Baby Led Solids Chatter #4

Hope you don't mind if I pop in to ask a question. I am new to BLS as both my boys started on rice cereal at around 4mths. I hoping to borrow the Gill Rapley book from the library.
Is BLS only about giving whole foods rather than puree's?
Tess is 4mths old and is coping well with just Breast at the moment, what do I do if I think she is getting hungry and it is before 6mths? Do I start on the puree's or just offer the softer options like a banana?
DD is my third child but things have changed so much or perhaps I am just a little more informed now that I have become a BB addict :doh:
In the end I know I just have to trust my instincts, it's still nice to have other peoples opinions and experiences too.
Thanks everyone

There are some article links in this thread: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...ml#post2224468

There's a great article in the ABA's current Essence mag, written by Gill Rapley (while you're waiting on the book!). If you can find a copy, it's well worth reading.

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Sally, we are doing BLS with DD, she is only having solids as snacks during the day and usually has her meal with us at dinner but not always. She is still having much more BM that solids.

Her weight gain from 6m to 7m was 300g where previously it had been closer to an average of 600g/month. I know the weight gains slow down and I was glad for a gain but it was smaller than previously which did have my MCHN a bit concerned because DD was prem.

It can be so fickal can't it all :hug:

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Thanks. Tristan is having proper meals now and BF is just a snack for him. Since 5 months old he has only gained roughly 700 grams. Starting solids was supposed to help his weight gain but it hasn't really, if anything it slowed, which is to be expected when they start crawling ect anyway. He started off on the 25th %ile and is currently approx 800-900 grams off being on the 3rd %ile (way off the bottom of the chart)

Anyway, rambling on lol, was wondering maybe if I should offer finger foods first then spoon feed until he gets the hang of the finger foods?

Just jumping on to subscribe to this thread, wanted to get a few ideas and have a look around. DD is almost 6 months and we are going to go with BLS when she starts. We are getting very excited at offering DD food very very soon :dance:

Hello lovely BLS peoples,

I have started doing BLS in the last week and it has been going really well. DD has apple, pear, sweet potato and broccoli fingers at brekky and I am amazed at how much she consumes. By day 3 she was chomping away quite well.

My DD is 7 1/2 months but she did not seem ready until recently. She was 10 weeks prem and I really felt pressure to start her on solids from 4 months. The paed said we would reassess her Pentavite and Iron supplements that I have to give daily once she started on solids. He even said I could start her at 4 months actual! She was no where near ready or interested. I am so glad I had the support of the BLS threads which I read through before starting. I even read through the old threads and that took days. I felt more confident that I would know when DD was ready. I chickened out at one point and tried puree but she looked at me like i poisoned her. She knew what was best :).

So thanks everyone and I look forward to sharing our adventures.

Shazzi, it took Brendan (born 30+1) until about 8-9 months before he was interested in any form of solids. We were always told to feed the boys solids based on their actual age, because it goes on how long the gut has been receiving food for. But I am a firm believer in "When the baby is ready" whether that be a 3, 5 or 7 months old :)

I hope your DD takes to it well. Tristan is 9 months old and loving BLS. I still have him on 1-2 lots of puree a day because he is still quite small (6.5kg) and he's not taking in much in the way of BLS. Hoping to get him weighed again this week and then reassess the BLS situation. I'm hoping for a gain so that I feel comfortable reducing the puree and upping the finger foods.

Sorry started rambling hehe.

Tristan is loving his meat, he's had chicken, beef and lamb. In the form of sausages, mince, steak and chops. LOVE his meat!

Just thought I'd pop back in here to say that Tristan gained 480 grams in the last 5-6 weeks (now weighs 7040 grams at 9 months), even though he was sick for 2 weeks! So we are now completely BLS here. Tristan will eat an entire sausage in one sitting (regular bbq sausage) pasta is another favourite. Last night he had lasagne hehe. He is pretty much eating exactly what we are now

That's great Sally, nice to hear that Tristan is doing so well on BLS. I've been questioning my decision to go the BLS route this week a bit after the dr being concerned over DD's low weight (5.61kg @ 6 months) I've pretty much decided, with the encouragement of some of the other BB BLSers that it is fine, but hearing your story just further convinces me.

