BLW support - welcome weaners old and new and mind the lentils on the floor

[JumeirahJane]

Fellow weaners,

Hope you find this, our second thread. Haven't we been chatty! The title was borrowed from the kind words with which I was welcomed onto the thread by KiwiPanda. Hope you like...

On the topic of highchairs, I also have the ubiquitous Antilop from I**A, against my better judgement, damn them. It is awfully practical, even I will admit. Just shove a folded towel under her bum before feeds, saves on cushion washing

Felt brave today and administered both avocado AND blueberry muffins in the same meal. It was worth the mess to see her grinning little face at the end.

Waves to all and sends seasonal greetings

Baby Tigga is getting odd during some meal times he seems to get so excited and just waves his arms around forgetting the fact he's should be eating the food in his excitement. He then remembers and shoves handfuls in. It's probaly my fault as he makes me laugh when he does it - cant' help it he's uber cute!

SS the book says to give them a limited choice so they can make up their own minds. I find this works well for Baby Tigga but he has yet to refuse anything!

I feed Baby Tigga whenever I eat, it's up to him how much he puts away.

However, Mr Tigga tries to feed Baby Tigga and it annoys the hell out of me. He just won't accept that mess is part of the process. I did warn him that it was going to get messy, but he's always been a bit border line ocd about having clean hands and cleaning up so I knew this would happen.

GottaGoBabyTiggaIsACallingTiggaxx

baby flump started this weekend. yesterday ate a reasonable amount of banana then gagged and puked it all up, we did this about 20 mins after bf, was this too soon as milk came up too....today she had a little banana on toast but wasn't too impressed with it then we tried steamed pears with skin on which were a big hit, she sucked and gummed 3 decent sized slices and pretty sure some of it went in....really amazed at how well she picked it up and happily sucked away on it....

PoppetOne - am also FTM with 8.5 mth daughter . Sounds like you're doing the same as us, which is largely working. On the carb intake front, we just add toast at breakfast, and potatoes or pasta in any of their myriad forms for other meals. Is her frustration at not having enough to choose from do you think, or from having too much? DD seems to get overwhelmed sometimes when I overload her tray.

Beveridge, still 3 meals a day ishoos here too. Not yet resolved.

SS - we offer both multigrain (our preference) and white, as I read somewhere that wholegrains fill you up very quickly so leaving no room for other types of nutritious foods. Whether it's croissant or granary, DD will shovel it away with equal glee. (Ah yes, there we are, page 124 of GR book.)

Tigga seasons greetings to you too , loving the excited arm waving, probably accompanied by ear-splitting shrieks I shouldn't wonder?

Christmas dinner is going to be so much fun, as long as she doesn't get bored during such a long meal - might have to take play breaks.

Ps I know this is extremely cheeky, but if anyone feels so inclined, would you mind looking at my daughter's HiPP organic competition entry, and voting for "Eating green is fun!" if you feel so inclined? If we win, we'll be getting the snacks, not the stage 1-4 stuff, obviously

JumeirahJunior weightgain back to normal after last week's dip - nurse took one at how active she is, read my food and nappy diary, and said her size (15lb at 8.5 months but average height) is probably genetic, and nothing to do with food intake. Last week she called her a lunatic for being so active! So carrying on as normal, I think red pepper omelette is on the menu for lunch, maybe with some saute potatoes

So to anyone else having weight issues, if your baby is otherwise happy and active, do not stress about it!

Have greensnail, hulla, DrCosy, cara & sospan et al disappeared now in a whirlwind of BLW success? Shame as they were fun to have around.

JJ - that sounds very reassuring about mini JJ's weight. I am the queen of stressing about weight gain - DD was induced early because she was thought to be small, was indeed small and has stayed fairly small ever since! It's only in the last month or so that I've realised that she is meant to be small (doh - not a great revelation I know!)

