Starting solids? - Baby Led Solids Chatter #2

Welcome Mel!! I think it is mainly you and I in here!!! GM gave us some great advice but I think she is well established in her eating!

I started out with carrot which I steamed so it was soft but would still hold form while Jett held it. He loved it. Now we have carrot in almost every poo so my guess is he is getting it down!!

We have also tried banana (we have to hold that cos it is just too slippery), apple which was raw. He wasn't so keen on that. Wholemeal toast (plain) cut into soldiers, I think that was the most fun we've had with food, and lettuce which he has stolen from my plate when we've been out. He loooooves that... but I think that is just because he steals it rather than is given it! We are still working through the vegies and fruit, but he did get given a chunk of steak the other night which he happily sucked the juices out of and gummed the rest.

I guess the main thing is that it is soft enough to suck and gum and swallow, but strong enough to hold shape while they hold it. Oh, and a bib that covers everything is a great idea, not to mention a splat mat for under the high chair.

Yay! I'm glad you've come to join me on this journey, I was feeling a little bit lonely! I hope I haven't scared everyone else away!

ETA: Oh hi SJ!! I started this post last night so didn't realise you posted! I forgot to add that I tried cheese as well but he wasn't so keen on it. Did keep going back for more though.

SJ I was thinking of trying the weetbix too, what did you mix with it to make it mushy enough to eat? EBM? Formula? Water? Milk?

MT - i give weekbix with soymilk (one with no added sugar like Bonsoy) I have given with EBM in the past and also cows milk but she prefers the tase of the soy.

there is always on going discussion as to whether dairy should be introduced at this age, the lecture that i went to and and also the infomation that i have read/been given/found says that you dont have to restrict dairy at all... But each to their own really, its about what you feel most comefortable with.

have you read back over this thread, there is some really good info in here and also some discussion on this point.

HTH :)

I have read back, but it was a while ago now, at least a week! :lol: and my poor brain is no longer capable of retaining information or knowledge unless it is being used!! Haha! I hadn't thought of soy...never even tried it myself. Did you serve the weetbix cold or warm?

Thanks SJ - that was brilliant information.

MT - I'm so glad you are in here with me out of our baby buddies - didn't want to be the only one!! LOL

I'm at work now, but you have given me excellent ideas - and you're right SJ - we will be avoiding the cheese!!! Have to think of something else :think:

BBL

:)

Beware Mel, it's messy! But so much fun, i love seeing DS get so much enjoyment out of his food

Congratulations on the 6 month milestone and WELCOME to the joys of BLS!!

We are now at 14 months and have loved loved loved the discovery of foods in all its taste, texture, smell, mess (and nutrition!) Methinks you are going to enjoy this too!

I completely agree with SJ and MT. They basically covered everything I was going to say... steamed vegies and fruits - not too hard or soft, just right for little hands to grab. Yes, bananas can be a little tricky for little hands to hold so in the early stages I used to cut a banana in half (across width not length) then cut through the skin in a ring around the banana at about 1/3 down. Then by peeling off the skin from the top 2/3 you get a 2/3 naked banana to chew and suck on with a 1/3 handle to hold. (Hope that this makes sense, it is really hard to explain/visualise things like this!) if the banana was particularly thick, i would then cut a slice off each side of the revealed 2/3 to make it skinnier and easier to mouth. They pretty soon develop the ability to hold a peeled banana, but in the first month or so this worked a treat.

We also moved on to Mangos pretty quickly, I would cut a slice with skin on off a cheek of mango and DD would suck the flesh off that pretty quickly, hand me back the skin and look for more! Watermelon might also be a good one to play with?

Another nice one is roasted vegies - potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, carrot, zucchini, parsnip etc.

In terms of practicality, we travel with heaps of small containers filled with choices of finger foods, everyone else is always jealous and other kids are always clamoring for a taste of DD's lunch, so be warned and pack extra!

Mealtimes can be messy, DD usually strips naked and makes a mess - glorious. Otherwise a plastic covered apron type bib is a blessing. We don't tend to use a plastic mat, but I can see the benefits. Instead we call in the hoover (read - dog) and the mess is cleaned up in no time!

DD sometimes ran into a bit of trouble with constipation so she often gummed a prune or too - loved them - and things were sorted out pretty quickly!

Enjoy, it is heaps of fun to watch them discover food!