:clap: Well done Sally! Sounds really positive!

Balmaingirl - glad to hear you have made peace with your decision. Remember we are all here for you when you get the low moments. Most people do, so you aren't alone in questioning your decision. But that is what makes you a great parent! :hug:

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That's great Sally, nice to hear that Tristan is doing so well on BLS. I've been questioning my decision to go the BLS route this week a bit after the dr being concerned over DD's low weight (5.61kg @ 6 months) I've pretty much decided, with the encouragement of some of the other BB BLSers that it is fine, but hearing your story just further convinces me.

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It was one of my main concerns, that he wasn't going to gain much because he wasn't eating as much. But in the end he is happier I am happier and it's so much easier. He can eat at the same time as us now so I have a bit more time too! On a side note, Tristan was 5.7kg at 6 months, and even though he's been sick a few times and is moving lots more now BLS is probably one of the best decisions I've made so far. Good luck with it all!

That is fantastic news about Tristans weight gain Sally.

Like Balmaingal II had started getting worried this week but after reading the above posts I feel like I should just relax. She is gumming the food really well and getting lots of little bits coming through in her nappy. She is even enjoying things like banana and avocado now (oh so messy). It is amazing how quickly their dexterity improves by picking up smaller bits and using two hands to hold a piece of food steady.

I have not tried meat yet so i might do that this week, and am about to do more than one meal a day. She is so happy when in her high chair with the food.

DD does not get weighed again until the 12 April for her 8 month review. Her weight gain was slow at first but she had a heart operation at 3 months and then she skyrocketed. She has since slowed the pace a bit. She is not rolling or crawling so all goes to her muffin top tummy :D.

someones probably already asked, but i dont have a spare minute to actually read through all the posts atm hehe (but i will get to it lol)

My DD is 5 and a half months, i started her on rice cereal and milk (was at once stange EBM but then turned to formula) then i started mixing some raffertys garden flavour in with the rice cereal which she loved also. so i did this for awhile and then tried her on some baby foods (that were age appropriate) which she didnt seem too fussed on but still ate them
i want to try BLS but have no idea what im doing lol. i want food to be exciting for her and for her to enjoy it. She does enjoy her food but i think im doing something wrong, i think i try to feed her at the wrong times as well. i just read in this thread that someone mentioned that they feed there baby after a nap, and i just realised that i always do it when she;s READY for a nap LOL and when she's already grumpy and sooky which then turns into a disaster and then me getting upset coz all of a sudden she doesnt want to eat, i even made up some sweet potato for her and she HATED it :( i got really upset about that too but DH told me its probably just too stong a taste and i should maybe try something else..
but im not sure what to make for her?
any help would eb so awesome lol.
TIA xxx

Stevie, I'm glad you've found your way in here. Welcome to the wonderful world of BLS!

It's great that you want food to be exciting for your DD - that's exactly how it should be. And let's face it, rice cereal and purees are about as boring as you can get. By the time they are ready to start solids they are ready to eat finger foods and have the same foods as the family. This is great news for mums - no time spent pureeing, and no need to cook different meals for kids - ever! Great news for babies too - they can eat as much as they want, they know what they need and eat accordingly. Also, they enjoy it more and become great eaters earlier as they are exposed to a variety of tastes and textures from the beginning. Also, their tastes will develop to match the types of food your family eats so meal times are easy - later on you are less likely to have a toddler who doesn't like the food you serve. Like many mums I discovered BLS by accident with DS2 - younger siblings often start grabbing at their older sibling's food early on so the puree step just gets missed altogether.

Stevie, the best foods to start with are the ones you are eating. Whatever vegies you serve on your plate can be shared, babies can eat steamed vegies, bolognaise, pieces of fruit, boiled egg (the old allergy age restrictions don't apply anymore), toast etc. Meat is a very important early food for iron and zinc so big pieces of steak or smooth, hard bones, to suck or chew on are great, as are things like pasta bolognaise.

