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...........

Hello all
well evidence suggests she did actually swallow a bit of the carrot...
I have to say I am being faced by two big reproachful eyes at mealtimes - but more in sorrow than in anger. She doesn't seem to be hugely enjoying it but isn't getting angry and rejecting it.
Was a bit stressed because my parents were here, who were being supportive but in a bit 'what will they think of next? in our day etc etc' which made me feel a bit nervous partic as none of my NCT pals are doing this so i feel a bit isolated....

Betty I find that DD eats far more when I'm not looking at her and it's just us two at home. When we're in a restaurant out and about she gobbles a huge amount. But it's very early days for your little one, you've got to see it as play time and not food for a good while yet. And perhaps not her favourite form of play for a while!

Betty - try to ensure she's not too tired when you're trying to feed your little one. DS2 (nearly 7 months now) is brilliant at eating when not tired but if tired is really not in the mood and will just complain. Also try lots of different things for your dd - for example at dinner time tonight DS2 had some veg, chicken, bit of raspberries in yoghurt, chips then some fresh raspberries in that order - the constant chopping and changing kept him entertained and interested in the food.

Sospan disposable bibs were handy when we went away - Tesco do some good ones.

Betty I found it hard at first in the face of much disapproval from friends and relatives, but you just have to stick to your guns. In the area where I live, it is virtually unheard of to wait until 6 months before starting to wean. I found it helped to be vague! One friend felt sorry for me that BB didn't eat much (now she can't get hers to eat finger foods at all - smug face from me). I've also had comments from a couple of friends with older kids that he is a really good eater for his age! That's mainly because he loves to eat when there's an audience.

I also smile when I see the stuff about 'stages' from the babyfood companies. BMy 8.5 month old should apparently be 'moving onto lumpier textures' and 'starting finger foods'....where does corn on the cob and feeding himself individual raisins fit in I wonder?

Stick with it, it is definitely worth it

dinkystinky babies are weird! Mine had potato wedges, veggie sausage, corn on the cob, plum, mango, potato, jelly, potato.... in that order! He has also eaten beef and cherry in the same mouthful before.

Betty I also find it helps not to worry at all if your LO has to miss meals because he's asleep/grumpy/you just don't have time. I was at work today so while I guzzled a quick breakie, I gave him a few cornflakes to pick up to keep him amused. Evil mummy

Ladies thank you for all your advice. Not a great day today. DD gagged really badly on a rice cake - somehow managed to bite (how?) a big piece off instead of just sucking. DH most alarmed and said ' are you sure we should be giving a 6 month old this kind of thing?' and then i read a bit from 'What to Expect the first year' where it says that you mustn't give carrots when teething in case they choke. feel worried now. tell me i'm not putting my PFB in harm's way...or at least how I could do it better

Betty - the gagging is an automatic reflex reaction, DS2 does it too with rice cakes or big chunks he bites off and then he just spits them out and tries again till he figures it out. Today he was swallowing whole halves of grapes whole but yesterday they had him gagging and spitting them out. In fact DS1 (now 3 and a half) sometimes gags when he's stuffed too much food in his mouth and spits it out then tries again We have good days and bad days with both boys but I love that DS2 loves sitting up at the table with us all and squawking away at us as we all eat.

With really hard things like carrots,cruciferous veg, unripe pears, apples it is best to steam them first so they are soft but firm and the choking risk is greatly reduced.

Take it really easy - try your daughter on things like really thin toast fingers or soft fruit like really ripe pears, plums or nectarines to start off with till everyone gets the hang of things.

hello just had a quick look over this thread as i have heard a lot about blw. I have started weaning with the pureess and dd loves her food, but am intrigued by what i've read. When can i start with blw ? do i have to wait for teeth to appear?

Mrsfossil - you can start any time after they are able to sit upright, have lost the tongue thrust reflex and are interested in food and grabbing it and bringing it to their mouths - is normally around the 6 month mark. You can combine purees with BLW or just go straight down the BLW route (my preference as avoids hours of pureeing. And no you dont need teeth - my DS2 is very much a gummy wonder but managed to put away around half of a haddock and spinach pasta bake (same size portion as his 3 year old brother) and a bowl full of raspberries himself for dinner today.

