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...........

That's it Hana - DS gets a bit fretful if he sees DD eating and I haven't quite got him in his highchair etc. Is he 'hungry' or just keen to join in? Hmm, not easy all this is it?

I SO know what you mean about the crisis of confidence.

I had a wobble a few days ago when DS didn't seem to be eating anything and other peoples' babies seemed to be eating tonnes. He's still bfed and won't take a bottle either, so I'm worrying a bit about the iron thing too.

But in the last few days he's been doing really well. I'm not sure how much goes in still but he's been attacking his food with gusto, much keener that he was, and his dexterity seemes to have improved a lot too.

To put my mind at rest I decided I would take him to clinic fortnightly for the time being, rather than monthly. This could be a double edged sword of course, but his weight gain has always been good and if it continues like that, then I won't worry that I'm starving my baby!

I've also bought the vitamin drops, as I mentioned earlier.

But I feel like he's turned a corner now - the first of many I'm sure - and I feel confident we're on track.

Hope everyone feels better about things today.

I'm so with you all on the confidence thing. DD mashes stuff up like a pro but hardly anything goes down. Everyone 'round here's doing the puree thing and they're all on 3 gloops a day while DD has a play with food once or twice a day. The dexterity thing is an issue too [sigh] maybe we're just too worried.
My sister suggested putting a bit of baby rice into yoghurt to thicken it up and make it easier for them to get. (sorry, that was a random comment!) I'm sure one day DD will just get the whole grabbing and eating thing...

Morning all- I'm not feeling too wobbly at the moment. I think because we had the bank holiday weekend of ds refusing to be spoon fed and crying at the taste of puree before we moved to BLW, so it is a relief to see him playing and enjoying food even if he's not really eating it. Also in the Gill Rapley book there are lots of BLW stories and the majority of the parents say that it took their baby until about 8-10 months to actually really start eating proper mouthfuls which I find really reassuring.

Ds has just had about two bites of pear and the rest has been thrown on the floor. I put some cornflakes on his tray and they are now being smashed to pieces (he seems to be enjoying the game). The only food he consistently really seems to eat are breadsticks and broccoli!

I think if we all hang in there it will all come right in the end. I have to say I'm so much more relaxed about feeding him this way, it's so much nicer than trying to force a spoon in his mouth.

Hi - thanks for your support re weight - it's a bit of a button for me because he lost so 'much' (11% which I know now is not serious) weight after birth and took over 3 weeks to regain it (he was 92nd centile when born is now 25-50). I got pressure from some midwives about topping up with formula. I know I don't produce a huge amount as he feeds very frequently and I have never leaked or anything. In fact he's breastfeeding more often than ever since I started the BLW! Perhaps he's thirsty. (thanks for the Doidy advice btw Chulita)

Confidence is an issue - agree about the Gill Rapley book - there are loads of examples in there about babies who just weren't interested in food, never mind eating, at all until much older. Repeat after me - food is for fun...until they're one! (Repeat ad infinitum).

Do you think some babies are more receptive to BLW than others?

Belle - I think all babies are ready for food at different stages - as Gill Rapley says, like crawling, walking etc - but the joy of BLW is that they decide when they are ready rather than battling with purees with a 6 mth old who doesn't really fancy food til they are 7/8 months perhaps? After my crisis last night, I'm feeling better today! It really does depend on what kind of day we've had. DS has 'eaten' loads today! Well, I seemed to have cleared up less from under the highchair! One great thing about BLW is that DD, 2.5, is retrying lots of things she's previously rejected because she sees DS having so much fun. On the other hand, her use of cutlery has gone out of the window. What can you do when DS is using his hands and tucking in with gusto with his hands?!

No crisis of confidence here, but that's possibly helped by ds being a fairly good eater, and the fact that I've already had one child who wasn't interested in food until 11 months. He hasn't eaten so much the last couple of days, but I think that that's down to a cold/other random illness or teething, so am not worried about it.

He ate a nice tea of chopped chicken, broccoli and sweetcorn tonight, mixed with a dairy free soft cheese (he's milk intolerant). It was only all chopped because I was chopping it for us to make a croissant dough ring, but I helped by loading the spoon for him, and even fed him a few spoons. Gave him some new potatoes and spare broccoli to feed himself as well.

Sydney - I guess the formula didn't help last night then . I'd rather be a bit sleep deprived than put ds on formula, but that's just my personal choice. Well, it's clearly his choice too since he won't drink from a bottle or cup .

Jojoy - try not to worry about the iron. I forget the exact details, but iirc iron from bm is much more easily absorbed than that from food, so it's unlikely that a baby with free access to the breast would become iron deficient.

Thanks CSWS - I'd heard that about the iron, so as you say he should be fine for the time being, even if he's not eating much.

Saying that, he was very keen again yesterday and this morning. He had breadsticks dipped in guacamole, philly and hummous for lunch yesterday. He didn't manage to crunch through the breadsticks but enjoyed sucking the dips off.

