Baby Led Solids chatter #6

Cucumber yes. Cooked zucchini yes. Not dry roasted potato. More to add to the repertoire!

just popping in to say hi. I can't believe we're back at the start of solids again. out doesn't seem so long since ds was starting out! not to mention how fast the last 6 months have gone.

dd seems to be really enjoying food - the taste and texture and playing with it!

she's tried and liked brocolli, chicken, pasta, toast, banana, avocado, watermelon, chicken meatball and cruskit.

I've forgotten about the end result of eating solids though :p

DD2 finally has a tooth! For a couple of weeks she's moved beyond trying foods and experiencing them to actively eating and getting quite stroppy if she wants food or you try to take it off her.

Big fan of all meat and fish. Loves rice as well. Favourite fruit/veg tomato and strawberries. Potato and chips as well. We make our own in an Actifry, so hardly any oil.

I found both of my girls got the hang of slippery foods if you let them go for a bit.

DS2 is doing so well on just savouries, I'm considering leaving sweets a while longer yet ...

We have however started introducing cows milk as I only have abut 5L of EBM left (as per my sob story in a thread of its own) and as he's on solids and still drinking plenty of boob, cow's milk should be kinder on his digestive system than formula, and better for him in general.

If my supply dries up much more though (ie: if cow's milk is going to be more than half his intake) we may need to revisit this.

But tonight for dinner, he ate chicken, zucchini, broccoli, and gave some snowpeas and beans a run for their money!

hi everyone!! Spock is only 5 months. and I don't plan on really starting anything until she is 6 months, but am wanting to start looking into it and getting to understand it all now =) it is so easy to just bf her, and I'm not the best at meals for myself. So I'm going to start reading stuff in here and that will more than likely lead to lots of annoying questions from me and you wise women answering them for me =)

my MACH nurse is trying to talk me into giving her rice ceral, she has since she hit 4 months, but Im just not comfortable with that. I have this thing where starting solids before bub can sit just doesn't sit right with me. its probably weird and silly and I dont know where I got that in my head. as Spock is very alert and does have excellent head neck and upper body control, and will sit with just one of us near by to catch her when she over balances, but just seems weird to me that she would eat before she can sit. is it weird?
thanks in advance for all your words of wisdom =) as im sure i will be asking a fair bit =P

Have a read of some articles by the Analytical Armadillo

http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk...nd-todays.html

http://www.analyticalarmadillo.co.uk...baby-rice.html

Also check you r library for "Baby Led Weaning" by Gill Rapley

Hm. official Aus guidelines are still to introduce at 6 months.....
not weird at all, T, there'd be a higher choking hazard if they can't sit up.

Gil Rapley all the way.

We've never needed rice cereal or "baby food". Just a consistent process of making whatever for DH and me, and giving some to the DSs.

Simple. Straight forward. Easy.

A little messy ;)

And we started both at 6 months.

thats what I figure. the thing that turns me off rice ceral, is i have to go out specifically buy it. its something neither DH nor I have ever eaten in our lives (well...not sure about when we were bubs). seems like a waste to me..

ok, so here is my plan, please pick holes in it or give me alternatives...or let me know if this is a good start...

DH and I are going to try and have our meals (or a majority) of them at the table (instead of on the couch.). we get Spock a highchair and all sit around the table. to start off, im not going to give her anything, just so she is part of the family etc.. then depending on what we are eating I will put some of it on the tray in front of her to 'play' with. she will then look and explore in, including stick it in her mouth (cause thats what babies do). I was thinking basically just whatever vegies we have that that time.

also, if I have going to give her a carrot (or brocolli or whatever)...should I give her a raw one or a cooked one to start with?

thanks!!

(also like I said, I do still have another month. but this gives us time to build up to it and just to it when we are ready rather than going, damn...need to get that started stat!)

Cooked carrot - less worry of choking. DH tends to do cooked carrot sticks when we remember instead of sliced carrot. I love roast carrot so tend to try to do roast veg a bit more early on when doing bls.

Eta - planning looks good - be warned bub may have other plans re playing & eating food. I was going to do the same as you and ds2 has gone straight to eating and getting it into nappy via tummy very quickly and I thought he'd take longer as he didn't seem as ready as ds1 was even later on. Ds1 started around 5 1/2 mths and ds2 closer to 6 1/2 mths - still had tongue thrust thing close to 6mths and had a bit of trouble balancing when sitting (ds2 sits better now than he did 2 weeks ago - still can't sit up by himself but can balance if helped to sit)

sounds good.

cooked veggies, chopped into grab-able fingers.

and if you can, grab the BLW book. It's about $15 from book depository.

I think one of my mummies groups which has a library has the book..hmmm...might see if i can snag it up.

I've also be warned that I should buy a drop sheet...is it as messy as everyone makes out?

YES!

but meh, it wipes off lol.

I have a funny story and thought of you girls.

DD2 was sitting up on the bench while I got dinner ready one night last week. She grabbed a shallot I had trimmed and put aside. I figured she'd have a bite and make a face and ditch it.....she ate the whole thing! I think I just watched her in amazement lol.

She's like the hungry caterpillar....tonight she cracked on with a couple of pieces of fresh pineapple that made me cringe.

My MCHN also suggested starting solid at 4mo. I think its standard procedure for them. But she did say that some of her parents have done BLW and been successful. So I waited Til 6 months.

I started with steamed broccoli, capsicum chilled (for teething relief) and chilled cucumber. All grab-able size. Instead of cereal, I gave her porridge for breakfast in winter.

I'm fairly certain they're supposed to toe the official line - 6 months and mush.

I'm not sure how widespread it is in melbourne but the mchns in my council actually suggest bls at 6 months, run talks on how to go about it and their solids handout that you get is all about finger foods. I'd already decided on bls with ds and was pleasantly surprised to find the nurses on the same page!

but they are also pro-bfing & my mchn doesn't care that I co-sleep!

I want your MCHNs sloane!

TT40, that all sounds great. Exciting! As for rice cereal, blergh. My Dad constantly suggests I put some in DD's bottle (um - I'm breastfeeding) to help her sleep. I know that's what they did when we were little though, so it's a generational thing for him.

BLS is going pretty well here. Food actually starting to go down. Meat is still the number one favourite, plus long spaghetti, strawberries and anything with cream cheese on it. Gets very cranky if I try to even hand her a spoon. Determined little thing! Seems to love water too.

Question, can she have some leftover honey soy chicken stir fry? I keep getting conflicting advice on honey. Is it ok if cooked, or still no...?

the dude who was renovating our bathroom told me to crush up teddy bear biscuits and put them in dds bottle to help her sleep through the night. i couldn't work out how to get them in my boobs though.

if you have tiles or floor boards, i wouldn't bother with a drop cloth. easier to just wipe the floor (or get the dog in). carpet, yep drop cloth needed. if you read newspapers, they can be great under the highchair and then just chuck them out.