***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 ?

Hi all, we've been on holiday so not checked in for awhile. Sounds like everyone is having much fun.

DD had great fun on holiday and was really great with her food. Managed to eat out a few times and she loved it. Hasn't turned her nose up at anything yet.

pickles I don't worry too much about salt. We don't add it to anything we cook so I don't worry about it been in things like cheese, bread etc. She eats tiny portions really so can't be that much. I just check the amounts in breakfast cereals etc and but the version that the lowest salt.

Yes toast is better, although we've never had an issue with rice cakes because DD sucks the topping off and chucks the rice cake on the floor.

Re water, we've been offering it from the start. We have a doidy and a TT and alternate between the 2. She loves them both but needs help to tilt so I hold the cup while she holds the handles. Most of it ends up down her front but she does swallow some.

Hmmm, tried toast yesterday and didn't get on that well. She pulled a face like I was feeding her poison when she tasted it, gummed some big crumbs off then gagged spectacularly. I pride myself in having not panicked quite as much as hubby! At least I think I managed to conceal my angst. Maybe it's a bit early, she's only just 6 months. Fruit is still a big hit, particularly nectarine and apricot. Cucumber never fails me either.

How have your LOs got on with cheese? Best to introduce it grated?

Thanks for advice so far...

Glad to hear that everyone is getting on well. We've seem to have had a bit of a breakthrough with swallowing today - in that she seemed to manage to actually swallow some bits without gagging, coughing etc...!!! I will await confirmation in her nappies with eager anticipation!!!

Bobby99 - I found that crusty bread like a french stick for example was a bit better than toast if you want to try that. I gave her some of the crusty bit, but pulled off the bready bit that pulls away easily if you get what I mean! It doesn't break up like toast can, but is better than just ordinary bread which can become quite doughy and sticky. With cheese I've given some lumps/cubes or cut into sticks but she hasn't been too interested in it just yet. However on pizza it's a big hit! If you think she might crumble off pieces and are worried grating it sounds like a good idea.

I've found that eggy bread was a HUGE hit here and also I made that mushroom and spinach polenta from the finger foods book and they were really good too. Tonight my dad mad turkey, apricot and orange burgers on the bbq and she loved them as well!

Hobnob I think you asked about ideas for foods without dairy, wheat or eggs? Do you have this book? It's got lots of ideas and I reckon you could easily adapt recipes such as the croquettes and polenta fingers to get different flavours. I reckon you could make a sort of bubble and squeak croquette for breaktast and have the polenta fingers for lunch for example...

ooh, thanks for that Hendo, I might order that book. What are these croquette and polenta recipes in the meantime?

dd is still going great guns, but the variety of food she can try is really holding her back I feel. Yesterday she managed to chomp her way through 2 bits of chicken on a kebab and 3 courgette rings. The chicken was a bit hard so I gave her little strands and she was really going for it. Tonight it was spag bol. I've been wary of giving her meals with lots of ingredients, but I figured I've got to do it at some point or else I'll be stuck introducing things like herbs, balsamic vinegar, etc. one at a time and that is too tiresome for me.

We've even started actually drinking out of cups. Not a lot, but the sound effects are a fun game which is a nice attraction.

Polenta fingers - basically fry some onion and garlic then mushrooms and finally add in spinach (all chopped finely). Make polenta (pour into boiling water and keep stirring until it comes away from the sides) then stir in your onion/mushroom/spinach mix. Spoon into a loaf tin and level and leave to cool. Turn out and cut into slices then grill until the go brownish as that stops them breaking so easily in ilttle hands. You could probably use any vegetables/flavour you want I imagine to make them a bit different.

Just realised the croquette have egg in them to bind the breadcrumbs to the outside of them... not sure if you know of anything else you can use to do this?

The book also has loads of dip recipes in it that might be good for putting on rice cakes? Was it you that asked that question too?

Sorry just realised if you are anything like me you'll want quantities! (1 small onion, 1 garlic clove crushed, 225g mushrooms, 50g spinach (fresh or frozen), 80g quick cook polenta, 350 ml water (for boiling to add polenta to).

It also had 25g of parmesan added at end when mixing polenta and onion mixture but I didn't add this so left it off!

