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.

Thank you DrCosyTiger and IsItMeOr for the welcome! I don't know anyone IRL who is doing BLW so it's great to have a sounding board here.

I really like the sound of that lentil dahl, the recipe would be great.

I made lentil bolognese and that was really nice. Normal spag bol, minus the meat, lentils cooked in boiling water for 10 mins and then cooked in with the tomatoes.

Hi all
I've been away for a while because my laptop got a virus and have just got it back from being cleaned today.

Wanted to ask, at what age can I give prawns?

Hello to Jumbs, aoifesmama, ceb80, Booooooooooo..., 2andcounting, and strawberrie. And everyone else. I'm also amazed how long the thread is already, strawberrie, hope it doesn't put anyone off. It's nice to chat with you all.

Hulla - would you be a dear and report back/link your findings on peanuts to save us all posting the same over there? Thx

Jumbs, hope you manage to get DP on board. I also worried that it may prove to be a passing fad, but watching DD eating, I'm increasingly sure this is the best way (for us).

Gui - am sure I read something about baby sitting upright to eat to avoid the risk of choking Can he persevere with his highchair

Hi littleboyblue - I have also wondered about prawns, don't know the answer though. Are you worried about allergies, or choking hazards (the latter might be my being a bit paranoid!)?

Does anybody know how careful we really need to be about wholegrains? I had been worrying we might be overdoing it with DS giving him either weetabix or shredded wheat for breakfast most days, plus then I realised that rice cakes (even baby organix ones) are also made from wholegrains. We've been trying to offer fruit and yoghurt for breakfast instead for the last couple of days, but our little one really looks as if he is missing his cereal!

Just looked up wholegrains in the Gill Rapley book and answered my own question - seems it is fine so long as offering plenty of other healthy options for baby to choose from, so we will be reintroducing cereal alongside fruit for DS. Now he will probably miss his yoghurt...

IsItMeOr I'm not worried about choking or anything, if ds2 can manage pork chops, he can manage just about anything lol, was just thinking maybe you had to wait a bit longer for small fish?
Are we supposed to stay away from prawns when pregnant and if so do we have to keep them away from lo's until a year or something???? I don't know.

My ds2 has fruit for breakfast. He has gone completely off cereals. Sometimes I give a slice of toast as well, sometimes not

Hi JJ! Don't worry not interfering! His pushchair goes into a practically vertical position. It's just tilted enough for him to be able to rest his weight backwards. In the high chair it seems as though he is concentrating so hard on keeping his body stable that he forgets he has arms and hands to use! Either that or he leans to one side to rest and ends up squished to one side. I'm sure that because he is so weeny, it must be harder for him to hold himself stable.

I'm having a crisis of faith today. After 4-5 days of no poo, he finally managed one today, but cried his eyes out as he was doing it . Now I feel as though I've been feeding him something awful that has made him constipated. The stool wasn't hard as such, but it was firm, if that makes any sense. Now I just want to go back to nothing but breastfeeding! One of the best things about BLW is that it encourages you to be relaxed about food, but if the poo situation carries on in this vein, I'm going to become neurotic about it!

Sorry, me me me (poo poo poo)

Wishing everyone a lovely weekend!

Gui My ds2 started sitting like that (tilted to one side) I started to pad that side of the highchair a bit more with a rolled up towel to get him more centred iyswim.

When ds1 was about 10m, I had to put supositaries(sp??) up him because he kept getting constipated. He was puree fed.
How much water does your ds drink? I give my ds2 (8months now) weak squash because he wouldn't drink water.
Could you try giving him a little bit of prune juice to help any blockage along?

Hi all, I'm not sure on the official word on prawns but DD had them very early on and loves them. One of our favourite quick lunches is pasta with prawns and garlic. She's completely sea food mad actually, her favourite seems to be mussels, but she also likes squid and scallops. She also loves all fish which we eat regularly. Normally I just give her a bit off the end of ours and she picks it up and eats it just fine. Occasionally I make fish fingers for her (cut fish into strips, dip in egg and then breadcrumbs, bake in the oven) I really like them but I think DD is just as happy with plain fish.

