BLW help! Finding this REALLY challenging esp b'fast

[lovely74]

Hi,
My little man is 7 months today and we've been BLW for about 5 weeks now. He seems to be enjoying it and there is a definite change in his nappies (urgh!) so some food is going in, but i'm finding it really hard re the mess. I'm not a clean freak and love watching him cover himself in food, it's fantastic messy play. But at the moment, he has a meal every eve when my husband and I are both there. He's lifted straight out of his bumbo into the bath by daddy and I clean up the mess. At lunch time I give him "less messy" food (lots of rice cakes involved) so the aftermath isn't as hard, but the whole process from start to finish still takes a VERY long time (I'm happy for him to spend ages eating of course, but there is still a lot of mess) Although I have water and a cloth at the ready, he gets food under his bum and basicaly everywhere so jiggling a wriggly baby and trying to get him into a state where I can put him down then start cleaning up is very hard.
I am also terrified of breakfast! He hasn't had one breakfast yet (though seems more than happy with his milk so I don't think he minds) On sunday we gave him yoghurt on loaded spoons with fruit for lunch last night I tried him with weetabix the same way (we were having a crappy ready meal curry so not suitable)/ I also tried both these in a stuck-on bowl so he can dip his hands in but he's more bothered about the bowl than the food so spoons are better. But, it went EVERYWHERE and I can't imagine doing either of these meals when it's just me and him, unless he starts having more than one bath a day - not ideal as he has dry skin and that really will be the whole morning gone.

How can I start to cope with this better? And maybe cut down the rice cakes? What SHOULD I be giving him at this point? (ie fruit / veg three time, carbs 3 times...). His milk (BM) intake is still the same and I'm giving him vitamin drops but I'm more concerned with getting him into good habits of 3 meals a day, and giving him lots of chance to practice / model from me.

How I get over my breakfast phobia but still have time to do other stuff in a day than just feed and clean up???

And it's getting him clean that is the main issue - I use a large mat and the bumbo gets showered down. I've tried him eating naked / in little bibs / full sleave bibs - all equally as messy......

PS - I've cheated and put the same post on the BLW website to get as much feedback as possible! Thanks

Erm, toast for breakfast? And things on bread/toast and steamed/roast veg for lunch? My DS is now 8 1/2 months and I'm the world's worst BLW mother, kind of the other way round as he doesn't have messy homecooked food. DH and I tend to have ready meals or food that's otherwise unsuitable (i.e. too high salt) in the evening. So DS and I have two meals a day together which tend to be a sort brunch/lunch and then an afternoon snack. One of those is always based around bread/toast and I try and think of something else for the other one.

So we've had bread/toast with e.g. avocado, goat's cheese, melted BabyBel, finely chopped tinned mackerel mixed with a bit of yoghurt, houmous (made his skin flare up unfortunately), ready-made salmon pate and ready made baby fruit puree. Boiled new potatoes, steamed carrots and courgettes and grilled sweet potatoes are all easy to prepare.

None of the above is messy, but some of the 'things on toast' I'd hesitate to give him if he ate a lot because of the salt content. He only eats a tiny bit now, so I hope I'm not giving him a permanent taste for salty food.

You could try, with a softish apple, eating round it to make a fat core and then taking the ends off to make a mini apple to eat (avoids baby biting big chunks off if he has lots of teeth like mine and you are worried about choking, also looks cute).

I hope one or two of these ideas are helpful and that you can find a compromise between a multi-sensory baby eating experience and spending your whole day cleaning up. I feel sometimes my whole life revolves round his meals!

Breakfast ideas - have you heard of matzo crackers? Basically made of flour and water. You can soak these in water for a couple of mins then dip in a beaten egg and fry. Baby can eat these -for variety mix in bits of fruit. They turn out like pancakes. (Annabel Karmel idea)

Pancakes are another breakfast option too.

Both very quick and easy to cook.

Do you have a breadmaker? You could make salt - free bread and use for toast.

I think you have to live with the mess - have a stash of clothes handy especially. I use the long sleeved bibs and only need to wipe hands and face (unless he's had wet food).

You could stick to finger foods and once his motor skills are good enough, switch to more messy stuff. So I've made mini burgers out of chicken/beef/turkey/lamb (blend the meat so it's less lump, mix with oil and fry), chips using potatoes/veg/sweet potatoes and florets of veg like broccoli. You can prepare in advance and freeze a big stash.

My DS is 7 months and usually lunch is the big event. Evening tea - I don't always bother and breakfast is usually spoon fed or pancakes/matzos. Food is just for fun now - at some meal times I have him watch me and give him the odd bit to wave around if he's not hungry or I haven't got time!

Another thought - how about buying some too-big cheap sleepsuits and putting them on over his clothes? Like a full-body bib. Or is that crazy?

