Baby Led Solids Chatter #4

I was never getting organised enough to have some warmish (I've got expressed stuff in the fridge most days for the next day of childcare) EBM so I went down the path of mixing it in with some Rafferty's fruit mix stuff. DS's skin is clearly up finally (after 2 months of trying various creams) and he doesn't mind the taste, just gives me a slightly funny look as to why is this cold but still eats it happily - sometimes he even helps with the spoon.
We have done a bit of BLS too - last night we tried some porterhouse steak (made it into his mouth for a few sucks), broccoli (wasn't too sure about it) and carrot (needed some help to get it too his mouth - DH likes to help DS a bit). He does like his roast parsnip though - might make some up for him to have at childcare as they're asking if he's started solids yet and apparently he wants to "steal" others food when they eat - or he has that look in his eyes :lol:

Leckert - DS loved all roast vegies so we used to make a batch of them. Sweet potato and pumpkin were his favourites. He also didn't and still doesn't like broccoli!!

Sterla and Heaven - Re: gravity and not encouraging, we also had the same thing. Still do every now and again. Ignoring is really the best thing but of course it does get a bit repetitive and annoying. We finally managed to come up with a solution that continues to work really well for us. As it was always done at the end of the meal when he had had enough (except for picking randomly) we figured it was part of his sign that he'd had enough. So on this cue we do the Auslan sign for 'finished' which is the thumbs up sign and you rotate your wrist side to side (you could google Auslan and Finished to get a demo) and then we take the plate and any bits and pieces away. Very quickly he caught on, and actually started handing the plate to us followed by picking the pieces up one by one and putting them back on the plate for us to take away. Even though he initiates it now, we still make the sign and say 'finished'. He still doesn't make the sign but recently we noticed him holding his hand up and rotating his hand in what looks like a random fashion but have come to realise that this is him making the sign as best as he can. The key to this idea is consistency. When you say finished you take the plate away. We know if he isn't ready to finish because he quickly starts eating properly again. But if he hands us the plate we take it away. We don't ask him to finish anything or eat anything else on the plate. You also have to get anyone else who might supervise their eating to do it too.

People see us do this in public and are just amazed, not only at how well he eats, but also that he cleans up after himself :rofl:

CAH - It is certainly a good sign that she is picking them up and then tasting and sucking them. She is certainly on the right track. I can only suggest to move more and more to finger foods and at the very least more lumps. Because she was 1 month prem you might find that her development is not at a stage yet to process the eating of chunkier foods, but she won't learn to if she keeps getting smooth puree and that is her preference. But of course that is your call, but I think you might need to be a bit more patient with waiting for her to eat finger foods. Don't lose faith - remember that BLS is about them leading the way and they will only move as far forward as they are physically, emotionally or mentally able with everything in their lives. They all develop at different rates. :hug:

Grrrr - why can't people open their minds up???

I was just telling my mum all about the book Baby-led Weaning. I was excited about it, and she bascially shot me down and made it sound like she thought it was nothing more than a silly trend that will pass and that spoon feeding is the 'right' way. :(

Tell her that spoon feeding is the passing trend and this is the new way that MCHNs are recommending. It is just starting now but it is based on wheat people used to do before blenders were invented!!! :lol:

My Mum was sceptical too (not that openly though, but she knows better than that when it comes to me!!) until she saw it in action. Her concern was that he wouldn't get enough to eat, but now she enjoys making him all this different food to see what he likes to eat and how he eats it!! She even started telling all her friends about it! Perhaps give your Mum the book when you have finished reading and tell her to read it just to understand where you are coming from and why you would like your parenting preferences to be supported.

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My Mum was sceptical too (not that openly though, but she knows better than that when it comes to me!!) until she saw it in action.

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my mum was a bit the same i think but then he loved something she'd made & now she's sold on the idea...don't think she can resist someone who loves her cooking :lol:

My MIL is the one who doesn't agree with BLS - because in her words "it's too messy". :rolleyes: She always insists on trying to spoon feed Maya.


MT, sterla and heaven - Saying 'no' to food being dropped didn't work for me either and it did turn it into a game too. We do the same thing as MT now - say "Finished" (we say it not sign it) and then we pick up the food on her tray and take her plate away. Now when she's finished she will pick up the bits of food on her tray and put it in her bowl, then pass the bowl to me. :) Sometimes she will still drop food on the ground of course, but when I take her bowl away and start cleaning up, she'll stop dropping food and help me clean up. :)

Georgi - Maya won't eat my spag bol, but I might try your recipe as it sounds yum and DH and I can always eat it if she won't. :lol: Maya will eat a recipe I found in a baby book which is almost like spag bol but instead of using tomatoes as the basis you use lentils. She loves it and it is a way I can get some meat into her. I love it too and always end up making a huge batch and steal some for myself. :)

So the only way I can get meat into Maya is with my lentil spag bol and a casserole in the slow cooker. She will occasionally eat some roast chicken and fish too. So maybe I just need to stick with what she will eat for now and keep giving her new things to try. I guess I've been worried because she won't eat chunks of meat, but I don't know how to change that.

My mum has been fairly supportive of BLS (hasn't openly critisised it) but she still gets all nervous when Kyson has food in his mouth and thinks he's going to choke. Last week we were at her house and Kyson was eating some hamburger (just the meat) that mum had cooked. He was sitting right next to me and I was watching him and then my mum started saying "Oh! He's got a really big bit in his mouth! Quick, he's got a big bit". Then she was looking at me to take it out of his mouth. I just calmly said "it's ok, he knows how to chew and if it's too bit he'll spit it out". Kyson then proceeded to happily munch away at the meat in his mouth until it was all swallowed and then shoved in some more, hehe.