Evening all. Betty don't lose heart as dinky says gagging is completely normal (and I've seen plenty of it from puree fed babies too) and it really doesn't bother them. I'm sure it's also how they learn not to bite off more than they can chew! Have you read the Gill Rapley book? It's not essential reading but it might help reassure your DH that BLW is the way forward, there's lots of info about the advantages and so on. Just try and enjoy the spectacle for a while, it'll be at least a few weeks before you see a lot of food disappearing down into that tiny tummy!

A fun night tonight - veggie chilli! He ate clumps of chilli and rice scooped from a bowl (then just straight off the high chair tray), including kidney beans, which were met with great interest. Absolutely no interest in me feeding from a spoon, quite happy to do it himself. I toned down the spice a bit but couldn't resist popping a chilli in as I love spicy food.

Yet another messy one because he dropped as much as he ate. Despite a mum2mum bib covering everything (yeah right), his (brand new) jeans were covered in lumps of chilli and rice... I brought out a pot of Greek yoghurt for pud and he recognised it and made it very clear he wanted some.

I am so happy as he really seems to be getting the whole food thing now.

Mrsfossil - I would also recommend the Gill Rapley book. I started on purees (briefly, too early, felt under pressure, stopped as it wasn't working for us) but the Rapley book completely changed my view on babies and food, and BLW has worked brilliantly for us. The section on the history of baby food is very interesting, and made me quite sceptical about baby food companies and their insistence othat there are 'stages' to weaning (see my corn on the cob post from the other day!!). I have found, in my area at least, that other mums all do the purees route and seem to start early (4-5 months) so I have used the forums as a source of moral support and to reassure myself that I am not doing some crazy thing!

Betty has today been any better?

Hi thanks for the advice. I'm not entirely sure about this tongue reflex thingy but am going to look closly at lunch time to see exactly what dd is doing once the food is in her month. She is 5 months and we have just started on purees (please no lectures on being a bad mother for weaning early anyone as i have already had that on another thread).

I did all the purees then lumps and mashed with my ds who is 8 and although it went well it was a faf. We did start at 4 months because that was the advice 8 years ago. But we are off on holiday in about 7 weeks and i think blw sounds easier for hols than jars and taking my blender.

Hello
Well todayshe has looked askance at some banana! I'm beginning to wonder whether she has lost the tongue thrust reflex completely though (forgive me if I am saying something stupid as if she brings anything to her mouth she then sort of spits it out with her tongue.
I'm wondering if I am feeding her at the right times. For example I gave her her first milk feed at 6am today but after her waking at 3am I was a bit knackered (bad mummy) and by the time had got up, faffed around prob didn't give her the banana til around 8. Is that too late after? When do you generally give food after a night feed.
Apologies for all these questions...just that as i say i know no one in real life doing BLW....

Cara veggie chilli sounds great, I'm always amazed at how nonchalantly DD takes to spicy food. More sophisticated than me! Re bibs if it's something really messy I tuck a muslin over DD's legs cos it's easier to chuck that in the wash (or just take her trousers off - skin easier still to wash!)

MrsFossil (and BettyFriedan) I'm not entirely sure what the tongue thrust thing is TBH but if - as you say Betty - they push the food out of their mouth that's not necessarily meaning they aren't ready (though 5 months probably is, MrsF) it's just it takes a few weeks for them to work out how to get food from the front of their mouths to the back. And DD still pushs out bits if she's taken too much into her mouth, so don't worry about that at all.