ETA: My DD really only started solids at about 7-8 months as she was just not interested in any form of food til then. At 6/7 months she would just look at and play with whatever I gave her. At 7-8 months she began to taste etc so it was probably more like 9 months we hit the mango thing. Therefore not sure how a 6 month old would handle that one. Best thing of course is to try something, supervise and judge what to do accordingly!

Thanks, JR, some great ideas there - especially with the banana. That makes absolute sense to me... I'm off to get some more food ready to try. This is so much fun watching them explore these new tasty toys!

I bought a plastic apron bib from Pumpkin Patch that was on sale and it certainly does the trick!! Except I think I need to get Jett a shower cap too!! :rofl:

Yep MJ wipes the food through her hair too - nowadays its a sign that she is almost finished eating and she is about to wipe everything else off the table!!!

Like JR we send in our vacuum (dog) after she has finished, but also in the nice weather, we take the highchair outside or she sits on a wrap outside and eats.
In my napy bag i carry a wrap so that if she needs a snack and we are somewhere with out a high chair, i just pop that on the ground and she sits on that.

MJ also LOVES fruit, other than what everyone else has mentioned, watermelon (or any other melon) sticks are great

i also make up my own hummus that she LOVE love loves and she has that on toast, bread, veggie sticks or just out of the pot!!!

when we are out at restaurants i take a pack of disinfectant wipes and i clean the high chairs down really well as giving her a bowl is OK now, but when we fist started out the food would have to be handed to her or on the tray of the high chair. I tried taking alon mats and thought about a layer of glad wrap on top, but she played with all these things... we got a suction bowl too, but she manages to pull this off at times too!!!

Thankyou so much for your wisdom SJ! I thought I was going to be alone in here for a while so I was going to make it up as I go along, but it is much easier when someone else has trialled and errored and I can learn from their experiences. Good idea about the wrap. Jett isn't sitting that well yet, but I'm sure it won't be long.

We have a vacuum too and figured he would be on clean up patrol, but I know he will leave some things behind... strange for a labrador. He's quite fussy and not that into food! :doh:

I had thought the same thing about the highchairs and wipes...they often look grotty and then you see the rags they wipe them down with :sick: ATM we just sit him on our lap when we are out, but of course this means we don't get to eat much, especially as he keeps stealing the food from our plate!!

ok....i have been abit scared to follow BLS because of gagging and i have convinced myself she isnt ready for it...which is unfair to her...its me that isnt ready lol.
She is refusing to eat the 'chunky puree' that she has been eating and enjoying for the last few weeks, she has been eating all sorts of fruit and veg sometimes with rice cereal mixed in. BUT this week she has one mouthfull then the top lips comes over the bottom lip and its lock down!!!! I wait an hour and try again but she isnt interested. She has also been pretty grumpy/not sleeping very well...wonder if it has something to do with eating/not eating, or just the age?
.... Im thinking that she has just lost interest in the mush and is wanting to do it herself, she has a rusk sometimes and quite like to chew away on it.

SO...Im going to buy some nice brown bread and steam up some vegies but i have read back through this thread and notice that people giving things like cheese and strawberries, which i have read in other places not to offer till alot older....is this just incase of a reaction to them? Is there anything you should really stear clear of or is it ok to try anything!? (within reason..nuts/junk food etc)
I think i read to many things from different places that give you strict guidelines and it just confusses me!
there are some great ideas on here to help get started...thanks all.

sorry to ramble alittle!!

Hey Bec!!

It could be just that age for Grace, or it could be teething perhaps, especially if she likes cheewing on the rusks.

I have a book on baby-led solids and it says that unless there is a family history of intolerances than from 6 months of age their guts should be mature enough to handle any food with a few exceptions. Strawberries it mentions because most young babies get a red rash around their mouths, same as with citrus fruit due to the high acidic content. If your baby is fine with them then it isn't an issue.

Cheese is ok, not all the time though due to high salt content. Otherwise it is ok.

Over the last couple of weeks I have taken to giving Jett solids whenever I eat, and I give him some of what I am having because that is what he wants. Not his own different meals. That is my choice of course, and I did start with just vegies and fruit. Now I just pick the suitable foods from my meals and put them on his high chair tray and let him pick and choose what he wants to eat. So far that has been a little bit of everything. I have been amazed at how his manual dexterity has improved, and he's happy to chase something around his tray until he gets it.

