***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 ?

We're offering water in either a doidy or tommee tippee first cup thingy - depends how much mess I fancy cleaning up

We're using the doidy or tommee tippee too. Only thing with tommee tippee is the one we have has a picture on the front and DD has suddenly became obsessed with it - stares intently at it for ages. Not sure how much she actually drinks but I offer it at every meal.

Had a good day today - tried the italian meatloaf and DD loved it (and me too). Did it with mash and asparagus and she seemed to swallow quite a lot it. Followed it with some mango, which she absolutely loved - she must have eaten about half of it .

crikeybadger DS loves raisins, he has the pincer grip (he's 8 months tommorrow) the only trouble is the nappies afterwards! Try them and you'll see! Haven't had any choking with them, cheese and bread seem to make him gag quite a bit tho

Hard boiled egg is one of DS favourites

I'm loving watching things progress. Today dd managed to chew a few bites of pitta strips rather than hoik it out and chuck it. Humous and grated carrot went down well. She even took to sipping out of the doidy for the first time instead of taking a mouthful and smiling to let it all dribble out. We've persevered with GF porridge and hypoallergenic formula and she's taking to that too (albeit with a sprinkle of brown sugar - I'm still not organised enough to do fruit puree with it ). She does eat it better off my finger though - I'm finding the time and carnage of BLW porridge when we need to get dd1 to nursery in the mornings is a bit too much for me some days.

Very relieved to have found this thread as most of my antenatal group have started weaning their children early with puree . Feeling a bit pressured to do the same.

My DS is 24 weeks, sitting up independently and grabbing toys and chewing them hard! Think he is ready to go. Am just finishing the Gill Rapley book so once I'm done we're starting :-).

Am wondering what to start him on. Does it really matter?

Please help, I'm losing my nerve. DS is 6 months and has shown all the signs of being ready for weaning so I started last week with a piece of banana and avocado. But he was taking MASSIVE bites, no gumming/sucking as people mention, just enormous pieces which completely filled his mouth. This freaked me out a bit I have to admit and I've been staying with my parents this week and my Mum is very about BLW, so I've been trying him on Stage 1 purees. He's going great guns with these and is already on 2 meals a day (yoghurt and mashed banana in the morning and puree about 5pm - trying food at 11am was a no go).

I'm really keen to get him onto BLW as soon as possible, so was planning on either ratcheting up really quickly through the purees or alternatively starting solid finger foods now. Will him having had a week of purees affect his ability to cope with solid foods??

Has anyone else done things this way? Any advice on coping with those massive bites of food?

Thanks x

dd is a massive chomper too. It is disconcerting, but we try to ignore it and get distracted by her big sister. DD copes well with getting things out eventually but it's not nice viewing. I'm hoping that sooner or later she'll learn to regulate her intake a bit, but she gets so excited about food she just keeps ramming it in with both hands. One day... She's a bit better with some foods than others. Banana is the worst offender for mouth overload I think. Roasted sweet potato sticks work well because it's so squashable in the mouth. And apple or pear slices that have been microwaved for a minute to soften them. Casserole this week went down a treat too as it's really soft and hard to grab bits that are too big.

I'm sure BLW after purees will be fine, althugh you may get an initial bit of frustration with the reduced speed of eating?

hobnob sounds like things are going well.

LovingKent I don't anyone else in RL who is doing BLW either. We have only been going 2 weeks and started with fruit and veg - DD had sticks of cucumber and asparagus for her first 'meal'. I only did this for the first few days, now she eats pretty much what we do, just need to make some adjustments to size of things sometimes and of course no salt. It is messy but we are all loving it.

cairnterrier am no expert (only 2 weeks in) but DD can take big bites sometimes, esp if it is something she likes and often does a double hander. Earlier this week she had half a sausage in her mouth and was trying to get the other half in too . We just try to ignore, although I have been guilty of rescuing food from her mouth sometimes . She also does some things hands free, which scares me to death esp when it is something slippy/juicy. I find if I give her enough time, she will usually spit it out but it is very nerve racking. Haven't had any major gagging incidents (touch wood) since last weeks pineapple incident (not a good food to try with a chomper). Also difficult with parents/relatives - luckily mine live nowhere near so no interference.

Another good day today - DD scoffed down kiwi and nectarine for breakfast, loved the sweet potato falafels for lunch with cucumber and then ate nearly a whole pear. She has taken to practising her technique inbetween meals by bringing her hand to and from her mouth - bless

Glad to hear it's going well for everyone. I'm not sure that Imogen is actually swallowing anything at all most of the time, although her nappies show a different story. We've been going for three weeks now and she seems to be able to chew a bit and move food quite competently to the front of her mouth in order that she can then spit it out. Do they suddently sort of 'get' the swallowing thing and start obviously eating more?

My problem is that we eat after she has gone to bed as dh only gets home just in time for bath/bedtime routine. Is the best thing to save her a bit for the next day do you reckon and try to eat with her at weekends? If anyone does this, do you warm the food slightly or just serve it cold or do you think it doesn't make any difference?

cairnterrier - I sometimes give Imogen half her food as finger food and whizz the other half in the food processor with a bit of milk or formula so it's mushy but a bit lumpy and then give this on loaded spoons (as it's not really runny it sticks on spoon quite nicely). Some days she clearly prefers the finger food aspect (like today) and rejects the spoons, other days she prefers to use the spoon. I know it isn't the blw 'correct' method, but it works for us. We only do this at dinner and breakfast/lunch is only finger foods. I've done it as I know when she's looked after by others they might not be comfortable with finger foods and so I thought if she could be happy with a bit of both it would make everyone else's life easier as well. Hope that makes sense!

