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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:
jemjabella · 23/06/2010 09:14

PDog - LO loves satsumas - sucks most of the juice from a segment then swallows what's left. No gagging problems with 'em at all.

hendo77 · 23/06/2010 10:32

Sorry, some fruit related questions...

With oranges and satsumas do you give whole segments out of interest?

Also with fruit like nectarines and plums, do you peel, or cut into pieces and leave skin on to help with them picking them up?

Cies · 23/06/2010 11:25

With oranges I open the segment a bit to check for pips, then just pop it on his tray.

I leave the skin on things like peaches and pears because otherwise it's too slippery for ds to pick up.

mistressploppy · 23/06/2010 14:41

How are people getting on with pasta? DH and I eat loads but DS just gums it and spits the bits out, it's like he likes the taste but doesn't like the fact that it doesn't dissolve much.

Jacket potato with Philly for lunch today - that was fun!

hobnob57 · 23/06/2010 16:51

Can I ask a potentially TMI question? I've noticed through keeping track of things dd eats and the state of her nappies that it's taking 3 days for things to reappear at the other end. Is this your experience?

Further to that, dd had pureed prune on rice cake for lunch and loved it. Not sure the walls were such a fan though!

mistressploppy · 23/06/2010 16:55

Not TMI at all, I find it depends. DS has the runs at the moment and breakfast (8am) appeared in the nappy at 3pm precisely!

Not sure how long it should take though, but it does vary a lot with us. I would be interested to know the average

jemjabella · 23/06/2010 17:06

Poo varies here too; but usually takes a few days.

PDog · 23/06/2010 17:20

Hendo my DD was born on 11th Dec - seems so long ago now.

On the issue of fruit, I have found it best to leave the skins on nectarines and mango (must try plums) otherwise they just slip out her hand. Because they are quite she gums the flesh quite easily. With things like apple, pear and kiwi I cut into segments and half peel but only because we have had a few skin gagging incidents.

I tried oranges at lunch. I cut it into eigths with the skin on but found that she couldn't get the flesh off so I bit a little off so she had a skin handle - loved them. Will try satsumas tomorrow, thanks Jemjabella Mistressploppy have only tried pasta twice, both times DD sucked all the sauce off and spat out the pasta. Hoping it gets better once she has teeth.

Hobnob not TMI - I have found I am obsessed by poo again, like I was when she was a newborn . Seems to depend here - kiwi made an appearance late afternoon from that morning's breakfast but she didn't go at all on Monday. Sometimes I look and think, what is that?!! becasue it has taken awhile.

Off to try jacket spud now since my cheesy bean burgers turned into a disaster .

Anyone tried any good recipes lately?

ruddynorah · 23/06/2010 17:33

he everyone. not been on here for a while.

still enjoying it here. my ds was born end of november. we have a nice little meal routine going now. he knows, and cries out, when his meals are late now!

today he has munched on malted wheats for breakfast. lunch was mackerel sandwiches with organix crispy things followed by a peach. then for tea he's just polished off a big bunch of tenderstem brocolli, a little bit of quiche, a few baked beans and satsuma.

he has discovered his pelican bib pouch now. so he can fish around in it for what he can work on for a second time! saves me the job

AmazingBouncingFerret · 23/06/2010 17:41

How do you all do it without panicking??
DD is now 6 months, she's been on purees for a few weeks now and is really enjoying them.
She has the hand to mouth thing down, but her sitting up is still a bit shakey.
I gave her a green bean to munch on and she bit in half and gagged, which worried me! I also gave her some brocoli when out for lunch with my mother, but my mums nerves made me just take it back off her.

I dont know why im so dodgy about it, DS was fine (admittedly he was a little bit older, about 7-8 months before I started him on finger foods) I always thought people are more relaxed with their second child, yet I seem to be more paranoid this time round!

jemjabella · 23/06/2010 19:25

I aim to count to 10 before even thinking of intervening when there's gagging - we've never got as far as 4

yUMMYmUMMYb · 24/06/2010 09:18

hi everyone
my DD was born 4th December and we have been doing BLW for the last 3 weeks. i am so impressed by how quickly she has got coordinated. my question is how do you space out meals and snacks throughout the day and how many snacks do you give? i am continuing to BF but she still seems to have same number of feeds each day, when will this reduce?

mistressploppy · 24/06/2010 09:43

Hi Yummy

We went to 3 meals a day pretty much straight away, the routine goes like this

7am - boob
8am - breakfast
11am - boob
12 noon - lunch
3pm - boob
5pm - boob
5.15pm - dinner

But there might be mini-boob sessions in between as well! We don't really do snacks unless out and about, mainly because meals take sooooo long!

