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Turtleschell I feel your pain - every time MIL is here she buys DD more random cr*p to eat.
DD is also fussy, or at least she goes through phases of being like that. I just keep giving her everything we're eating so that it's 'normal' to have it on her plate. I sometimes find that to get her to eat new foods I need to make sure there are none of her regular favourites on her plate and then she's quite adventurous with trying, even if it is only one or two bites. DD's extreme fussiness periods generally tend to coincide with teething or being sick.
DD's current favourite thing to do is help to get the veggies out the fridge and take a bite out of each of them, whole, raw etc.
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My DS (17mth old), at about 15mths demanded a proper metal spoon & fork (and sometimes knife) with his dinner - refuses the plastic ones (take & toss brand that I bought him) and isn't keen on the matching melamine ones that he got with some Bunnykins crockery. I had to go out and buy some child sized stainless steel cutlery sets (Harris Scarfe in SA had some on special awhile back). BUT ... he will use the plastic sort at CC
Hi everyone.
We've been offering DS bits of food for the past couple of weeks, he'll be 6 months on Monday. So far he's tried kiwi fruit, strawberry, banana, cucumber, carrot, broccoli, potato, bread, bacon, a meatball, peach and a little bit of strawberry yoghurt. I'm finding that the hardest thing is to remember to take food with me when we go out, because otherwise he tries to eat everything off my plate - and I'm still in the habit of ordering things he can't eat like hot salty chips
It is absolutely amazing how quickly he's honed his skills though. One of the first things I offered him was half a strawberry, but he had difficulty grasping it and ended up sucking it out of my hand instead. Well, yesterday I offered him half a strawberry again and he demolished it himself, with no assistance from me at all, in less than 10 minutes. It was quite amazing to watch - he examined it, tasted it, sucked it, then took it out and examined it again, adjusted his grasp and sucked again. Before long there was no strawberry left! He doesn't look to me for help, and it's incredible how independent he is with his food already. We've noticed too that there are three people sitting at our dinner table - DS is very much an independent eater, so we all eat our dinner together, rather than "us and the baby," there's no hierarchy - not sure itms?
Anyway, last night I took him to my work Xmas dinner and took along some broccoli florets and carrot sticks lightly steamed for him to eat. Also took along the Bumbo seat so I didn't have to hold him the whole time. My colleagues (many of whom have grown-up children) watched in amazement as he fed himself. He handled the broccoli like a pro - again, adjusting his grasp as he needed, sucking on the florets, turning it around and upside down to taste other parts of it. I barely had to stop him from dropping it, cause he's getting to be quite a pro! I know the BLW book suggests not watching babies too closely or they'll feel like they have an audience - well, last night DS had an audience of more than 10 people staring at him in amazement whilst he sucked on the broccoli and the carrot (and later my mushroom rice ball off my plate). It occurred to me that those times are "meant" to be times when I feel proud, but really I just felt completely relaxed about him exploring his food - again, there's no hierarchy, just me and my DS eating our meals side by side. Does tms? I think a few of my workmates had minor heart attacks at the sight of him feeding himself but no one said too much about it
Tonight, the BB Melbourne Meet-up. We're gonna take cheese along with us!
BellyBelly Member
Star, thats what I figured, they are to inquisitive not to want to learn something like that. DD1 still occasionally ditches the knife and fork if she can't use them on something. Leckert, DD1 is the same, one day about 18 months saw that her fork was different to mine and wanted the same one, we had been given an engraved little set from my best friend for her first birthday, its now her must have at meals, we even have to take them with us out.
Turtle - arggg to parents. I am lucky that my mum has very much the same ideals as me, she was a bit cautious about BLS to begin with but her and dad love it now. And I don't have to deals with MIL.
Persephone - sounds like its going really well. Its really amazing how fast their nimble little fingers navigate around food, and how they test out all the bits and pieces of it. Its one of the concepts that I have really seen come to light that they are able to experiment and understand the different tastes and textures and explore for themselves. It took me awhile to remember to start taking food with me, finally I got into the habit of just steaming extra vege and keeping a container in the fridge. I tend to try taking vege with us if where we are going isn't so good to have juicy mussy fruit plastered everywhere.
We went to our extended family xmas party last night. We even packed the full high chair for DD2, she happily sat in it out in the yard and consumed potato salad, fried rice, roast chicken, ham, and had some trifle for desert (my loverly aunty made it all lactose free). My cousins wife actually said to me 'she must be very little for her age the little sweetie', she thought she was over 1
We have even had a breakthrough with DD1 this week. It seems her appetite has increased and she has shown more interest in different foods, mainly fruit but I am still not going to complain.This week her diet of apple has expanded to include banana, mango, watermelon, rockmelon and nectarine. No progress on vege but she did eat a pasta dish with the sauce mixed in, and even had a good crack at DF's curried beef and potato
it had a bit of a bite but she devoured it.
