Baby Led Solids chatter #5

[Jennifer13]

Yep, Sue, one day she will. You can see why so many kids end up with fussy eating habits, when their first association with food is having it 'forced' down their throats. (I'm not suggesting all non-BLSers do this, but that GP - !!).

[studymum]

I had DD at the GP today and she was asking how her solids intake is going. I was telling her about BLS and that DD has varying degrees of interest. My GP told me that I need to be more "forceful" with her.

Dude, seriously? I aint forcing DD to do ANYTHING at this stage thanks very much.

Anyway, this morning we had some crumpet and peach for breakfast. It was going well and then she vomited up the crumpet

I'm actually offering her meals, but also snacks too - when I have fruit at morning and afternoon tea I make sure and offer her some too so that she is at least getting loads of practice. She'll just do it one day won't she?

To much emphasis is put on how much they consume I think, when its not necessary. She's only 7 months and its purely experimental at that age. Just keep offering it to her and when her requirements increase, so will her appetite and interest. You will come across a lot of skeptical people, just nod and agree and then do as you please, I've found its not worth the debate (a recent experience with a very forceful MCHN and I've since learnt).

[MummaSue]

Yeah, i just really need to remind myself to trust my instincts on this one.

I've said it before - there is no way that DD lets me near her with a spoon anyway unless it is to dip it in whatever so that she can feed herself. So being "forceful" is just going to be awful for the two of us.

[YoYo]

Hi everyone

Just want to join in on the BLS fun! My DD is getting closer to 6 months now and I want to start BLS with her. I don't have time to faff around with purees. We are also moving to the UK imminently so are in transit before we move. She seems to want to put everything in her mouth...I tried to give her some baby rice (which DS hated) and she just wants to grab and suck the spoon....I don't think she wants a bar of the food that is on the spoon.

What do you do first, carrots? or is it just anything? How soft does it have to be....so it turnes into little chunks or so it really smooshes up!?....I have no idea!

[MummaSue]

Hi Yules, do you have the Baby led weaning book? It's awesome and tells you all that you need to know!

As for the veggies though, anything that you can give them to hold themselves and cooked nicely, not too firm, not too mushy. Eg. carrot sticks, broccoli, baby corn cobs, zucchini, apples, pears..... you get the idea. I make them into quite big sticks so that DD can handle them and chew on them.
I've also been giving DD rice cakes, toast, sticks of cheese, crumpets, pasta bows, porridge, yoghurt.

BLS is so much fun!

[YoYo]

MS - That sounds so exciting....what book is it? Must get my hands on it before I move!

I had DD sucking on my toast the other morning...she loved it! Kept diving on it! So cute!

[Persephone1]

Hi Yules,

The book is Baby-led Weaning by Gill Rapley and Tracey Murkett. I got mine cheap from the Book Depository UK (google it). It's great!

DS chewed on a spoon all afternoon. Lucky he hasn't worked out what he's missing yet!

[Aligater]

Hi there I do a bit of "conventional" and and BLS as we have to make sure our pocket rocket gets something at least somtimes. We started out completly BLS but she got realy sick and lost a lot of weight she has gained it back now but at 10 nearly 11 months she is now only 7kg. Im starting to let her lead more again now though.
She had a mushed banana (by her hands) yesterday but nothing today as she wouldnt eat even by spoon

[starangelk]

Hi ladies - it's great to read how you are all going with the BLS. We have been going for a week or two now and have already tried DD on lots of foods. I actually popped in here to see if I am doing it wrong. I've got the book and have read it cover to cover but it doesn't say anything about what foods she shouldn't be having. I know there are a few mentions, but you know how if you do purees it says pasta should be introduced at 10 months etc etc? Well, we already gave her pasta and she loved it. She's had spinach leaves, pasta, toast, broccoli, cauliflower, cheese, watermelon, red meat, mushroom, capsicum, beans, pumpkin, potato - lots of things. We really are doing the whole give her what we are eating thing.....obviously with some tweaks. She seems to be eating a bit but it is SO messy and we are now using a drop sheet on the floor. Her poos also changed really quickly and have gotten heaps chunkier. She seems to be improving every day with her co-ordination and while we've had a few gags, she's really gotten good at handling it. We gave her yoghurt tonight and she let me load her little spoon but took it from me straight away and aimed for her mouth. SO CUTE!!

No one I know IRL is doing BLS and we have heaps of babies similar ages around so it's great to have this forum.

