***Just about to start Baby-led Weaning*** Join Me to share experiences !!

[FluffyFrog]

I have a 20 week old and am planning on starting BLW around the end of May ish. Have been reading the Gill Rapley Book but would be great to get some ideas from others and share a few experiences. We will probably start in the next 4-6 weeks. Is there anyone else around starting at the same time that wants to join me on this thread ?

Hello again checks back in

Been away for a bit had visitors etc - and having major sleep issues so finding it hard to cram everything in inc mn! Don't know how you all blardy do it!!

However, BLW going very well. Managed to keep it going even on recent visit to relatives. ~300mile journey by car - took portable placemat thingy. Found good things to eat at service stations (partic ones with M&S) fruit sticks, roasted veg salads etc as had enough to pack without some food for him too! Got lots of smiles from people watching DS shovel stuff in.
Even went out to a posh(ish) gastropub where DS shared my food: starter asparagus, then little bits of chicken, potato & veg)

Have been spoon loading a bit - some thick soup I made plus he loves natural yoghurt (I add a teeny pinch of caster sugar as it really is very tart!) but will also suck it off pineapple sticks. Going to try those porridgecakes, non-cake version a hit, but largely as a facemask

Nappies are now absolutely boakingly minging - tho no sign of dropping any bf feeds or any improvement in sleep. In fact sleep much worse

I think my DS is making the rules!!

He wouldn't eat his ready brek this morning so I put it back in the microwave for a minute till it was rubbery and peeled it off and put ot on his highchair... he only picked it up out it in his mouth and gave the the widest grin EVER!

So gave him a yoghurt and half a slice of toast (multiseed one which he seems to love)

mistressploppy He does look at the food on the highchair then looks at me with his mouth open..lazy boy!

lamby Ditching the purrees one meal at a time, easing myself into the mess slowly!

(btw I was eg2006)

Hi all! Been away for the weekend, managed not to have any major gagging incidents in front of the in-laws for which I was very grateful as they already think I'm a bit nuts for doing blw!
She did manage to gulp down an entire strawberry, green stalk and all though - gagged slightly, went to spit it out and then just decided to swallow instead!

lamby falafal is a great idea, hadn't thought of that.. Is the shop one quite salty or ok? How did it go down? Thats another one to add to my list...

first meal in a public place today, nice cafe at a park near us.

ds had a bit of dd's ham roll, some of my tuna cheese toastie, and cucumber from dh's salad.

i've noticed he can pick up really small things already. dd passed him a bit of her roll she'd ripped off for him. i was just explaining to her to pass him bigger bits cos he can't get hold of small things..and then he picked up the scrap she let him have!

this evening we had toad in the hole. ds had the yorkshire pud but not the sausages as they were soya type cauldron ones, so not great for him. did him a bit of tenderstem broccoli on the side though. he loves them.

must say dd is loving the whole thing. she's 4 in 2 weeks and finds it fascinating watching her brother learn to eat food.

Hi all
I am gearing up for the ol' BLW and had some questions.

My ds is 23 weeks now and he has made a grab for food off our plates a few times.. last night we let him at a bit of butternut squash and he LOVED playing with it. I felt happy to let him try because I could see that very little of it (if any) was going in his mouth..

He is a poor weight gainer - 50th centile at birth but 2nd centile now, however he's not failing to thrive as he is following centiles for head circumference and length. He's a long and lean baby, apparently his dad was similar as a wee one.

So I am wondering.. should I do some spoon feeding too? I want to try him with avocado b/c I want him to get the calories from it and am torn re: whether I should just let him push it around/explore it for a few weeks or mash and spoonfeed now. HV said he could wean from 20 weeks b/c of the weight drop though to be fair, she wasn't pushed really, they're not worried about him.. so I haven't really done anything apart from let him play with food and give him a spoon of pear one day when I was bored!

Advice?

Thanks!