Gagging has been very little of an issue, a few big ones in the beginning but he seems to know how much or little to put in his mouth now. He even started chewing yesterday. I thought it must have been a fluke when he did at lunch, but he did it again at dinner.

So really the only rules are feed Grace what you are comfortable with and she is comfortable with, don't stress if she doesn't appear to eat much (which is why feeding her what you are having is easier, less wastage) and just relax and have fun with it. Grace will love it!

Hey folks, just a quick one for me, but wanted to jump in and join you all here! Will be back later to chat some more, but wanted to ask quickly, what kind of spreads you would give on bread or toast? Vegemite seems too salty, peanut butter is a no-no, jams etc too sugary.... and I'm all out of ideas! :doh: do you give spreads on their bread/ toast or just give it plain? Anyhoo, I'll be back later with more questions etc but just wanted to jump on the bandwagon! :hello:

Pixie - how about hommus or avocado? We do avo here... or just butter (on toast) ... um.. just plain bread mostly though, we are pretty boring... I gave her a bit of vegemite just before - but I think she is more interested in her rockmelon.. lol

LOL see this is what I need you guys for! :doh: Seriously I wonder if I still have a brain some days. I am taking a hiatus from avocado cause we had a nasty projectile vomiting incident after avocado a couple of weeks ago but I don't think it was the cause... so on toast is probably a good way to ease back into it! Beth must be getting sick of banana and yoghurt cause it's all she's eaten for about 2 weeks now!
BTW and totally OT - love the store Mel, had a quick look around last night, I will have a closer squiz when I get a chance! :dance:

I've used vegemite - I want to raise a vegemite kid!! I don't give it all the time, no more than once a week, and because it is only a scraping on toast I figure that should be fine, but that is my choice! He loves it!! I think you can use avocado, banana, corn, anything really that can be made into a paste consistency.

so we (grace and i) went shopping today and bought some nice brown low salt bread, a nice avo, bananas, carrots and some cruskits (as recomended by a friend) cause the cruskit kinda dissolves.she had cruskit with avo. licked the avo off and some of the cruskit dissapeared and she loved it so not a bad start!!

ok firstly hi :) I don't have much time tonight to read back threads, I will get to it when I have a moment or 2 but I have a couple of questions.

Ashton is 5 months, he is sitting up and interested in food, but then again he is interested in everything. He isn't 'hungry' for food. He still breastfeeds every 3-4 hours during the day then at night he has a 5 hour sleep from 9pm - 2am then feeds 2 hourly until the morning at 8ish. Nothing had changed. However I was thinking if I was going to start him in a few weeks that I might look into BLW and get as much info as possible before I start...

SOOO have any of your babies choked?? I am so scared of this happening as it happened 2 times with my oldest :(
Also what sort of foods did you start with? How much of it do they eat (as opposed to chew and spit)? Is there anything that should be avoided?

Thanks in advance for your help :)

Hi Missymoo! Good to have you on board!
Haven't had any actual choking incidents, but had a fair bit of gagging for a week or so which freaked me out more than it worried her. Seems better now ... :crossfingers:
Starting foods - we have tried banana (a favourite), bread, avocado, carrot, broccoli, yoghurt, pear, apple (not really a fan), potato and other things she has stolen from our plates! Going to try pumpkin and sweet potato this week. We started at 5.5 months too because she seemed hungry and we couldn't take the starving african orphan look we got every time she watched us eat!
We had banana on toast for breakfast and that was a hit! Think I will do that more often as there was a lot less mess than the usual banana and yoghurt and madam thought it was delicious!

so with no teeth do they chew or just swallow it whole?

Sorry I am really keen to give this ago but am so frightened he will choke! Were you all as paranoid as me? Lol

Hi Missy Mel :hug:

Miss M sorta gums it to death... if she takes in big sections, she'll gag, and then spit it out. She might have a little cry, looks at the food in her hand - and then gums it again.. lol

At the moment - she is sitting in her high chair with some vegemite sandwiches. I just give her whatever I'm making aricyn for lunch/morning tea/arvo tea/dinner - whatever.

So then I don't have to make two separate ones. And Aricyn never eats all his stuff, so I just do enough for what I think he SHOULD be eating, and then subtract some stuff for her.

Last night she had pumpkin which she liked.. but rockmelon and watermelon are by far her favourites. Although I can see her mungin on into that vegemite sandwich!!!

