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...........

Tuna is a winner here too - we've had it again this weekend - dd saw it and was shouting in her high chair before I got it near her!

We ate out with the inlaws last night. I explained to MIL that, because late-onset diabetes runs in both families, I am not giving dd sugary desserts etc so that she doesn't expect them/develop a sweet tooth. 10 minutes later I caught her trying to spoon feed dd custard. Aaargh!! She was also giving her little bits of chips and stuffing them past her lips. I don't mind her having one big chip to chew on (If she must) but not bits shoved in her mouth. She meant well, its just a different approach but I was cross that she didn't check if we minded dd having custard & chips.

Anyway, I said no to custard so she took the spoon away and said "I know you'd love custard baby Hulla, I'd let you have some but your mummy says no". Its the second time she's done that and if it carries on when dd is old enough to understand that her mother is being undermined by grandma then I'll be livid. For now, I am smiling angelically and telling MIL that dd will have to get used to hearing no sometimes!

Ok, rant over. I made blueberry pancakes this morning - big success (I'll put a pic on my profile I think). I even wrapped two in foil and took them out with us today. So today dd has had melon, blueberry pancakes and slept through lunch so that's it. Not very exciting actually....

She also started going on about dd having a bottle (because she was holding a plactic cup to her mouth so MIL decided it would be easy for her to hold a bottle).

Oo Hulla how do you make your blueberry pancakes? I've got loads of blueberries that need eating

We had a picnic in our garden today with friends and their little boy. He's always been way ahead of DD in development and doing stuff like rolling, he's crawling already etc. So I was really proud that DD was feeding herself really tricky stuff while he utterly refused any finger foods and wouldn't feed himself at all. Is that wrong??

It's an AK recipe but very yummy:

50g self raising flour
3 tbsp milk
1 egg
1/4 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
1tbsp sugar
pinch of salt (optional)

This only makes a small amount so I doubled up and that was about right for the 3 of us.

Stir all ingredients together and leave to stand for a few mins (think the bicarb makes it bubbly). Heat a frying pan and put batter in little dollops in it when hot. Flip after a couple of minutes.

It says to oil the pan but I didn't, just used non-stick.

I added the blueberries to the batter, not sure if that's right but it worked. They went all gooey and jam-like. I can't get the pic of dd to upload at the moment but she ended up with a purple face.

I left out salt & sugar and it was fine (but perhaps blueberries helped). DH had his with maple syrup (and wonders why there are 3 generations with type 2 diabetes in his family!).

You can freeze them and reheat from frozen so I am using up the rest of the blueberries this way tomorrow

Kiwi I totally understand and my dd doesn't eat much. She impressed the in-laws today. I was might proud when they got their camera out to take pics of her blueberry-chops!

mighty - doh!

KiwiPanda totally understandable - I love it when DD shows off her eating skills when her friends are being fed mush. Then I feel guilty, don't want people to think i'm being smug.

We also had a garden picnic today. Great fun, and much less hassle to clear up, but wasps seem very attracted to DD and next door's dog was trying to jump the fence to join in too!

Brilliant thanks Hulla I'm going to make them tomorrow when DD has her "crash out after swimming" nap!

DD was back on strawberries yesterday. I have to give her a few weeks between them cos she seems to get bored of them and then rediscovers them and can't get enough! Strange bablet!
I think I'll have a go at those pancakes too - haven't got as many blueberries as last year, the blackbirds realised they were edible I should've netted them really!

Just made the pancakes, they are lovely! DD is still asleep so will be getting them for tea. And hey, if she doesn't scoff them, I will...

Hello - am back from a weekend of camping in the New Forest. BLW in a tent was a whole new experience. Poor DS was filthy all weekend!

Have enlisted the help of a friend with a bread maker who is going to supply me with low salt bread. The first loaf was delivered today which is a good job as my head was spinning with bread related salt maths!

Apricots seem to be a big hit here at the mo - he rams them in his mouth and then spits out the skin. Am going to try the pancake recipe tomorrow too (am such a sheep ).

I have a bread maker and do the bread with half the salt - works fine! It doesn't quite rise as much as with full salt but it's pretty good. BB is a bread monster at the moment (7 1/2 months)

Well DD LOVED the pancakes! She didn't have much lunch so I gave them to her as a teatime great and she scoffed one down. Thanks hulla!