Bobby99 DD has had sticks of hard cheese. She likes really strong cheddar and sucks it like mad. Also given her cheese on toast/cheese and ham toasties/pizzas. She bends the bread in two and pulls the cheese off with her mouth. She also loves Philly on rice cakes, again just sucks the cheese off.

Hendo I've got that book but only made cheese straws so far. Looks like it has loads of ideas for lunch though.

Hobnob the only other things I can think to go on toast that have not already been mentioned is tinned fish - sardines, pilchards, mackeral etc.

Bit hit and miss here the last couple of days. Think DD has some teeth coming so she wasn't really bothered yesterday but seemed a bit more up for at lunch time today.

Bit worried about the amount of fruit she is eating, especially for breakfast as it is all she has most days. She has been turning her nose up at things that don't have any juice in and has also been off her milk. Hoping it is just because her gums are sore and she will be back to normal soon.

Hello all, can I join you please? Have DS 6 months who started weaning a couple of weeks ago. Am not quite brave enough to do full BLW at the moment (but with your help hopefully will be soon!). I am giving small amounts of purees but including finger foods at every meal too. So far a couple of different purees have gone down particularly well. I know puree isn't too popular here but I will justify it by saying that DS has chosen to go down the loaded spoon route as he grabs the spoon at every opportunity and jams it in his mouth when he's keen on something! In terms of finger foods we have had a little success with banana and pear but had a slightly scary gagging incident (followed by a full-on stomach-emptying vomit) with some cucumber at lunch today.

Like Hobnob, things are complicated by some allergies (egg/nut/cow's milk protein) so we are taking it rather slowly. Also to be honest, DS doesn't seem terribly interested in food. Apart from the odd time when he has grabbed the spoon or looked very excited to see the spoon coming towards him, in general he gets very distracted during mealtime (he does when BF-ing too), doesn't really seem to 'ask' for food and when he grabs finger-type food he enerally sticks it in his mouth for a second or two (as he does with everything else at the moment), and then drops it and doesn't seem to be making any concerted effort to taste or eat. He has dropped centiles and was classed as failing to thrive a while ago, but this is likely related to the allergies and we seem to be improving now.

Anyway, a couple of things specifically...

Hobnob have you seen this book - really more useful for older children but may be worth buying as you're in a similar position to me (and I was obsessing about what sort of cake DS would be able to have at parties in the future!). Baking without eggs book

Has anyone else had a full on vomit incident following gagging? I'm not totally sure whether what happened today could have been allergy related, simple peristalsis, or a result of DS having a little more water than he really needed from his sippy cup (which he's just getting the hang of...).

Finally, do people find it best to do milk feed, then solids, or solids then milk feed, or separating out so that milk feeds are at a totally different time of day from solid food IYKWIM.....

Hi readingtealeaves! With feeds there are some examples of 'routines' on age 20 I think (if you have the thread in pages of 25) which might help from others. I was bf when we started and didn't really do it the same way all the time as I'm not very good at routines and so we never end up eating at the same times! For me I used to do solids straight after morning nap then milk feed and in evening milk feed, leave 30 minutes then solids then milk again. Obviously bf at other times throughout the day, but two meals for me at the beginning was enough and it worked for us.

hendo- thanks for polenta recipe, was looking for some bread free lunch ideas!

Hi to RLT, I usually offer milk before a meal, but like Hendo there's no strict routine. Main thing is to keep up the number of milk feeds.

back later got a wriggly one on knee.

Welcome readingtealeaves

Tended to go for the milk feed then solid option. As DS gets up quite early he has a milk feed then solids about 1 hour later (once I've showered and dressed and got myself sorted out basically). Lunch we sometimes do solids straight after a milk feed, sometimes there is more of a gap. Amazingly he'll still try something then. Only doing 2 meals at the moment. Found the real key is not to do them too close to a nap as that = frustration.

Don't worry about how much he is taking or if none at all. Think of it as food play and if they take any its an advantage. "Until they are one its just for fun" . Am really trying to focus on that as feel myself very easy to getting swept into the "he should be eating more" especially when surrounded by others going down the more traditional route whose children seem to be eating a lot. We only started less than 2 weeks ago and DS was 6 months last week.

