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Baby Led Solids chatter #5
Welcome to the Baby Led Solids (BLS) Information and Discussion Thread. This is a place for sharing your experiences with BLS, and also to ask questions. Please feel free to share your food ideas, successes, and challenges with BLS.
What is BLS?
BLS is also known as Baby Led Weaning or Infant Led Weaning. It is way of introducing solids. Instead of starting with pureed foods, it involves starting with finger foods. Traditionally purees were introduced as a first food, as babies were starting solids at 3 months or so. Now the recommendation is to start solids at 6 months, and by this age babies are capable of feeding themselves finger foods.
Interestingly, many parents naturally follow the BLS method with second and subsequent children. Physiologically, it has been shown that choking is less likely when a child is feeding themselves at this age, rather than having a spoon of food put in their mouths.
Why use BLS?
The many benefits include:
Less mess
Easier and less time-consuming, as food doesn?t need to be pureed or spoon-fed
Children enjoy feeding themselves, and it is good for their development to do so
Exposure to a great variety of tastes and textures earlier
Children are eating adult foods sooner, so that the whole family can eat the same meal
Your previous thread can be found https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ml#post2544152
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ooh new thread- how exciting!
My little one is sick at the moment and not really keen on anything except occasionally chewing on dried fruit. I think her throat is sore, plus her nose gets blocked so she even has to pause when breastfeeding so she can breathe.
Registered User
Hi All
We are doing BLS loving it going great.
Just wonding about fish,we are having salmon fillets for dinner, can i offer DD any?
She has had barra before, canned tuna, chicken,mince,beef etc and has all the normal things as well ,she loves it
I just never really hear much on fish for the little ones
BellyBelly Member
We are still happily doing BLS with DD2, 10 months old and eats just about everything.
Shell - she loves pan fried salmon, even gives the crunchy skin a go. I think its good for them to learn the strong tastes of seafood, and its so good for them. Only thing I was warned about seafood was the same as most allergies, just take notice after first introducing, just in case of a reaction, especially if there is a family history of seafood allergies.
I've just discovered the heinz unbelievabowls. I really wanted to start putting DD2's food in a bowl instead of all over the highchair cause she has been showing interest in spoons, but she kept hoicking the damn bowls. I was hesitant with another suction bowl, cause the useless tommee tippee crap we wasted money on for DD1 but this one is really good. You suction the base on by using a lever and then click the bowl to the top, she can't get either off and even for us to get the base off can be a task. Now she is stabbing away with her spoon very merrily.
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Kate - DD's the same when she's sick, although as time goes on a cold seems less likely to stand in between her and her favourite foods, I can almost always rely on a few cruskits with avo and a couple of slices of cheese! There's no way she'll try anything new in that time though, and often that lasts about a week, even when she seems so much better. Hope she's feeling well again soon!
Shell - Salmon's a big hit here, in fact most fish is pretty popular! You just have to watch out for the mercury levels, I think small fish are better than big (we eat flathead quite often now) and as far as I remember the guidelines are 2 serves a week.
Studymum - Those bowls are the best, aren't they?! Especially on a highchair tray, although they're not so great on our wooden table.
And for us: no more gagging and vomiting on cheese (woohoo), posting stuff on BB seems to be a great way of magically making it disappear! After a couple of more cautious months, DD is now getting more adventurous with food again and eating all sortsShe is looooving using a fork, and doing it really well compared to all her purée fed buddies too - always great to have your decisions re-affirmed!
I've cut out the few things she ate with numbers in them recently, trying to help her sleep, and the one thing I'm struggling with is cream cheese. Philly is one of her favourite things and so far I haven't found a suitable alternative - anyone got any ideas?
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Hey guys,
Kate, sorry to hear that your little one is sick - DD was sick when we were away and I stopped solids for a few days as she was gagging a lot and unable to swallow things and chew things properly due to being unable to breathe through her nose. Poor wee sausage.
Shell, I agree, salmon is fine!
Studymum, I have some of those bowls too! It's funny watching DD try to pick it up - she gets really annoyed hehe!
Swoop, glad to hear that there is no more gagging! Wish I could say the same for us! Not sure about a cheese alternative, I'll have a think!
I'm still struggling to get DD interested in food!!!!! I posted before we headed off to the UK about her just not being that interested. She appears to be interested in what we are eating, and when I give her something to eat she chews it/ sucks it for a bit and then it gets thrown away. I'm worried that she's never going to get it!! She's 7 months now and is still very much a booby girl. When we were in the UK giving her solids was very sporadic because of her getting the cold and us being out and about a lot. Some days she had something, others she had nothing but boobie. I'll keep offering - I guess it's all I can do hey?
S xxx
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Shoshana, (i keep wondering who that is when the posts sound familiar and then i work it out again)
My little one is 7 months today, (we started BLS at 6 months) and still not much (if any) makes it to her tummy. Most of the time she is interested to play, sometimes to taste but if she gags she will stop putting anything else in. The toast is getting more masticated but most of still ends up not in her! It's a slower process than i thought it would be but i'm feeling ok about it. She is keen on trying more stuff we eat (taste more than consume) and so that is a good thing. Her tastes are pretty varied. some days
Kate, thanks for that, it's good to know that we're doing ok. I feel ok about it most of the time and then wonder if she "should" (that wonderful word) be getting more. She does love a yoghurt - I dip the spoon and give it to her to feed herself. Everything else gets tasted and then launched! Although, there was some carrot in her poo the other day (TMI, sorry) so I know that she is getting little bits.