Hi mrsbean!
Basically it is of course entirely up to you, all little ones are different and some are ready earlier than others. If your LO is sitting up, grabbing food etc then he might well be ready. He may not yet have lost the tounge thrust reflex though as that is usually around 6 mths so might well just push everything straight back out if feeding himself.
re: weight he should be getting all he needs from milk at the moment so probably no need to worry on that front..

If you wanted you could start him with bits of fruit/veg etc to try/play with but don't be disheartened if absolutely nothing goes in and try to resist the urge to push it to much (its quite hard!) ...If you have the patience and definately want to do BLW you might find it better to wait a bit longer as he will likely pick it up quicker and you will find it less frustrating...

otoh I think quite a few people are successfully combining blw with spoonfeeding and might suggest the best way to start that now...I'e sure someone else will come along with more useful advice on that option!

I'm not in any great rush.. just feel guilty that I didn't wean when HV said to, I suppose.. but then I keep telling myself that she wasn't v forceful about it. She said that they don't really eat the first few weeks so it's all about getting used to the tongue movements. So not hugely bothered about how much goes in NOW just have this worry about him not taking in much from 6-8 months and dropping off the charts and then everyone getting in a tizz. Hence the sudden urge to feed avocado and now coming under some pressure from dh who is normally very laid back about things but worried about the weight.

All going well here, someone told me babies love papaya so I tried some this weekend and he went nuts for it. Loved it. thank God, as it cost £2 -- won't be doing that again in a hurry!

What we haven't done yet is meat. Has anyone else? Looking for some tips of what to try. I have a fridge full of ham, salami etc., for me and DH, but a bit salty for a baby I think. Bought some chicken drumsticks so will try DS on them. I worry that meat's a bit choke-y as it's quite solid. Mind you, he was fine with hard cheese sticks. Anyone else have any tips?

Ds is now 24weeks and has been sitting up and grabbing at things from our plates so on Saturday I took the plunge and gave him a coulpe of roasted carrot sticks and some butternut squash from our roast chicken dinner.

He loved chasing it around the tray, mushing it in his hands and managed to get a carrot stick in his mouth. Cue GAGGING. I was calm, doing the exagerated chewing motions,. DH gently patted him on the back, again calmly, which surprised me. DS's eyes watered and out popped a piece of carrot. Thank God!

I'm relieved that I now know what gagging looks like and that ds is capable of getting food out of his mouth if necessary. But I don't really want that to happen in front of sceptical inlaws

Yesterday he dipped his fingers in BIL`s mashed banana sandwICH, but didn't suck them.-

Oh the mess from Saturday's lun ch was unbelievable - I¡'m off to buy long sleeved bibs today.

MrsPurr, we are trying meat here. Strips of fillet steak(!) went down well - chewed and sucked but none actually eaten. Maybe some juices went in though? Casseroled chicken ditto, but I'm spooning as well so some got squidged in with the mashed potato and he gobbled it up. Apparently sausages are good but again there's a salt problem.

Someone suggested mince 'fingers' (like making meatballs but longer and easier to hold) - might try that tonight. DS just spits any lumps out that he can't manage

Fish is good too

pssst..mincefingers are kebabs

Thanks mistressploppy I like the idea of mince fingers might have to try that...

MrsPurr - starting to do bits of meat over here. DS loved chicken drumsticks because he can really get a handle on them. We swanned round a party together with him clutching the biggest drumstick ever and licking it like a lollipop. Wouldn't let go.

All good as he does get frustrated. Seems to have inherited DH's patience.

Big prawns seem to work well as they sort of dissolve in his mouth. Have found fish tends to disintegrate in DS's vice-like grip. Have just stocked up on lentils and mince and will also attempt the fingers.

I suspect it will all come a poor second to my mums roast parsnips. He sat there the other day chewing occasionally, threads of parsnip hanging out of his mouth like spaghetti - a blissful expression on his face.

DS tried spaghetti today, Can't wait for the nannpy in the morning! I had spaghetti and pesto for lunch, he sucked the pesto off and seemed to like it. Also tried ricecakes with mashed banana, he scraped the banana off with his fingers, sucked it off his fingers and ate the ricecakes!

