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 everyone. Hulla it's great when they click isn't it? DD loves avocado too, particularly in the form of guacamole with chilli

She's now decided to eat bananas whole in the manner of an icecream, squeezing the middle occasionally to get more up the top. Cute and not as messy!

kiwi - do you make your own? I was going to try but all the recipes I found had tomato in and I wasn't sure it contained tomato.

I also bought dried mango as I thought it might be easier to hold but its actually in quite small pieces and dd was swallowing them whole . I could just hear this gag and the gulp. So I took it away. Its actually very yummy but probably not so good for you (can't be if it tastes this nice!).

we got some fantastic video footage of DD eating spag bol this evening - will definitely be one to embarass her with when she's older

Gah, laptop keeps freezing. This is the third time I'm writing this post!!

Yes LBB! It was when I was at uni so about 10 (or 11/12 ) years ago! Grilled pork chops then add a spoon of apple sauce and cheese. One of those recipe ads like the more recent lion egg ones!

I gave DS fish tonight. It was Not Good. I ended up having to scoop it out of his mouth cause he was squawking and flapping and couldn't do anything with it! Think I'll try fish cakes next time. He also had a good go at corn on the cob.

I gave him dried mango from my graze box a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think he'd even be able to pick it up but he shoved it in then sat there for aaaaaages sucking away on it and then it was gone I think he was only a week or so into weaning!

DS does the leaving the skin thing with wedges of tomato but I tend to take the skin off avocado.

Hulla DH makes it but he tells me it does usually have tomato. He's made this one, think it's Hairy Bikers recipe!

4 mild chillis
chopped coriander
2 tomatoes
1 onion
a few tablespoons water
juice half a lime
3 ripe avocados

Blend or pestle and mortar all together...

Of course you can leave chilli out if you don't have a very strange baby like mine who prefers it with..

Aargh
Going to try to start tomorrow.
Terrified!
What shall I offer DD?

Fruit was a good one for us? Necarines are extremely popular (I cut into quarters and out the slices on her tray). Avocado? Skin off seems to work better although its quite slippy.

Steamed veg? Roast veg? DD loves green beans but not too keen on broccoli.

I'd say pick bits out of whatever you're having rather than give something just for your dd or it will probably be a waste.

Don't be terrified. Have you read Gill Rapley's book? Gagging is normal but make sure you know what to look out for with choking. When dd gagged and coughed it was hard to keep the look of panic off my face but it never bothered her.

Have fun and keep your camera nearby!!

DD had some of my spicy chilli snacks today (a bit like crisps - not very healthy). She was shouting for them and dropped her rice cake so I thought if she had one she'd hate the chilli and stop shouting. Oh how wrong. She loved the chilli. I gave her three in the end but had to stop because they're probably too salty and almost certainly contain hyrdogenated fats.

So I have found a recipe for homemade tortilla chips which I'll cover in chilli and let her have those. On the plus side I can make Mr Kiwi's guacamole recipe and she can have both! Yay!

Sorry top half of my post was for Betty

Do you have to steam the fruit though? Sorry if this is a really dumb question....

Hi Betty, don't be scared - it'll be great fun. The only fruit I would steam is apple, as its quite crunchy - little bits can break off and become a choking hazard. Other fruits, so long as they're ripe, will be fine just as they are.

DD is also a chilli fan, much to my delight. DH can't eat spicy food, so now I have someone to share it with

I'm off on holiday tomorrow, so may be away from mumsnet for a couple of weeks. On the other hand I will have internet access, so I may be lured in anyway! Anyway, speak to you all in a fortnight

Hulla we had a chilli crisps moment today! Healthy philly + tomato sandwich: ignored. Spicy crisp: devoured.
I was impressed as they were pretty spicy.

He also decided to grab a flapjack I was about to eat in the sports centre after swimming - before I'd even had the chance to break a bit off. I thought it was a healthyish option but no; E numbers, sugar etc....

I think I'm going to have to stop eating unhealthy snacks altogether as nothing gets past him now :-(

Betty, cucumber and tomato worked well for us early on, in slices or sticks. We started on toast pretty early as well.

thank you for the suggestions. Don't know why i am getting myself so wound up about the whole thing - and know its bad to be doing so!

Have a lovely holiday greensnail

Betty don't worry about getting wound up. Its just because you care and you want to get it right.

We took dd out for food last night. She hardly ate anything, she'd nibble a bit and then throw it (tomatoes, mushrooms, steak, broccoli, green beans & carrots - all on the floor).

