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 Kirsty - I have a son, EBF so far. We start on Saturday (I am a bit of a stickler for dates - he will be exactly 26 weeks then.) He is sitting up and absolutely FASCINATED by food.

I am watching this thread for ideas. Mango is a good one.

Thank you AitchTwoOh - I am a follower of your blogs! Choking is the first thing anyone says when you tell people you are doing BLW. Especially MIL. So it is never far from the mind even though it is a small risk, it is always well to be aware. Defensive weaning I suppose

I have also stopped telling people I am doing BLW, as people always look a bit - even in active birthing, exclusive breastfeeding, organic real nappy toting, sling-wearing norf london! - and I am probably not very good at explaining without my well-thumbed Gill Rapley book to hand.

Chulita - will update on Doidy.

Hi and welcome to Bellewatling and Chulita - glad you're going to give this BLW thing a go too.

And a special Hi to the First Lady of BLW , Aitch Please keep us under control if we step out of time and say something silly / wrong / downright dangerous! I'm sure we've all used your site already - it's a fantastic resource, and very inspirational, so thanks

Well I took DS2 to clinic today and had a chat with my HV about BLW. She was very supportive, which is refreshing. She admitted she didn't know a huge amount about it, but felt that anything that put babies back in control of food, and prevented mealtimes becoming a battle ground, could only be good.

The only downside she'd heard of is that some babies weight can plateau around the 7-8 month mark, when their nutritional needs are increasing but their dexterity may meant hey aren't eating that efficiently yet, or rather they are eating the 'chip' shaped fruit and veg well, but not the more calorific dairy / carby foods. She said that once they master the pincer grip at around 9 months it tends to sort itself out. Not sure if you have any comments on this Aitch?

Bangers, broccoli and beans went down well last night, expecially the broccoli, but he had ago at all 3. The mash was a step too far at the moment though, he wasn't too interested in that.

He was great at breakfast today too, had agood chomp on a ripe pear, and had some banana too.

I've put some melon an dpeaches on my Tesco order for tomorrow so we'll see how we go with that.

Good luck all

Mentioned to HV that I'd like to do BLW and she said that starting at 23wks is fine as long as I stick with fruit&veg and avoid gluten/eggs/peanut butter til dd's 6mths. Good thing that since dd's had some carrot and rice cakes. She loved the carrot sticks, might have then again, and the apple ... I thought it was a bit sharp but she was chuckling away

Jojay - I know that the amount your ds is eating at the moment is small, but do watch the salt levels in things like sausages. It's a max of 1g salt (0.4g sodium) per day, some of which is contained naturally in breastmilk.

Today ds had blueberries and a little bit of readybrek with banana for breakfast (we help a bit with guiding the spoon until it's close enough for ds to grasp it and shove it in).
For lunch he had some baby courgettes, steamed parsnip, and a tiny taster of our tuna/cucumber/sweetcorn/mayo combo.
For dinner he had seafood risotto mixed with stir fried veg, followed by pear.

jojay - if you're worried about carby and dairy foods (which are clearly totally unnecessary since both of mine have thrived without being able to have dairy at all), then try macaroni cheese. Ds managed this himself (with dairy subs) last week no problem.

Hello Joyjay- thanks for showing me this link and hi to other blws. We just started blw yesterday after ds decided to refuse purees and spoons. Today has gone very well, he's had pear for breakfast, breadstick for a lunch snack (not the most healthy but I was out and it was easy) and then green beans for tea (oh and more breadstick- he liked it .

Am gearing up to giving him some of the sunday roast this week. Have to say he is so happy feeding himself. Fingers crossed he keeps on going like this!

Oh Aitch- thanks for your website too, was having a real stress on monday after the puree refusal and it was so reassuring to get clear info on how to start blw

Hi Rachie - good to see you here and I'm so glad it's going so well. They do look so happy chomping away don't they? I'm sure he'll love his Sunday roast!

Chulita - that's good that your HV is supportive of BLW, na dit sounds like your DD is enjoying herself too.