Had a couple of meals where DS has got really frustrated and cross. Think we have been giving him stuff that's just too difficult for him to manage so have really scaled back to stick finger foods. Tried offering stuff on a spoon - he can occasionally get it to his mouth but food often falls off and isn't keen on us giving it to him so food requiring spoon might be out for the moment. Anyone got any ideas around that? Struggling a bit with variety for breakfast as food like scrambled eggs, porridge needs a spoon.

Hi there everyone,

Just wanted to encourage all you readers who are about to get started with BLW. I gave my son purees for 10 days and then after a baby weaning "party" at a Sure Start Centre decided to switch to BLW. I don't think I would have been so courageous without first meeting another mum there who had been doing it for a few months really sucessfully. Anyway, for a good week I felt quite anxious about it and wondered if I'd done the right thing. My son was quite stressed, now I realise he was frustrated that he couldn't pick things up because I hadn't made them the right shape and also once or twice he was just too tired or wanted a milk feed instead. Anyway, after reading the BLW book by Gill Rapley and working it all out bit by bit I now am loving it . It's taken a week for me to shift my thinking from how much is he actually eating and is this really going to be successful to really realising that it's not about how much he swallows, or how much he puts on weight, or how well he sleeps through the night (or not!) but simply trusting him to learn at his own pace. I'm not obsessing about what to cook for him. He's having what the rest of us are eating (he's number 4 baby so busy house!).

So be encouraged it gets easier and he's rarely frustrated anymore unless he's tired so he's obviously quickly learning how to handle food. (We only started 10 days ago.

If you're interested we do morning breastfeed, breakfast, nap, mid morn breastfeedfeed, big nap, breastfeedfeed, lunch, nap, breastfeed, tea, breastfeed.

for those of you just starting please try to relax with it. honest! i know it's easier said than done though.

remember they're only 6 months old, even less for some of you, they have ages to learn to eat. they really don't need much at all at first. just think of it as playtime for them is it gill rapley that says blw is about introducing food to feed curiosity rather than food to feed hunger. does that make sense?

ds is 7.5 months old now. proper solid roll off the nappy poos. i remember that feeling like a significant milestone with dd!

for tea he has just tucked into stir fry, tenderstem broccoli, asparagus, prawns and noodles. he was then banging on his tray seemingly for more food so we gave him a cheese sandwich..we'd all eaten the rest of the stir fry before realising he wanted more too! then he polished off a humzinger and a satsuma.

Hi ReadingTeaLeaves - we had a scary gag and vomit incident with some mango the first time she tried it. Up came the offending mango and her most recent milk feed. It hasn't happened again. Sometimes I can hear and see mucousy vomit on the way up when she gags, but she usually swallows it now and happily carries on stuffing things in her mouth. Sorry if that's TMI!!

lovingkent - breakfasts we have had are toast, weetabix, mini-shredded wheats, fruit, yoghurt with prunes (either on spoon or toast dipped in), scrambled egg (although this does break up easily), omlette (cooked really well then cut up into slices), eggy bread (BIG hit), porridge pancakes, croissants (not cooked so not flaky). We've also had last night's dinner for breakfast so things like brocoli etc... (dd obviously not me in that situation!!!). I just want to say I have stolen all these ideas from others on here so not claiming to have thought of them all myself btw!

With the spoon thing, you can try dipping toast or crusty bread in as I find dd licks off the topping. With the spoons I tend to let dd get hold of it and to start with I did help her get it to her mouth a bit, now she is good at getting it to her mouth but I often still hold the end as otherwise she has a tendancy to shove the whole spoon down her throat!

Please can I join?

DS is just 6 months and we started at the weekend. So far: carrot, broccoli, sweet potato, banana, peach, rice cakes & toast. We're introducing potentially allergenic foods one at a time as we have some intolerances/allergies in the family.

There's been some gagging but less than I expected and not too bad. I'm used to DS gagging on his own fingers, though. DS is absolutely loving it and has great fun sitting in the high chair flapping his arms when he's not eating.

