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Hi all, I thought I'd pop in here because we'll be starting DS on solids soon, as he is going through a tin of formula a week and our CHN said there was no harm in letting him start a very small amount now.. Can anyone give me any information at all on starting?? Thanks ladies
Hi LJ! BLS probably isn't the way to start this young. See my post a couple up. They can only do BLS if they are physically ready, ie. they can pick the food up and suck/chew and swallow it by themselves with no assistance. At your DS's age it would be highly unlikely that he could do this, which is why it is recommended from 6 months up. I'm not much help with feeding the other way though as we never did. But you can certainly do BLS as soon as he is physically able to though :D. What did your CHN recommend doing?
Hi girls! Just came in looking for some inspiration, out of food ideas! We need a thread with BLS recipes! Or is there already one I'm missing??
LJ- there's some articles on kellymom about starting solids and how to tell if they're ready if you're interested. I would suggest not starting early as that is the recommendation these days. If you do though you will have to do the puree thing rather than BLS as he won't be able to feed himself yet as MT said! I love your sig pic!
Thanks ladies - I thought I'd just hang around here seeing he's only around 2 months away from trying the BLS.
Heaven, thanks :) I'm changing the sig pic once every two/three months :)
MT - Thanks hun - My CHN said to start him on something very small but only once a day, but I'm probably gonna wait until next week when he's closer to the 4 month mark
Heaven - I don't think there is a particular thread for recipes, but I haven't been hunting for that kind of thing. In the past it just gets posted in the middle of the chatter thread which of course gets lost as the thread moves on. I agree that we need something a little more dedicated for BLS recipes. A couple of people said a page or two back about the AWW Healthy Babies recipe book.....if i remember correctly!! I tried looking for that book and i can't find it. Where do i get it??
LJ, you are more than welcome to hang out here until William is ready to start BLS properly!
LJ, as the others have said, the guidelines on BLS recommend after 6 mths when you see certain signs of readiness (I've known of some babies on BLS who didn't start feeding themselves until even later than that and my DD was not interested for the first month or so either - so 7 mths). The advantage of BLS is that since your baby is feeding themselves there is no concern about whether internally their digestive system is ready or not, because they are setting the pace.
The thread with some links to guidelines, etc is here: https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...uidelines.html
Hey ladies, thought i would join this thread, we're doing a bit of both with DD, some BLS, some mashed up foods i give to her.
I must admit i am a bit paranoid about her choking on food...so far with vegies she has really only had cooked zucchini, I'm even too scared to give her cooked carrot. She's chewed on a chop bone once but we don't have them that often and when we have dinner she is in bed. I've also given her some soft fruits (peach, nectarine, banana) and she has had watermelon once but kept choking on it. Guess I just need some reassurance that she will be ok, I know it'sonly early days with solids but I want to make sure I'm doing the right things and won't turn her into a fussy eater (I was terrible when I was a kid!). having trouble trying to fit food into our day as well...too close to a bottle and she won't have the bottle, too close after and she's not interested in food.
:welcome: SSStorm - I'm sure your DD is doing just fine!!
In terms of choking it is best to become really familiar with the differences between choking and gagging and how to handle them. Briefly -
Choking = turning blue, not breathing, no crying, no gasping etc. For this it is best to know what to do by going to a first aid course. I was told at my course to lay them over your lap face down and try to dislodge any food in their mouth, and then proceed to sharp upward blows with the heel of your hand in the middle of their back if the choking continues. DO NOT PANIC! Knowing how to do this will make you feel more confident that you know how to handle a choking incident.
Gagging = turning red, tears in eyes, gasping, still breathing, crying etc. babies have a fantastic gag reflex, far better than adults and are easily able to bring food back up to start again. This can take a bit of time, and they also may be eerily quiet while doing this but give them time and again DO NOT PANIC!! Babies don't panic - they don't think they are about to die, they just concentrate on that bit of food that just won't go down, to bring it back up and start again. If you panic and rush at them you actually risk them taking that sharp intake of breath which could actually cause them to choke by lodging the piece of food further down their throats.
I have said many times in here, that getting the book "Baby-led Weaning" by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett was the best thing I did in the beginning. It really gave me the confidence to jump fully in to BLS. They explain the difference in gagging and choking and offer reassurances that the babies do know what they are doing - you just have to trust them! You are more likely to have a fussy eater if you don't gain the confidence to go with BLS, because she will pick up on your anxieties and then start to do battle with you.
