***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 ?

Yoghurt went down a treat this morning - both off loaded spoons and on her toast! She loved it!!!

dd chomped her way through an entire conference pear last night . There were a few full-on gagging moments too since she has two teeth and can bite off chunks, but she recovered and then waved her arm and legs until I gave her back her pear! And this was alongside 6 sweet potato sticks too... no wonder she is irritated with her tummy today.

Porridge isn't going down too well here. I make it with neocate, which is vile, and try to sweeten it with a bit of smoothie but I think I'm making it worse. I'll try banana tomorrow.

I thought I was being clever yesterday at lunchtime when I gave dd frozen country veg for lunch. She was having none of it... Not a broccoli or cauliflower fan here, and crinkle cut carrots weren't in favour either. She does like runner beans though. She's worked out how to bite bits off until it goes down to her hand, then the rest is unceremoniously discarded.

oh, and her dirty nappies are still hard and fully formed and requiring much effort. I can't get her to drink much more than a few sips of water at a time.

Hi to Ilovedolly - sounds like your LO is keen to get going with blw.

Pdog- don't worry about the questions, this thread has got sooo long to read through it all again. Now, cashew nut butter is from our local health food shop. I bought it to fatten mini crikey up and am now partial to it myself! (not that I need fattening up)

Did a lamb stew tonight (quite an achievement for a veggie). LO had a good suck on it and seemed to enjoy it. Anyway here is the recipe for anyone who fancies it.

at your DD and her pear hobnob.

Thanks crikeybadger, will have a look in holland and barratt for the nut butter.

Well little pdog has been spoilt this weekend as DH has been on a cooking spree. She's had steak, pizza and pasta with sweet tomato sauce, which she loved (sucked all the sauce off and left the pasta). Also made a good go of mango but it was very slippy to hold. We enjoyed toad-in-the-hole tonight so she will be having that for tea tomorrow.

Pruney yoghurt also went down a treat this morning thanks Ruby. She loves her spoon (doesn't always get the right end in her mouth) and I have to prise it from her hand to reload it

pdog - I also had to prise spoons from hands so now I have at least 3 on the go. One she is eating/playing with, the next one loaded and ready to go - I find if I start to hand her the next one she drops the previous one and so we go round in circles like that!

"She loves her spoon (doesn't always get the right end in her mouth) and I have to prise it from her hand to reload it"

lol same here!

had DS weighed and he is putting on shed loads of weight dropping milk feeds like mad - down to three plus a dream feed (plus maybe a 4 oclock snack if he wants a cuddle aaaahhh cutiepie)

in process of night weaning which is interesting as he is not hungry - just sort of nibbling?!

Good news about the weight rubybuckle, shows that something must go in!

How are you going to night wean? With my other 2 DS, I just waited till they stopped waking up for feeds. Kinda looking forward to an night of unbroken sleep tho'- tricky at the mo' as tooth is coming through. Let us know how it goes.

Pdog- a DH cooking spree sounds great! My LO had mini yorshire puds the other day (done in a muffin tin) and they were well and truly scoffed.

crikey when did yours stop waking as mine loves it (bf) it seems and sometimes wakes up too frequently for it to be hunger anymore - also no longer hungry in the morning as he has been scoffing twice/three times a night!

very tricky situation and not a CC / CIO type

i will let you know how it goes, just holding him / rubbing his back and trying to get his tummy out of habit of waking up - if i don't see major progress by the weekend shall abort mission - it might be comfort and the fact that he is just not ready to go so long without mamalurve - also might be teeth at times !

So of all these non-intolerant babies' food! I'd so love to give dd yorkshires (and me too!). I'm trying that lamb casserole posted by crikey earlier. Crumbs, you are a brave veggie dealing with lamb shoulder! I'm a carnivore of the mince, steak and chicken breast kind so dealing with hulks of meat is an undertaking for me too! Never very sure whether to trim off the inches of fat or whether to leave them on for flavour...

dd has rejected porridge and rice cakes today in favour of mashed banana had has raging reflux as a result for some reason. Sigh.

Have been a bit quiet recently as we didn't seem to be progressing much and the old sleep situation was getting worse and worse. DS2 (now 8 months) is just too distracted to BF properly in the day and he wasn't increasing his solids intake much, so making up for it by feeding at night.

Anyway, yesterday I made a real effort to encourage him to eat as much as poss. I suspect I'm guilty of reading distraction (common with an elder brother 'entertaining' him) as 'no longer hungry'. Sat with him for over an hour while he chomped away at a chicken drumstick and various other fare and hey presto most of it went down, and he then slept from 8 to 6. Hallelujah!

DS1 then ruined it by coughing all night and waking up (poor love), so only DS2 benefited but I'm now irrationally excited. Think we might be getting somewhere finally...

Fruji you have given me hope! You have just described my dd with bf badly during day and making up for it at night. I've also been trying to allow longer for her to munch on things but think I also probaby need to make more of an effort to be organised with foods and offer her more interesting and a wider variety of foods. One day I will get a night's sleep again...

hi all!
fruji thats great! No matter how much I seem to stuff into DD in the day she has still been waking twice at night the last couple of weeks...argh! Am praying it is a growth spurt or something!

