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...........

I went to meet my mum for lunch with BabyPanda. She wasn't that bothered about her own lunch (I gave her food at home before we left cos I was worried she'd be too tired in the cafe). But no, she ate half my sandwich. She definitely prefers food when it's mine...

Lol Kiwi I can totally relate to that. DD shouts for any food I she sees me with. This morning she was in her high chair eating a rice cake and liked the look of what I had on my spoon so dropped the rice cake and started shouting. I told her "DD, trust me, you don't want to eat the teabag" and put it in the bin

KiwiPanda my BB is the same! He seems to only want to try new things at the moment and can't be bothered with his old favourites. I discovered today that he will eat melon if I leave the skin on, whereas skinless he is not interested. How old is your baby? Mine is 8 months and at 6-7 would eat absolutely anything.

He is also much more likely to eat food that's in his suction bowl (or on my plate, of course). I think food is a fun game at the moment.... I laughed at him eating aubergine today, loads of it. Grandma was amazed!

Hello.

We had shepherd's pie yesterday too - must be the weather for it (August, hmmm ).

Hummus sandwiches a favourite here too - with grated carrot and if I'm feeling particularly brave stain-wise - beetroot!

Yes, mango is a particularly slippy one... could you give it in quite a big piece and make a couple of finger holes in it? (it's quite fibrous isn't it so the holes shouldn't 'rip' straight away). Does that sound too bonkers?

lol Hulla

Finger holes in mango sounds worth a try, will give it a go and see what happens.

She had corn on the cob this evening, much entertainment to be had watching her trying to work that one out

Think i might have to try a suction bowl too. She loves taking toys out of boxes etc, so i think taking food out of a bowl would seem like a great game to her.

Sospan Hadn't thought about doing crated carrot. Might try that later in the week.

Well, I used a recipe from here for the shepherds pie, it was pretty dry......I must have done it wrong. What can I put in it to 'moisten' the mince? The recipe I followed just said to let it simmer in a generous splash of white wine. I used 1/4 of bottle. I can't use gravy because of the salt, what else is there?

Are you using a stock cube? could you make it up in more water if you want the sauce wetter. If you like a thicker gravy you can use some cornflour to thicken it.

I haven't been on this thread for a long while now, but ds3 also had shepards pie for tea tonight . I didn't follow any recipe, I just made it the way I ususally do, minus salt/pepper but used a baby stock cube (on offer in boots right now). I mae a pretty small pie, so there was too much stock, but I reduced most of it down, but not so much as it went dry. Ds3 yummed it up, it is always such a pleasure to see him enjoying his food.

I have a suction bowl and can honestly say it is pretty useless. He soon figured out that if he slide it along his tray or the table that it would come unsuctioned and then he could throw it on the floor. I just plonk his food on the tray for the most part, although he did really well with his tea tonight in a bowl.

I am starting to get fed up with the MIL telling me that maybe I don't feed my son enough. She honestly doesn't get the whole BLW idea in that it is the baby who decided when he/she has had enough. She seems fixed on the idea that he should be eating as much as is packed into one of those 9 month jars

Thanks greensnail. No I didn't use a stock cube. The recipe didn't say to use one. I think I'll go to Boots and get some of the baby friendly ones today.
Heart Me and ds1 didn't get along with suction bowls either. I always just chucked his food on the highchair tray when he was on self feeding. He has only had plates and bowls in the few months he's been out of the highchair.
Not all babies have thesame appetite do they? I know your MIL is just looking out for her dgs, but she can' seriously think you'd let him get hungry.
I think it must be a generation thing. My parents are very nervous about the whole BLW thing and think that ds2 isn't eatinganything at all.

How would I give ds2 chicken? How small do the pieces have to be?

Morning!

DD (7 months this week) had chicken at the weekend. I tore strips off the leg (it kind of comes away easily in holding-size chunks - sorry kiwi if this makes you gag). She loved it, especially as her bottom teeth appeared last week so we could use them to rip it! She ate it all. No pushing it out of her mouth or dropping bits. MIL was really entertained.

When does the pincer grip develop? I think dd might be perfecting it on my nipple - she finds them really funny all of a sudden. She likes to pinch them and try to move them to her mouth like food. Maybe she's making the link...

She had pasta sauce with minced beef in it last night. We were surprised at how popular that was. She preferred it off a spoon to using her hands so it was a bit time consuming but fun to watch.

Suction bowl/plate thing. Pah! Wish I hadn't fallen for the bloody marketing. DD ignores the food for the bowl!

Heartmum2Jamie I seem to be having the opposite problem with my parents. I'm sure they think she's heading towards being a childhood obesity statistic! They're constantly making comments like "well she's certainly getting plenty of food" or "I think she must be full by now" while DD is still tucking in with much gusto! It was the same before we started weaning though - "oh she can't need feeding again - i'll take her for a walk to distract her"

littleboyblue If its chicken breast I usually cut it into strips a couple of cm wide. If we're having a roast chicken I usually give dd the leg to chew on, but I remove the sharp thin bone that's in the leg first.