DS2 had banana for breakfast. I offered him one of my apricot wheats but he wasn't interested. He only seems interested in bigger, chip shaped food at the moment and doesn't even attempt to pick up anything smaller, but that's fine for now, he's only 27 wks after all.

He had some melon at lunchtime and enjoyed it - he likes juicy things that he can suck, which is why mango goes down so well too. He does manage to break a few bits off and swallow them though, I find the evidence in his nappy!

At teatime he had green beans and baby corn, and a bit of pasta. The baby corn was the biggest hit, but I think he ate a bit of pasta too, not sure.

No scary gagging or anything like that today I'm going to try pitta bread with philly, and peach tomorrow - wish me luck!

CSWS You are quite right to mention the salt thing, it is something we all need to watch. In this instance it was OK as I make chicken and apple sausages - an AK recipe ironically - for DS1, he's a fussy horror at the moment (having eaten anything until he turned 2) but he eats anything that resembles a sausage, so I make 'sausages' out of all sorts of things atm

at sausage making.

I think ds might have had an allergic reaction to a mussel tonight. The roof of his mouth appeared to have swelled up. He didn't seem bothered, and it's gone down again now. Guess we won't be offering them again for some time .

I had a look at this website which is a link from the Gill Rapley article on blw, and it says chicken from 9 months, although it does say the schedule is flexible. I get the impression from other posts that meat would be ok now?

Have ordered Rapley's book as I like a reference point but just wanted to double check with others.

Meat good at an early age IMO. Many years ago it would have been one of the first foods a baby got, possibly pre-chewed by the mother. I don't think that it's the easiest food for them to eat at this age, but they can get some flavour out of it, even if they don't actually eat it.

joj, re your hv, it's just my non-medical opinion but if a lot of babies' weight plateaus then how do we know that's a bad thing and something to fight against, iykwim? did you ask her about that? the assumption that weight gain is linear made my bfing experiences a misery so it's something i'm watchful for when hv's say it without backing it up with medical research etc.

although having said that, you have to remember that gill rapley never actually did blw, so when she's talking about finger-shaped food imo she labours the point too much. both of mine were able to handle slices of things, hunks and chunks (inc steak ) before eight months. dd2 is (technically) only six and a half and is hilariously adept with spaghetti of all things, yesterday managed to scoop handfuls of aubergine parmigiana into her mouth, and tonight worked her way through roast chicken, broccoli and roast potatoes for dinner, before launching greek yoghurt approximately at her facial area using a spoon. i say give it all (unsalted etc) a go... what's the harm? (apart from raw apple, imo a genuine choke risk so be careful).

Just to add re Aitch's last comment, you can grate raw apple to give at this stage.

Sounds like the gorgeous G has a good appetite for solids Aitch. Is she piling on the pounds now?

I'd actually have no problem with ds' weight plateauing a bit, as he's wonderfully chunky at the moment!

DS2 has had apple for breakfast this morning - I just lightly steam it at this stage, so it's a bit softer, and he loves it.

I'll post more later - DS1 wants a wee

Heehee! I found a lump of carrot in DD's nappy this morning. I thought she'd spat it all out but the evidence was there Deffo not telling DH, he'll think I'm mad poking through DD's poo and chuckling away to myself...

Yay Chulita - that's great! I thought I was the only one who got ridiculously excited when I found a lump of something in Ds's poo - obviously not

Aitch I didn't press my HV on where she got that info from re the weight. She freely admitted that BLW wasn't something she knew much about and I think she was referring to something a colleague had told her, rather than something she had had experience of, or something she had got from an 'official' source, IYSWIM?

bTW, I've got one of these item no NEA.5030 on this page. I've had it for ages, it's not something I bought just for babies, but it's brilliant for steaming little bits of veg and hard fruit - 1min 30 in the microwave softens apple up beautifuly, with minimum faff.

Morning all. Well Jack has sucked on melon today for breakfast and seemed very happy doing it.