I was (still am) a super fussy eater, but DS has no issues with eating. He gets offered all sorts of food, and some he likes and some he doesn't , but that that's ok because he always tries the food and makes the decision by himself as to what food he will eat. That way food is food, and no big deal and certainly not worth battling with Mum or Dad over.
As for timing with food, we started by just offering food at anytime we were eating. It didn't matter if it was close to bf time or not, it was just about the inclusion with us for mealtimes and learning about the texture and taste of food. Puree/spoon feeding method is actually more likely to disturb the milk feeds because you are aiming to fill her up, whereas BLS is about experimenting to begin with. If your DD does solely BLS for a meal, and then refuses a bottle you can then offer the milk a little later knowing that she has a full tummy with nutritious food. Any time you start offering solids you can expect the milk feed routine to change, as they make the slow transition from exclusive milk to exclusive solids. If you give her solely BLS and she barely swallows a morsel but then gobbles down her milk you still know that she has a full tummy with nutritious food IYKWIM. That is the real beauty about BLS - it happens at a pace that suits your little one, rather than forcing it to happen.
I hope that helps you a little. We are all very supportive in here so any questions, fears etc you have we are all more than happy to offer our support, opinions and experiences. We all have to start as nervous beginners at some stage! :D
Hi ladies - we are starting BLS (very slowly) here. DD was 6 months old on 9th Feb (4.5months corrected).
So we are going slow because DD was 6 weeks prem. I like the idea of BLS and have been reading up on it but I don't think I have read enough... so I may ask questions that have been asked over and over again - hope you don't mind.
We have tried so far - steamed broccoli florets (DD sucked on them), chicken breast fillets sliced into finger sized strips (these got sucked on also) and sweet potatoe & BM mash... I did kind of feed this to her but only a little bit then she put her hand into it and put her hand in her mouth.
The next day we tried mango in a mesh feeder (have no idea if that qualifies as BLS)
I think we will give today a miss as I just do not feel comfortable yet... I just feel something is stopping me from wanting to do solids so I think I might be better to wait but thought I would ask you lovely ladies as I have recently been diagnosed with PND and may not be the best judge of things atm.
She really hardly ate anything and I know that it is about exploring and learning atm. She still has a very strong tongue thrust. Can sit propped up and is interested in food (tries to grab things we are putting in our mouths but then again she would try to grab anything we have).
I can't really describe how I feel... I am happy to see her feeding herself and trying new things but I struggle because I feel I have NFI what I am doing. I think I will look into the book MummyTummy mentioned in the post above... hopefully that will calm my nerves.
So after all of that... I am going to give DD a BF and look up that book
Tk - sounds like you are doing fantastically. If she still has the strong tongue thrust then don't get too concerned about how much she is swallowing - it will go down when she is developmentally ready. Prems do tend to be a bit slower at starting, but that is good - because then you know they truly are ready!! Try to think of the food as toys instead. They are new interesting toys and babies always put toys in to their mouths to explore them. And as for asking questions, that's why this thread is here!!! And you do have an idea of what you are doing! I don't think you have walked in to BLS blindly! BLS is a fairly big concept to grasp, mainly because it isn't mainstream (yet :p) and the idea of letting a tiny baby choose what they eat, and when they eat and how much they eat is so far removed from our culture which is why most Mums feel a bit strange and nervous about starting. But once you see the proof, it will all click in to place. You are also likely to have more confidence than those going with puree/spoon feeding who have to keep working out what to feed, what combinations to try, when to move to what texture, when to let them try to feed themselves etc.
And this goes for everyone-: Trust your baby - let them lead the way! Trust yourself, you are doing the best you possibly can for them!
Thanks Jennifer - I'll definitely have a read of it.
I'm just gonna keep reading in here to get ideas, and ask questions even before I start, so as to what I might expect.
Lj, I read a really interesting article by Gill Rapley recently. She talked about the issue of starting BLS before 6 months. She said the theory of BLS is that babies won't actually eat anything until they are ready, they will just play and explore. However in practise, adults, be it parents, friends or other relatives might put food in the baby's mouth. This could be by a parent who thinks baby has been eating or by a relative or family friend trying to help. So she sees starting BLS before 6 months as a risk and advises against it.
