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 Its been a while since we have been on. Still doing some BLW with DD but also a bit of spoon feeding with a soft tipped weaning spoon, usually runny foods such as weetabix and yoghurt. I don't always have the time to do lots of finger food which then gets thrown to the floor. Conversely, the more time I spent making things and being excited about offering (such as home made fish fingers) the less inclined she was to eat them! So, if I can adapt what we have eaten for dinner then DD will have it the next day. While I feel that we are no longer full BLW, I do know that she has very good manual dexterity and pincer action. Most babies her age who have started food with the purees and mash route can't do any finger food yet (but thats just the ones I know) so BLW is great for that reason alone.

I gave dd a yoghurt with a loaded spoon yesterday - she went barmy if I wasn't quick enough. I was impressed that she managed to get it in her mouth very efficiently! Eventually though I ditched the spoon and used a suitably fashioned peice of pear instead (it was thick yoghurt)which seemed to work well as she was happy to munch on that for a bit longer than the spoon

I'm off on holiday tomorrow and MIL will be there for the first couple of days - I am dreading it (she works in a nursery kitchen and so is an 'expert' in feeding babies)

Help, I think I'm creating a monster, so far I've only been giving her lunch, but I was having my breakfast this morning and DD was getting really annoyed, so I ended up giving her a chunk of crusty bread to suck on, think we might have moved to 2 meals a day quicker than I thought

Also exciting DD slept through 2 nights as well.

Only concern with my mum and dad coming down is that my mum might freak a bit at the gagging. We're not getting much of that, but I can see my mum overreacting to it

Oh and PatTheHammer I think peas are fine - when ds was weaning I went for the view that if he could manage to pick something up he could eat it (within reason!). I think a pea is too small to choke on almost maybe?

ilovespagbol - why feel ? you are just feeding your baby the way that works best for you and her.

lobsters. DD has gone straight to 3 meals as it keeps her occupied!

jojay - that sounds much like DD's pattern except I don't know how much she drinks, the bf seem to be so short these days...the 1.5 hour feeds are a loooooong way off (thank goodness). The only reason I'm a bit worried is cos she's having weetabix/ready brek in the morning, toast, philly & fruit/veg for lunch and then usually cereal again for tea. I'm trying to get other stuff down her but she's not fond of pasta atm and rice is hard work - I'm darned if I'm cooking shepherd's pie every night! I just want to be sure she's getting a good range of nutrients and I don't reckon she is on 2 cereal meals a day...
She's got the pincer grip down to a tee as I noticed this morning when she picked up a dried up old pea off the floor (yes I do vacuum sometimes and I promise I will more when she starts crawling ) I guess with 1st kids you always worry.
pat - DD has peas but I squish them first so they don't roll around and I won't worry that she'll get one stuck. I don't know if a pea would get stuck but better safe than sorry I reckon!

lobsters we went straight to 3 meals a day too as its the easiest way to eat our meals in peace. Am now introducing afternoon snack as well as she's been wanting food about 30mins before tea-time and ends up sitting in her highchair with some bread while i'm cooking.

I was a bit worried about MIL's reaction to BLW as she also works with babies and thinks she's a bit of an expert but she's actually been really supportive.
When we'd just started BLW and were at my parent's, my dad panicked when a bit of meat broke off in her mouth and went to retrieve it, but he did leave it when i told him to. My mum just says "in our day we used to mash it up" as if I hadn't thought of that as an option.

Think I will buy some weaning spoons then and see if that makes loaded spoons any easier. Like the idea of using some fruit as a spoon for yoghurt though, so will probably give that a go too.

greensnail we use loaded spoons as well - plastic kids ones. Not sure if weaning spoons are a different / special type of thing? He grabs the spoon and has never let anyone spoonfeed him. Which is a problem now I need to brush his teeth...baby led dental care anyone?

DS seems to be coming back to a more varied diet - thank goodness. He has just demolished humus on toast and cucumber sticks. Maybe it was the heat...the other day I let him have a whole nectarine in his cot and the stains are appalling. I cannot get them out and am far too tight environmentally conscious to buy new sheets when they are perfectly serviceable otherwise. I am having this problem with his clothes too. I really need to enforce bib-wearing!