Missymoo, you'll be surprised what they can eat with just gums! Anything soft enough to mush is fine and they'll spit out whatever they can't mash - maybe proceeded by some gagging. Babies tend to choke less with BLS because they're controlling the input themselves.

My DS has now learnt to eat off a spoon! I'm so proud... ;)

Thanks so much girls!!
Well Ash just finished off a peice of vegemite toast. His FIRST food :) Photos are on my facebook page, link is in my sig if you want to see! He didn't choke and he barely gagged, maybe 2 times. And he ate almost half of it and chewed on it all!
Wow I can't believe I nearly died a month or so ago when someone posted in another thread to give bub a bit of toast. Whoever that BB member was, thanks for opening my eyes to this all!

Yay Missy - will have to check out those pics!

Marcellus - yay for spoonage!!!!! :dance:

just lurking/reading .....

I have loads of allergy/intolerance/anayphylactic history in my family but wanna try and do BLS as I have 2 other kids and dont wanna puree/blend/mash again - too much work for me :redface: ....

Anyone else who has this history successfully done BLS and if so, where did you start?

Hi popping my head in too, gotta head to doctors shortly for K's 6 months shots but will be keeping an eye on this thread for ideas for BLS

Marcellues woo hoo for eating from spoon - MJ will hand the spoon back to me to 'reload' for her now, but if im not quick enough, the hands are straight in the bowl!!!
I have sucessfully managed to leave a bowl in front of her now a few times and she wont throw it on the floor - although sometimes she wears it as a hat!

Sami - We dont have allergies here, but the guidelines say that if you or your DH have an allergy to something then not to introduce until 12 months and then introduce as you would with your other kids...
As with anyone, i would start with the veggies and then move onto diff things.
You will find that not a whole lot goes down, its more played with and sucked on for ages

bekeos - white bread is easier for them to eat, cos it goes really thick and gluggy... if you are not a fan of wb, some of the more stogy multigrain breads are good - fine to eat thou the seeds come out whole the other end!!!

Peanut butter is fine to give your bubs, low salt and smooth, so long as there is no direct family history of nut allergies... this sort of quietened the room at the lecture that we were at, but we have given it with no probs here, she doesnt really like it anyway No whole nuts til 5 thou is still the recommendation due to choking hazard

we find that tomatoes give MJ a rash around the mouth too.

after starting this only teo days ago i already feel so much happier about her and food! i found i was constantly stressing about what and when to feed her! and it was starting to feel like the whole day was taken up by feeding...now i can relax and if she is hungry give her a bit of avo on bread or cruskit or a piece of banana. so easy AND she loves it, she was crying for something yesterday and i tried to BF her and she wasnt interested, i couldnt work out what the problem was till i gave her a piece of vegimite on cruskit....looks like this is just what she was waiting for....would never have tried it if it wasnt for BB!!
Missy: i steamed up some carrots for her yesterday but i must not have done them soft enough cause she had a major gag! she had broken a big bit off and just tried to swallow it, i was panicing but tried to let her deal with it, she gagged a few times and it came up, i took it out if her mouth rather then let her try again cause i was abit scared! she didnt mind but i took the carrot away, think il try it softer next time!! How soft to you all cook the veg?
Sami: cant help with allergys sorry. but i can see why you would want to do BLS with three kids! would be so much less work than trying purees etc!

Well Ash had a banana this morning and toast for lunch. He loves his food! I gave him a bit of broccoli last night which got the funniest look! He didn't like the feeling at all haha so it just ended up all mushed. He wouldn't stop staring at my food until I gave it to him haha
This is sooo much fun!

Hi ladies, hope you don't mind if I join in. I'm just about ready to start BLW with Ashlyn. I wanted to wait until she was 6 months, but she seems so ready now. She keeps trying to grab my food when I'm eating. I was thinking of starting with some avodado. Is that good to start with. With broccoli how do you prepare it? I have no idea how to steam veggies:redface:

Mel, Ashton looks so cute with his food! He's into everything!

Looking forwarded to joining in the fun.:D

Hi girls! Hi Mel Hi Captain! (my baby buddy's)
I'm joining too! I have watched the BLW DVD with DH and we are going to start soon. Emily is really reaching out for our food now and I think she is ready, she is 5.5 months. Its very exciting!!!!
is microwaving the veg ok?

hey im joining too! im expecting Mia to start solids in the next 4-6 weeks....

i dont see y avacado would be a problem, mayb try some on toast?

yeah im abit confused on the steaming thing.. better to steam than boil? so would i need to go buy a steamer?