I was going to buy some weetabix for breakfast but checked the label for a change and it seemed to have an awful lot of salt. Hmm. What can I give DD for breakfast that doesn't require cooking but that is a bit more substantial than fruit? (And isn't just toast?)

Glad you liked them Kiwi. Let us know how dd gets on with them.

Thats a good idea sospan, I'm going to make a loaf for my sis at the weekend. She's developed gestational diabetes so has been looking for low sugar bread. She's my guinea pig! . Hope the pancakes are a hit. I'm working my way through a finger foods recipe book so I'll share any good ones.

Dinner tonight was roasted sweet potato, carrots and steamed green beans with salmon. DD had a go at it all and then sucked on some mango for about 15 minutes.

cara have you tried it with no salt? Does it need salt to rise? I was hoping to phase it out altogether.

KiwiPanda we've discovered shredded wheat bite size (well, the supermarked equivalent) today. DD loved them, she ate loads, and they don't have much salt.

Hulla I think you need some salt to make the bread rise. I'm down to half the amount of salt in our bread at the moment and its rising fine. I'm gradually reducing it to see how low we can go - so can let you know when it stops working!

Kiwi I thought weetabix was fairly ok? Think there's 0.24g salt in 2 bisks (is that a word?) and DS won't eat a whole one so that's less than 1/8 of their daily max. salt 'allowance'? Or is my salt maths completely out? please tell me if I'm being a total dunce someone!

I have been giving (poor) DS Organix porridge made up with cold water (he doesn't know any better). V quick and easy and he seems to enjoy smearing it around.

Sospan I think weetabix is ok too - i suppose it depends what else they're having in a day. DD eats a whole one though.

I was looking at the M and S own brand organic one so maybe it just has more salt than the original for some reason?

Blimey, don't I sound posh? Yah dahling I buy all of DD's food in M&S, but only when Selfridges is shut....

Actually I do do my weekly shop there. My weekly shop of chocolate that is....

haha, DH didn't like the m&s organic weetabix so we went back to the sainsbury's one!

Not having a great day here - DD has given up eating and sleeping

greensnail snap, must be something in the air. DD had us up at 5.30am and is currently having a big "you can't make me sleep!" strop. One of those count-the-hours-till-DH-is-home days...

Kiwi, DS has decided that between 5 and 5.30 is the new getting up time too. Am refusing to feed him before 6 to try and train him (it's not working ). Hope you held out until the reinforcements arrived.

Hulla the pancakes went down a treat here as well. I did them with (frozen) raspberries.

DS has had a good eating day today. DH had the day off so we had lunch out and DS was a star, chomping away on bits from our plates. The staff were all crowding around, gasping in amazement... well, there was definitely some cooing and pointing going on anyway .

We then had a picnic tea so I was being quite free and easy with the mess as were outside - at which point DH informed me he'd left the wipes in the restaurant. Great .

Hi Ladies,

I've been following for a few days and have got to page 20 but was desperate to ask a couple of questions so forgive me if I'm not totally up to date.

DS is 7mths + a week. We have been doing BLW since just over 6mths but have been a bit sporadic about it ie not consistently had the same meals each day and one week he was offered almost nothing (as I had swine flu and my MIL was up against it looking after DS & 2.5yr old DD as it was). Also am totally taking the view that its for fun and know he'll let me know when he wants/needs more due to personality! I love BLW but am not a purist and this week offered a couple of purees for the first time as wanted him to take something off a spoon for a trip we are taking for our summer holls (20hrs door to door). He insisted on putting the spoon in himself (great) but looked absolutely furious as he slurped down the puree as if to say "there is not much eating in this". Lets just say that meal quickly spiraled into shouting/bawling (great - just what I need on a plane). A couple of questions:

1. Bitingoffmorethanhecanchew - well not literally. He was an early teether and has the bottom two and just cut the top two this week. Anything I give him, he bites off huge pieces so has a massive mouthful to gum and then I kid you not, gets cross because there is nothing left sticking out of his fist and starts to get stropy until I help him grasp another piece of food and he then tries to put that in his mouth, which is still full from the first piece. I can tell you this is quite a shock after my petite & dainty DD. He has always been a really easy calm baby EXCEPT where milk was concerned, he goes from 0-60 in a couple of seconds when he wants his milk (bfed). Has anyone else had this issue, needless to say if I am concerned that he has too much in his mouth (like a massive piece of steak for ex and try to fish some out with a finger, he goes absolutely ballistic with me). He is normally such a sweetheart, I'm a bit shocked with the seriousness he is taking this whole food business. Reading back on this it sounds like the poor guy is starving but he only wakes once a night for a bfeed and goes 4hrly normally in the day time so I don't think he is. I just think that he has more teeth than he is developmentally able to deal with - does that make any sense or is it just ridiculous?