I hope this helps explain things for you.
That's a really good point MR. Another angle to look at it from...
Thanks for the welcome ladies
MummyTummy: Thanks for the info, I too had wondered if teeth might be involved, although I've had a good look whenever I've had the opportunity and haven't seen anything. She does love biting anything she can get her hands on but she's not really dribbling a lot, so who knows. I've given her a cold teether to chew on a couple of times and she does give it a go, but gets bored of it relatively quickly... I think she prefers the cold hard veggies coz then she gets a nice taste too, lol!
MantRay: I was really interested in what you said about Gill Rapleys article. Do you know where you saw it?
I think the main thing we have to bear in mind is that if we do continue to offer the hard veggies for now not to 'help' at all. That makes perfect sense to me, just need to convince DH now as when I said that a few days ago he wasn't really getting it. I will have another chat to him about it though, for her safety, and if I can get my hands on that article it might be a good way of emphasising it. Even more importantly, the MIL is coming next week so I'll have to keep an eagle eye out for her!
I love the idea of a BLS recipes thread by the way. Gill Rapley's website says that they're bringing out a recipe book but I think it's still going to be a while.
Hi everyone... we are still floating around :p
Storm, I have been really nervous too about the risk of choking, but I am getting much better as she gets older (my fears I mean) and I am becoming more confident. I will admit though that it has slowed me down a bit.
We had an incident a while back with gagging on a piece of pear (can't remember if I posted here?) and DD1 freaked right out. I explained to her what to do... well yesterday we had another gagging incident, and she picked her up & laid her across her lap Bless :lol: you could see she was freaking out still but she was trying to stay calm & do it right (although she wasn't choking). Anyway a bit OT but thought I'd share. I'm obviously not the only nervous one ;)
I love the idea of a recipe thread, having a bit of trouble being imaginative here :) Is there a thread already here with ideas?
Balmaingal - My DS doesn't dribble really at all when he gets teeth and never has. He also never got in to the teething ring thing either so it could be just the way she is. The cold fruit and vegies should be nice and soothing anyway if they are moving around down there. And with Jett his first two teeth just appeared, there were no real signs of expecting them, no irritability or anything. A couple of days before the first one popped through he just chewed a little bit extra on his spoon. That was it. I was so surprised to see a tooth a couple of days later!! So with those first couple of teeth I think they know what is going on, but we don't get to find out until they are just about through the gum!
Jasp - I don't think that was OT at all. A great experience to share with us. And great that even though your DD1 was freaking out she still tried to remain calm and handle the situation. I think you should be a very proud Mummy. You and your DD know what to do!!
As for this recipe thread - MantaRay and Jennifer13 - is it possible to get a dedicated recipe thread for BLS people? Or is there one already?
i'm starting to worry a little with all the mention of a recipe thread! we just feed DD exactly what we're having - i thought that was the point! but now i'm concerned cos people are asking for ideas - don't you just give them what you have
ave day for us is brekki (she isn't always hungry as she fills up on breast milk). lunch is a sandwich or leftovers from the night before. dinner is generally at least four different veg and meat of some kind. we just let DD eat what she wants from that. am i doing ok with that?
she will sometimes snack on yogurt through the day, and if we're out she may have a biscuit or something...
ETA - on the teething front - DD had signs of teething from when she was 3 months until about a week before her first tooth popped through. then nothing - the tooth popped through and i only knew cos she was playing and bit my hand!
hi everyone, like jasp, i'm still floating round as well! i always read the thread but never seem to get around to posting.
i've been a bit slack with the BLS recently. we've been out at lunchtimes a bit & then i usually use some rafferty's garden because it's just so convenient, although i know it'll slow things down a bit.
trying to get back into it a bit more - so a recipe thread would be great! i also need to get started on making some things out of the cookbook that was mentioned - it is the WW healthy babies cookbook. my mum bought it for me but i think she just got it from the newsagents. i'll ask her when she pops round this afternoon :)
I also give DD whatever we are having, but I struggle sometimes for ideas for us to have - so maybe a thread of recipes/meals that have gone down particularly well could be a good idea and then the ideas don't get lost in the thread. Sometimes I think our diet isn't as varied as it could be so suggestions of new things to try is always good, and I think our diet has improved as a result of DD being on solids.
