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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

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

909 replies

FluffyFrog · 12/04/2010 16:35

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 ?

OP posts:
crikeybadger · 02/06/2010 20:46

No sterilisation here either, and plenty of tap water is getting thrown around.

Loving strawberries and nectarines here too...and juicy pears, plums, bananas.

Tried a risotto yesterday, but it was a bit fiddly, even from loaded spoons. Oven roasted salmon went down nicely tonight, but DH was a bit when he saw that he wasn't getting the same....spicy rice and chickpeas for him!!

All in all things are going on nicely....all we need now is to get the little monkey to sleep at night!

hendo77 · 03/06/2010 22:14

Glad to hear everyone is getting on well. We started on Saturday and it has been going well so far. We've tried brocoli, toast, butternut squash, sweet potato, cucumber, tomato, asparagus, banana, mango, melon and cheese. Toast and brocoli are definite favourites so far!

Quick question - with weetabix, are you just using ordinary weetabix or special 'baby' ones?

So far I don't think anything has particularly been swallowed (except a few bits of brocoli which have appeared in nappies!) but will keep going... She's also getting quite good at drinking water out of that cup you recommended ruddynorah so thank you for that! She still refuses a bottle so I'm hoping that I'll be able to get her to drink formula from it in a little while...

RubyBuckleberry · 04/06/2010 09:17

interesting you say about weetabix - i was using ordinary ones but have just looked at the label and they are properly packed full of sugar and salt. so no more for mini buckleberry . maybe as a treat?? anyway, we are on mini shredded wheat which are just wheat and they are great cos he can pick up the little 'pillows' haha.

the other thing i meant to say was about cheese - has that got too much salt in it? how much salt are they actually allowed. allowance for over 1s is 3grams (maximum). they do't need anywhere near that much but ar 'allowed' it. how much for 8 month olds??

getting confused over the salt issue!

mistressploppy · 04/06/2010 09:42

Ruby - I had the salt dilemma too. I think they are allowed 1g per day. We are still using weetabix as the microwave is kaput and Ready Brek is a devil in a saucepan!

If DS has cheese I make sure there's no salt in anything else, I hope it'll all come out in the wash

picklesrule · 04/06/2010 18:45

hello! just a quick one... tried putting those tubes of yoghurt (yeo valley I think it is) in the freezer and giving DD them as a lolly to suck...she LOVED it!
Incredibly messy as it sort of melts and drips etc but she wolfed it down! Good one for the hot weather I thought

RubyBuckleberry · 04/06/2010 19:25

ooh good idea!

mistress i wouldn't worry about the salt tbh... as long as the rest of the food isn't salty like you said.

londonlottie · 05/06/2010 05:41

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RubyBuckleberry · 05/06/2010 07:44

hi londonlottie

we're loving the antilops too - i am amazed at how white it goes when cleaning it considering the mess! can yu order the trays online? i think they are very good as they have a 'lip' round the edge which DS uses to help him pick up the food.

re sleep. my DS is beginning to go longer - his 10pm feed has shifted round to 2am so heading towards one feed a night and i am hoping to see progress by nine months as i can then justify complete night weaning. (dreamfeed never worked - made him wake up more i think and he has always been very hungry) in the last few weeks he has started eating ALOT more and i think this is making a difference. but its anyone's guess. night waking is not always to do with food. even once they are eating, it is something else apparently - standing/crawling round cot etc...

anyway, welcome to the party .

RubyBuckleberry · 05/06/2010 07:45

Ds is 8 months.

hendo77 · 05/06/2010 09:01

Hi londonlottie - we're also in south london are you london based too as your name suggests?

I was getting a bit concerned that Imogen had lost the initial interest in food the last couple of days and was considering purees in addition as she still wakes every 3 hours at night for bfs. However last night she slept from 2 am until 7 am this morning and then tucked into omlette that dh made her (basically a very well cooked egg pancake really!). Having read a story in the news yesterday that freaked me out a bit I spent the whole breakfast jumping up in terror every time a bit broke off into her mouth and she started spitting it out - luckily dh was there to ignore me keep me calm and all was well! I hope well cooked eggs is alright for breakfast... she definitely swallowed a bit (although more by chance) so will keep an eye on the nappies!

Klerka · 05/06/2010 09:59

Hi London Lottie - I don't think I have seen a more beautiful photo than of your twins, the one with one of your daughters sucking the others' thumb. Honestly, twins and their connection to each other amaze me. They are lovely, congratulations! Sorry - will stop getting teary and back to blw!

Going well here. DD is really enjoying courgette - again, not sure what is actually going down - we had a deli style lunch together yesterday, bread, pepper, tomato, avocado etc. We both got in a bit of a mess! I also bought a doidy cup yesterday as she loves to drink water from my glass, the TT bottle isn't a hit so I'll try that today. She had some cucumber sticks on the go yesterday (she faces me in her buggy) to cool her gums. I looked at her and she was sucking it 'no hands', which I tried not to freak about as she potentially could have sucked it in... she was perfectly happy though so I watched her for a bit and had to catch it on my camera... will post a photo later!

hobnob57 · 05/06/2010 18:05

Just want to check something with you all -

do your dc sometimes have congested husky breathing when eating fruit? DD2 gets this with pears and melon so far and I'm just hoping it's not another intolerance thing... Her eye goes gooey too.

fruji · 06/06/2010 09:43

No strange breathing resulting from food as far as I can tell. DS is quite noisy like that any way. Strawberries worry me a bit - goes a bit blotchy - so I've stopped them. I think if you're not sure avoid for now?

hendo77 · 06/06/2010 13:32

Hobnob - we've only just started so don't think Imogen has swallowed enough yet to be sure, but I haven't noticed anything like you describe. Hope it isn't a complicated intolerance thing for you.