Had great success with meatballs yesterday, she ate lots which was great altho very messy.
Spaghetti has been excellent too, she loves it..shoves in great fistfuls which is hilarious to watch..

Fab news on the weight ruby am going to take DD to get weighed for first time since we started weaning this week so we'll see where she is..pretty sure she is still gaining fine..certainly feels heavier!

DD is currently waking twice a night for feeds..have tried soothing her without feeding which sometimes works but tbh I;m usually so knackered I can't be arsed and go straight for the boob as its so much quicker...I think they call that making a rod for my own back...oops

mmmm, Rubyb, can't exactly remember when the other two stopped waking up for feeds. Think it was about the 9/10 month mark.

Mini crikey sounds similar to your DS as he too loves his milk. I have tried to settle him just by patting his tummy and that has worked a couple of times, but when I can't face leaning over his cot anymore, he gets scooped up and fed back to sleep in our bed! I guess he will get there in the end, like you I just can't do CC.

hobnob- hope you and dd enjoy the lamb!! I did actually ask the butcher to cut it up for me, but he did it in to four massive pieces and not 4 cm pieces!! I think I left the fat on as was unsure, but DH reckons it was good left on. I found Orzo in Waitrose btw.

Good that you've had a breakthrough fruji.

Oh btw, anyone tried raisins yet? DS can get them in his mouth but do you think they are a potential choking hazard?

you see i wonder whether to let him do it in his own times - i have read about lots of bf boys stopping waking around 9/10 months . i know exactly what you mean pickles about being so tired that you just feed them or they come into bed with you .

i'm just a bit tired of it now, particularly as it doesn't seem as simple as it used to be - feeding once (maybe twice) and being genuinely hungry and going straight back to sleep. and eating breakfast most of the time. we'll see. i don't want to distress him obviously and i'd hate to think he was really hungry as its so annoying to be hungry in the night... i just don't think he is anymore and i'd like more than three/four hours in a row so i am just going to see if this might just work!

i've thought about raisins crikey and i don't know. i'm sure once they have a pincer grip its ok but haven't given them to DS yet...

Have to say I don't hold out much hope for a repeat performance tonight - DS2 didn't manage to consume such impressive quantities today. Just excited that maybe, just maybe, the waking is related to how much he eats. I too am far too knackered to contemplate anything other than a quick feed when he wakes in the night. Would be wonderful if he figures the sleep thing out. Fingers crossed.

Little pdog didn't think much of the yorkshire puds crikey, she isolated the sausage, discarded the rest and then proceeded to try and stuff the whole sausage in her mouth .

Already I can see she is much better and is starting to chew. Today she swallowed a big chunk of apple but managed it OK.

I think we have been helping her a bit too much though as now she expects everything to be handed to her and ignores any food I put on her tray .

Shame the yorkshires weren't met with much approval pdog, sounds like her control of food is pretty good though.

Courgette lasagne leftovers for lunch today, - actually quite easy to pick up and munch on. Lamb meatballs for supper were OK, but most ended up on the floor (the dog seemed to like them anyway!)

Ooh Crikey you're putting me to shame, being a veggie and cooking meat for your LO. I'm not a fan of lamb but that recipe does look lovely so must try it.

I will have to be brave and cook some fish too (hate the stuff myself). It is not so much the cooking but the thought that she will stink of it for the rest of day - makes me bawk just thinking of it!

Meatballs were decimated in our house at lunch time - she had one in each hand, waving them about like a mad thing .

Hope the rest of you are managing to get some sleep.

following on from talk of sleep ruby I don't know if you read the webchat that was up yesterday with Dr someone or other about co-sleeping and things but it had some really interesting stuff about night feeds/co-sleeping etc...basically very supportive of most of what I am doing (still feeding, into bed with me, helping settle to sleep) which made me feel much better!
worth a read for those having any nighttime probs!
Now on a topic more relevant to this thread! Tried those seet potato falafals yest..v popular with DD (and me!) going to try the meatloaf today and also get some fish as I think she prob needs a bit more in her diet..

pickles I saw that webchat yesterday and it also made me feel much better about my lack of sleep!

Went out for lucnh yesterday to an Italian and Imogen enjoyed some of my pizza - licked of all the topping, chewed/gummed the crust until soggy then threw it on the floor and demanded a new piece!

I'm really glad I kept going now as she's deinitely chewing well, she seems able to move stuff to the front of her mouth then spit it out. Just waiting for her to learn to properly swallow on purpose rather than accident now, but only just over 6 months so no rush!

I did see that pickles, thanks. And yes, I did think she spoke sense.

Abort mission, its not working. I'll try again in a month or two!

Had a really good day today and Ds has enjoyed rice cakes, french stick, pasta and apple he did really well and looked like he was proper chewing.

Banana and pear make him projectile vomit so we are avoiding these for a while.

Hi early days here. Ds (6 months 2 weeks) hasn't eaten much but has tried!

Quick question, I am still bf'ding so do not want to introduce a bottle but are you offering water? (in what, a normal small cup or one of those sippy ones?) thanks