E.g Lamb tagine with cous cous (then recipe) age 7 months (4 weeks on BLS) put in little bowl watch scoop into mouth.
Or ideas for things that are less messy when eating out and about - e.g. eggy bread with spinach.
BG - Yep! You are doing everything right - we do exactly the same. Feed DS what we are having. And yep, that is part of the point for BLS, to not have to have special recipes for them.
For me the advantage of a recipe thread would be for snack type food to take out with us when we are not going near a cafe or anything. I am a bit useless for coming up with ideas for those situations, so it always tends to be sultanas and/or Arrowroot biscuits. If we have a recipe thread it gives everyone a chance to share successful ideas without them disappearing within the chatter thread. For example someone ages back gave a really quick simple recipe for cheesy corn scones, which we use all the time. Quick to prepare and cook, and perfect for taking out and about with us. We do use this one quite often. But it has disappeared somewhere in one of these threads.....so chances are most people frequenting this thread now will have never heard of them.
And also as Wysiwyg mentions, our diet isn't all that varied. And part of BLS is about exposing them to lots of different food and we tend to get stuck in a rut! So recipe ideas might shake me up a bit to try new things. Especially as I am a fussy eater myself.
Does that make sense? It would just be for ideas and inspiration for those that want it, not something you need or should follow or anything.
:yeahthat: That's why I wanted a recipe thread! DD eats the same as us for meals but I'm not very imaginative with snacks and I think she gets bored. She loves trying new things (and I should too) and what I'm snacking on (like tim tams, lol) sometimes isn't suitable for her.:
ETA- I forgot to say! DD is really getting the hang of a fork and spoon! She likes to eat her fruit with a fork now and uses a spoon for yoghurt. Last night I saw her rubbing it on her face and then realised she would eat a spoonful and then try to clean her face with the spoon like I do if I'm feeding her yoghurt :rofl:
ah suggestions are good for stuff like snacks! that makes sense!
DD's fave snacks at the moment are things fresh from the garden - snow peas (suck the pea out, spit it on the tray, eat the outside!), beans (and hers is never good enough - as soon as i start a new one she thieves it and ditches hers, cucumber, not soo keen on tomato... we take a container with all this sort of stuff in it when we go out cos i know she'll eat it. as well as sandwich and yogurt in the esky if we're doing a road trips
she likes cold spag bol from the fridge (just like mummy!), curries (strong, but not toooo strong) - roast veg. i guess we're at an advantage in that DH takes leftovers for lunch most days at work, so we make just a little extra to feed DD.
she like pancakes too
tonight we're going to give her chicken fried rice to try. she's had a little bit from my plate in the past, but this will give her a meal rather than just a little bit from me...
we give DS wat we eat but coz we dont eat much i give him things like steamed vegies etc when we dont eat he had a bit of chop the other day we dont give him the bond coz its sharp but he has had turkey bones my auntie had a recipie for chicken balls there like meatballs except chicken i havent made them for DS coz i cant get minced chicken and i dont know how to do it with breast meat
Hi all. I haven't posted again for a long time. I'm back at work and suddenly have a lot less time to spend on BB.
I like the idea of a recipes thread. I either make something with Maya in mind and then we all eat that too or she has what we're having. I'm always on the look out for more recipes to try.
JwithJ - Have you got a food processor? I put chicken mince in a food processor to turn it into mince.
Georgi - I wanted to let you know that I tried that spag bol recipe you posted ages ago and unfortunately Maya didn't like it either. I thought it was yum though!
So Maya still doesn't really like meat and I can't get her to eat pieces of meat. She will eat meat if I blend it though, so I've been concentrating on making soups for her to eat with meat in them. It feels like it's not really BLS though if I'm blending things for her! She will eat whole pieces of toast, pasta, fruit, etc. But veges and meat I tend to have to mash or blend. So at least there are some things she is eating without being mush.
The good thing is she's very good at using a spoon now and has even started using a fork with things like noodles, so she does feed herself the soups. She even likes to use my big spoon sometimes, I guess so that she's copying mummy. :)
Oh the other thing with Maya is that she is suddenly eating a TON of food each day. I assume it's tied to the fact that she started walking? I just can't get over how much she eats suddenly.
