Baby Led Solids chatter #6

Thanks for all of your quick replies! I feel reassured knowing we're doing the right thing. He is absolutely loving experimenting and doing it all himself. Hopefully soon he'll actually start swallowing, haha.

Bec no advice I'm sorry, but Goodluck!

Belfie thanks for the advice. Ha, our kids with expensive tastes. DS1 is gobbling up bananas too! Shame they're so expensive right now.

Mummy tummy, thanks. I do always forget the food is fun until 1. It's amazing how different 2 little boys can be, i guess coz DS1 was eating so much by now I got worried!

Anyway I have some boys who need me so I'll be back later xx

My DD increased her swallowing of food between 8 and 10 months, before that it was mainly play.

Hi Bec

When we travel with DD, we pack lots of dry things - dried fruits and biscuits and things that won't spoil easily like vegemite sandwiches. Sometimes I'll boil and egg in the morning and take that too. I use separate containers and chuck them in a fridge bag with some ice blocks. When we went OS, we just took all of this sort of thing including cheese sticks and then chucked it before we went through customs at the other end. We did have to advise it was food for the baby when leaving Aus but everyone was totally fine about it.

As far as BLS in a restaurant, so easy - just choose whatever is on the menu that seems the simplest to eat and also the quickest to get to you so your LO doesn't get bored waiting. I also suggest buying an art smock or long sleeved big for travelling to protect clothes and putting on a bib with a catcher (we got ours from Ikea but Tommee Tippee do great ones too) as a double protection. To clean we just take a stackload of baby wipes or wet facewashers in a bag and clean everything before we put DD in it (highchair and table) and then afterwards. We put all the bits that go on the floor in a serviette and leave this on our plates. Everyone is always so grateful that we clean up after her but I think it's neccessary!!

Things I keep in my handbag are baby mum mums, cheese sticks and dried fruit bits. She's also just gotten into plain biscuits so I've been putting vegemite on them and she loves them.

GL and enjoy :)

Bec - good thing for travel is disposable bibs! You can get a pack of 10 for about $3, even has the little scoop section at the bottom which is great for catching food!! Ours were brilliant when we travelled last.

Also you could take some Raffertys fruit pouches, just in case - these are 100% fruit and you can use it straight or mix with yoghurt or weetbix. DD sucks it straight from the pouch! It's the only 'baby food' we use but I find them handy if we're low on fresh fruit and I always keep one in the baby bag.

thanks so much for the travelling tips! Mrs P, where do you get the disposable bibs from? Sounds perfect, usually I don't use disposable anything, but two weeks of rinsing out and washing bibs by hand in the hotel bathroom doesn't seem very appealing, so I think I'll give them a go!

Starangelk - thanks for the tips, I'll put those things on my shopping list! Do cheese sticks have to be kept cold or are they ones that can be kept room temperature? Probably silly question, but I've never bought them before. Will also look for the baby mum mums, googled it, they look perfect for travelling.

Kelly - was it you who said you'd like your baby to eat more so he starts sleeping longer? I'd like to hear how you go with that. DS is now eating so much more than he used to, three proper meals a day, and is very active (crawling around everywhere and is just into everything all the time!), and I thought with all that food and all that energy being used he would start sleeping longer.. but he still wakes 2-3 times a night, just as he always has. Food has made no difference here.

funny you should say that bean - tonight DS just cried in his high chair, mostly ignoring his food, until we gave him a spoon. he still can't really use it properly, but he was holding it and alternating between feeding himself with his hands, and chomping on the spoon ... we loaded it up for him several times, and he got it in his mouth with food periodically, but mostly just ate with his hands. but was only happy when in charge of the spoon!

bec: we do BLS all over the shop including restaurants and cafes. we just pick places with hardwood floors, and pick up the worst of the mess before we go. And ask for LOTS of extra napkins, and take our wipes, to wipe down the highchair tray before putting his food onto it! Other handy foods for travelling are grapes, olives, mandarins, cucumber and capsicum sticks, baby corn spears, and bread rolls. And we take a couple of primas to freeze, and to use and reuse as ice blocks. much cheaper to replace, you can drink them if needs be, and because of their foil lining, they stay frozen for AGES! I used to use them in a travel bag to keep my EBM cold on the way to and from work :) happy travelling!

Bec I got them from a chemist, maybe call your local one to ask? One that has a decent baby range! We also don't use disposable stuff but I didn't want to wash bibs either when we were away!