We tried her with banana on toast this morning (I think someone suggested it recently?) - mashed with a fork and also loaded some spoons for her to eat it off. She definitely swallowed a few full spoonfuls of it today, although pulled a lot of funny faces in suprise while doing so which was funny! Anyway seemed a hit and going to try Weetabix tomorrow (checked the salt thing and I think they are allowed 1g a day like someone else said and even if she ate a whole weetabix it contains less than half that I think...).

londonlottie · 06/06/2010 18:19

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hendo77 · 06/06/2010 20:30

londonlottie - so cute them talking to each other, my dh is a twin and he and his brother communicated to each other in their own language when they were little!!! Out of interest how big were the garlic prawns? I'm wondering if I'm only giving bits of food that are too big...

Also anyone that has done apple and cooked it slightly before serving - how did you cook it to soften it and did you use any sugar to keep it slightly sweet?

londonlottie · 06/06/2010 20:39

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Newbeginning1 · 06/06/2010 20:52

Hey everyone, can I join you too please?

DS is 23 weeks now and i've been weaning him now for about 2 weeks with a mix of purees and blw but i really want to stop the purees.

I'll have a look through the other pages for some top tips and to see what everyone else is doing as i have no clue about weaning and i'm just going with the flow.

lottie - i promise i'm not stalking you!!!

londonlottie · 06/06/2010 21:09

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picklesrule · 06/06/2010 21:35

Hi all! Welcome to the new people fab to have some more joining in!
I think I gave quite big fingers in the beginning, and they are gradually getting smaller as she gets more adept at handling the food...I think she stopped needing things to be in sticks after the first few weeks..

hobnob no strange breathing here either sorry...sometimes gets a little rash around her mouth but I think its just the acid in some fruits

hendo we do apple fried in a bit of butter with cinnamon goes down well!

We have had a slightly disatrous week food wise here as DD has been ill, v horrid cold with lots of snot and throwing up and has been totally off her food. Has been pretty disheartening as she will literally touch nothing (except strawberries and frozen yoghurt!) but am hoping she is going to pick it all back up again once she is feeling 100%...
Still on the plus side it is much easier to get everything done in a day when you are not speadning 2-3 hours of it watching her play with food!!

PDog · 07/06/2010 14:38

And we're off!!

DD had strawberries and a few of my oatibix (wasn't interested after she'd tasted the strawberries ) for breakfast - she looked like she had been in an episode of 24 by the end .

Lunch was a little bit of what I had (pasta salad and ham sandwich) plus green beans, cucumber and more strawberries.

She found the strawberries quite hard to hold so I speared them on a fork for her and she managed much better. Had a few moments when a whole pasta twist disappeared into her mouth - but she spat it out again.

Did your DC gag and cough quite a lot if anything went down? DD has done this quite a few times but have managed to remain calm and do an exaggerated chewing mime so she knows what to do.

She loves her doidy cup and but I am not stupid brave enough to let her have a go by herself just yet.

Very technical question - does anyone know how the hell you get the tray of the antilopp? Tried twice today but it has me flumoxed .

hendo77 · 07/06/2010 16:51

PDog - a big yes to the gagging and coughing. We've been going just over a week and still whenever she gets anything in her mouth she does that funny coughing like she's trying to spit it out and this then often ends up with raspberry blowing. I do the same as you chewing, but she thinks this is hilarious. I've also then given her some water to help wash it down. I was wondering how long it's going to last for though as she's never going to actually eat anything at this rate!!!

I've also not let her loose on the doidy cup by herself, but have let her use the tommee tippee sippy cup thing that I think someone put a link to on here and I then bought and it's been brilliant!

RubyBuckleberry · 07/06/2010 17:36

PDOg, pull it out and up. away from the seat and up. it has little bits that slide into the seat sides... need to do it quite firmly...

crikeybadger · 07/06/2010 20:30

Sounds like a good start Pdog, and hello to all the other newcomers!

That made me smile about getting the tray off the antilop, as that had me completely foxed too! Now, I put one hand on the seat and use the other to yank it off (not a very technical answer).

pickesrule- sorry your LO has not been well, hopefully she's on the road to recovery now.

Getting a bit bored of mini wheats and porridge pancakes for breakfast so am just cooking up some quinoa and pear for tomorrow morning. .....we'll see how that looks splattered over the kitchen.

BexieID · 07/06/2010 21:29

I'll join too. Erin is 24 weeks tomorrow. Yesterday I put some mash on my fingers and she had some (I had brought round our Ikea chair for MIL to see if she liked it) so first time Erin had been in it. She also had a suck of strawberry, minus the skin, as my friend with twins a month older have had them a few weeks ago. Will proper read thread later as after breakfast ideas (even thoutgh i've read the Gill Rapley book).