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...........

Yep, about a month here too. Stuff was going in before but now dd will hold a piece of chicken, for example, bite a bit off, chew, swallow and go for the next bite. Its very purposeful. I gave her a chipolata sausage last weekend and she polished it off very impressively but I feel I can't tell people incase they think its terrible giving a 7.5 month old sausages!

vege I hope I didn't sound harsh. All I was trying to say was don't be hard on yourself. I had the same expectation but I admit that for weeks we adapted what we ate so that dd could join in (big pasta, steamed veg sticks etc). She does have things off a spoon but I just pass her the spoon and she puts it in her mouth (this works well with rice or chickpeas/beans).

Welcome bunny! How's it going? I have plastic mats but hate cleaning them . See how you get on. Someone here suggested towels - its changed my life!

Butternut squash risotto for dinner tonight. I have no idea what to do for lunch though. Lunch times drive me mad actually.

Anyone want to tell me what your having?

No Hulla, you didn't sound harsh. I think anyone who thinks a baby - whether 3 days or 3 years into BLW - can balance their own nutrition is a bit doolally! So I certainly wasn't expecting that...but I did hope DD might get something IN her mouth. I think there are a few bits in that Gill Rapley book that should be taken with a grain of salt.
I also can't make eating together on week nights work. DD has her dinner at 5 and I just kind of hang about with her in the kitchen - but she's eating by herself.
Do others always eat together? How do you make the timing work? Who's hungry at 5? And I really enjoy eating later with DH.

I was wondering how evening meals were going to work when I am back at work and hopefully DS will start going to bed a bit earlier soon (at the moment he is very much wanting to participate in our evening meal, even at 8pm unfortunatately!). DS gummed some spinach today then threw it on the floor. Is going tobe a long process. On the plus side I have a nice new oil cloth table cloth.

Hulla - welcome back, hope you're recovering OK! Lunch is still a bit hit or miss for us as BB is often too tired to eat much. We tend to be very bread-based at lunchtime - tuna or cheese sandwiches, houmous, toasties, that kind of thing. Occasionally I'll get adventurous and make pasta, and I plan to start doing soups once the weather cools down.

Vegemite - I'd say it took a couple of months (though we started early, at 5.5 months) for BB, and me, to get into it. I have times when I worry about what he's eating, or not eating. However, he really does seem to eat what he needs to eat. He'll go through a bread phase, a fruit phase or (occasionally) a veg phase. He got a bit constipated quite early and kept wanting to eat oranges, which are meant to help the digestive system. I think that humans, and even babies, have a survival instinct type thing that makes them crave the foods they need at a particular time. I give variety, based on what I'm eating, and he chooses what he wants. I always have plenty of fruit in the fridge and if he's in a fruit mood, it's easy to chop up another apple or whatever.

Bunny or whoever it was who asked about mealtimes, I try and get dinner cooked for about 6pm so that we can eat together (just me and BB on weekdays, OH too at the weekends). I do a snack at 3 or 4. This seems to work fine and I have managed to adjust to the early dinnertime. We bath at 7 or 7.30 and then bed around 8. I've just gone back to work and on the day he's at home, he ate with me at 6 and the other day he ate at his grandma's.

Some BLW fun tonight....OH is working late so I thought, 'let's have a messy one', and gave BB a pot of yoghurt. He managed to sort of slurp it and scoop with his fingers, and amazingly ate nearly the entire thing. The sacred pot was not dropped
Yoghurt in his hair, under the bib, pools of it on his lap (which I scooped up on a spoon and handed to him), yoghurt mixed with the fish and couscous we had for dinner....

Hi. Been off-line for a week or so.
BLW still going really well here, infact ds2 is eating more than ds1!

I've been tot he charity shop and managed to pick up a couple of kids recipe books.

Having said that, if you enjoy eating later with your OH then stick with it! Mine eats a big lunch at work so doesn't eat in the evening. BB will eat on his own or accompanied, he doesn't seem to care.

lol littleboyblue Annabel Karmel books? Someone at babygroup today said they were following her books...I kept quiet...

Me and my dp always waited and ate after ds1 had gone to bed, and then both. The only reason we all eat together now is so I can get all the washing up done and the kitchen cleaned at a reasonable hour. There's nothing to say you have to eat together as a family if you don't want to, we never did with ds1. He is now 2, and the only thing \i can think that may have had an effect, is that he can be a bit funny about eating out as in at friends houses etc and I put that down to the fact that we've not really sat around the table, I haven't really installed table manners and habits into him properly iyswim? IOr it might be a normal phase......

cara I have 1 AK book from ds1. I puree weaned him. Tbh, I find her stuff ok, but it's all a bit long winded with the cooking isn't it? I like to chuck everything into a pan at the same time and hope for the best

We eat breakfast together and lunch and we'll all eat together at weekends but DD is in the bath at 5.30 - 6 and bed by 6.30 so dinner has to be 5 at the latest. Hopefully the two meals together are enough to give her the social thing. As for table manners...we don't even have a table! DD sits at a little chair and tray while we sit on the floor. As she tries to get to grips with stuff there's a lot going over the side of her table. I usually offer it back to her but I'm never sure whether she's dropped it on purpose because she doesn't want it or whether she has just dropped it because it's slipped out of her hand.
Bunny did you offer the spinach back?
Cara how will you do soup? Offer it with toast for dipping? It will soon be soup weather.

Can I give mayo to a 7 month old?

