Baby Led Solids chatter #6

we have a Heinz unbelievabowl (i think that's what they are called) that has a suction base to keep the bowl on the tray/table. It has worked great for my LO.

We officially started when DD was 6 months old. She had grabbed a couple of things earlier (an apple and a strawberry)that i was holding and had a suck. At 6 months, we started by putting a few things on her highchair tray to play with/eat. It wasn't until 8 months that she really started eating. Between 6 and 8 months, some days i wouldn't offer any foods and other days i would offer a few times. If we were eating, she was often on our laps and if she was interested, she might try whatever was on our plates.

You can do wet foods, it is amazing how much they can get in just using their fingers. Offering 'dippers' can also help e.g. yogurt with fruit or dried fruit to use as dippers. Or cucumber sticks or other vegies with dip.

We never did purees at home or to be socially appropriate. There are less messy foods you can do when you are out, cucumber sticks, snow peas, baby tomatoes cut in half, baked potato slices, rice crackers....

HI ladies,

I have a question. my 13 month old DD (who is BLS) is now refusing to use a spoon. SHe used to feed herself yogurt, weetbix, mashed veg (would never let anyone else feed her, miss independence), and we had even been using a fork for dinner, pasta, etc, but now she is refusing to use the spoon and dipping her fingers in. Did anyone else's LO do this, and when do they go back to the spoon?

My 18 month old sometimes uses cutlery, sometimes her hands. She always wants her spoon & fork with her but goes through stages of using them or not. It doesn't really worry me what she uses.

:yeahthat:

My 2.5 DS is the same. Always has cutlery, is quite good at using it, but sometimes still uses his fingers. I wouldn't worry.

5 month old baby keeps trying to steal food off our plates.

She yells at us all through dinner and we have to give her a toy to chew on to keep her happy. But she still yells.

I never had any intention of starting solids until 6 months, she is exclusively breastfed. I want to bf her forever.

But I'm confused about BLS. Does 'baby led' mean the baby should be allowed to steal food at 5 months if she wants, or does it mean baby gets to feed herself but after 6 months?

I don't want to ignore her cue.


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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

Hey Kuraiza :) Annabelle's the same, she grabs at everything. The other day DH had a sausage roll while he was holding her, she had a massive cry when he finished it and she didn't get any!

We were going to give her solids a bit early, but I wanted to read at least a bit of the BLW book by Gill Rapley first. In there it says that baby grabbing at food isn't necessarily a sign of hunger and that she wants to eat food - it's natural curiosity and wanting to copy the rest of the family. It's likely that anything you give her at this stage will go in her mouth - Annabelle has a thing for paper right now, she munches on our junk mail if we let her lol.

It also says that she's unlikely to actually eat anything at this stage. Even at 6 months, when she starts with food she'll mostly just be exploring it with her mouth, she won't have a good ability to chew and move food around with her tongue yet, and is very unlikely to swallow any, it'll most likely just fall out lol. We've decided to wait until we've finished moving this week, then we'll set her up with her Bumbo at the table, and see what she does with things like steamed carrot. She'll be very close to 6 months by then and will mostly just be playing with it anyway.

HTH :)

um, she tried to eat a business card, and i mean really eat it.

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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

Lol, she sounds keen :) My thinking is, if she's apparently not likely to swallow it anyway because she can't developmentally, then what's the harm in letting her play with a bit of food while you're eating? And if she does actually eat it then she's obviously ready :)

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At about 5.5 months, my dd grabbed a strawberry that was in my hand and had a suck, and also grabbed an apple i was holding and brought it to her mouth and licked it. i figured she had gone to so much effort to get it to her mouth that i wasn't going to stop her. Each time, she had a quick suck or lick and then her attention was moved onto something else.

We didn't offer her food to play with until she was 6 months, and it wasn't until 8 months that she started eating anything.

Hi everyone - I'm new to the thread, and new to BLS.

My six month old daughter is hell bent on feeding herself, and gives us quite a look if we try to feed her. I've been amazed at her ability to 'eat' finger foods, and her happy reception to anything new (as long as she puts it in her mouth). Her fav's are avocado, banana, tomato, sausage and rockmelon. She tried some mashed potato the other day, and had a good suck and chew on a piece of steak.

Meal times are quite a messy affair now, and promptly timed to coincide with a bath after.

