes something along the lines of "So, you're avoiding milk.... how about giving him cheese?" I kid you not!

So here I am with my ds3, who has gone from 8lb 11oz at birth, he shot up to the 91st centile and then slowly drifted down. We were not concerned as we know that is par for the course with breastfed babies. However, he lost almost 1 lb between 6 & 7 months. Admittedly, we were going to start BLW at 6 months, but ds2 broke his elbow and ended up in hospital on traction for nearly 4 weeks and starting weaning there was just not practical.

DS3 is now 7.5 months old and has been joining us for meals for the last 2 weeks. I have been trying to do as much of his food in olive oil for added calories, but not much is going in as far as I can tell so far. I was excited to see a small lump of carrot in a dirty nappy the other day though

Anyway, now that he is finally down for a nap, I had better remind myself how best to cook this butternut squash for little hands and 1 tooth!

DD2 joined us for breakfast this morning. She sucked away at some toast - white bread - and seemed to quite enjoy. However, DD1 had chocolate spread on her toast and DD2 did seem to be eyeing that up. Perhaps next time I should let her have some butter on hers?!

Lunch seems to have been a non-event today as she is sleeping. I wonder if this is linked to the effort of trying to get food into her mouth as she is normally such a catnapper but has been sleeping (admittedly on and off whilst I was nosing around town) for nearly 2 hours!

Have bought some mangoes today but they seem to need a bit of time to ripen. Does anyone know how to tell when they are at their best?

Risotto for tea - DD1's favourite.So now I am off to get the plastic table cloth and floor mat out!

Dear me Heartmum2Jamie you really do seem to have had quite a time of it. Hoping BLW goes well - I only started yesterday so not really the person to offer advice yet.

Dysgu If they feel soft, they are probably ripe! I don't know if this is a crazy suggestion but you could always steam some chunks??? I did this today with some peach - I bought them and thought they were ripe but realised that while they were fine for me with my big grown-up teeth they were still too firm for DD to really enjoy. A few minutes steaming softened them up and she sucked on one bit for a while.

Heartmum2Jamie That sounds really tough, hope it goes really well for you this time! Don't have any ideas about squash alas, can't stand the stuff myself! But DH - the cook in our house - suggests roasting batons/strips/chunks of it. It's such a bugger to cut up though, isn't it?

DD loves roast squash, I recommend that. Or a soup (she's into spoons at the mo) squash with a bit of garlic seems to be popular.
We had round 2 of yesterday's lentil soup, I've frozen a load cos DD really enjoys it and it's bound to fill her up a bit. Anything to try and get her going a bit longer at night! I stirred a huge spoonful of Philly into it too just to get some calories into her. She'd be happy eating steamed apple all day but it's not going to help her gain much!

Hi all - i picked up one of these bibs at the weekend in waitrose and it worked brilliantly. Bit pricey though. DD's a 98th centile chubby thing so don't know whether it would work for your more delicately framed little ones

jojay that rash sounds a bit scary, hope he's feeling better now.

Don't know if any of you live near Oxford, but apparently Gill Rapley's going to be at the children's food festival this weekend. Sounds like a nice day out so we might pop along and see.

We have just had a snack of breadsticks and rice cakes.

DD2 sat in her Bumbo (once I got DD1 out of it - she is nearly 3 and still loves to sit in it!) and mushed the rice cakes quite well. They seem to be a bit of an odd shape for her to hold. The bread sticks seemed much easier for her to get hold of and I think some might even have been swallowed.

Will have to wait and see if any extra appear lumps in the nappy!

She seems quite into eating and it was really fun to watch her try to get stuff to her mouth.

I don't know if she will be left or right handed - she tends to pick stuff up with her right but uses her left to guide it to her mouth. However, she sucks on her left fist all the time and is trying to guide her right hand by having it follow her left to her mouth - and then, of course, the food is a whole fist away!

Roll on tea time.

Hi HM2J I thought you'd disappeared!! Come say hello in Nov soon!

DS is still being a pickle when it comes to the method of feeding so we are mainly spoon feeding atm - he wants it so IMO its still baby led! Tonight for dinner was mashed potatoes and ratatouille.

LOL, thanks everyone, we have been through it a bit. DS2 was a poorly wee thing as a baby and underwent heart surgery, so his weight has always been on the low side, but he is as fussy as they come, on top of his allergies. He was 5 yesterday and weighs 33lb. DS3 was 16lb on 12th June, bth are between the 2nd & 9th centiles.

In the end I decided to bake up the squash, cut in half, brushed with olive oil and wrapped in tinfoil and placed in oven for just under an hour. We also had homemade wedges made with home grown spuds (yummy!). He loved the wedges more the the squash, is so fun to see him gumming everything! I think he may have even swallowed a bit of everything for a change!

I have just put a couple of BLW pics in my profile.

Hey ChocO! Good to see yo here. Will definately try and catch up once Zack is in bed, currently typing 1 handed.