Chulita & Joyjay- I also got very excited about finding food evidence in Jack's nappy. Unfortunately I was at work (popped in to say hello) when it happened so had to share the news with work colleagues who now think I'm mad

Explained BLW to my MIL last night, was a bit concerned as we are off on hols with them in a week. She's of the belief that you need to know they are eating. She did seem to get it, after I kept telling her that he is still having all his milk feeds and that is his main food. Have ordered the blw book so I can take it and show her bits if the pressure to shove spoons down his throat gets too much.

Rachie Good luck with MIL next week. I haven't told many people yet, but if anyone seems funny, I'll just call it finger food. Is she the sort to give you a hard time? If so, you need your DH on side too, to back you up if it gets awkward. But at the end of the day he's your baby and what you say goes. End of.

My DH can't quite get his head around the fact that we will never spoon feed him. ( DS2 not DH!) He's been really up for what we've been doing so far, but asked me last night when I was going to make those pureed chicken casseroles that I made for DS1 . Suffice to say I put him straight!

I'm very lucky with my family though, I don't think anyone would try to tell me I'm doing it wrong - they may think it but they won't come out and say it!

DS2 had pitta bread spread with philly for lunch and he loved it. I think he mostly just sucked the cheese off, I'm not sure he ate any of the pitta, but he was very happy. The pitta was so salty though! I shared it with him and the first bite I had tasted really salty. I read the packet and there was 1.4g of salt per pitta - more than a babies' total daily allowance I'm not too worried for the time being as he's actually eating very little, but it's worth remembering for the future.

He had some peach too, and had a good chew on that, so everyone happy. He had a bit of a cough and a gag at one point and was a bit sick, but it didn't seem to bother him so I let him sort himself out. He's a sicky baby anyway, so a bit of sick isn't too scary for us.

Hello all - can I join you? DS is now nearly 7 months and so far we're loving BLW. Have never been the most imaginative of chefs though but there are some fab recipes on Aitch's blog. Just put courgette and carrot potato cakes in oven. Agree with all that mango is great. Also, strawberries as easy to hold (think some people are allergic though). Mashed banana on toast is a winner as are pittas with hummus or philly. Struggling a bit with brekka though so would love some ideas. We are bottle feeding now after bf til 6 mths so am a little concerned about how to introduce water as DS won't touch a cup yet.

I tried dd with a doidy cup and she drank a bit of water and looked very surprised she doesn't need it as is still bf but I just wanted to see if she'd use one. She didn't get as wet as I thought she would!
I might even start baking my own bread [assumes earth mother yogic pose] cos I noticed that there's quite a bit of salt in some loaves...then again...might chat up my mum for her dusty old breadmaker - didn't have time for a shower today so bread may be aiming a little high!!
Muffins for breakfast? I love 'em, take 20 mins from scratch and dd is happy enough to watch me throw flour around. Just a suggestion, I haven't actually given dd any cos am pretty much sticking to fruit and veg til she's actually 6mths old.

The concentration involved in picking up a blueberry!

hi my ds2 is 24 weeks he has had baby rice since 8weeks old he now has chips and fish cake.he also gags when he first puts things in his mouth but i think this is more to do with new textures and tastes than it going down the wrong way.my ds2 loves to eat banana like his big brother and the look of joy on his face is enough for us to carry on letting him feed himself even when he does gag

Thanks Jojay- MIL is lovely but I could see her panicking that ds isn't eating and spoon feeding him when my back is turned Spoke to dh tonight again about it and have told him we need to have a united front and he agreed. Will no doubt be reminding him throughout the hol but to be fair I kind of listen to my mum a lot too- but she's the one who first mentioned blw to me.

Hi to Ash, Hana & Sydney! I'm kind of stuck for breakfast ideas too, have been doing fruit and toast crusts. I also have to confess that I still offer a bit of baby porridge and fruit puree too. He eats it if he can hold the spoon, but not with as much enthusiasm.

Broccoli was huge hit today, those stalks were sucked clean in minutes

If ash is for real then I think I'll bow out of this thread gracefully. Good luck with the weaning ladies.