Hi all

Sounds like your LOs are going great guns!!

DS was 5 months on Saturday and bless him he seems to be well on for food and is hungry all the time so we gave him some porridge last night and a piece of melon. He grabbed the spoon off me and fed himself - AMAZING! The melon he just gummed but then managed to bite off a chunk but didn't swallow it.

A question though - how long are your 'meal times' - I'm not sure how long to give him really.

Got to share this.. DS loved it:

Rosti: Grate half medium potato and squeeze the juice out put (potato)in a bowl with grated carrot, parsnip and cheese and enough beaten egg to bind Fry in a little olive oil. Cut into fingers and give to LO.

I made enough for us to share (yum)

Ooh, chief, will try that

Have just made 4 million little tuna fishcakes so will try them tonight and report back....

Punky, I usually put an hour cap on mealtimes. But often ds will end them himself much earlier by shouting!

We've just started BLW this week so will be watching this thread with interest. Now just to read the other 11 pages, hehe.

ds had a lovely lunch with dd today.

tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches with cucumber. then strawberries for pud.

i'm finding he doesn't like the plastic tommee tippee bibs i had for dd, they stop his arms moving as he'd like. so i am putting up with a lot of mess and just his normal soft bibs.

In this morning´s nappy there was proof that something is going in - carrot, apple skin and black threads that I'm told are banana. I pored over it like a mad woman and had to ring dh and let him know

Steamed apple chunks went down well. And steamed carrot was much easier for him to hold than my over-roasted version on Saturday.

I'm on a mission to find the perfect bib. I've found a long sleeved toweling version that is good but probably won't be long enough when ds is bigger. (also at 5.5 euros a pop it's expensive) Otherwise the ones in the shops I've seen are all the traditional square tie around the neck jobbies. I haven't tried the plastic pelican bib we got in Ikea yet. Maybe with an old t-shirt underneath it would work?

Thanks mistressploppy!

Well tonight was a great success - we did cucumber and roast parsnip - he loved it.

The only thing is when I checked his mouth afterwards he had a chunk of cucumber up in the roof - is that normal? I guess he needs to learn how to push it to the back to swallow.

Also just a reminder to everyone to always check their LOs mouths!

Hi all. Falafel went down well but think i'll have to get making some of the muffin / kebab / fish cake combos...hard to get motivated but think a freezer load of food will be well worth it.

Mrspurr I find meats that have been slow cooked (ie in a casserole, braised or similar) are best as they tend to melt in the mouth. Alternatively, you could use any old meat, chew it, regurgitate it and put it on LO's plate. Sounds gross but I read that it is easier for them to digest this way!

cies ahh, the perfect bid...let me know if you find it. My DD's clothes are all ruined. We just sit her in her vest in the evening and dunk her right into the bath but at other times I can't seem to fight the mess!

DH has just made me yummy rissoto (he is a chef) but in typical chef fashion he has poured the salt in so can't save any for DD. Darn!!

Hi punky my DD likes to save food in her hamster cheeks too. I've found bits of food about 20 minutes after I thought that she'd finished eating think she was saving it for later.

I generally double bib DD with a plastic backed bib and then a bib with full sleeves after rolling up the sleeves of her clothes. We're getting through lots of vanish.

popspig I gave him water last night with his food and it seemed to sort out the bits yey!

I was SO excited this morning to find bits of carrots in his poo - whoever thought it would come to this to get my kicks

hi everyone,

my DS also likes to save bits on the roof of his mouth and in his cheeks - i'm also not sure he would actually swallow anything without having the water to wash it down while he gets the idea that it is actually food. . Ate a good lunch today of rice and peas and philadelphia sandwiches (rice and peas from last night, mashed up into a type of pate) with the tiniest bit of mustard on the buttered bread. Ate most of it . Also worked out that the flesh of an orange was much tastier than the skin and chewed it into oblivion (very proud mother over here haha).

still hit and miss though - sometimes he eats very little it seems although the nappies suggest otherwise .