Yep - I think the others have graduated BLW university now which is a shame because their ideas were really useful - I'll have to trawl through the old threads to find my inspiration now

Babyjuan is still doing really well. She is shoveling down 2 or 3 meals a day (whatever we get time for) and seems to like everything so far. She's never been a great milk lover so I'm trying to give her lots of dairy etc. Tonight she worked her way through a plate of vegetables in a cheese sauce followed by apple dipped in greek yoghurt - yum. I was naughty and had fish and chips after she's gone to bed as DH has gone out.

hi all
Its DS's 6 month old birthday today! He's my 3rd (and last) and I can't believe how time is flying by!

He tried banana yesterday for lunch & ate a tiny bit. Then I sat him with his brother & sister for dinner. He threw a few peas around and made horrible faces at the carrotts. Then he mashed their macaroni cheese about so I decided he wasn't hungry at all. But he sucked out a load of cucumber and seemed to enjoy that. He loves sitting with them at the table. Its so funny!

And he had a nice pooey nappy for me this morning. He usually only goes once a week so I was well pleased. I will be watching to ensure he doesn't get constipated.

I am planning on giving him philadelphia on pitta later and roast potato wedges and roast carrots tonight. Can't wait to see him eat Christmas lunch!!

Festive greetings to you all!

x

shinny and mcflumpy at your first eating experiences. It just gets more fun and more messy.

Hello there!

I am just about to start BLW for the 2nd time with DS (well, 1st time was more of a puree then BLW once I discovered it thing!).

I have posted a thread on weaning about my experience with a hv today - would anyone mind having a look?

DS is 5.5 months and desperate for his food - he's trying to steal from our plates and throws a strop when he can't join in with dinner! He can sit pretty well and also makes chewing faces, sticks spoons straight in his mouth etc.

Looking forward to joining you in the mess

Hello from an oldie! How time flies when you have a LO. He is 1 tomorrow, crazy.

Whoever mentioned about mess - it does get better. I hardly pick anything up off the floor now. He only drops stuff intentionally (when he doesn't like it) and is starting to pass me foods he's finished with instead of dropping them.

Shinny - philly was one of our staples at the beginning! Lower salt than normal cheese and tasty.

Sam in the early days, I used to offer BB something 3 times a day if he was awake. Although until 6 months I would just give him a few bits and bobs at dinnertime if we were eating something suitable. We started at 5.5months too. If you go with the flow, over time they seem to find a meal they don't like to miss - ours was breakfast, then dinner, then lunch. Now he gets grouchy without snacks too! I found it so exciting in the early days.

Hi Jumeirah (have just looked at your lovely picture - really hope you win!), hi Cara and a very warm welcome to all the new BLWs. I am still here, just spent this morning catching up with what?s been going on. Unfortunately have had a few RL problems and stresses to deal with (nothing to do with DD thank goodness) so haven?t been able to post. My little Cosy Tiger Cub is 9m old now and still doing well with her food. We have had a few spells where she?s lost interest (a bit alarming when it first happened as she?d been so enthusiastic at the start and it really wasn?t like her to refuse food). But every time after a couple of days she?s found her appetite again. I?m almost certain it was teething ? no teeth yet (hmmm) but showing all the signs on and off, so keep thinking something is going to appear. She pretty much eats what we eat now, BLW has worked incredibly well for us so far.

There?s so many of you who?ve just started ? it?s so exciting! Strawberry and Beveridge - there?s no need to rush with introducing 3 meals if you don?t want to. We did dinner first, then breakfast, then after a few weeks we started lunch (which DD now insists on having at about 11am Norwegian style). It can be a struggle to fit it in though, especially as we can easily be at the table for an hour per meal. I do sometimes feel that we spend all day either eating or preparing food. DD has breakfast around 7am, lunch around 11am and dinner around 5pm. I can second porridge as a bit hit too ? you might also want to try shreddies in some warm milk. My DD was also mad about broccoli at first, although she?s gone off it now ? current favourites are roasted tomatoes, lentil slice, bread with philly and any soft fruit. And you really can feed pretty much anything (except honey and overly salty food). My DD's not wildly keen on multigrain though, I tend to use white bread, checking salt content not too high.