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Hi allHow's the BLS going? Is anyone as excited as me about all the christmas food they are going to be able to share with their LO's? Of course not rum balls LOL but things like turkey etc etc.
Seph - that is awesome about the christmas party. I love it when people are amazed by the BLS process. My Dad even took a video of DD eating her toast......such a proud pop.
I am beginning to feel like DD is eating a little more rather than it ending up chewed and spat out. She really loves avocado and asparagus at the moment and loves loves cottage cheese as her snack. MESSY MESSY MESSY but the anal me is having to become much more relaxed about that. I've been having a small internal freak out about how much bigger her pureed eating friends are getting so quickly. Would much rather my baby pick and choose her own foods and grow at her own time. My MCHN is really supportive about the BLS though (as supportive as she can be without knowing HEAPS about it) and she said DD looks great and is meeting her development milestones so great job! Yay
That's great everyone!!
DD is getting more and more I think. Her nappies are telling me the story
I think that she has a strawberry allergy though and reading more about it, they are quite high allergy foods, so might hold off giving her those for a few months - which is such a shame as it was one of the foods that she was actually getting in!
Still going fairly slowly though, she still has varying degrees of interest.
S X
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Strawberry is high allergy food Sue, but it might not be the strawberry itself. The ones you buy are very high in pesticides as they absorb them easily. They are quite easy to grow yourself if you want to try fresh ones. Otherwise just leave them out for now and see how you go. It sure sounds like you are making great progress already.
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This past week my little one has really developed her eating skills. it's like at 8 months a switch was flicked on! She had 3 dinners last night! She was gagging heaps but this week not at all, and she is having a greater variety of textures too. We gave her bits of tuna pasta bake and she loved it. So cool to see her licking and then chewing on the pasta spirals and then swallowing it.
I think strawberries can be a bit acidic for bubs. My LO had kiwi fruit (which she loved) but got rash around her mouth which i think is maybe from the acidity? i think strawberry did it to her another time but it faded pretty quick. i'm just gonna go slow with them.
Another woohoo- i was talking about BLS at MG and e-mailed the 101 BLS recipes around a few months back. One of the mum s asked me how bub was going, and she had packed steamed vegie sticks for her bubs lunch. so cool to see something different than another jar!
So far i haven;t really had to pack any food cos she hasn't really been eating that much and i could always give her what i was having or if it wasn't suitable she could just wait til we got home and just BF while we were out. Now i kinda have to think bit more about packing stuff to tke out, and work out less mess things for when we out. At home i often give her food when she is just wearing a nappy with a teatowel over the top (cloth nappies).
The reason I am thinking that she's allergic to strawberries is the other day we had 7 massive nappies, her bottom was red raw, she had terrible wind and then in the evening she was really unsettled and this had been building over several days - from when we introduced the strawberries. I'll definitely hold off for now.
I know what you mean Kate about it just coming together at 8 months! She's doing so well now, I'm glad that we're doing it this way. Sometimes I worry she isn't getting enough but she's fine. The wee rolls of chub on her thighs are a good reminder
I wish that some of my other friends would try this though. DD has better hand/ eye coordination than some of her much older peers! And the common theme when I tell folk we're doing it this way is "omg, but what about the mess?". To hell with the mess, I'd rather spend the time cleaning up than fighting to get a spoon into her mouth!
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Sue, your poor bubba!
A friend s little boy, who was fed mush, is just so passive when he is fed. He is 18 months old and his mum stills holds the banana for him to take bites out of. 6 mmonth old bubs can hold their own bananas quite easily so why not let them?
BellyBelly Member
Star - yes we are excited about xmas food to. DD2 has already enjoyed some ham and salads and trifle. She just had her first bacon and egg breakkie. Its good you have a supportive MCHN though, mine isn't so supportive. She is a lovely lady and has given me a wealth of information over the years but she doesn't believe in BLS (very well informed though), she is a bit old school sometimes and feels they need to progress. We tend to not just discuss it these days, I'll let it speak for itself in the end, I drop things like DD2 enjoying lasagne and salad for dinner and stuff, and she just nods.
I was discussing it with my gp, who is very supportive. I mentioned how her weight had slowed right down (she went from 97th to 50th), she said she doubts its the BLS and that its probably more of the fact that that's just how she wants to grow, DD1 was never a big girl and DD2 was probably just a big newborn and now she is getting back to where she should be. She said ultimately it is their genes that are going to be the factor in how big they get, not how they eat. She was more impressed at the fact the DD2 is now learnt 3 baby signs, bath, milk and eat, we are working on sleep but she keeps waving bye.
Mumma - my niece as a bubby couldnt have strawberries, she would get a rash around the mouth and a red bottom. Now at 5 she eats them fine. I think they are to acidic for them.