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Oh Sue its you hahah
Hehe, yes, t'iz me!! Shhhhh!
BellyBelly Member
Soshana -yes the first time I stuck the bowl down it was met by reefing and grunting sounds of her trying to get it offShe was rather unimpressed
It's taken DD2 to about 9 months before things really started getting consumed. Now she hoovers whole bowls of food, whether it be chicken and vege or sheppards pie. We used to pick majority up from around her lap and the floor, but no much now. If she ever was not satisfied with what she had eaten, she would let us know for more.
She hasn't had yogurt or cheese, cause she has lactose and milk protein intolerance'sI'm going to introduce some soy yoghurt soon, she just throws hard cheese which is all she can really try.
Just subscribing. My LO will be 5mo this Sunday and we'll be doing BLS soon. He's currently desperately trying to eat off my plate and becoming very agitated when I won't let him. Its very cute but I'd like to stretch it out a little longer before I give him anything, and we don't even own a highchair yet (going to Ikea next week!) So excited for BLS!
My MG think I'm a hippy for doing BLS but one of them started her LO on pureed food recently and commented that "he wants to feed himself and gets really frustrated when I won't let him." Yet she thinks BLS is weird! They're all paranoid about choking risksand I've given up explaining why BLS is safe.
BellyBelly Member
Persephone - You'll get that heaps, explain it once and then let the results speak for themselves after. I still constantly get "should you give that to her", what a whole apple, yeah she loves it. You'll also get "how many jars does your lo do a day?", and a tut-tut at the reply, cause apparently shoveling in as many jars is some kind of goal to some people (sorry just a little vent). BLS isn't a new concept, nor a hippy one, its been around for centuries and used by many cultures. After all, its because of retail companies that the idea they have to start on puree has become the norm, if we all did BLS, they would go bust. The day I had to go shopping last week we had run out of fruit and bread, so while having lunch with friends I opened a heinz 1-3yr tin for DD2 (she actually loves the occasional one, like its a treat), they freaked because omg it said over 1 on the tin, which apparently means I can't give it to her. Goog luck, I am sure your DS will just love it.
Persephone, I've had the same response from a lot of people, mainly ones back home. I just quote bits from the book LOL.
I have a friend who has 4 kids (OMG, yeah 4!!). She did purees with her 2 older boys (7 and 6) and BLS with her two little girls (2yrs and 10 months) and she says that her girls are MUCH less fussy eaters than her boys. The book also says that BLS babies are much less fussy. It was really good to hear it anecdotally though!
I love the BLS way. I could not be ar$ed making up purees every day (although I would if I had to - but thank goodness for BLS). My best friend does purees with her little man, who is now 13 months. He still doesn't feed himself as she says that she can't handle the messShe was shocked (and I think a little freaked) to hear that DD knows what to do with a spoon.
BLS ROOLZ.
BellyBelly Member
Shoshana, one of the reason I was interested in BLS was the fact the DD1 found it difficult to move from lumpy foods to regular solids. I loved making her foods though, I spent hours making up amazing recipes and freezing them for her. She just could never get past them and onto what we ate, so as she started to refuse the lumpies, also refused to move onto proper foods, reducing her diet. Even know at 2 1/2 she is a fussy eater. My gp says she has one of the most restricted diets of a child her age that she has seen, she doesn't consume a whole lot though cause she is not a big eater which makes it hard to get her to eat anything new, its cheerios, jam sandwiches, yoghurt, cheese, meat, sometimes apple and banana, and that's all she eats in a day. There was one stage she wouldnt eat dairy either, the gp was about to do tests but she improved a hint. I feel awful about it and sometimes blame myself but my gp assures me its not our fault, as we have beautiful diets, eat a variety of foods and only buy fresh fruit and vege and staple ingredients, everything is made, inc our yogurt, pasta, pretty much everything. I wish I had known about BLS back then.
You know about it now though and that is the main thing. Your DD1 sounds like she knows what she wants. My mum tells me that I wasn't a big eater, she struggled a lot to get me to eat anything (I was started on "solids" at 6 weeks old). I love my food now!
BellyBelly Member
That she does, she is a very strong willed child. The dr was more concerned with the fact that at one stage for almost 2 months, she didn't consume any fruit, vege or dairy (exc a small cup milk) and that her nutrition might be lacking. She improved a bit and we have her back on dairy, with occasional bits of fruit, still no veg. But gp happy with this at the moment, she is still growing, might that be slowly but she is generally health and a very happy child, developing nicely. It would just be nice to be able to explore the joys of food with her (we love good food and I love eating hehe), I am waiting, one day it will just happen.
Grrr to my GP!
I had DD at the GP today and she was asking how her solids intake is going. I was telling her about BLS and that DD has varying degrees of interest. My GP told me that I need to be more "forceful" with her.
Dude, seriously? I aint forcing DD to do ANYTHING at this stage thanks very much.
Anyway, this morning we had some crumpet and peach for breakfast. It was going well and then she vomited up the crumpet
I'm actually offering her meals, but also snacks too - when I have fruit at morning and afternoon tea I make sure and offer her some too so that she is at least getting loads of practice. She'll just do it one day won't she?
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