So I have a question, if you eat out with your dc do you clean all the crap dropped food off the floor/chair etc? I ended up putting it all in a nappy bag and cleaning the highchair with wipes. There was a lot of waste though. She kept shouting for food but didn't really want it when she got it - oh execpt for brussel sprouts which she liked but couldn't get a grip on properly.

Oh, I bought some Oraganix spicy stars for dd. I hate the idea of her getting used to crisp-type snacks but she is going off the rice cakes and I need something I can carry round in my bag to distract her when she's waiting for her food!

Cara - try making homemade flapjacks - they're delicious and you can put in all sorts of dried fruit, like apricots etc, so no worries giving them to little ones. Made DS2 some home made rusks earlier this week (basically baked cheese on toast with marmite in it) which he will happily gnaw on while waiting for the main event meal to come too - though am also guilty of plying the organix trade (though his big brother mostly nicks the crisps off him).

OK so...basically for the last two days DD has put a carrot to her mouth and looked appalled, sucked on a rice cake (ditto) and refused to pick up any cucumber at all. Am I doing this right?
If I give her pear do i need to peel it after steaming?

That sounds about right Betty - how old is your dd? She's learning about how it feels and tastes. No need to worry about chewing/swallowing etc. She'll move onto that soon enough.

My dd seemed to discover swallowing by accident and looked very surprised!

I peel pears because the skin worries me a little but having said that she has lots of stuff with skin on and has no problems (apricots, dried fruit, nectarines, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers etc).

I also tried dd with pasta (you can get extra large shapes in some supermarkets). She just used to suck the sauce off but she likes to eat the pasta too now.

How about a bit of cream cheese on the rice cake? Makes good photos if nothing else

What Hulla said Betty... it takes them a while to get used to the whole process, and they just get better and more efficient all the time. DD is now eating anything and everything. If you are concerned about peel/skin I'd take it off for now but I bet in a couple of months you'll be lobbing over whole bits of fruit (or even whole pieces of fruit) and your little one will be spitting out the skin. It's quite impressive how they get to grips with new stuff!

Interesting development tonight..... BB cried in his highchair and wouldn't eat anything other than a suck of broccoli. Assumed he was tired so put him on my knee and carried on eating my dinner, which was exactly the same as what was on his tray.

He decided to grab big clumps of my dinner - couscous, chard and salmon went straight down the hatch! He ate/dropped half my salmon fillet. I could feel food tumble down my leg and onto the floor. You can imagine the mess :-)

Kiwipanda, I know what you mean about fruit. I used to be very worried about apple and would always peel it. 2 months on he gets chunks of it, skin on, and sits and nibbles through it with his only two teeth! Apple is his favourite fruit at the moment.

I may try giving him a whole one sometime to see what he does

Hulla I tend to clean up as much as I can when eating out as I feel bad otherwise! Went to see my grandparents the other day in their very posh & pristine residential complex and BB decided to be in a very hungry mood...I sort of caught stuff as he dropped it and either ate it myself or put it on the plate out of his reach. Of course, he charmed all the staff so they said they didn't mind clearing up, but I still tried to get as much up as I could. I ended up sitting him on the floor with a bread roll. And tonight we ate youghurt on the kitchen floor. I'm seeing a pattern developing here

You should cara, bet he loves it! DD loves whole apples, she has no teeth so doesn't really get any of it in her mouth but seems to love sucking at it!

Hulla re restaurants I do the same, sort of make an effort to pick up the big/obvious bits of food, especially if they've been nice and I think we might go back!

Oops, I never thought of peeling fruit (except for bananas of course!). DS seems to have managed to get over my neglect and just spits the skin out. It's his party trick!

Hulla - I do exactly the same with cleaning up. Have found so far that people have been amused rather than horrified at the mess!

Cara - I always make DS sit on DH's lap if it comes to it... that way I seem to remain quite clean .

Betty - how's it going?

We are off on hols next week - am wondering how much food to take for DS. Was thinking just a couple of bags of porridge and (unsalted) rice cakes and buy stuff when we're out there. Off to Italy rather than anywhere remote, so should be ok! Any other essentials I should take?

(and have absolutely no idea how to entertain the Eel-boy on a plane!)

Sospan I'd just take some rice cakes to keep him entertained until the real food arrives! I have an eelgirl too and she's been on three flights now, you just have to walk up and down the aisle if necessary! Also if you are going on easyjet/ryanair or similar then get a three seat row for the three of you, I assure you NO ONE will want to sit in the "empty" seat...! Then you can use that as a small play area.