Kate, well done for helping convince someone else. I think sometimes it takes them seeing it in action to be convinced. I strip DD2 to a nappy depending on what she is having, usually dinner is the messiest and then she goes straight in the bath. Otherwise I just use old cloth nappies cut up and wet to wash her down. She has stained one of her nappies with orange though cause I didnt cover it. At the moment she has a partly orange scalp from the spaghetti bolognese on Thursday night, it didnt come out when I shampood her hair cause its n the cradle cap. I have it soaking today in sorbolene so hopefully it will wash out tonight. It almost looks like a great big bruise on her head.
AFM, we had DD1's xmas party at daycare yesterday. Some poor lady almost had a heart attack cause she caught a glimpse of DD2 eating raw carrot sticks, she thought she had gotten her hands on them until I told her I gave it to her. She was a amazed at the sight of the all the little bite marks in it, I got the usually, doesn't she choke on it. She then sat with us and watched in amazement as she polished off carrot, celery, cucumber, cheese, sausage, and a jam drop for desert. She reckons she is going to have to tell her sis who has a little one about this BLS stuff.
BellyBelly Member
Oh dear thats not good holding it for him, DD2 can demolish a banana in a couple of minutes, its her favourite food. She just can't have it everyday, it binds her up to much. A friend was babysitting and handed her banana, turned around and did something and thought she had dropped the banana and went looking for it, couldnt find it cause it was down the hatch.
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Hmm DD gets a red rash around her mouth after every single meal.
Hard to tell if it's the food causing it, or the water when I wipe her face? Water gives me terrible eczema, you should see my hands
Anyone else have this? DD pretty much has a permanent ring of red around her mouth.
She has just turned 1 and literally on her birthday she suddenly grew an appetite, and has really started eating heaps, and not so fussy either. I'm loving it.
It may have helped that I had bought her a little table and chair for eating times. I just sit her on the chair and she eats there instead of crawling around everywhere leaving a trail..
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turtleschell, have you noticed any particular intolerances to foods? With your eczema there may be a genetic predisposition to allergies/intolerances. Maybe try paying attention to whether it tends to be worse on some days and what she's eaten? Maybe allergy testing would be worth looking into?
BellyBelly Member
I agree, doing an allergy test can be useful, or even an elimination diet, sometimes it can be the simplest thing. Mine came back with nothing though, the girls are slowly growing out of their eczema we think, so we haven't got theirs done, atm we have DD2's under control, just little flareups. I have noticed before with DD1 that she would get red patches around her mouth, I always put it down to the mad amount of drool that she would produce and her face was constantly wet.
Hey! How is everyone doing?
I've discovered a love for strong cheese in DD. She loves the cracker barrel vintage - grated! Just loves it. Shovels it in! I was giving her sticks of cheese but found that she was struggling to chew them so grated some one day for her and she's never looked back. Grabs big handfuls and noms! Awesome.
Also, we've been having chicken korma (homemade from scratch), sizzling beef and black bean sauce (homemade from scratch also), spag bol, macaroni cheese, cheese on toast, she's loving rockmelon too just now, watermelon, cucumber..... and (bad mother alert here) tiny bits of Milky Way chocolate - I mean, TINY bits. And she loves that too! (ha, of course she does).
Also, DH and I have a bit of a saturday morning ritual and have done since we moved to this house. We go to the shopping centre at 7.30am, get a coffee (a hot choc for me) and a danish or chocolate croissant while we wait for Woolies to open so that we can get our groceries. This weekend we gave DD a chunk of croissant to hold and munch and she loved it! She seemed so happy to be involved in this finally as we've been holding off giving her any due to the sweetness of it. But DH decided that enough was enough and that since she gets what we eat then she could have some. It's a family ritual and we only do it at weekends anyway. Was so cute watching her munching on this wee bit of croissant. I can't wait until she's old enough to be able to get a babycino - she still tries to swipe our coffees LOL
Anyway, it seems to be going well..... some days she has more than others, some days she's just not interested at all. But we're getting there thank goodness.
S X
BellyBelly Member
Mummasue, its sounds like our Friday morning ritual with nana and pop. Coffee club for breakie, then the grocery shopping. DD1 was getting babycino (then in soy) from as soon as she could hold them herself, loved them, now she has moved to minicino, vanilla is her fav, now its normal milk. DD2 loves croissant to, probably all the amazing butter she would normally not have
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DD2 loves a snack of grated carrot, tasty cheese and sultanas, I put a pile on her tray and let her go nuts, she loves it. She also loves it when I put frozen peas and corn on her try while I am preparing dinner. Normally as soon as she see's me starting dinner she is at my feet whinging, so it keeps her occupied for ages chasing them around her tray. We think its hilarious at the moment watching her eat spag bog. She gets a fist full of pasta, stick it in her mouth and sucks, so it all shoots up into her mouth. I swear it must go down her throat sometimes but she doesn't seem to care. Like a little italian pro she is.
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My DD was a cheese-aholic as a baby and still is! I love it, cheese is one of my favourite things. When she was 9 mths old at her first Carols (we always take cheese and wine) we turned our backs on her for a second and she took an enormous bite out of a chunk of Gouda. This year DD even liked the mild blue I'd brought along. Mmmmmm....
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