I was a bit concerned to read in Penelope Leach last night that mineral water should be avoided as some brands can contain too much salt. I have been giving him the occasional bit of mineral water - something to worry about do you think? Probably not but while I have the food labels sussed re salt content, I am not very good at working out micrograms and liquid...am I being a bit uptight do you think?

That said the Leach also says babies can't possibly feed themselves ...

I think certain types of mineral water have too much salt for babies - am sure the odd sip couldn't do much harm though, think its more of a problem if you're making up milk feeds with mineral water, but i may be wrong.

We're a bit lax with bibs too and have some terrible stains. She's growing through her clothes so quickly at the moment that its not too mcuh of a worry - just won't have much to put away for the next one!

Luckily DD loves having her teeth brushed even though she won't be spoonfed. She's been fascinated by watching us brush our teeth for ages, and has had her own toothbrush to hold and chew on for a while, so maybe this has made it a bit easier (I only remembered to start brushing her teeth a couple of days ago though so its still early days).

Anyway, I'm off to watch the tennis - come on Murray!

Nothing wrong with a sip of water here and there, but I think the sodium and other salt concentration is too high to give as their main 'drink' IYSWIM. DS also seems to love his teeth brushed at the mo, sure that will change!

Greensnail et al with mother issues. My mum is infuriating. When I was weaning DD the traditional way she used to go ' oh, just give her a sausage, that's what she wants'. Well, now I do just give DS whatever we have she goes 'can't you just mash it a bit.....He's not getting any of that the poor lamb....'. You can't bloody win!

DS finished DD's breakfast this morning after my friend picked her up for playschool. Can't say he was too bothered but enjoyed playing with half a crumpet and a bit of yoghurt

For lunch he had 2 squares of toast and philly, spelt biscuit, strawberry and mango and for tea he had green beans, babycorn, carrot, tomato and played with some spaghetti. Anyone else finding some things go in a lot easier? He has mastered strawberries and toms now and they get gobbled up. he ate a fair bit of green bean and some toast else was just sucked and played with really. I guess just keep trying these things since he is not rejecting them, just finding more difficult to actually eat them???

Hiya, pleased to meet you all. Not started blw yet but been reading as much info as possible to start as soon as ds is ready.

Ds was ebf for first 5 months and I was hoping this would lead naturally into blw but my hand was forced a bit when my milk disappeared at 19 weeks. Ds did not take the bottle naturally and was struggling to eat so I spoon-fed with ready made jars, rice and babyc cereal as I didn't feel ds was ready for blw approach. I regret it really as was hard work, ds didn't seem to enjoy and wasn't eating enough.

With a bit of practice he has now mastered using a bottle for formula feeds, although as yet will not drink water, and I've dropped the torturing him with a spoon to try and feed him mush that doesn't interest him. We live in a small flat with no room for dining table but I realised his baby walker has a tray at the same level as our coffee table so going to sit him with us whilst me and dp eat and see if he pays any interest.

welcome crumbletastic - love the name. good luck with the blw, I hope you both enjoy it

Welcome Crumble - hope it all goes well for you. Have you tried giving him some food he can pick up yet? If not, brace yourself for the mess!!

All good here - much rejoicing as Ds2 has finally started sleeping through, and has even dropped the dreamfeed so we're getting 11-12 hours out of him at night now, yay!!

We had a roast dinner last night and he had a good go at everything. He goes through phases eith spoonfeeding, whether he'll let me o not. Yesterday was a 'not' day and was swiping the spoon from DH as soon as he came near him! All good fun though and he manages to eat lots on his own now, so it's all good.

Thanks for the welcome. The only food we've tried so far is half of my banana this morning. He picked it up, dropped it on the floor, repeated this a lot of times, then picked it up and poked himself in the eye. I'm viewing this as a successful first attempt!

LOL!

Hi all. Not been around here recently.

Can I just ask how old all the BLW babies are?

DD2 is about 28 weeks old, I think and I was just wondering how she 'compares' with all the other little ones on here.

She is not usually ready for breakfast when I and DD1 eat. I often give her weetabix later in the morning but it depends what else is happening.