Much to my surprise we've had evidence of everything in the nappies already. I suspect DH may start regretting using washables now! We even seemed to have the toast that was yesterday's breakfast appear this morning, which seemed like a remarkably fast throughput to me. Is it common for things to go through them so fast?

Hendo thanks so much for the breakfast ideas. Hadn't thought of omelette or porridge pancakes. Thought about making eggy bread this morning but didn't have time.

Today DS far less frustrated . Have significantly reduced amount of food being given at once (think we were overloading poor DS with choice) and he has been much happier.

Welcome AngelDog. Have found melon appearing in a nappy a couple of hours later so yes I guess it does go through that fast. Mostly the previous day's food comes out the following day.

Found one minor disadvantage to BLW today. Had an apple with my antenatal group in the park and DS insisted on having some as he clearly recognises it as food. Gonna have to watch what I snack on - think its a little early for chocolate and cake

DD is nearly 7.5 months now and I'm loving watching her manage to extract food from her closed fist and use a finger to make sure it doesn't pop out of her mouth again.

Just had to share

Fab breakfast ideas Hendo that's the one meal I've been struggling with so will try some of your suggestions

Hi Angeldog nice to see you...I have been amazed at how fast food is appearing in the nappy, it seems to depend on what it is - we had cucumber reappear in a couple of hours...

We're making good progress this week - DD is finding it much easier and seems more willing to try things...she starts getting excited now when she sees the highchair coming out.

We had lamb for tea tonight and I gave DD a strip of meat which she attacked with gusto

Is fun isn't it?

Great Hobnob, have also noticed my DD has much more co-ordination and can manage both smaller and bigger bits.

She is developing some strange behaviour though - rocking like a mad thing in her high chair, mashing her food into the tray and then leaning over and trying to lick it up .

I was also after ideas for non-spoon breakfasts as DD has taken to waving and flicking rather than eating off them . She doesn't seem that keen though unless it is juicy - tried Shreddies and porridge pancakes but she's not been impressed.

Can I ask how you make your eggy bread? Used to have this all the time when I was little but when I tried to make it the bread went all soggy and was horrible so didn't give it to DD. Think she would like it though as she loves frittata and omlettes.

LovingKent oh yes, I can't have anything without DD wanting to eat it(even it happens to be the phone or remote) so chocolate has to be consumed while she is asleep . I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast as a treat on fathers day (has sugar in) and DD loved them, although she was purple by the end. Normal pancakes would be a good idea though for a nice weekend brekkie.

We did the porridge pancakes for the first time this morning and it went down a treat

Pdog - we made eggy bread this morning and used wholemeal bread. It did go a bit soggy but was still possible to pick it up and was delicious. Served with apple slices fried in a bit of butter. DS chopped away happily .

jemjabella - do you have a recipe for porridge pancakes. Think there is one on the babyledweaning site but it appears to be down .

I just chucked a bit of porridge & milk in a plastic bowl then microwaved it for 2 mins. Cooled it in the fridge. Wasn't very precise but worked

Official recipe is here: babyledweaning.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=100&Itemid=66

Have been out of the loop for a while. Was all going splendidly but over the last few days DS2 has developed that time honoured baby trick of throwing everything on the floor. Everything. Might sample something before he lets rip but basically not very much gets eaten. Certainly not the volumes he was consuming before...

Please tell me it's just a phase. Has coincided with him being a bit poorly, with a rash that may (or may not) be a reaction to the blueberries which he gobbled up enthusiastically on Monday.

I don't think it was helped by MIL insisting on putting food in his mouth over and over again on Saturday despite my protestations. She clearly thinks we're mad hippies - I quote 'I'm glad you've decided not to have another one because I don't think I could cope with you coming up with more ridiculous notions' (or something along those lines).

I'm afraid my response was a rather lame 'Well he's not dead yet' and walked out.

Sigh.

Strawberries, strawberries, strawberries... DD just loves them! They do make a dreadful mess, but it's absolutely worth it to see the look of ecstasy on her face and hear the slurps as she devours them!

BLW really is so much fun, and DD is having a very positive introdution to food.

PDog - my LO tries to lick things off the tray too, makes my Mum desperate to help her get things in her mouth (LO's mouth, not my Mum's ) so i have to hold her back...