For tea last night we were having chicken fajitas with a spicy salsa so I did him some steamed veg. He had a quick go at that but then started moaning so I sat him on my knee. He then proceeded to swipe the last bit of my fajita and had a lovely time pulling it apart and trying various bits. The spiciness didn't seem to worry him in the least!

I think I've been a bit hung up about everything being chip shaped, whereas he loved having a bash at the fajita last night and seemed to cope with smaller bits quite well, so this morning he had Shredded Wheat Bite Sized soaked in milk, and he seemed to do pretty well with them. I aslo gave him Weetabix broken up into chunks with a splash of milk over them, but they disintegrated everywhere - not a tidy option!!

Belle - as for some babies being more receptive to BLW, I'm not sure. Certainly, some babies seem to get the hang of eating more quickly than others, but whether that's a bad thing I 'm not sure. Like people have said before, we don't expect all babies to get up and walk on their first birthday, some will be earlier and some will be later - it doesn't mean that there is anything wrong.

It is much harder as a parent to be relaxed about a child appearing to not eat, though, expecially when you see other babies of the same age wolfing down mountains of mush - or real food.

My own view is that as long as his weight gain remains good then I'm happy to go witht he flow. If he weight gain started to seriously slow down or he lost weight, I wouldn't hesitate to spoonfeed if I felt it necessary. Not in the spirit of BLW i know, but it would be right for me.

But I'm very confident that everything will be fine, and we'll carry on just as we are.

tell you what... this is muuuuuuch easier tyhe second time around. dd2 really isn't eating that much (although loves chewing cos of TEETH) and i dont care at all because i know she's doing what she'd comfortable doing...

ps the greek yog out of lidl is sensational.

Jojay, SydneyB I have just re-read my question and I am a fuckwit.

"Do you think some babies are more receptive to BABY LED WEANING than others?"

Well duh. I must have been a little sleep deprived when asking that. I suppose I knew what I meant at the time. You are right of course.

Anyhoodle...little monkey had his first junk food yesterday - Organix corn & tomato snacks. Tonight cauliflower bake.

I think I know what you meant Belle

If that's the worst junk food he ever has, then you're doing well!

We've just had a very jolly lunchtime, with Ds chewing on pitta (low salt ones ) flled with tuna mayo and guacamole. He loved it!

He then had some bits of melon, and he's definitely getting better at dealing with these. This time last week, he would suck the juice out of them but rarely broke a bit off.

Today there were lots of shredded bits of melon on the floor, highchair, his hair, his clothes....... But that's progress, right?

CSWS - I know your comment was tongue-in-cheek, but I really really don't want another thread to descend into a bf v ff debate if that's ok? As you say, you've made your choice and you're obviously happy with that and I've made mine and I am happy with it.

Bit of progress with cup here - DS is trying to copy DD with hers and as well as loving bashing his tommee tippee up and down on his tray he's also aiming at this mouth and getting a teensy bit in.

Whoever mentioned Oatibix on here, big thanks, DS loves it! Agree about Weetabix though, Jojay, is like cement when it dries too!

Aitch - do you mean that you just feel more relaxed about it this time around?

Sydney, you are SO right about the Weetabix. Anyone have a chisel?

Hello, can I join?

I've just moved back from Singapore to London and started offering my daughter solid food. She's an early baby, on the little side and until now exclusively breastfed.

I think the first meal I offered was a roast chicken and she went crazy for the leg (it was really garlicky as well) and loved the parsnips.

She seems really keen on meat and chard (does this mean she wants iron, should I supplement?) and has had chorizo (not intentional and too salty, I know), pork pie, sausage, roast chicken.

I need to start roasting veg but my oven has only just been fixed.

She likes avocado and a whole apple (I posted on babyledweaning.com about this as unsure if I should) and pineapple especially. Banana not such a hit as yet.

She doesn't really eat much but definitely something as her poo has bits in and stinks. She loves playing with it and likes being at the table. It's a happy, but bloody messy time.

Can't wait to pick up the car so I can do a proper shop -- we only got back 4 days ago and have had to borrow stuff (Ikea chair and so on)

Oh, wanted to ask where I can get first aid training asap here in sarf lahdahn. I had booked a session in Singapore a week before I left but they cancelled at the last minute.

i very much doubt that csws was meaning anything by her comment, truly, she's not the type to grind an axe at all.

i was very relaxed about dd1's weaning, i never found it stressful at all, but then i think that was because she always ate, very much a 'nyum yum yum' kinda baby. dd2 as yet is more of a nibbler and often prefers to chew her bib (although she goes CRAZY for that greek yog) so i think if i'd had her first i might have been more inclined to fret about how much etc. but because i've seen dd1 eat like a horse sometimes then eat nothing when teething or ill then eat like a horse again etc etc i'm just completely confident that dd2 is doing what she needs to do as well.

(funnily enough... dd1, aged 3, is going through a bit of a growth spurt at the moment, she ate two meals of everything yesterday, straight out of nowehere. she just kept saying 'but i'm still hungreeeeeeeeeeey mum' and i'd have to make more food. knowing that helps when it comes to trusting that they'll eat if they want/need to i think/ ).