A friend of mine used to strip hers naked and feed them in the sink at this age

Definitely try toast for breakfast. But basically I think you have to live with the mess. I used to put the bumbo on the worktop (which I know is frowned at and potentially unsafe, but I never left DS for a second). That meant I only had the worktop to clean, which was pretty simple. DS had a long sleeve bib - I had 4 of them and would rotate and wash once a day (scraping the 'gunk' off the rest of the time ). But most importantly I was a lot less precious (than I was with DD) about keeping him spotless. If he had a bit of toast stuck in his hair, or a bit of banana on his nose - hey ho!

Once he was a bit older and in a highchair, I invested in a handheld hoover which has been a life saver. The floor gets trashed, but it can all be cleaned up in a few minutes.

i put mine in clothes to eat then whip the clothes off and into the wash. either than or have him trouserless and in a long sleeve soft bib. easier to clean clothes than a wriggly body i find!

oh, and what highchair do you have? the ikea was is so easy to clean as it has no fiddly bits it's just one moulded bit of plastic.

re: mess

be prepared. have flannels, water and a towel next to you while you eat. then use flannel to clean baby, deposit him on the floor on his play mat while you clear up the rest.

Ooooooh thanks for all the replies. I feel reassured that it's common not to have the full three meals a day for quite a while. I know toast is an obvioiyus brekkie but I can't make my own and also felt a bit bad at the idea of him having something toast based every morning. But I suppose it's not going to be for too long.
igglybuffCrackers and pancakes sound good though. Do you mean the thicker "drop scone" type of pancakes?
ruddy I use a bumbo at the moment. I have a hight chair clamped to the table which is rubbish for mess. I'm probably going to buy one of the ikea ones but we don't have much space. The floor is the least of my worries, it's cleaning HIM thats the issue! I have already thought of sticking him in sleep suits to feed. I use the long sleave bibs but its the food on the legs and bum I struggle with! I've had a thought that if I could invent some kind of canoeist-type lap cape thing I'd be sorted!

I've also wondered about a canoeist lap cape thing. We could make our millions

Don't tell anyone, but I think DS was about 10mo before I graduated to 3 meals a day...

IIRC we did lunch first, then breakfast, then tea last of all.

And yes, another here who still needs a full change of clothes after each meal at 14mo!

lovely yes thicker pancakes or thin ones rolled up so easier to grab. If you're super organised (I am not) you can make a batch of pancakes and freeze them, defrosting as and when you need to.

IsItMeOr - I think 10months for three meals is a good thing to aim for. I'm going to do that. I struggle to fit in tea as not much time between the afternoon nap and bedtime feed. As DS has reflux I usually end up giving him some spoonfood as it's quicker.

hey lovely - you know the bumbo is part of the problem? dd ends up with food under her bum if i feed her in hers - which i have to if we go to fils etc where there is no highchair

we have a wooden highchair which just folds flatish against the wall thats not too bad.

ok foods that are less messy which i give dd (also 7 months) carrot/parsnip/sweet potatoes. i cut them into sticks and steam them. i also give dd penne pasta just bit a bit of cheese on it but she usually leaves the cheese.

bananas are the worst offender for mess and will destroy clothes!!

i sympathise though. blw is great fun but its so much work with the cleanup! i am trying to not be so anal and stop myself doing a full on hose down after every meal and just pick up the bits and do a proper wipe down after the last meal

Have you got a tray with your bumbo. If you are going to use a Bumbo for feeding, the tray is key to stop thefood spreading everywhere.

BTW my DS (now 13mo) is obsessed with toast and eats at least 2 slices a day . He refuses any other kind of bread product! I have to give him cereal for breakfast otherwise he'd turn into a piece of taost!

french toast, bibs with arms and a muslin or tea towel over their laps are my top tips.

The only thing I could do with my DD was strip her naked (ala Missus' friend ) and put a plastic sheet under the chair, and have a bath ready.

Seriously, she would have 2 baths a day.

(I should probably not tell you this, but she is not a very tidy eater now, at 3.8. BUT, she loves her food. The only things she does not like are onions or spicy food (except spicy chilli chicken yesterday which she ate without complaint!). She eats everything else put in front of her with little fuss. She just makes a huge mess. But that could just be her own little personality trait).

I used to BLW feed DS naked in the garden or bathroom!

Drop scones are your breakfast friend. I used to, still do, make really thick ones with pureed/grated fruit and oats or Ready Brek flakes added. They freeze well too - warm up in a toaster.

Have you come across those yoghurts/fruit puree in Ella's Kitchen type pouches? They were very handy occassionally....
pouch yoghurts

Pavlov I think I might remember your naked feeds from another BLW thread?

I've not been too precious about spoonfeeding sometimes, although DS liked them pre-loaded and popped them in himself, so I never felt like I was feeding him iyswim. When he has had teething spells or been poorly, he sometimes couldn't manage the BLW food, so I keep a supply of the Plum Baby prepared meals in and he would have those.

He now loves their fruit pouches, and if I take the lid off, he'll take it from there . I'm not sure that's quite what Gill Rapley has in mind...