I'm looking forward to hearing other people's experiences.

it's all great fun, isn't it farmgirl?!

we keep the camera near the dining table a fair bit these days ... it's amazing how many of the photos we have of DS from around 6-12 months are of him covered in pasta, oats, yoghurt, or whatever he was eating that day ...

love love love the experience :)

Kuraiza, it is confusing. My DS never seemed especially crazy about food - just generally interested in everything. Then at 5.5 months he grabbed some orange and that was that.
My DD, from around 4 months, went mad whenever we were eating and WANTED it. Well that was way too early so I didn't allow her to get anything till she was over 5 months and then I figured if she wasn't ready, then she wouldn't eat it anyway. (Oh, and she loved - and still loves - paper too!) Well, the first time she got a hold of some fruit she just stared at it and dropped it. I waited a bit longer and let her play again closer to 6 months, and she started putting things in her mouth, but always spat and gagged (and sometimes vomitted) until 7.5 months. So despite appearances to the contrary, she really wasn't ready to eat until around 8 months, whereas DS was eating from 6 months-ish.
They're funny little creatures sometimes. After my experience with DD, I wouldn't even offer play food till at least 6 months. IF they grab stuff and eat it, then fair enough, though.

Just to add - they won't miss out on anything by waiting a bit longer since breastmilk provides everything they need anyway.

Hey all :) Just popping in here as I dot think we can keep DD from stealing food for much longer ;) She's 5 months 3 weeks old and we're going to start BLS next week :o Where the heck did the last 6 months just go?? I'm a bit nervous but mainly very excited for her :)

I don't know what to do about my nearly 6 month dd . She's been very vocal about her interest in food for a couple of months. She always sits with us when we eat. I've started giving her things to chew on just for the taste, and she attacks them ravenously and then gets angry and throws everything and then gets really upset. She's like a little volcano erupting with frustration every time we sit to eat, it's getting annoying I don't know what she wants.

Tonight I gave her some of the soft bit of our chicken stew and dipped her rusk in it, she looooooved it and I have her a spoon to play with, she loved trying to feed herself with the spoon and then suddenly chucked a tanty and tried to eat the little cup of stew before she finally hurled the lot off the table.

What does she want?

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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

Sounds like you're doing fine kuraiza! It does seem she's ready to get stuck in, so maybe just let her have some more. the chucking and throwing is all part of the experience (as is painting - my DD 'dressed up' as an oompaloompa today). It's messy, but in no time at all she'll be eating more than she's wearing. Do you let her take things from your plate? Sometimes they just HAVE to have exactly what you're having.

Hello all, new to the thread. We kinda did BLS with DS1 (few purees as well) but now DS2 is almost 6 months, we are ready to start him.

DS2 has an allergy to cows milk protein and is on prescription formula (Necoate LCP). He has been super interested in food since 4 months and we've tried him with a few purees but he's had reactions to: rice cereal, pear, pumpkin, avocado, apple and seemed to do okay on sweet potato initially, but now I think it makes him grumpy. So purees are on hold.

After he is 6 months we will start BLS - but here's the thing - can I go just one thing at a time? I need to see if he will react to it. Hopefully the previous reactions were just because he was a bit more immature in the gut. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Bloom- you can absolutely do just one food at a time. In the early days, some days my DD would be offered one 'meal', others more than one and sometimes we would go a few days without offering much if anything at all. BLS is good cos it is what works for you and bub. If you find he is still reacting to foods, maybe check with a nutritionist -there might be something specific to the foods that he is reacting to.

There is a recent article on why rice cereal is not the best first food Analytical Armadillo - The Booby Whisperer: Nine Good Reasons NOT To Use Baby Rice

Kuraiza- i like the Heinz unbelieve-a-bowls. I have an ikea highchair and the unbelieve-a-bowl has a suction bottom that holds on to the tray strongly. Alternatively, don't use a bowl at all and just put food on the tray. When my DD was younger and playing more than eating i reduced the number of foods that i was putting on the tray just cos it was getting to me picking it all up. I think too much food can sometimes be too distracting and so the bub doesn't know what to focus on.

ZF- enjoy this new stage. i remember feeling sad when DD began solids because until then she had been completely dependent on me for all her nutrition.

FarmGirl- we still do dinner before a bath every night! DD is not picky and enjoys her food, so i am ok if she is still messy in her technique.

have fun

HotI, I read that AA post this morning, loved it! Still debating whether to share it on FB, not sure if it'll offend anyone in my mother's group, or my Nana who keeps wanting me to mush things up for DD.

So I think DD might have her first 'meal' tonight. She's not 6 months til the 16th, but she's gotten bored with just watching us and playing with her cup. Last night she kept throwing it away and reaching for our plates, so we'll see what she does with a bit of it tonight. Now I just gotta read up on which foods we should avoid!