Hello to Mrsfossil! BLW is definitely easier in terms of equipment etc than purees, cos you don't need anything at all (except some very robust bibs!) so it's great for holidays. the only thing to be aware of is that at first they are unlikely to eat much while they work out how to actually get the stuff into their tummies so you shouldn't worry if your little one doesn't seem to have stuffed herself! As with any skill they learn it takes a while to master. And you shouldn't try it when they are hungry at first, because they won't understand that this stuff in front of them is what makes them full so they'll just get upset and frustrated. Which brings me to Betty what you asked about timings (and don't apologise that's what this thread is for!) DD gets the boob when she wakes up then solid breakfast about an hour later. She's never been one for any kind of routine when it comes to milk feeds so I just try to make sure that she's not "starving" when she is in the high chair, but that she's not just had her milk, IYSWIM. And that supper is when she's still full of beans and not tired yet. I don't think 2 hours after milk is too late but it does depend on them and their moods vary so much! When we started BLW I made sure that DD was in a good mood before I put her in the high chair otherwise she'd just wail after about 2 minutes.

Phew what a long post.

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Betty wow you are doing well to get breakfast in at 8! When we first started BLW, it was often 10 or 11...
Now it's between 8 and 9, but it was more like 10 this morning!

BB had buffalo steak tonight

Hello all, sorry I haven't posted for a while. I've had an op and I'm recovering at my mums with dd. Just popped on for the pancake recipe.

I'll post properly this week

I'm three days in to BLW and I'm not sure I'm going to have the patience for it. Having read Gill Rapley's book and loved the idea of BLW the reality seems a world apart. I did think it was a stretch for her to say that babies know what they need nutritionally and will feed themselves accordingly. Watching my 6 month old I can't even imagine her coming to realise what to do with food let alone recognise it's nutritional value. Please talk me out of switching to purees, I really want to stick with BLW but it's hard to watch without interfering.

bump

I'm also skeptical of the ability to natur-*ally recognise nutritional value but if you are offering nutritional choices then there is no doubt that the baby will eat with practice. After all, even puree fed babies have to learn to finger feed eventually so why not go straight in with BLW?

Which bits in particular are you struggling with?

I think 3 days might be a bit soon to expect your dd to be able to balance her nutrition. She's just learning that if she puts food in her mouth it has a taste & a texture, what chewing is and that if goes near the back of her throat she can cough it forwards or swallow it.

It all takes time, I think the key is not to stress and go with the flow (and I am not a go with the flow kind of person usually).

Keep offering a variety of foods (you don't have to offer in one sitting or straight away - give yourself a break, its only been three days). Don't worry about nutrition too much - so long as she's drinking her milk she's fine for now.

Honestly, BLW is fun. I watch my friends feed their babies puree while their lunch goes cold. They are moving onto finger foods and seem to be having a nightmare time.

Keep posting here for tips etc and if you decide to go to purees because you're more comfortable with that then thats fine too (but less amusing IMO )

I know you're right, I have to just relax. She had good fun with a strawberry at lunchtime. Prior to that not much has even made it into her mouth. How long did it take your babies to start being a bit more purposeful with their feeding? I'm so tempted to 'help' by putting the food right in her hand but have so far resisted.

Hello, can I join in?
DS is 6 months old this week and we are just getting started. So far he has gummed a green bean, a nectarine slice and a stick of banana. Don't think any eating has occured yet!
Was impressed by a weaning group with health visitor yesterday who was quite up on baby led weaning and I have perused rapley's book. I'm planning to go and but a big plastic tablecloth tomorrow. And some bibs.

I got some great bibs with sleeves from IKEA, better than the ones we got from Mothercare. So at least we're dressed appropriately - all the gear but no idea!
To follow Gill Rapley's book to the letter I expected to be offering DD exactly what we were eating from the start but of course it's better to give her the food which is easiest for her to handle. It seems so obvious now.

Vegemite it took just over a month for baby crumble to get it. It just happened to be this weekend whilst out for a family meal where he ate something off every plate (inc chicken livers, duck breast, piecrust, chip and and various veg). I was all as the grandparents and waitresses were fawning over him mega impressed. Of course I didn't say that this was only the first time he's done so well but he's had a good month of experimentation even though I knew he was actually eating

Thanks, that's really encouraging. You must have been chuffed! DD had a good crack at some toast this morning. I'm so much more encouraged than a couple of days ago and I can see already that she's holding things differently than when she started. We're off to spend the weekend with in-laws next weekend who I anticipate will be sceptical so it's good to be feeling a bit more confident myself.