Well nearly two weeks in and we are loving it Ds2 has really taken to it he eats really well and the nappies prove it's going in. He really enjoys rice cakes think they are his favourite.
Today he really had fun at my parents bbq he munched on salad, chicken, corn on the cob and some melon. My parents and sil were like it was quite funny to watch they though he was far to young to be eating 'normal' food.

Can't believe how nervous I was about blw I really thought Ds2 would choke.

Oh and we have 3 teeth all on the bottom really think all the chomping has helped them come through without too much bother.

alibobins out of interest which rice cakes do you give your ds?

Hendo we usually eat after DD is in bed and just save her some of what we have for the next day. I will eat some fruit or toast so I am still eating at the same time. My DH travels quite a bit so when I am by myself I cook the night before and then eat with DD. We try to eat with her at weekends though.

I don't always heat it up - depends on what we are having. If I do heat it though, I tend to nuke it and then leave it to cool cos I'm paranoid about food poisoning if I only heat it to luke warm. I put DD's plate in the freezer for about half an hour before I serve up so the food cools down quite quickly.

Glad to hear things are going well alibobins. We have a family BBQ coming up and I can't wait for DD to show off her new skills - although she will prob decide that it is the perfect time to have a major gagging incident!

She did her first (pretty much) solid poo today . Unfortunately she decided 4am was a good time to do it.

Also reminded of the importance of trying things before we give them to DD as the chicken curry proved a little too hot for her .

I brought the Organix ones as I didn't know which others to try.

Thanks pdog and alibobins. I've also got some organix ones, but only the plain ones, so might splash out on some flavoured ones for her to carry with me as snacks. Right, I shall plan a very healthy menu then for us - this should be good for my eating habits as well I think!

Haven't checked in for a while, but have read through and it sounds like all the babies are getting very messy!

DS is enjoying everything that I put in front of him, which is great. I've started to give him some meat, so he had a chicken drumstick, a (homemade) sausage roll, a strip of my steak and today we're going to have meatballs.

I also tried him on egg, rather tentatively on my part because I was worried about possible allergy, but he was fine. He's now had some quiche and hard boiled egg - very gaggy but he liked it.

One bonus of BLW - I'm losing weight . It must be because of all the veg filling me up.

We started today. Bubba spent most of the time trying to eat his bib bless . Found cucumber difficult to pick up and hold. Did pick up carrot but had the end sticking out the bottom part of his fist so couldn't get at it! Expect he'll work it out eventually. It was lovely having a meal together .

Sounds nice LovingKent.

I give DS cucumber too, but he can't make any inroads into it at all. He loves sucking it, but since he has no teeth he can't get into it. Does anyone else find this?

And while we're talking teeth, do your dc have teeth yet? DS is 7mo and still has none. Has having teeth made any difference to the food that you offer or the baby likes?

Meatballs were ok, but quite gaggy. Omelette went down well, as did some fish cakes that I made up using some leftover chard, potato and a tin of mackerel. Watermelon is a firm favourite too.

Can I ask about 'the loaded spoon'. is this where you give the baby the spoon of yoghurt/porridge etc and they cram it in their mouth? How much 'guiding' is acceptable/neccessary?

I find with cucumber that Imogen will sort of suck off all the middle bits then move onto the next piece. Her two bottom teeth have just come through and it definitely makes a difference as she tends to scrape off bits of food, or break them off the end more often than she used to although I'm not sure this is intentional (she's 6.5 mo btw).

Having said that, I worry that she doesn't seem to ever swallow anything intentionally and that as soon as she realises she has bits of food in her mouth she moves them to the front of her mouth then spits them out. Am I expecting too much too soon?

ILoveDolly - I think technically you are supposed to load the spoon then leave it for them to do what they will with it! However, I sometimes hold the end of the spoon (or have my fingers hovering nearby) as otherwise Imogen sometimes shoves the whole spoon right back into her throat and then cries! I think she quite likes rubbing it on her gums more than anything else, but I try as much as possible to leave her too it even if it's all going in her hair/eye/ear instead of her mouth!!!

No teeth here yet Cies (DD 6.5 mo). DD loves cucumber. She sort of gnaws the middle bits off and then chucks it.

LovingKent DD used to hold stuff like this at first but she soon got the hang of it.

ILoveDolly I give DD quite a bit of help with the loaded spoons as she tends to put the wrong end in her mouth. I think I might need different spoons as the ones I have have quite long handles. It is messy but DD loves her spoons

Hendo our DD's are the same age, when was yours born? Hit and miss here - sonetimes DD will swallow lots, other times she tends to play more than eat and spits out quite a lot. I'm not getting worried about it though - think it is the same with rolling/crawling etc, they all develop differently and will do things in their own time. She is better with fruit though - not much comes back out there.

Anyone tried satsumas? Just a bit worried that she will chomp the whole segment down.

Thanks hendo and pdog! dd can manage to get the spoon in but it was really overinsertion that was worrying me, she is eager. We generally have half the food in the hair, other half in the eye, but very happily. She seems to like food on a spoon more than holding and eating it. In fact she has so far only really taken banana as a finger food.

PDog - Imogen was born on 8th December... what about your dd?