Poppet sounds like you?re doing absolutely fine! You don?t need to worry too much about balanced diet issues at this stage as long as your LO is still having milk. And if she?s sleeping through you really can?t be doing that much wrong!

Shinny and McFlumpy - sounds like you?re having great fun Keep letting us know how you?re getting on.

Cantspell I?ve just seen your HV thread I really would just go for it, instead of bothering with baby rice. If your LO can sit up OK and is showing an interest, I really don?t think it?ll do any harm. I started a couple of weeks short of 6m ? just giving DD a few things to play with on her tray ? broccoli sticks, raspberries. She took to it really well.

Hi all.Im a FTM and im starting to look into BLW for ds2 4 months.(I dont intend to start til 6 months)as weaning ds1 2years was awful and he is quite fussy.

Are there any good books on the subject to help get my head around it? (and to show dh).

Hello! Anyother oldie here with a now-1 year old (Hey Cara!) Wish I could say she was less messy now but I'm not sure that'd be true

Anyway just popped on to say festive greetings to the BLW babies, and hope they enjoy their turkey/nut roast/roast spuds/christmas pud.

Hi, great thread can I join too? Have 22/3 wk old dd and going to start BLW soon. When is 6 months officially? 24 wks? 26wks? Calendar date?

Hi Snala and welcome! You won't go too far wrong with Gill Rapley's original book Baby Led Weaning. It's what DH and I read before we started and we were totally convinced. We are not quite as purist as her - we spoonfeed yoghurt and other sloppy stuff especially when DD is teething or she would eat literally nothing. But I don't think that matters too much. Good luck! Let us know how you get on.

KiwiPanda happy birthday to your LO! Mine turned 1 on Friday. Have been trying to teach him to say '1', with little success.

To whoever posted about 1 hour mealtimes - recently, and I mean very recently, our mealtimes have started to get quicker and less messy! At one point I really felt that all I did all day was prepare and clean up food. Speaking of which, I still haven't cleaned up the dinner stuff yet

Hello all waves. Well after what was a stressy start (for me not DS - he was fine) we are really settled into the BLW weaning now. DS had spanish omelete for lunch followed by yoghurt and he is getting so good at picking up small pieced and chewing and I can see his pincer grip is coming along - not quite there yet but getting there. He still gags a bit but he can deal with it with a lot less eye rolling nowadays. I am so glad we stuck with it as its so easy now and hes really enjoying his food.

He has a bit of a sweet tooth though (i think its a default setting really) so fruit and yoghurt is restricted to after something savoury. I let him have a bit of homemade jam tart at the weekend (naughty mummy) and he LOVED it - so cute eating it with jam on his nose, like a really cheeky chappy.

Hello again. Things are going ok though I'm having a bit of difficulty with DD. She enjoys feeding herself with a loaded spoon but doesn't really want to eat finger foods with the exception of rice cakes and bananas.

She will, however, happily eat food off the palm of my hand (think feeding sugar lumps to a horse). She bites off a chunk and chews and swallows. This is how she enjoyed her tuna fishcake at lunch.

I've tried not doing this but she does seem hungry. If I switched over and offered her food that could be eaten off a loaded spoon she'd eat. If she has to feed herself with finger food she fusses and throws it about.

Anyone else experienced anything like this? I'm hoping she'll rediscover the joy of putting her own food in her mouth again.

Thankyou! I have ordered it today.Ill let you know how we go.

We've started at 5.5 mths too, as lots of taking from my plate. Broccoli has passed through ds, and mess has been made with avocado and baby corn... It's great fun. Hard to explain to older relatives the lack of puree etc. but we just smile sweetly!

BLW going great for us so far baby flump eats 2-3 times a day although at some meals she doesn't take much which I'm not concerned about at all. We've started on steamed fruits,some raw fruits, lots of veggies-steamed and roasted, rice cakes, toast (this is a big hit), hummous, yoghurt. She loved licking the hummous of her rice cake today.