Guimuahahahahahaaaaa I always offer plenty of fruit when DD's poos get a bit firm or infrequent. Plums, pears and oranges seem to work well.

Littleboyblue I'll definitely give some prune juice or puree a go. I think he may be getting prunes in his porridge instead of mango! He does drink some water when he eats, though not a large amount. I've got a little inflatable cushion that is supposed to keep him wodged in nice and straight, but he still manages to slump a little if he's not really in the mood! I'll try a towel intead.
I thought it was just raw shellfish that should be avoided?

Greensnail I think it will be fruit a-go-go here for a while! It's good to know that others' LOs also get a little bunged up. I found a thread on the BLW forum where a child hadn't done a poo for 24 days!
I'm really hungry now thinking about lovely seafood!

He's done a couple more poos since this morning, with some manly grunting, but no tears, so I'm a little less worried now. I wonder whether this morning was more 'Oh my goodness, what is happening? My bottom feels funny! My insides are falling out! I don't like it! Waaaah!', rather than actual pain?!

Gui my ds1 really struggles with his poos, and we were shocked the other night when he woke for what we thought was his first feed and instead of latching on, he strained away from me and started crying his little eyes out. This is unheard of, as BFing has pretty much sorted anything for my little one in the past. Anyway, long story short, poo was made and then he settled down to feed.

So, I started giving him a plum every day, and yesterday I lost count of the number of nappies - maybe 7? - and although he still strains, no tears.

IsItMeOr - oh the poor little lamb, it's so heartbreaking, isn't it? Glad you've found a solution. Now, if only my plums would ripen....
(I tried steaming one yesterday, as they are so firm, forgot it was on the hob...about an hour later started wondering where the smell of burning sugar was coming from... - the pan still won't come up clean!)

Thanks greensnails
I mke our own fishfingers too (finances permitting ) but I use crushed weetabix instead of breadcrumbs as the breadcrumbs still had quite a bit of salt in them.
I use the same method for chicken and turkey too.

I'll try prawns in the week then.
He does have ezcema, so maybe I should be on alert for food allergies.
I think kiwi might be a trigger which is a shame because he was enjoying it. I need to give him a bit more now his skin is completely clear just to make sure it is that

Gui - thanks, the plums definitely seemed to be helping (or it was just a phase, but he's going to be getting plums forever now ). Just a couple of dirty nappies yesterday, so think everything is moving a bit easier.

Very impressed at people making their own fishfingers. I think that will have to wait until DS sleeps better/hell freezes over, whichever comes first...

BLW would definitely be easier if I were a more accomplished cook!

Hi all, hope all out LOs are pooing well today. I was soooo proud of DD last night. We went over to (early) dinner with friends (she is 38 weeks pg and they are at that stage when they have no idea what is about to hit them!) I was a bit nervous as this was our first proper meal out since starting BLW. But my lovely little 7mo DD sat at the table with us and enthusuastically scooped up the food on the plate, which happened to be tomato salad and bread followed by cheese and vegetable strudel with cucumber yoghurt dressing. We had taken along some roasted veg sticks and a portion of soup just in case but we didn't need them! Only downside was the state of our friends' carpet and furniture afterwards. Not sure we will be invited back again. Still thnk they may soon regret their choice of white leather settees when their baby arrives ...

Strawberie - here's the lentil recipe I mentioned, it's from the Guardian. DD loves it. It's much less hassle to make than it sounds from the instructions - DH makes a big batch and it lasts us for 2-3 days: www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/feb/07/vegetarian-recipe-spiced-lentils-yogurt

Hi all. I'm new to this thread and just on the cusp of weaning my dd3 who is nearly 6 mos and currently EBF. can't wait to see all of your ideas on BLW. I haven't read the book or indeed know very much about it but am not crazy about making purees so trying this route.

