Starting BLS

[*beannaithe*]

Hiya, my wee girls are coming up five months. DD2 is in the midst of a developmental phase plus she has an ear infection atm so has been feral, especially at night, making for a very tired mummy. Cos she has been so bad, DH is making all sorts of noises about starting solids to settle her. I really am not keen for this at this stage as I don't believe she us ready for them, I would like it hold out until 6 month ebf if possible and I truly believe that it is unsettled ness due to development rather than hunger, in which case solids will make no difference.

Anywho, I want to do BLS when the time comes and am curious as to what people start their lo on. I don't really have to do any purée faffing around, do I? Can I start them on finger food from the word go and if so, what is the best way of going about it?

TIA

[~TT40~]

we did =) Ive only been doing it for a few weeks (i started at 5 1/2 months, or should I say DH did...) we basically just put her in the highchair at meal time and give her whatever we are having. eg, a hot chip or bit of carrot, she has had toast, bits of fruit. I did put stuff in a mesh feeder but she just didn't care for it and enjoyed it more without it. she doesnt eat as such, just plays and tastes etc... but has a ball with it, she is so excited when we put her in the chair.

but im sure others will have more to add, like i said we have only been doing it for a couple of weeks

[Traveller]

Absolutely you can start with some cooked veggies. Carrots and broccoli are great as they can be held in teeny hands. Meat is another great starter food, so well cooked chicken or beef stew that pulls apart but can be held in a fist is great. I never did puree with my twins but the benefit of BLS is that if they are not ready then they will not eat so you can't force it on them. It's more encouraging them to experiment with tastes and textures at this stage.

[Jennifer13]

I gave both my DDs pieces of whatever we were having to try. It's a great way to introduce family foods.

Solid food doesn't really do anything to settle though. If bubs is not well, they will want and need extra bfs and the food probably won't generate much interest. My first DD took until 7 1/2 mths to be keen. DD2 had the hang of it quickly, but doesn't eat huge amounts.

Food is fun until they're one! Breastmilk is the most important thing in their diet as babies.

[sloane]

and often solids can actually make them more unsettled as their little tummies adjust to eating real food.

finger foods are great - still can get pretty messy but lots of fun & as someone said, they only eat what the want/can manage. so if they're not developmentally ready, they don't really eat. my two have been different - my DS loved bread, porridge, fruits whereas my DD will try absolutely anything & seems to be actually eating more far earlier than her big brother did. fish has been a favourite so far - it seems easy for them to eat.

[*beannaithe*]

Hmmmmm that is interesting. I had thought that solids wouldn't be the be all and end all when it comes to settling more at night so it is nice to have that confirmed. So, if I did give in to pressure from DH and offered her some finger food, if she isn't ready for it, she won't do anything with it? Is that correct? Because I really do not think she is and my SIL (whose advice I trust, she is also very into bls) agrees with me. Unlike my MIL who thinks she needs it because of her size (about 7.5kg) even though she barely sees G and hasn't seen her long enough in one go to draw any sort of conclusion. But that is a whole new thread in itself.

[sloane]

she might be able to get it to her mouth or to play with it but it's unlikely she'll actually eat anything. and imo size doesn't have THAT much to do with it - my DS was a big boy & he was far slower than DD who is 8.7kg at 8 months. personally,i just think that size is more to do with your DD going so well on the way she's been fed until now

[mrscricket]

We did BLS with our twins - so much easier than always having to puree and spoon feed 2 babies! I did spoon fed cereal and yoghurt, but they mostly ate what we did. To be honest, they really just played around with their food for months but to me, it just showed they really weren't ready for anything else. Even now they pcik all day long, rather than eat 3 big meals which is very much like me. I have a copy of the BLS book - if you are interested I'd be happy to send it to you.

[Jennifer13]

I would only let her play with food if she can sit without support, has good head and neck control and has lost the tongue thrust reflex. There is no way she is ready to eat food if this is not happening. There is no point to trying too early, it only risks introducing something into her system she isn't ready for. There is no harm waiting, vs potential harm starting too early.

Babies often stick everything in their mouths at this age anyway. If she isn't ready, she probably won't eat it, but without the signs above, there's a chance an overly enthusiastic observer (like a DH or MIL, I have one of those too ) will feed her from a spoon, move to purees, etc, to 'help' her.

Personally, I just had a firm rule of not before six mths and then there was no confusion.

[~TT40~]

I would only let her play with food if she can sit without support, has good head and neck control and has lost the tongue thrust reflex.

this is one of the reasons im doing bls. it seriously didnt make any sense to me to give her food and have her eating when she couldnt even sit up by herself! i just cant comprehend it.

[*beannaithe*]

I totally agree. As I've said, I'm absolutely in no hurry to start, neither girl seems dissatisfied in any way. Though I felt very secretly smug when DH tried to give G a bit of his tea last night and she wasn't having a bar of it. Totally uninterested so at least we can let it lie a bit longer.

Thanks MrsCricket for the offer, might pm you when they do start showing a bit of interest

[mrscricket]

No worries! I found the book handy to get some ideas and then I just took it from there. My girls are great now at eating although they have very strong opinions on what they do and don't like