MT, would you mind posting that scone recipe? Do they freeze ok? I'm looking for more snack ideas too, especially things I can freeze. Feel like we're stuck in a bit of a rut for brekky, lunch and snacks. I have pretty much the same thing/or similar thing everyday for breakfast and lunch but I try as much as possible to give Noah a variety of things.
We have discovered a new favourite food here I think - risotto! DS' favourite meal has been spag bol since he first had it, but I think that's been taken over by risotto! He's had a chicken & mushroom risotto (loves mushrooms too - picked them out of his strogonoff last night too!), and a tuna & tomato risotto.
The fear or choking is completely normal. One day you realise you don't have that fear anymore because they get the hang of it so quickly. I can't believe the difference between 8 months and 10 months. We had quite a few gagging incidents back then with meat and some fruits, but nothing for weeks. DS is eating all meat with no problem now. Sometimes we see him try and swallow a piece that is obviously too big, but he just brings it back up and chews it a bit more and is fine. In the past if that happened he would scream the house down because it obviously scared him, and would freak us out too.
hi all, just wondering when everyone offered their LOs rice cakes? i think i'm just a bit wary because all the baby brands have 12m+ on the packets. i just have some of the normal ones here & i thought it might make a nice change from DS' fave food - cruskits!
we had the biggest gagging incident yet on tuesday - DS was eating some pizza crust at the pub (sounds so classy :lol:). he went all red & his eyes were watering etc but he didn't get too stressed out & neither did we. was a bit scary but i felt confident that the gag reflex would work & if it didn't, that i knew what to do.
Sloane, we tried rice cakes and DS isn't too fussed on them now. The first ones I tried were little mini ones (organic, blue and white pack but can't remember the age recommendation on it) that you can get in the baby section, them moved on to the other ones. He loved them to start with though and we had no problems at all.
I think he got bored with them, and now he's bored with his cruskits too! lol I need to come up with some new ideas! lol
thanks megan - they sound like the bellamys ones that i was looking at. i thought he might like the regular ones...that is if i leave him any! i bought them with him in mind but i haven't eaten them in years & i'd forgotten that i liked them :redface:
i wonder if the cheesy corn scone recipe is like the muffin one? with just flour, cheese & creamed corn? that'd be good as a mini muffin & would freeze okay.
Jamie likes rice crackers but thats not really the same lol we havent tried them i used to like them with jam on
jamie has a love hate relationship with kiwi fruit someone suggested there are some that are sweeter than others this might be the problem who knows?
he loves his pasta havent tried rice yet coz we dont really eat it
Ooops - sorry been MIA for a while!
Just quickly the recipe is the same as the muffin one
One tin of creamed corn, one tin of SR flour and one tin of cheese - mix together and form little blobs on an oven tray. Bake in oven for about 15 mins on 180.... you can even add other things to it if you desire like herbs or spices or other veges suitable for baking.
Rice cakes are recommended from 12 months on, but that is because they think babies should be eating their puree food in jars and not eating other types of food. If you are doing BLS the idea is that they can eat whatever we can eat from the start. So don't be afraid - serve it up and see how it goes! ;)
Ok, gotta run.....
I have posted some very cute messy pics of Leah on FB, if you dont have me my username is alioops86. Please let me know who you are in your request.
seen some they are very cute jamie likes to make a mess too
Just thought I'd pop in with a little update...
I continued to offer DD hard vegies every 2-3 days since I posted - I was a little cautious but she seemed to really be enjoying it, and as you suggested MT, I think this has a lot to do with the little swollen bumps that keep coming and going on her gums now!
We've been really careful not to 'help' at all which is a lot easier now we have a high chair with a tray so she can chase things around within her grasp. I am blown away by how much better she is handling things and with such accuracy already.
Yesterday I offered her some fresh fig as a new taste and she handled it really well in spite of the softer texture, no gagging, and this morning I found fig seeds in her nappy!
Yesterday was a big day for her as she also stole a cheese toastie from my plate. I was going to wait a few more weeks before introducing her to what we were actually eating ourselves, but she obviously had other ideas as she handled that really well too, so it looks like my days of just a simple BF are over - bring on the mess!