I love it when the bubs prove the critics wrong!! They say it all without saying a word!!

did anyone else find it hard not to interfere when their babies were just starting out? like today i gave DS some ristto with his lunch - and my intention was just to let him feel the rice etc but it was so hard not to start picking bits off as he dropped them on his bib & to clean up the mess of rice that was smeared across the tray :redface: and that makes me sound like some sort of neat freak which i most def am not :lol: but it's also things like him eating a piece of cantaloupe/rockmelon skin side up & not recitifying it for him.

there was something else i was meaning to ask but now i've forgotten :wall:

Sloane: Yup, I am always having to remind myself to just let DS do what he wants with the food - mainly because of the mess factor. I'm okay with most things, but when he starts rubbing yogurt, or porridge through his hair and in his eyes... :doh:
I take a deep breathe and remind myself, it's just mess, it's just mess.

I'm going to post a general thread about this too, but I thought I'd ask here first. Does anyone else's bubbas absolutely hate getting cleaned up? DS hates it (always has), and some days I just find it all rather stressful. If he's already tired (usually breakfast time is worst) he will just scream and cry - honestly he sounds like he's in pain, and I'm certainly not hurting him. Sometimes he'll even cry just when he sees me getting a cloth out :(.

sterla - yes! DS absolutely hates having his face & hands wiped. he only cries if he's tired but he gets annoyed every time. it's like he's offended when i get the cloth out!

Sterla, yep DS hates getting cleaned up after meals!! I started making it a bit of fun, sing a song, play with him or distract him somehow while I'm cleaning him up. Sometimes it works, it just depends how tired he is.
I'm hoping its just a stage, because the noise he makes when he's not happy is not fun to have right in your ear!

Sloane - Oh I think it is definitely part of the Mummy territory to want to help. It is no big deal, just try to avoid hovering and staring and helping when they are obviously trying to figure it out themselves. Over time you will find yourself helping less and less when it is unnecessary and only when it is pretty clear they want/need your help.

Sterla - Oh absolutely. Jett can not stand it and cries and screams like it hurts!! For a while there I started handing him the cloth and asked him to wipe his face (making the motions myself) and he would try, but really would miss the majority. After breakfast we do a really quick swipe over and then straight to the bath or shower to wash away the mess. Breakfast is usually the messiest meal with weetbix and yoghurt in the hair which is why we find the shower works well. The other meals we just try to do a quick clean-up and if a few spots of food remain on his face I don't stress or try again in a few minutes after he is busy distracted playing with something else. I just keep telling myself it is just a phase - albeit a very long phase :rofl:

So far DS doesn't mind getting cleaned up. But I have to keep reminding DH not to "help" DS eat - likes to make sure DS tastes the food - helps by putting it in his mouth rather than letting him play with his food (that sounds so weird writing that as we're always told not to play with our food) and get used to the different textures and stuff.
(We also have to a little bit of spoon feeding as DS needs to take powered medicine that he will only take if it's mixed in with some mush. Somehow I nearly always end up with that job - I wanted to go the BLS route so I wouldn't have to do that :wall:)

We usually always need a shower rinse or bath after meals... DD is a bit of a grot.

same here jitterbug, especially as DD loves prunes and 'draws' with them all over her walker tray.

she used to scream when i came to clean her but now i give her a baby wipe first which she plays with or sucks on (read: distracted) while i clean her up.

unfortunately its gotten to that stage where DD isnt content to sit and watch me eat unless she has something too, and as im an all day grazer its really really annoying having to basically run to her with food before she wells up and cries!

Just a quick question from me - how do you cope with the worry of choking? Do you think that becasue AR is only 5 1/2 months we should hold off a bit on some finger foods? We are kind of combining BLS & purees atm... she does quite well with both but I do worry about her as she is a bit younger (ok, I'd probably worry anyway :redface:)
She has her own spoon, so we do it together, and she has had pumpkin & broccoli pieces. I'm just a bit wary...advice?

Oh and as for the mess...she has had a wash-off in the kitchen sink after breakfast the last two mornings lol. Loves it :lol:

Sterla - Gosh I hate it when DS starts rubbing things in his eyes. Especially when he's been eating something like oranges. I get all stressed that he's going to damage his eyes!

Kyson doesn't like me wiping his hands, and hates getting his face wiped. I tend to hose him down after a meal. Don't worry, I don't take to him with the garden hose, lol, I have one of those seat things for the bath so I just pop him in there and hose him off with warm water with one of thse hoses you put on the bath spout :)

Jasp - I'm pretty sure that the way babies develop makes it pretty hard for them to be able to physically pick something up and choke on it. When they are really young their hands aren't able to grasp the small stuff that they could choke on. Once they are able to grab the little stuff then they should also have developed enough to be able to eat the little stuff. Does that make sense? The main thing I worried about was if Kyson was eating something big and managed to bite of a chunk. He's gagged a couple of times but has never started choking. On occasion I've had to pop a finger in his mouth to pull out largish chunks, but luckily he's now learnt how to push things out his mouth with his tongue (especially when he he has something in there and I put something better on his plate, lol!).