We had chicken last night (with basil and lemon - yum yum). DD seemed to love eat and was very keen to eat it, but kept gagging and bringing loads back, which isn't like her at all. I think she's a bit under the weather, she just generally seems a bit out of sorts.

Littleboyblue, I think that my inlaws understand the concept of BLW, but have never actually seen him in action and as he is struggling with lack of weight gain right now (think there are other issues going on as it's certainly not a lack of food), they presume I am not feeding him enough and even went so far as to say that I obviously got it right with ds1 who I moved to formula & solids at 16 weeks. As for chicken, I do what the others have said, tear or cut strips a few cm's wide and leave him to it.

Hulla I found the pincer grasp started to become really obvious during ds3's 8th month, he started chasing all the tiny bits of food around his tray, it is very amusing to watch. Mind you, he coped equally well without it, using his whole fist to grab for things, lol!

Not sure what to have for tea today. I think we may have risotto

Thanks Chicken tomorrow. Not sure how I'm doing it yet or what marinade I'll be using, oh the decisions......

Ds2 is eating sweetcorn fritters now, with some avocado and a bit of bacon. He seems to be enjoying it. Ds1 won't even try it so he is playing with his cars and his dinner is on the table getting cold. Oh well

Did you make the sweetcorn fritters LBB? Recipe please? I made noodle fritters today with really fine rice noodles but think they were a bit chewy for the DCs - I liked them though!

Also made a really easy pizza dough. 1 cup (125g) of wholemeal SR flour, 1 cup white SR flour and 1 cup (200ml) natural yogurt. Squodge it together and roll out. It's not really crispy like proper pizza base but so quick and easy and DS had a good go at it!

TPO I did. They were yummy.

you will need:
4 fresh corn cobs (I just used a big tin though)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper, deseeded and diced
50g self-raising flour
1 egg, beaten
3 tbsp milk
handful of basil leaves, chopped
however many rashers of streaky bacon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 avocado, peeled, stoned and sliced

method

1. Slice the kernels from the cobs and cook in boiling water until tender. Drain
2. Heat half the oil in frying pan and cook pepper for 5 mins until soft.
3. Put the flour in a large bowl, stir in the egg and then the milk to make a batter. Stir in the pepper, the corn and the chopped basil 4)Add more oil to the frying pan if needed and drop in tablespoons of the batter mix. Cook for 2 mins until risen and golden underneath, turn and cook for another 2 mins.
4. Meanwhile, grill bacon and mix lemon juice with a little olive oil. Top the cakes with bacon, avocado slices and a drizzle of your lemon dressing (you can season)

This makes about 12 in total. Not suitable for freezing, but I kept some mixture in the fridge that I'll use tomorrow.

The pizza base sounds nice. Might have to give that a go.

Heartmum2Jamie I hate those jars as I always end up throwing half away - MIL buys them and gives them to BB at her house, then gives me the rest to use, which I never do...

The suction bowl I have to keep re-sticking, but he does seem to like eating out of a bowl, weirdo!! He also drinks out of pint glasses!

Hi. We're having sausage and mash tonight. I'm using Wall's skinless sausages because they were the ones with the littlest salt (0.2g per 2 sausages) but just in case no one has thought of it, I'm mixing peas into the mash to make it easier for ds2 to eat them iyswim

LLB thats a great idea. I haven't tried dd with mash but I did try her with peas last night (testing the pincer grip!). She did quite well. She'd just get a handful and then press them in her mouth. Only the ones near her thumb got in but she looked quite happy/surprised with herself. Mixed with mash would probably have been kinder!

She isn't in an eating mood tonight. She cried in her high chair so I left it.

MMmmm..sausage & mash

Hulla - my DS is 7 months this week too!

He wasn't fussed on his tea either (fish pie) but ate loads for lunch so I'm trying not to stress (which is easy as I'm not a natural worrier ).

Thanks for the recipes - I need a bit of inspiration.

Apologies for going off topic but just had to share the fact that DS slept until 7am this morning! After months of 5.30 at the latest, I feel amazing .

Sospan That's great news

Tomorrow for dinner we are having pork chop melts. That's pork chops cooked with a tbsp of apple sauce and covered in grated cheese. Wonder how ds2 will get on with that......

That's fab Sospan! DD also had a little lie in this morning which was great, but then decided she no longer needed a morning nap which wasn't so good.

Pork chop melts sounds fab - DH would love that, might need to try it some time.

LBB I haven't had that for years!! That used to be on an advert didn't it!

Pink What used to be on an advert? My pork chops?

DD has just devoured half an avocado. She has just left the skin, clean on her tray.

She seems to have clicked with food this week and looks like she's really eating rather than sucking/biting and spitting it out.

DH would love those pork chops. I cannot cook pork at all - always too dry when I cook it.

I think I'm going to make the mash/peas thing tonight with chicken. I'll make extra mash and make salmon fishcakes for tomorrows lunch. I need to be a bit more organised in life the kitchen.