I'm trying to get ds1 (who is 2) to eat celery so as a snack, I am going to fill the groove with tuna mayo which I know he likes and thought I'd give sme to ds2 too

Hey all. Am in Berlin for a month at the mo so only popping in occasionally so hope all the BLWbabes are doing well. DD is stuffing her face at the moment, she's definitely put on some weight since we got here because I'm suddenly struggling to carry her in BabyBjorn after about 20 minutes!

littleboyblue Can't see there'd be a problem with mayo, it's all pasteurised and stuff anyway (if it's Hellmans type jar rather than homemade!) I suppose egg is a potential allergen but so are a million other things...

vegemite when we do soup we soak bread in it and give her that - if she loves it she might take some from a spoon (we hand her the spoon, though with soup I try to keep a guiding hand on it to keep it the right way up!)

Evening all. Have been doing BLW for a month and abit now with DS2 and have really noticed how his poos are suddenly like grown up poos (have been for the past week or two) as he's eating so much (and definitely more than his big brother on some days). Re lunches - we did wraps for lunch today. DS2 had houmous and grated carrot in his then satsuma ( I peeled the skin off the segments beore giving them to him) for dessert and loved it. The other day he had muffin pizza with tomato, pepper and cheese on it and loved that one too. Though usually our lunches are pretty bread based I have to admit.

Re soup - I tend to do quite thick soups and give DS2 pitta bread to stick in it and eat. Baked bread fingers work pretty well too.

Kiwi Thanks. Ds2 has had egg before anyway and hasn't shown any signs of allergies.

dinky Lunch for L is pretty bread based, but I'm trying to change it because ds1 doesn't like bread (PITA) Tomorrow I am trying them both on tuna wraps (tuna, mayo, grated carrot, grated apple, mixed and put on wrap, rolled and cutinto small slices) the hope is that ds1 doesn't notice that it is bread like.......
Ds2 is eating anything and everything that I put infront of him so all my food concerns are based around ds1!

Hi everyone, it's summer at last!

I give mayo, just a little bit, it's mainly the salt I'm worried about.

Morning!!

Summer? Cara are you in the Southern hemisphere?

DD is off bread/toast etc at the moment. She's wolfing down nectarine slices faster than I can cut them at the moment (holding 2 at a time) but the toast is just sitting there.

We had risotto last night, DH offered to be the spoon loader. I could see him getting really stressed trying to eat his own and then load dd's spoon and pass it to her.

I have some wraps, I could do those for lunch. I don't have any hummous but I could make some (no tahini - does it matter?).

I've just mashed the last bits of nectarine onto a piece of toast - success. Its actually quite tasty.

hello, I missed posting yesterday as has visitors. Also realised I forgot to give ds any food all day. We are so used to our usual feeding routine solids completely slipped my mind. Good job he doesn't need it for sustenance yet, but will have to pull my socks up when he hits 6 months on monday. I have bought some vitamins for him to have for the first few weeks as he was prem and the hospital adv us to start them at 6 months.
vegemite, I didn't gibe that bit of spinach back as it fell on the patio (we were using up bbq food before winter arrives), but gave him another bit until he got bored with it.

Hello
I'm not doing that well with BLW so far I don't think. Maybe I am over steaming veg because I am worried about choking (sweet potato the other day just collapsed in her little paw)
How cooked shd veg bits be?
and is it ok to give a 6 mth old toast? I seem to remember there was something about not giving bread....

Dinner tonight was creamcheesearama! It started out on a corncake and ended up everywhere! Really funny and a real success, I think some actually went in.
Soup, nectarine on toast and risotto on the menu for sometime in the next few days. Thanks for the ideas everyone.
Betty I think it's all a bit hit and miss, I think I understeamed my last veg as it all seemed a bit too hard for her - easy to hold but not too easy to nosh on. And I assume it's okay to be giving bread as everyone here seems to - hope so as it's the one thing DD will really persist with at this point.
Bunny nice to hear I'm not the only one who forgets about food...thank god for boobs.

Health visitor said to us bread is fine from 6 months.
We are off on holiday for the week now, time to really get going with the weaning but no mums net . Will report back in a week, hope everyone has a good one.

Morning! DD is on breakfast duty this morning while I MN in bed. I heard dd shouting for her toast (bread is a winner her Betty - I've been making a low salt version). DD seemed to shout as he cut the bread, as it went in the toaster, as he buttered it and as he sliced it. Each yell was punctuated with a "stop shouting please babyhulla" from DH. Dear God man, have you never heard of distraction? You expect a 7.5 month old to sit nicely and watch you? Give her a blardy spoon to play with!

I made soupe for lunch yesterday - spiced lentil & carrot (from BBC Good Food website). I liked it but it needed a bit of pepper for me. DH looked less than impressed but he always like that when we don't eat meat (especially if its soup!). I cut the end off a new loaf, cut it into soldiers and dipped them in the soup for dd. I gave her a few loaded spoons but she was a bit tired by then.

The sturdiness of steamed veg is a bit hit and miss in this house but I agree with Vegemite.

I might make a curry tonight. Can babies have coconut milk or does that count as nuts? I'm off to google....

Pork chops here for dinner tonight. The meals this week might be a bit of a funny combination, seeing as it's the last week before pay day, we are at the point of scraping all the dreggs out of the freezer and cupboard....... Lots of rice and pasta this week I should imagine

Roasted root veg works well here - makes it a little bit easier for them to grip while nice and soft in the middle. DS2 is addicted to roast sweet potato and butternut squash.

LBB - bet the boys love carb week

Betty DD absolutely loves courgette and a few minutes steaming is perfect - I cut it in rounds and she demolishes loads. I think it's nice and juicy for baby mouths!

DS2 loves courgette to Kiwipanda - he prefers it in sticks though. Mushrooms - not so keen. Last night he spent a good 20 minutes trying to eat a griddled corn disc - dont think anything went in as teeth are in short supply but was most amusing to watch...