I did give her a banana today which she sucked with a look of amusement and gnawed on a pear as well. I want to give her some toast but the bread we have I made with a bit of honey in it. I know honey is dangerous to give babies under a year but since it's an ingredient in the bread which has been baked at 200C for 35 min, does that make the honey safe? (or am i talking nonsense?)

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone
I'm back after a few weeks break to ask your advice. I have been trying DS (reminder: he is now 7.5 months but just coming up to 6 months corrected for prematurity) on solids once a week to see how he gets on. Until this week there was no real improvement, kept gagging and vomiting on everything, but there was a glimmer of hope this week when he seemed to swallow some baby cereal stuff, but still gagged when he ate some mashed potato (I am trying him on both finger foods and loading up spoons with sloppy stuff to see which works best).
Do you think I should keep trying once a week until better response, or try every day as he needs to learn how to swallow?
Plus, does anyone use a doidy cup; if so do you "feed" your baby from it to start with or let them get on with it?
Thanks for your help

Drcosytiger thank you for that recipe, I will give it a bash!

Evening all! I have just been watching DD eat peas and pomegranate bits (seeds? pips? what do you call them?) one by one. A very LONG meal...! I went out to a rather posh restaurant at lunchtime today to meet some uni friends and DD was scoffing away on my pasta and chickpeas from my main and a rather snooty waiter came over and said "err, is that normal? Wouldn't she like a plate?" "Not unless you want her to hurl it to the floor to hear the noise it makes when it breaks"..

bunnybunyip I'm not sure what the best thing would be, but perhaps now your DS is coming up to 6 months corrected you might think about trying a bit more frequently? Certainly at 6 months DD took a few weeks of constant meals (sorry, by that I mean several a day, not constant all day meals!) to get the hang of chewing. A week is a very long time for a baby so it's possible that he's not experiencing it often enough to get the hang of it, maybe?

Monstermomi That's a really good point about honey, it must be in other cooked things too you would think. I don't know what the answer is but this site has some interesting links

Gui I have been there, and still am, with the pooing!! I don't worry too much, but constantly have MIL on my case about how often he's pooing, the colour, the ease of passing it etc She even bought him some laxatives the other day.... I spoke to the HV about frequency, and with BF babies it can be anything up to 2 weeks. How old is your LO?

kiwi loving your lunch story! BB likes to sit on my knee when we go out for food and always seems to eat enthusiastically when there's an audience!

We have a bit of a food strike on here. BB has eaten so little today - no interest at all in lunch, a couple of nibbles for dinner. He's eaten yoghurt, and had about 5 big BFs. I think he may be teething. kiwi you had a similar thing recently didn't you? How long did it last?

isitmeor I wouldn't worry about not being a good cook... Whenever I cook something especially for BB, he decides he's in a not eating mood!!

hi all.
kiwi, about the waiter's comment at lunch. about Honey, excellent answer on the link and I'm going to give the honey wheat bread a miss for dd3. I'll make a plain bread for her toast. better safe than sorry.

she was really enthusiastic about carrot this evening. I gave her a stick of raw cold carrot which I think helped her sore gums (no teeth yet, though). but, she obviously isn't ready to bite into raw carrot and eat it so I cooked and mashed up a bit and she tried her best to use the spoon herself, bless.

she has been teething which has put her off even BF so cara, don't know if that's what is happening for your BB's hunger strike but I would think it would just last a couple of days at most.

Cara DD's strange appetite reduction lasted ages, about a month, but I don't think it was teething, I think it was more about imposing her stubborn little will on us! . She definitely eats less and BF more when she is out of sorts though, whether its teething or a bug or whatever. I got a bit stressed about it but finally decided to relax and let her get on with it (or not) without worrying.. which is when she started eating again!

monster BB went crazy for grated carrot yesterday - I did it in a sandwich with houmous.

Thanks kiwi - I am trying to relax about it, but it is hard sometimes! He will pretty much always eat fruit and yoghurt, and always has plenty of BFs. It may be a reaction to me being at home again, after two weeks of full time work. I have another week off before I do my usual two days again so I'm sure things will change again next week.