Baby Led Solids Chatter #4

[MummyTummy]

Awww poor little man. It must have scared DH though - hopefully he will listen to you and watch what you do from now on!!

[wysiwyg]

Mummytummy - As the IKEA legs go outwards rather than straight down I just tied a sheet down far enough that was in front of the leg holes.
Krystie - like you I had a mat on the floor but food kept bouncing off so hammock prevents some of that! Forgot I told you about BLS - Kyson is doing so well at it - hope CJ gets it a bit more soon.

So in terms of hardish sticks of food (cucumber, parsnip, sweet potato, zucchini (keep wanting to say courgette which is what say in UK), chicken drumstick bones, carrot, breadsticks,toast,prunes, dates) CJ does fairly well but anything that is a bit slimy or soft she just doesn't seem interested in putting it to her mouth or really playing with it at all. Do I just keep offering and hope she will take interest? E.g. banana no interest in, a friend gave me big chunks of stewed apple - no interest, pasta no interest.

[MummyTummy]

Yeah, just keep offering the different types of food. Can you put mashed banana on toast? But otherwise don't worry about it too much. Sounds like CJ is doing just great and I am sure the softer slimier foods will happen later!

[Fleur]

MummyTummy, thanks for the advice re choking. Arlea gagged on a bit of pear yesterday & DD1 panicked & screamed 'she's choking!' & started patting her frantically on the back.
She wasn't of course, she had just gagged & was fine but DD1 was freaked out. It was great to be able to tell her what she should do! and I think she felt better for it.

We had our third attempt at banana this morning & this time she loved it! she played with it & chewed & sucked on it for ages, made a huge mess, then had some vegemite toast - she looooves her toast, but I don't give it to her too often so it was a treat

[wysiwyg]

Mummytummy - I have tried banana and apple on toast but she messes around with it in her hands till it has all come off (or waves it around in the air) and then eats the toast!! Hopefully she will get into it more one day.

I went to the farmers market and got a bunch of baby carrots and also some baby sweetcorn, we had pie and these and zucchini for lunch - these three vege's seem to be CJ's favourite - the carrots and baby sweetcorn in particular.

[wysiwyg]

Here is a link to some pics of DD eating strawberry and parsnip the third pic shows the hammock have arranged under the chair.

Victoria McGill's Photos - Baby Led Solids | Facebook

[Sterla]

wysiwyg: Awesome pics!

Megan: Scary about the gagging! I hope DH listens to you from now on!

Jasp: Glad Arlea is starting to love her banana! Banana is such a convenient food - comes already wrapped, ready to eat, already nice and soft...

In the past I've often questioned myself with BLS cause DS weight gains had been slow. Last month was the worst when he hadn't gained anything. I started wondering if I should spoon feed, but in the end realised that DS is perfectly healthy, and perfectly happy feeding himself - so why change. Anyway, this month DS gained a whopping 500g and grew 2.5cm - so obviously our doing BLS had nothing to do with his gains (or lack of). Has put my confidence back in BLS all over again!

[*Infinity*]

Yay Sterla, that weight gain is awesome! It really does restore your confidence doesn't it?

Well we're still going pretty slowly here, but we've discovered a little carnivore at heart in DS. We got around to giving him some meat - I think the first bit was a bit of beef before it went into a casserole and he loved it. Just sucked and munched, didn't get any down. But I think its helped him click a bit about food being good and tasty. I guess cos its so much more flavoursome than boring old veg. He's much more readily putting things up to and in his mouth with more confidence which is great. Since having the beef he's also had chicken & veg from a stir fry we've had, he's had meatballs and pasta spirals which was a hit, plus some lamb.

Jasp - we had a pretty bad gagging incident with DS with the meatballs & pasta. I think some of the mince had broken up and a tiny bit got stuck in the wrong spot. I just calmly waited while he coughed & spluttered, trusting that his reflexes would do what they should and they did - he coughed it up and did vomit, but got it up all the same. I won't pretend it wasn't scary though.

Ok a couple of quick questions that I''m sure get asked regularly but I can't remember. When you offer toast, what type of bread is suitable for babies? I'm just thinking about salt levels and grains etc. And what cereal type stuff can I offer for brekky instead of Weet Bix. I'd just prefer to avoid it most of the time due to the salt thing....or am I being a little over the top?

[MummyTummy]

Infinity - Re: bread - just stay away from the grainy stuff because it is a choking hazard, otherwise whatever bread you choose is up to you. We use just normal, but that is just our choice. Same with the weetbix. We don't cook with salt so for us the bread and weetbix thing isn't too big a deal. But I think the kids weetbix are lower in salt? Anyone else know? As for other cereal - pretty much your choice after Weetbix in the most healthy etc is Farex........ mmmm yum!

[*Infinity*]

But I think the kids weetbix are lower in salt? Anyone else know? As for other cereal - pretty much your choice after Weetbix in the most healthy etc is Farex........ mmmm yum!

MT I had a look at the kids weetbix the other day and it is lower in salt than the standard weebix. I want to avoid Farex too due to it being fortified with so much iron. We already have constipation issues here due to the iron in DS' formula, so I want to keep it pretty close to basics for him. Does anyone make porridge from oats for their little ones?