The thing with BLS is to not actually feed your baby. Put the food in front of her and let her eat what she wants. At under 6 months she might not be ready to eat anything and might just play with the food. This is fine, it is all part of the learning to eat. When she's ready she will start to eat small amounts and will just keep increasing the amount she eats as she needs to. It can take a lot of worrying out of the whole solids thing, because you don't need to know how much she needs to eat - she knows and will eat accordingly. How good is that!

Have fun with it and less us know how it goes. And of course feel free to ask any more questions.

Thanks mel.. its all a bit scary to me :( theres so many rules and stuff, but doing it this way looks soo much easier, if she could just eat what we eat it would make life so much easier.. plus it will encourage me to eat better ;)
I tried her on watermelon and rockmelon she LOVED it haha.. its so lovely to see her enjoy ing foods :)

Hey Stevie :)

:yeahthat: to everything Mel said :D

At 5and a half months Arlea liked broccoli (she still does, it's a favourite!) I used to steam big pieces & she would suck & slurp on it. Also pumpkin, you can steam it so it's very very soft & she would just sort of shovel that in.
Toast was a favourite (still is) steak, BBQ chicken - I do worry about the stringy bits of chicken so I chop that up for her & let her pick it up & feed herself.
Scrambled egg we have just tried & she loved that too.

Also if she doesn't like something, keep trying - it was 4 goes before she could stand banana, the first few times she screwed her face up, so cute :lol: but she looooves banana now & will eat half a one for breakfast with cereal or toast. So just keep offering, you never know.

And I think maybe from your post it might be an idea to feed her at different times? Arlea is hopeless when she's too tired. If you miss the window though I don't think there's anything wrong with trying again after they've had a sleep. At this stage it's about exploration & learning, so I wouldn't get too hung up on routine & what time it is - is she seems like she'll be receptive, give it a go.

ETA - had to share :p -
We were in the supermarket yesterday, Arlea had been dropped off from FDC early & hadn't had lunch so I gave her some sultanas (big hit!) and one of those cheese & cracker packs you can get, you know with the 'real' cheese. So she was munching her way around the supermarket & this lady says 'oooh how cute, how old is he?' and I say '8 months' - she said 'ohhh, what a good eater - (pointing at her son) his son, my grandson, he's 9 months & he doesn't eat like that!'
and I smiled & said 'yes, she pretty much eats everything'....

She is doing so well with her food, it wasn't so long ago I was freaking out about her gagging, but we are so much more confident now :D and if she gets a piece that's too big she will spit it out, bite it & go again - she know's what she's doing! and we hardly ever have gagging incidents. I can't believe how quickly she's learnt!
And she loves everything - the only thing she screws her nose up at these days is the occasional baby jar :lol:

so i can give her toast? with nothing on t im assuming? andwhat type of bread?
Its just all these "dont feed your baby this that and everything else" makes it all so scary for me lol.

Stevie, there really aren't a lot of "don'ts" anymore. There used to be a lot of concerns about allergies but the latest guidelines are not to avoid any allergy foods until a certain age anymore. There are only a few things to avoid - honey shouldn't be given until 2yo due to the risk of botulism, whole nuts are not ok until 2 or 3 due to the choking risk. Most other things are fine.

With regard to choking, BLS actually reduces the risk of choking as the baby is controlling the rate at which food goes into her mouth. Gagging while eating is very normal for babies - gagging is an anti-choking mechanism so gagging is actually a great sign that they are able to protect themselves from choking.

So for toast, plain is fine, spread is fine too. Wholemeal bread is the healthiest option, I'd avoid white bread personally because it has no real nutritional value. The main thing to avoid is too much salt. Bought bread is quite high in salt and so are most toppings - eg butter, margarine, cheese, vegemite, peanut butter etc, so bread and toast are things to keep in moderation, not too much! A little bit is fine, but lots of unprocessed foods are great too, like fresh fruit and vegies and of course meat.

yeh i plan on giving her lots opf fruit and veg, i eat toast of a morning and never really thought i could be giving her some.
Thanks for your help :)