What do you do about the crises of confidence. Even reading this thread and all the talk of centiles (something I never really thought about in Singapore) is bothering me. My baby was 5lb at birth (a month early) and is now about 14 pounds at 6 months and apparently according to my book which I only found when packing she's dropped from 25th to 10th for weight (although on the same for height)

I obviously don't have a HV right now as I haven't got round to signing up with a doctor in London. Should I keep quiet about BLW?

My paed in Singapore assumed I would puree feed.

I thought that if I was breastfeeding the main calories come from that, but since her weight gain slowed RIGHT down she will continue to gain very slowly. Which rekindles all my weight worries again...

What to do!

ah, no, i can't really be doing with centiles myself, i never checked dd1's after we had a terrible time with bfing and she was weighted all the time. anecdotally, dd1 used to get skinnier and then put on weight and then get skinnier etc, wee spurts of growth.

otoh, it's something i've had to be more aware of with dd2, she was born six or so weeks early at 4lb 1oz. her weight was about the same as your baby's at six months, as i recall, and the paed was fine with it. he's looked at my blw website and thinks it's good and isn't that fussed for purees etc himself so long as the baby is shiny of hair and wet of nose iykwim?

i think it's fair to say, however, that you don't want the baby falling through the centiles so it's worth making sure that if that baby is eating, you're offering food that packs a punch. nut butters like cashew are good, as is avocado on toast, pasta with cream sauces and cheese, that sort of thing. remember, a carrot, whether pureed or in stick form, is still diet food, so if it's somethign you're concerned about then make small changes.

oh, and deffo be honest with the doctor, imo it's always the best policy. if they have advice for you, that's great. it's up to you to question them with a view to separating folklore from research, of course, but it's no harm to hear what other people have to say.

Thank you aitch, that's really reassuring. My head's swimming enough

I still have that crazy thought that I don't produce enough milk. I know, I know. It's my achilles heel, her weight.

Really good advice about the nut butters. Can you get other-than-peanut (tho no allergies our end so can I use peanut?) butters from the supermarket?

Oh, and is greek yoghurt ok at 6-1/2 months, what do you do with it? Loaded spoons or as a dipper with banana or some such?

I think that Tesco sells some nut butters, but if not then Holland & Barrett def do doris.

Sorry Sydney - I reworded my post twice to try and make sure that it wouldn't be taken the wrong way, but I obv still failed! I also have no desire to debate breast re bottle, but it's hardly a secret on these boards that I'm an avid breastfeeder (am tandem feeding ds plus 3 yo dd)!

Ds still off his food today, but from the ramming of his fist into his mouth, I'd say it's most likely his first tooth approaching!

Hi all- ds just enjoyed sharing a kiwi with me. Not had much food today as we've been on the go all day so meals have been a little chaotic. We're having a picnic in the living room, he's now chewing on cucumber.

Got him weighed today and he'd only put on half an oz in 2 weeks. I am sure that can't be right as he is still having the same amount of milk but hey we'll see what happens in 2 weeks.

Welcome Doris!

CSWS - wow at tandem feeding, bows down in awe - sorry too if I took it the wrong way, got me at a bad moment. Deciding to give up bf was a tough decision for me and I guess I'm quite easy to rub up the wrong way on the subject, so enough, and back to BLW!

On the subject of weight - you can't win. Both mine were big babies, DD, 8lbs 12 and DS, 10lbs (ow). With both, I was hassled about weight loss in first few weeks and then whilst they were both exc bf, I was hassled about too much weight gain!! As a result, DS hasn't been weighed since his last jab at 12 weeks. And I aint going until I have to when he's due some more jabs.

Have loved the BLW today as added much fun to mealtimes. Stood there today handing out various morsels (sp?) to DS and DD and they ate, giggled, threw and played with lots of different things. Kiwi a hit with DS and mange tout. DD turned her nose up at mange tout but just couldn't resist when she saw DS tucking in. Many fringe benefits this lark. Dipped some rice cakes in one of those Ella things someone gave us and both made yuck faces, was inordinately proud which I know is ridiculous.

Hi Doris - nice to have you here

Greek yoghurt is fine at 6 months + - in fact practically anything is except honey, whole peanuts and (scratches head) raw shellfish? Salt intake is important though, so don't add salt to food and buy low salt options where possible.

Loaded spoons or dippers are fine too - whichever your lo prefers.

Sydney - I wish BLW was having the same effect on my toddler as it is yours. DS1 bellows across the table at DS2 - 'EAT IT!!!' and then proceeds to turn his nose up at everything I offer.

Oh the joys!

Blue and mould ripened cheese Jojay - that's the other thing that's not until a year iirc.

i thought peanut butter wasn't allowed, has that changed? i know there's a study on, but i didn't think the advice had altered.

wth dd1, she was never fussed for yoghurt so i didn't offer it much. dd2 LOVES it, however, so it's a new thing for me. we've got those spoons from ikea (a pound for a pack of ten knives forks and spoons) and dd love chewing them and licking the yoghurt off them.