Thanks Mrs P, the chemists around here don't stock a lot of baby stuff but I think I found an alternative! I bought a silicon/rubbery bib from Big W today, the bottom clips up into a bucket type bottom and the best thing is when you unclip it, it lies completely flat so it only needs a quick wipe over. It also rolls up pretty small so won't take up much room. It looks great, and in theory it is perfect for what I need - only problem is I used it tonight and he thought it was a toy, and also tried to eat it! Haha. oh well he might be used to it by the time we go away :)

Peanutter - Primas! What a fabulous idea, thanks so much for the tip!!!

Bec - just those ones that need to be kept room temperature, I think they are kraft brand??

Yep, shelf cheese sticks - a saviour in our household!! Aldi also has them and they have more in the pack so you don't have to shop as often!! Other things we take with us are just plain biscuits. Vitaweat have a round wholemeal one and our latest favourite is a cheese flavoured biscuit. I can't remember what they are called, but they are just like an ordinary cracker but have a soft enough texture and enough flavour (cheese) to keep them interested. I keep some in a container in the car for those little food emergencies! Sultanas are also good, as are any dried fruit. If you have the means to keep something cold we also get the yoghurts that come in a pouch. Vaalia is one brand but there are a few different brands. It just tends to be that little bit less messy which is always good while out and about.

Otherwise when we go to cafes I order something that both of us can eat and let them go to town. But I also just grab some wipes or serviettes and clean up most of the floor mess. I think it is polite, and I would hate to give BLS a bad name! I can't remember what else I do while travelling. Pretty much the same as at home. A bit of fresh fruit, cheese stick, some crackers, sultanas and sandwiches if they're easy to make and otherwise supplement with whatever I eat during the day.

yup, and when stopping en route to eat, I look out for places which do "all day breakfast" so Josh can have healthy, reasonably straightforward things (ie: avoiding preservatives, salt etc) like poached eggs, tomato, spinach, mushrooms, etc.

Bec that bib sounds good! The disposable ones we have are Babies Choice brand (I think). Think you can get them online, but probably only worth it if you're stocking up on other bits n pieces.

ah, DS yesterday and today doesn't seem to want anything much other than fruit!

we don't et him have too many sweets ... usually has bread and fruit for brekky, then veg and meat and pasta and rice and whatever for lunch and dinner, and cruskits and fruit or yoghurt or cheese sticks as snacks during the day.

but yesterday and today he hasn't really been interested in much, and will whinge or cry in his high chair and not eat his food! but if we give him grapes, he'll ignore his food (this evening was pastabake which is normally his favourite :() and eat them, then go back to crying!

do they just go through stages of this? I know that he's not about to fade away - he's a boofa boy and a good, healthy weight. but I don't like him not eating!

but it would defeat the purpose of BLS if we just went to pressing him to eat, or just giving him sweet things ...

and in other matters, we're trying to transition from bottle to cup.

ideas/tips for both of these?

TIA

:D

ummm not eating is a phase they all go through it more than once lol

Peanutter DD goes through fussy stages when she throws more than eats, unless it's grapes too. The all magical all delicious grape is a sure fire winner when nothing else is being eaten. I try not to stress too much and find within a few days she is eating a bit more. How are his teeth? I always find she get's alot fussier when they are bugging her, and cold fruit is about all she'll have. It's hard not to worry I know.

hmm, really good point, bean - he does have a tooth pushing through at the moment (his second front tooth) ... maybe that's the problem.

or just a phase, like tripleJ mentions ...

How's everyone going? DD got scrambled egg and some spag bol with lots of vegies for dinner and she basically ate only the egg. I think she's teething again atm, lots of drool, a funny cough, slightly red bottom and biting on everything. I'm still finding that she eats a ridiculous amount of food at daycare. Here is what I packed for her today:

1 spinach and tuna muffin (I made this recipe up myself - yay me LOL)
1/2 tuna and mayo sandwhich
1/4 fig jam sandwich
baby sized apple muffin
6 cubes of cheese
fruit salad - half a mandarin, quarter of a pear and half an orange
piece of vegetable bake - probably the size of 3 matchboxes
2 pieces of pumpkin
big rice cracker with vegemite

And when I picked her up she was eating an arrowroot biscuit as she was still hungry apparently! I have asked so many times whether she really eats all of this food and am told absolutely yes and her eating is amazing. Honestly, at home - she probably eats about half of this in the same timeframe.

Bfast is going well, toast and spreads and raisin toast, usually 1 - 1.5 slices.

Dinner is getting to be a bit of a disaster........I think she's just too tired to eat? Not sure.

I'm starting to feel the pressure now that she's 1, that whole "food is fun" thing can't be used as an excuse anymore.

How's everyone else doing?

turned out DS had a nasty fever from his 12 month shots ... he was ok within about 48 hours, though.

he sleeps so beautifully that it's really hard to get 3 meals into him! DH normally only manages 2 bottles, 2 meals and a snack. I'm worried ... or is this ok?