We don't have a high chair yet. DD sits in her Bumbo with a tray in the middle of the table. She seems to like being right there in the middle of it all :) So I reckon I'll just put some food on the tray for her, and unless she really throws it it should just land on the table (I hope!).

I have a picture in my head of your DD sitting like the queen in the middle and throwing food at everyone around the table. made me giggle!

Lol that's a pretty accurate picture! Last night her cup landed in both our plates from her throwing it around :lol:

So, we started giving DD food the other night to see what happened. We were having lamb with salad, so I put a few salad veggies on her Bumbo tray. I wasn't sure how she'd like some of them - gherkin and capsicum don't have such a great flavor on their own lol. The faces she pulled were hilarious! She mostly just seemed fascinated by how it all felt - wet and slimy lol. I thought she'd have a good go at the cucumber, but the gherkin was the only one she got close to her mouth and just the taste on her tongue made her gag.

She's also had a good go at banana, though more wound up in her hair than anywhere else, it was so cute. Her fave so far is toast. Just plain, dry toast. She loves it! She had another go at tomato and cucumber last night, and actually had a good chew on the tomato :)

I've got a question for anyone that feeds their little ones to sleep. I know it's best for DD to be fed and not tired before offering her solids, or she'll just be cranky and not interested. Our night routine is usually bath at 6, then quiet time and start to feed to sleep at 6:30 (she's usually asleep in bed at 7:30-8). So we're having dinner at about 5:30, then straight into the bath after. But then she's not hungry and not interested in feeding to sleep! So I walk around our darkened bedroom for what feels like forever singing to her. Eventually she does latch on and fall asleep, but it's not as easy as it was.

Just wondering what others do?

Our bedtime chaos hasn't changed since introducing bls. But dd doesn't actually eat much.

Speaking of not eating much. I'm just sitting here watching dd trying to make sense of a cooked piece of carrot. How is a toothless baby supposed to eat anything solid?

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Jude 07/10/08 | Lilac 16/06/11

they smoosh it with their gums :) but they dont' tend to eat much, no, which is fine.

Kaytee you could do dinner earlier? Or it could just be a natural change in her inner 'schedule' that has coincided with the introduction of food.

They sure do smoosh it! DD has two tiny teeth on the bottom, but she hasn't actually managed to properly eat anything yet anyway, so they don't make a big deal of difference. She didn't really like her carrot tonight, but had a real good suck and chew on a piece of steak, I think we have a new favourite!

MadB, I don't think we could do dinner any earlier. I'm currently starting cooking at 5 which feels ridiculously early lol. I go back to work in March and won't get home til 5:30 at the earliest, so I'm thinking we may actually have to start slowly pushing things back to an hour later. So if I fed her when I got home at 5:30 (or if DH fed her from a cup or something a bit earlier), then we could have dinner at around 6:30, then start the bed time routine at 7 instead. Will see how she handles that I reckon.

Can you do her bigger meal at lunchtime instead of dinner?

Things changed regularly with my LO in how much she would eat and which meals, but if your DD is in more of a routine making the big meal in the middle of the day might work.

oh yes, that's a good idea about lunch.
we still eat dinner at 5... used to be 4 :lol:

Dinner is the worst meal of the day for my DD, she's just too tired and over it at that time of the day - so dinner is more snack like as far as portion sizes go. She has a massive breakfast and lunch and at least a morning and afternoon tea snack too, so we just don't bother fighting her at dinner. I figure as she gets older and is able to stay up later, she'll be more awake to eat a bit more dinner.

Hmmm, that's a good idea about a bigger meal at lunch. She's not actually 'eating' anything right now, as in she's not swallowing any food, it's more that I'm breast feeding her just before it so she won't be cranky, and then that throws her out for her bedtime feed. But, if we don't worry so much about dinner, and focus more on the other meals, maybe we can work out the dinner thing later on when she's got the hang of eating and is actually needing it. Thanks :)

If she is getting cranky without having a breastfeed (when you wouldn't normally give it to her then) maybe she is not up to playing with solids yet. It sounds like nights are pretty busy at your place anyway, and maybe leaving the night meal for awhile might help.

We didn't offer all meals until bub was probably 10 months, she didn't really start consuming food til around 8 months.

Yeah, I reckon maybe she isn't ready for dinner yet. She does a fantastic job with toast in the morning, and she's had banana for a snack and a few vegies at lunch, she did really well with those :) I think to work in dinner we're going to have to re-jig times and routines, so I might just leave it for a while yet.

Although, last night I fed her at 4:30, then we had dinner at 5:30 and she was fine - loved her steak. And she was still ready to feed and went to sleep really easily at 7. I don't know, maybe I just haven't been timing it right?