She joins in with lunch most days.

Dinner is kind of hit and miss. Sometimes she is hungry before we eat - at 6pm as that is when DP arrives home.

Not sure what is going to happen when i go back to work...

Mine is 8 and a bit months now - lost track of weeks soe we're a bit ahead of you

Brilliant first attempt crumble!

DD is I think about 28 weeks too (born christmas eve)
Joins in at breakfast but often doesn't eat much then.
Pretty much always enjoys lunch and tends to eat loads then.
Joins us for tea at 5.30 - sometimes gets hungry about 5 and so munches on some bread or cucumber while i'm cooking. Seems to swing between eating loads or hardly any at this time of day (seems to depend on whether or not she's had a poo recently!!)

Well done Jojay's ds for sleeping through - we've also been getting 12 hours for a couple of weeks - very pleased

Toast was fun to play with but I made a mistake by buttering it? Kept breaking up in his hands as he was lifting it to his mouth

Dysgu- my DS is just turning 6 mths tomorrow and have been BLW for nearly 2 weeks. He has a go at scoffing everything so far, some things easier than others but I am that most stuff is going in and staying in. He is huge though, 98th percentile, so I guess I never should have worried that he wasn't going to like food . he has just started with breakfast and not too bothered but eats LOADS at lunch and tea (although what greensnail says is true and if he is full of poo he doesn't eat as much .

Crumble- I tried toast without butter first but they soon get the hang. Now DS loves it with butter, philly or Houmous (thin layer).

Jojay at the sleep, roast dinner sounds fun! Try that on sunday!

Turkey goujons attepted last night (along with usual demolition job on broc, carrots and sweet potato). He seems very enthusiastic about meat .

Ooh, might try turkey goujons - I love them!
DD had pasta and actually ate some so we might have an alternative to weetabix and shepherd's pie, we had couscous with stir-fried pork for tea so she'll have a go at that tomorrow.
DD all of a sudden dropped her 10pm feed so she must be getting something down her

Hello,

BLW and Mumsnet newbie - can I join you all on this thread?

Started weaning my 5 1/2 month son last week with purees - not a massive success, and somewhat stressful, so am leaping into BLW instead.

Tonight he's had mashed spud mixed with pureed sweet potato (needed to use up the frozen stocks), carrot sticks and asparagus. With us, like a proper little person. And he loved it, so am so chuffed this evening!

He's not taking very much, more just shoving it in and getting used to the taste, but I'm guessing this doesn't matter as long as he's taking milk as usual.

DH isn't thrilled at the mess, but gets the rationale behind it, and I am so much more of a relaxed bunny.

Looking forward to reading everyone else's experiences too.

Hiya gumtreegirl, its good to see someone at the same stage of the process as me, my son is also the same age. Good luck.

Other BLW veterans - Am I pushing this a bit fast? Yesterday was our first day and ds had a good go at toast for breakfast, pasta in sauce for lunch, half a banana for a snack, chicken, a boiled potato, 3 green beans and a spear of cauliflower for tea. It was awesome seeing him make a good attempt at everything (bar the banana which despite the size he struggled to get anywhere near his mouth!), and got some good photos of him happily sucking on green beans and chicken, but later with the potato a chunk came off in his mouth. I knew it was too much for him but held back to see how he handled it, but he gagged a lot and then was sick LOADS of milk. Should I be slowing down and restricting what he tries at first, or is this not in the spirit of BLW?

Crumble- sounds good, although I did leave meat until DS was nearly 6 mths. The gagging and sicking up milk thing happened to us on the first 3 times that he actually swallowed anything. I think its a quite common reaction that then settles down. Getting used to swallowing stuff thats not milk I think? Anyway, others on my post-natal thread have had the same Sacry though at first its nothing to worry about, or it wasn't with us anyway!

Hi Gumtree- My DH was the same at first but is sooooooo enthusiastic now, a few weeks down the line. When they see how much baby enjoys mealtimes they really get into it! DH is so proud that DS is such a 'big boy' with his food .

I also got some good photos, uploaded them to my FB profile. Not sure how to upload to MN profile. If anyone wants to see them I am in the Mumsnet 'group' on FB now and feel free to add me