She hasn't refused anything yet bur she still has a little difficulty pickng things up on her own so I usually hold up 2 things and she'll lunge for whatever she wants. Think that's ok?

Also I was a bit worried with the raw fruit and choking gave her some melon which she loved but I was worried it might stick as she gummed off some small pieces. Only given her raw banana, melon and peaches so far.

Mcflumpy - I think the holding things up thing is fine as long as you're not actually putting it in her hand and she can hold it herself once she's 'lunged'. I do the same thing sometimes.

I need some inspiration for sandwich fillings as DD is a sandwich fiend! So far she's had philly, banana and hummus (not altogether ) but I want to expand her repertoire. Any ideas?

Hi - we'd like to join if you'll have us. DD is 24 weeks old and breastfed. We haven't really started yet except over Christmas she has liked to suck on an occasional satsuma segment - she can suck all the juice out but won't hold the segment herself

We have the Gill Rapley book from the library and I'm trying to read it, inbetween seeing to a very demanding daughter (suffering from a bit of over-handling over Christmas I think!).

Can someone point me in the direction of rice cakes/bread sticks? Are you all buying "official" baby rice cakes et al or are there some other suitable ones? Thanks in advance.

Hello,

Just having a look around and not sure if this is the right place as I have a 'Weaning from Bottle to Cup question', but I'll give it a go and please feel free to redirect if I'm on the wrong thread.

My son is 11 months and we've been BLW since he was 6 months, mostly successfully (bar the usual 'Is he eating enough' worries). He's also FF and I've read that now is the time to start switching across from bottles to cups. Trouble is, he's not keen, in a sort of 'Refuse a feed out of a spouty cup, then refuse to eat anything and cry/ grizzle all the time' until either the next feed or he goes down for an exhausted nap. (Him and us).

Everything I've read seems to suggest we're doing the right thing in terms of how to do it - we're trying to start off with one cup feed, and once he's used to that extend all his milk feeds (currently around 3 as he's dropping his 4th).

But no-one says how long this process should take, what to do in the event of total refusal (grit it out or go back to the bottle so that at least he doesn't get too hungry?) and in the event of total refusal how to get enough iron and dairy into him (he's going through a picky phase at the mo, solids-wise and I've been relying on the milk to take up the slack).

The other annoying perplexing thing is that he's more than happy to drink water out of a beaker, just not milk....

Can anyone offer any suggestions? We're early days yet, but I'm feeling all at sea and unsure that we're doing this the right way (assuming that there is one, right?)

Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading this far...

Rachel

hi everyone im also a newbie blwer I've obviously been a bad mummy as i only discovered such an approach existed yesterday as i hunted for help on mn when my baby decided she had enough of spoons and puree and made me look for an alternative to annabel karmel.
i really was despairing that my fairy would ever eat solids again so it was with not much hope that i put some potato on her tray and pretended to be not very interested in what she was at. (mealtimes were getting a little stressful)
then very solemnly she picked up a fist of potato and started sucking. I could have exploded with excitement and pride and relief.
fifteen minutes later with potato in her hair all over the kitchen and up her nose and a big grin on her face it was safe to say she had enjoyed mealtime again yay!!!!

I should have known to let her lead the way I didn't follow any book regimes with her because from the first minute she was born and latched herself on to eat without any help from me she knew what she was doing. i know very little about blw so far but it makes complete sense. all those annabel karmel ice cube trays i bought......

so i'll read on and ask advice here if noone minds. i'm so excited!!!
what are no no foods - dd is nearly 6 months old?

oooh had to come back and report on tea!! dh and i sat at the table with a drink and some sandwiches and took a few bites. dd watched first one of us then the other very carefully following the food. then i put some banana and bits of toast on her tray and she ate loads!!!! its fantastic. I would never have dreamed of giving her toast and in fact i scoffed at my brother suggesting it over christmas
i'm probably doing this all wrong and have to get my hands on the gill rapley book but i'm so relieved. yay!