Yay, tonight went so well! DD saw the carrot and dove for it, put it straight in her mouth :) Meat still seems to be her favourite though.

I was wondering if anyone else puts anything on their little one's toast? So far DD has just had it dry. I'm not a fan of the salt in vegemite, she can't have honey and I was told not to give her peanut butter. Could she have a really thin layer of jam?

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Kaytee - we usually put either cream cheese, or jam or some avocado on the girls toast. They occasionally have vegemite but don't tend to really like it as much as the other stuff.

i have also done banana on toast, mashed pumpkin or other vegies, even cooked apple.

Nothing like a bit of BLS to make you realise just how much emphasis people put on babies eating! First meal was lunch at the in-laws, everyone just stared at the poor bugger, she didn't know what was going on! Next was dinner, and, DD was near FIL & nephew. FIL seemed to think she wasn't doing it properly, so kept trying to put pieces in her mouth. I asked him no less than five times to please not put food in her mouth, she doesn't like it and it puts her off the whole thing - because apparently her pushing him away and turning her head isn't enough. In the end he got some mayo on his finger and shoved it in her mouth! At this point I hit his hand away and got grumpy, but he didn't do it again. The problem was with FIL doing it, nephew then thought it was ok to put food in her mouth so I was stopping him too, and he was trying to give her nuts and tiny grapes! DD had toast for breakfast the next morning and FIL had done a complete backflip, this time whenever she managed to bite off a piece, he had his finger in her mouth getting it out! :wall:

At lunch with my parents the next day, Mum seemed to think she wasn't eating enough, so every time something fell off her tray Mum would pick it up, pretend to eat it and say "Yum, Nanny likes it, now you eat it!" She was getting worried that she was playing more than eating, and didn't actually swallow anything, until I explained that's how it's supposed to be. Then Nana started about purees to top up her BLS so that she actually eats something.

When we just let her do her own thing though, she's going fantastically :) Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

oh dear ... thankfully, this is one area where my family mostly leave it to us!

while my sister initially had to be spoken to a couple of times (no, don't give the 5 month your finger dipped in gravy ... or chocolate cheesecake ... or ice cream ... or lollies of any variety ...) they're all pretty well on board now.

at both Christmasses, DS was more interested in making an enormous mess than eating food, but that's fine ... that's what cloths are for!

he tried different things, he ate a modest amount, but he eats when he's hungry, he doesn't when he's not (unless you offer him yoghurt or grapes ... apparently, there's *always* room for yoghurt and grapes ...) and as long as he's growing healthily, we're happy with that :)

Hey Kaytee - our Christmas lunch was pretty similar!
We have 'fed' DD a few times, but generally we give her a spoon to play with while we eat and she is happy with that. On Christmas Day my dad kept telling us to dip the spoon in apple sauce because she was hungry. My mum is very supportive, but offered to defrost some homemade purees.... I have to keep telling them that she doesn't need it. She isn't hungry, she just wants to do what we are doing! At least for me it was my own family, so I can say something.
Probably already been covered in the thread (but I'm new to it).... what do others say to people trying to feed their children??

Hi, just dropping in to say hi, will be starting DS with BLS in a couple of weeks, did it all with DD but feel I need it refreshing in my mind a bit so is good to read this thread. Found it so easy with DD (not as easy as just BF though) hope get another smooth ride. Have him sat with us for meals mostly but tonight he was salivating and lip smacking so much I felt mean so put him on floor, I want him to be sitting a little better and his coordination is improving day by day so happy to wait a couple more weeks when he will be 6 months.

Well we started and all seems to be going ok - I felt more nervous about it at first than I did with DD which is strange but am over that now and he is munching on everything (peanutter thanks for the lamb the other day at lunch), he is very into meat and anything very chewy - may be because has cut his first two teeth this week. His farts are really very smelly these past couple of days - I don't remember that being the case with DD this early - but I think he is actually ingesting more than she did at this point.

At almost seven months what should he be doing in terms of water intake - he is not interested in any bottle or sippy cup have given him, he is BF on demand so am not really concerned just curious (he loves sucking water off a flannel though)

DS didn't really get the hang of water for quite a while ... other than drinking bath water (seriously) that is ...

we tried sippy cups, straw cups, regular cups ... it took ages - but while he was having normal amounts of BF, EBM, formula (or, after 12 months, cow's milk) and had a normal number of wet nappies, we didn't fuss.

he got there :)

and your delightful DS is very welcome for the lamb ;)

DD insists on drinking the bath water, too.

OK. Sooooo what's your technique for cleaning your baby down after every messy meal?


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