Re the recipes thread - We tend to cook a lot with no-no's like wine and salt, so I'm keen to have some new ideas that are more BLS friendly
We are doing well here, what a difference a month makes. She is managing her food much better now & still gagging a bit although not as much. She is chewing a lot more too.
Arlea had yoghurt for breakfast this morning & reallly enjoyed it! She also likes my cereal, although I don't know if it's suitable for babies - she does fine with it, I just worry about sugar & salt & stuff, so she just gets a bit atm with her cereal.
I have been brave enough to let her go with a banana on her own :lol: and she ate the entire thing.. a far cry from the days when she screwed her nose up at it!
Her favourite food is broccoli - the other night I took it out of the microwave & she started panting & grabbing for it, it was so cute! She had zucchini as well & it was ok, but she just loves her broccoli.
She also enjoyed chicken, I just took a bit of the breast & chopped it for her, & she shoveled it in :lol: it is so cute watching her do it herself, and there is no doubt she would rather feed herself.
We have done a few pureed jars when pressed for time - kids are back at football & dance etc so weeknights are hectic - but she really isn't interested. She eats much, much better when it's 'real' food she can feed herself. So I'm just trying to keep really organised.
Balmaingal, we also eat a bit that I don't think is always suitable for her, I worry about the salt content etc too. Tonight we are having lamb stew, I will add gravy etc - so I'll pull out a chop for her before I add the other stuff, but it's not always that easy, I am keen for ideas as well.
Alioops I have followed your lead :) & posted some pics on FB, if anyone wants to have a look, you will need to add me, just let me know you are from BB
ETA - I forgot to ask - what size pieces do you let your LO go with? I usually give Arlea something that's big enough for her to grasp & chew at the same time, but I get a bit worried when she bites off huge chunks - sometimes I will pull it out of her mouth, but I'm not sure if I should just let her go with it....
Jasp I saw your pics on FB. Bet that yoghurt was fun to clean up :lol:
We had apricot chicken for dinner a couple of weeks ago and I gave her a bit of chicken for lunch the next day, she seemed to like it. didn't actually eat much but had a good time sucking on it!
I haven't been doing a lot of BLS, mostly just at lunch with a sandwich, or today we had pizza.
I really need to do some fruit & vegie shopping so once we have some fresh stuff I'll probably do a bit more BLS.
Hi all, we started BLS about 3 weeks ago and DS is loving it! I just can't imagine doing anything else. When i see other mums forcing puree into their disinterested babies I feel really proud of what we are achieving. To be honest, i think I just got lucky with a really good eater - very happy!
We have tried lots of fruit and veges, although he is struggling with holding slippery things like banana, and struggling to really eat cucumber as its a bit hard - but he will suck it. He is not too keen on plums and nectarines, maybe they are too sour? Watermelon is the favourite, and he had cruskits a couple of times which he loved. Today i decided to add a second meal, so we tried porridge for brekky - he wasn't sure at first (feeds himself with a spoon) but ended up trying a few mouthfuls - he just keeps trying it naturally, which is cute. Its amazing how good they can be at getting things into their mouths. As a lot of you have experience, people see them eating and go 'oh wow' i never would have thought of that - he is having such fun. Just seems right. Definitely recommending it to all my friends :)
Kelly
Hello I'm just joining in here to get some ideas. I'm thinking about skipping the mashed stage and go straight to "real" food. Tristan is almost 9 months (few days :o ) he will tolerate peas and corn, so I was thinking about just giving him what we eat, but in his size.
Apart from the obvious allergy and choking hazards (nuts, honey, ect) is there anything in BLS that should be left for older or is it all ok now?
Is there anything you don't give your babies, for whatever reason?
Thanks
I'd potentially leave lettuce and other "leaf" salad vege type things for a bit - in case they get stuck to the roof of the mouth and they try to gag. DS tried to suck/munch on a piece of lettuce last night; alright to start with but did start gagging a bit later on because it was stuck to the roof of his mouth and it wouldn't move - had to use my finger to get it out in the end.
Cool Thanks Liz! Hadn't thought of the leafy stuff.
Oh I forgot to ask if it matters if he doesn't have any teeth yet? Still very much gummy grinned hehe
Gave him some cooked carrot sticks, pasta brocolli and cauliflower tonight and he handled it SO well!