Ah, I'm glad to see this thread has been resurrected and it's lovely to see some people starting out with BLS now, it's good to have the opportunity to put a bit back in after all the questions I've asked although I'm sure there are still plenty more where they came from

Kate, I think you're right that a lot of it is intuitive, but I liked having the book for the background info (read to shout MIL down when she questions my actions lol). What did you do about the gagging in the end? It is really nerve-racking in the beginning, but i found DD came on in leaps and bounds and now she is a little piggy!

Sue, I offered loads of hard foods initially too, I think I was too nervous to offer anything that she could do much else other than suck (and maybe get a little bit e.g. cucumber seeds). Over time I realised DD was becoming more confident and i gradually started to introduce other foods too. It's great that your DD is already managing toast... it'll only be a matter of time before she's handling loads of other foods.

Just an update as to where we are: DD is doing fabulously with her eating, she's really enthusiastic and chomps her way through a lot of food these days - she's also moving up the percentiles, so the food is obviously helping her find her equilibrium. She's still not a chubba bubba, but she's on the 15th percentile (on the WHO charts) which is great considering she was right off the bottom of it not so long ago. I've found she gets on a lot better with lots of little meals rather than 3 main meals a day... she grazes most of the day. She's gradually slowing on the breastfeeds, 4 or 5 during the day and 2 through the night now as opposed to every 2 hours religiously a few months back.

There's a couple of questions I wanted to ask those of you who have a bit more experience:
- DD isn't really interested in meat unless it's processed cr*p! She likes ham bacon, meatballs that I've made in the food processor, and the odd bit of roast chicken, but she spits everything else out (while blowing a raspberry....) or else won't even contemplate putting it in her mouth. I try to supplement with other sources of protein as often as possible (lentils, beans, eggs etc) but I do sometimes wonder if she will be getting enough protein.
-We still have a bit of an issue with gagging sometimes here. it's usually when she's eaten cheese which is her ultimate favourite food, so she shoves as much as she can in her mouth in one go (I always thought BLS was supposed to stop them doing this??) gags and then vomits, usually her entire stomach content. It doesn't bother her; I usually have to jump to action to stop her shoving food into her mouth again with a vomit-covered hand (sorry....) but I have found myself wondering a couple of times if there's a problem causing this. I don't think it's normal, is it? She did have reflux as a little one... I wondered if that could still be present.
- Anyone done BLS when dieting themselves? How do you manage it? DH and I are looking a bit porky!

Right.... DD calls from her cot so that's it from me.