So MT white bread is fine? Is that what you use?

[sloane]

*Infinity* - i've made porridge a few times for DS - he really likes it. i just make his a bit runnier than i'd have it. he loves feeling the texture of it in the bowl as well as eating it!

[Megan]

Infinity, we use the kids weetbix which have around 1/3 of the salt that the normal weetbix have. But, like MummyTummy, we don't cook with salt so I'm not concerned that he's getting too much.
As for bread, we just use wholemeal. No particular brand. Sometimes we'll have white because we live in a small town and we just have to take what we can get!

A new fruit DS has discovered today... Mango. He loved it and ate nearly the whole thing. Had to hold the pip for him so he could suck on it because it kept slipping out of his hands and he was going to scream the house down if he didn't get it in his mouth soon!

For those of you with older babies, when did you start introducing morning and afternoon snacks? I think DS may be wanting something extra and a b/f doesn't seem to be doing the job any more. It's mainly in the afternoon. I feel like he needs something around 3.30-4pm and then we have dinner between 5.30-6.

[Sterla]

Megan: I think I started offering snacks around the 9 month mark. I found it hard to come up with snack ideas to begin with though. A favourite of ours here is plain crackers with dip, like hummus or tzatziki.

[Megan]

Thanks Sterla That's a start. He's had hummus before when we were out and really liked that.
I'm not a snacker at all, so I find it hard to come up with things!
He has fruit with breakfast and/or lunch, and sometimes at dinner with his yoghurt, so I think I'll try and make his morning and afternoon snacks savoury rather than sweet. Anyone know if there are any suitable cheese snacks?

Just thought I would give a run down of what he has in a day. He has just suddenly started eating so much and now what I make up for him just doesn't seem enough. This is what he has had today

8.00am Brekky - 1 slice toast, 1.5 weet bix
1.00pm Lunch - 3/4 chicken and avo sandwich and TWO slices of watermelon
6.00 pm Dinner - Roast beef with potato, carrot, pumpkin, broccoli and cauli followed by about 3/4 mango

I offer him a b/f in between those meals and he is really only having a quick drink, but continues to grizzle and get upset as if he's hungry which is why I thought I would try and add some snacks in there.
There are some in my MG who seem to think that's a lot of food for a 9 month old, but since he's leading I have to trust him that he's having what he wants, no more and no less.

[wysiwyg]

Ooh I didn't know such a thing as kids Weetbix existed (are they in the normal cereal section)? CJ currently only really tastes it and probably injests about a sixth and maximum of two soldiers of toast every other day - and that is probably only source of salt at the moment, but good to know about the kids Weetbix for when she starts really eating.

Megan - I have a friend whose DD is a couple of weeks older than your DS and from what I have heard and seen she eats a similar amount to your DS - my friend gets comments about how much she is eating too from her IL's but said in her mothers group that amount is fairly standard.

I am forcing DH to read some of Baby-Led Weaning book at moment - he is happy to go with whatever I reckon on the feeding, but I think is something we should both know about and be able to make decisions on.

[Megan]

Yep, they're just next to the normal weetbix usually. I can't remember the exact quantities, but it is definitely significantly lower in salt.

Thanks for that, I'm glad that seems about right. It's just funny how he went from picking and eating little bits, and sometimes refusing almost a whole meal, to eating everthing in sight! Including I might add, a piece off fluff off the floor this morning! Looks like I need to vacuum every day instead of every 2nd now! lol

I liked how you said you are forcing your DH to read the book! lol That's what I need to do to my DH! Usually I do the reading and then have to explain it all.

[*Infinity*]

wysiwyg - yep the kids weetbix is in the normal cereal section, its just in a smaller box.

To date we have only been offering DS food at tea time with us as its worked in the best, but now that he's getting more and more into it I'm going to start brekky & lunch too. I think I'll try fruit & yoghurt for brekky and some salad (cucumber & celery maybe) and toast with spreads for lunch. We gave his toast soldiers with casserole tonight and he just loved it. Its so nice seeing them start to enjoy and really relish it all.

Megan - I got a mango at the shops today for DS to try tomorrow...can't wait!

[Ryatha]

Hi all

I'm new to this thread but was hoping to join in to get some ideas for food for Fred during the day when DH is looking after her.

I've been letting Fred eat from my plate and from her high chair for a while now, well since about 4.5 months as she yelled at us until she was allowed to hold some food and wave it around. She happily eats almost anything but we have found she is a real carnivore. She had some of my roast lamb cut into a finger and attacked it muching away on it furiously. When I tried to take it away from her to clean her up she screamed so loudly we had to give it back to her We are also lucky as she happily plays and eats fruit, vegies, cheese and bread.

We went strawberry picking today and when I was reaching down for some more strawberries she must have grabbed a strawberry and stuck it in her mouth (she was in a sling) I only realised this when I saw the stalk sticking out of her mouth. I pulled it out but it looked like she had eaten most of it. Is strawberry ok for a 6.5 month old? I just remember something about them not being good for LO's under 12 months...

Thanks everyone