[Swoop]

Sounds like you're doing just fine with it Starangelk! It's great to hear it's going so well already!

In terms of which foods are ok when, i can tell you what I did. I only avoided too much salt (still do), honey (up until 12 months, although there are differing guidelines on the age for this, and I've also tried to cut out anything with preservatives that look a bit dodgy, thanks to the help of the chemical maze iPhone app, which has been fantastic! I tried to leave a few days around introducing anything new that was high allergen, so that I could see if there was a reaction, but other than that it's been a blank canvas.

Keep enjoying!

[studymum]

Sounds like you are off to a roaring start Starangelk. We did the same as Swoop, we avoid all additives, salts, extra sugars etc, keeping it to fresh fruit and vege, and homemade foods. We avoid honey and nuts (peanut butter etc). And other things that sometimes have allergies associated we just watch the next 24-48 hours after introducing, like eggs, seafood, strawberries. But apart from the DD2 has exactly what we have, we offer 3 times a day, plus snacks but she still isn't highly interested in one of the main meals and mainly plays with her snacks. Yes it is messy to begin with, but they get much better at it, and more goes in the mouth than on the floor. Personally would prefer to spend the 2 minutes cleaning than all the time preparing purees. I think gagging is good (once you get over the freaking out about them choking) cause it means they are learning how to chew and swallow properly.

[Aligater]

Does anyone find that their family dont get them on the whole gag reflex and BLS. we were out at dinner the other night and my little one started to gag a bit and my SIL was busy telling us to "make sure shes ok and get the food out with your finger". Ps she WAS fine

[studymum]

Aligater, we got it all the time, you will just find that you have to explain to people the difference between gagging and choking. Choking is silent and is when food is physically stuck in the wind pipe, gagging is the muscles preventing food that is to big from being swallowed. Most people assume gagging is bad, but its not, its part of the learning. Its just a bit scary for some people and they freak out about it and try to remove the food themselves before giving the baby the chance, understandable cause we still got nervous at the little gagging sounds and faces. She's even vomited up while gagging something back up, then promptly picked it back up and put it back in her mouth

[YoYo]

I gave DD some of my last nights dinner for lunch today.....Risotto! She loved it! Yesterday she also had some broccoli to munch on which she also loved. I can't wait to tell MIL that I'm doing this...she already thinks I'm some weird Hippy coz I co-sleep and let DD wear a teething necklace (which she is going to choke on apparently) *evil laugh*

[MummaSue]

We had a scary moment today - DD choked. Proper choking, no sound, looked scared. I grabbed her and struck her back a few times and she started crying and the food (was a bit of chicken pattie) came flying out.

I do love BLS, but I hate this side of it. It's made me not want to give her any dinner

I will though, we just need to soldier on.

[Swoop]

Oh Sue, that must've been really scary! Glad she's ok though.

Aligater, I had a big run-in with my MIL about BLS at the beginning, but now she marvels at how well DD eats, and shows off to everyone! My dad Caused a bot of a fuss when we were in the uk too because I was letting DD use a metal baby fork, it said from 12 months and she was 10 at the time, he was sure she was going to poke her eye out. Needless to say, thanks to the fantastic co-ordination that BLS has allowed her to develop, the fork never went anywhere near her eye.

[starangelk]

Thanks ladies, I was pretty sure that was the right way. I am going to stay away from anything processed for a while.......except I just realised I already gave her cheese. ooops. Yoghurt too but it was that disgusting type that the BLS book recommends. I decided to eat some with her and blergh. Will have to put some fruit in it next time.

The first couple of days we started DD had something that I think was hives.....she didn't automatically break out but when her cousin clung onto her arm, that contact point got rashy. When I held her against my hip, her tummy got rashy. The rash would go in about 10 minutes. THis lasted a few days and now it's totally disappeared. We think it might just have been starting solids? Not sure but it's no worries now.

[MummaSue]

Hey guys,

Last night DD had some meatballs and pasta - homemade from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food cookbook - if you don't have that cookbook, I'd totally recommend it!! Can I just say..... what. a. mess. It was awesome. DH was there so he was reassuring me that she was ok after the lunch time episode.

This morning we've had banana on toast and she made another HUGE mess. Liked the banana at first but then found that it was much more fun to squish it up in her fingers and then throw it over the side of the high chair. Straight into the bath after breakie this morning!!

S X