1. He had an exema flare up at around 3 mths while being exclusively breastfed so his doctor cautioned me about the likelihood of food allergies (DH has asthma). I sort of linked the flare up to dairy in my diet so am delaying any dairy and am slightly worried about other things. Will avoid the obvious but think at 7mths I have to give the less dangerous things a go so am going to try bread tomorrow. Is there anyone else in the same situation and when did you introduce wheat/dairy and did it have an effect?

1. Have tried to register on Aitch's site after much reading but it won't let me for some reason. Is it not accepting new members?

1. How do you give chicken? I roasted one today and just gave him a 'chip' sized strip of breast but true to form, he tried to pretty much jam the entire piece in. Wondering if there is a better way.

Molly

Hi 1stTimeMummy

DD has 2 bottom teeth and is very good at biting off pieces of meat etc. She also sometimes sees something on her tray that interests her when her mouth is already full and so trys to get the next thing in too early. It can be very worrying to watch, but left to her own devices she does always work it out in the end - if its too big for her to manage it does come out eventually.

She also used to get annoyed if there was nothing left in her hand to eat, but that has improved as she's got better at picking food up and managing to eat the piece that's left inside her fist. I'm sure they're not starving, just really excited to be experiencing food!

DD seems to get on better with the leg meat than the breast, seems to be a better texture. If you gave him a leg to chew on then he wouldn't be able to get the whole thing in his mouth - might encourage him to bite off more manageable pieces. If not, would still be a great photo opportunity

Greensnail Thats reassuring to know that your daughter has figured out 'how much she can fit in her mouth'. In my experience though, girls generally tend to be smarter at that kind of thing! However, your post did make me realise that i am going to have to let him shout/cry and figure it out for himself at some point, have been feeling too sorry for him at the moment as his poor gums look so swollen/sore. Good idea about the leg. Am a bit terrified about the idea of it but might try it tomorrow or at least some of the leg meat to see how he gets on with that.

Hello 1sttimemummy!

DD has no teeth so can't really help with that, except to say that she often does "bite" or rather gum off more than she can chew but I think they get quite good at working out what to spit out again. Very occasionally she'll get something stuck in her mouth, like the other day a whole strawberry which she demolished but ended up with a sort of strawberry skin stuck to the roof of her mouth. She went a bit mental and didn't want to let me help but eventually I got it out and she was fine. I find offering regular sips of water from her cup seems to help too.

Also can't help with meat as we've veggies, but it's interesting what you say about eczema. DD also had a big flare up at 3 months and I too thought maybe it was related to my diet but I've read a lot of stuff since that seems to suggest there's too much made of connection between BM and what we eat, and I certainly can't see any correlation between what I eat and her flare-ups. I was also a bit nervous at first about giving her wheat and dairy, especially as the former gives DH eczema, but she now has both and there's been no reaction at all. I don't give her a huge amount but she loves cheese and bread.

I also read the other day that if you are BFing then it's actually good to introduce potential allergens WHILE you are doing it, because somehow the BM helps their system cope and ajust to these new things, IYSWIM (can you tell I'm not a scientist?!) Will try and find a link and post it here later for you.

I actually think that DD's ezcema is more topical - she's doing a swim course twice a week at the moment and has a bit of a flare-up so I reckon it's maybe the chlorine in teh water...

hello we have just started BLW with my DD2. weaned DS1 on purees etc so these forums are great for information and encouragement! the only other person i know doing blw is my sister. can i really truly offer dd2 anything?!
feel smug today as she sucked away on a bit of broccoli. her brother dropped his on the floor and pretended v proudly that he had eaten it..!
ist time mummy i also tried to register on the other blw forum but cant get it to accept.

Katy