I found that DSs interest in bfing dropped dramatically once we started solids so I try to offer boob a lot to keep his intake up. My HV said once they are having 3 meals (with protein, ie not just carrots!) they need a pint of milk per day, or 3 x 7oz feeds. Tricky to judge with breastfeeding but gives you an idea.

ruddynorah · 24/06/2010 10:07

ds is 7 months.

up 6.30am boob

7.30 breakfast

9am bottle then nap

12noon lunch

1pm bottle then nap

4pm small bottle/boob snack

5pm tea

6.30pm bedtime bottle/boob

(plus about 1am small bottle!!)

jemjabella · 24/06/2010 10:21

We don't really have any sort of routine. I give food when I can be bothered and boob when LO whinges for it.

yUMMYmUMMYb · 24/06/2010 12:42

Thanks mistressploppy - i am so glad to hear that you are not doing snacks either - i was thinking where would i find time to do anything apart from organise food, sit and eat food and tidy up.
Ruddynorah - looks like your routine makes sense, but i get the feeling we will just go with the flow. Do you think it matters if it is slightly different every day to fit around other committments? Is it any wonder i am still getting up at least twice a night.... i was hoping the solids would counteract that (oh well)

PDog · 24/06/2010 13:17

Our 'routine' is different every day depending on what time DD wakes up. Try to give tea about 5 so we have enough time before bath but it usually ends up been later due to nap/bf.

Not doing snacks here either.

Off to do lunch now as DD just woken from her nap.

mistressploppy · 24/06/2010 13:35

When we started, DS was having three naps so I used to choose whether to have lunch at 11am or 2.30pm, but now he's stretched out to having a nap at 1.15ish so it's much simpler.

I don't think it matters if you miss a solid meal from time to time though, as long as they get the milk

ruddynorah · 24/06/2010 18:03

yUMMYmUMMYb

my routine is pretty rigid as it works round dd who's at nursery every morning. so his breakfast is just before we set off. then his morning nap is as we get home. same with lunch and afternoon nap, it's when we get back from nursery.

sometimes if we have lunch out and me and dd are having something not very ds friendly then he'll just have a crust. then he'll have more milk before his nap you see? or sometimes if he's woken more than once in the night then he isn't very hungry ( i feed him back to sleep) first thing or for breakfast so i might skip it altogether.

yUMMYmUMMYb · 24/06/2010 18:45

i know all about feeding back to sleep!

i think you are all right that as long as they are still getting milk feeds then the food is kind of a bonus. no point in forcing it for one meal when they clearly aren't interested for whatever reason.

next week i'm thinking of introducing meat! but where to start? i am not a huge meat fan - always worrying about poisoning someone. i do love meat but not that great at cooking it, what do you suggest i start with?

ruddynorah · 24/06/2010 19:06

ds's first meat (well fish actually as we don't eat meat) was a tuna mayo sandwich.

mistressploppy · 24/06/2010 20:12

We started with fish too - salmon in thick cheesy sauce. Quickly moved on to casseroled chicken and beef - nice and tender

PDog · 24/06/2010 21:32

We have tried the following meat meals:

Sausage - yum yum
Roast chicken - yum
Pork meatballs - yum yum
Italian meatloaf - yum yum
Spiced chicken breast - yum
Pork fillet - yum yum

She tends to suck the all the juice and flavour out and then spit out a mangled mess! Definite carnivore here.

Not had much fish, only cod fishcakes which went down very well.

DD is just totally mad for fruit - she has eaten (properly swallowed) the best part of a nectarine, a pear and an orange today

yUMMYmUMMYb · 25/06/2010 07:30

Wow, i am looking forward to the properly swallowing it, DD just swishes it around her mouth and spits it out at the moment. She does seem to have a particular preference for cherry tomatoes (cut in half) she just sucks all the juice out and then leaves the skin.
You have all inspired me with the meat ideas - hadn't even thought about tuna, but that is a great idea - may start with tuna in a sandwich. thanks

hendo77 · 25/06/2010 09:01

yUMMYmUMMYb - also definitely looking forward to proper swallowing here.

We had our first gag/sick incident yesterday. I think she just got too much in her mouth at one go and even though she was chewing it nicely and bringing it to the front to spit it out there was just a lot. I kept calm, she did two sort of gag/coughs, then out it came with a bit of sick (which she managed to get in her pelican bib and not on her try and then she just reached for a bit of brocoli and carried on so I left her to it! It clearly didn't bother her in the slightest!!!

What breakfast cereals do you give at breakfast? I've got weetabix (and porridge) but was looking for some variety. Also do you use cows milk with the cereal, give it dry or use formula?