I steam in the microwave, a little water in the bottom of the container, cover with glad wrap and nuke for 4-5 minutes, give or take until they are soft.

Yeah Ash is into everything. I gave him potato and sweet potato today at dinner time but he didn't like it, he then ate a whole banana lol

Gave Ashlyn her first go of some avocado. It was soooo cute!! She was so excited just to have some food in front of her she spent 10min just looking at it and smiling, lol. She eventually got a bit in her hand and then shoved her whole hand in her mouth. Not sure if she actually tasted anything, but it made her happy to be part of the meal.

This is going to be fun. :D

Hi everybody. I am lurking in this thread and find it invaluable for information. DD doesn't seem ready for BLW yet but I imagine it wont be long. I hope you don't mind me lurking.

Hi to all the girls in my Baby buddy thread.

More than welcome Indie. The more the merrier!

I gave Jett some mango the other night. OMG - def his favourite so far!! Left the skin on so he could grip it and he just sucked it off and tossed the skin away. He had a little go at the skin when all the mango was gone, but we ended up fishing it out and giving him some more!

Finally today we have managed to get him to sip some water out of his sippy cup.
Up until now he just wasn't interested and at the most sipped water and spat it straight back out.

This really is fun!

Well we tried carrot and broccoli today for lunch. Not alot went in K's mouth but it was hilliarious watching him try and pick it up to eat it hehe
made such a mess but its all good, he enjoyed himself! I took a few photos, they're a crackup he has broccoli everywhere :lol:

MT - yay for Jett drinking out of his sippy cup. I find Kye has been heaps better since I got him one with handles. Skulls it back like a champ! :)

DH thinks its a bit wierd all this, think she isnt getting what she needs! All i have to do is show him the red stringy remains of a banana in her nappy ! I think i need a bigger mess catching mat! the one ive got doesnt cover enough surface area! its amazing how far she can throw! 'Ate' lots today, tried orange, broccoli,bolognese, modified version of last nights dinner. I have dinner when DH gets in from work which is after DD goes to bed so we dont have dinner as a family, i eat breakfast and lunch with her though. And we eat together on DHs days off. so ive been saving stuff from the night before for her. she goes in to a world of her own when she has food infront of her!!

I added a link with some photos of our adventures with food so far...from spoon fed to baby led!

RE- Steamin - i use to steam in the mircowave, but i have found that if i do it on top of a saucepan its better and the veggies taste nicer - we have a bamboo steamer (they cost about $10 or cheaper from asian grocery shops), it does take a bit longer but they have a better consistance...
Otherwise i will boil them - both are fine really...

Beckeos - at this ages bubbas dont actually NEED much food and if they are given too much they can prematurly drop milk feeds with is not good... food is meant to be fun to start with and should not make up much of their intake at all... reassure your DH that she will be eating loads in no time and that it is just her learning about the tastes and textures atm that is more important.

RE eating as a family - we dont have Dinner together as DH comes in from work after MJ is in bed, we try and have breaky together (if DH is up :rolleyes:) and on weekends we will have an early dinner with her and DSS.
I always eat lunch with her, so he is not eating alone and at dinner time i have a cup of tea sitting with her sometimes or she is in the kicthen with me when i am preparing dinner for DH and I

Re MESS - i have given up! we have no mat underneather MJ anymore, after she is finished i send in the dog and then mop the floor!!! If the weater is nice we sit outside in the highchair for dinners or on the grass for lunch (but sometimes that is more of a problem as she crawls off!!!)

HTH :) Glad you are all having fun with it

I am on the BLS journey as my DS just hasn't been that interested in solids and I was sick of throwing away jars of baby food (which tasted gross anyway, in my opinion). I find BLS much less stressful than trying to coax DS into "just another mouthful".

My question is, DS enjoys playing with his food- ie- chasing it around on his tray and shaking it and banging it....but not so much in eating it. He will stick it in his mouth to try, but he just doesn't seem to like much except yoghurt, a TINY bit of vegemite toast and arrowroot biscuits. Everything else, when he puts it in his mouth, he looks horrifically disgusted and does this whole dramatic shudder like its the worst taste in the whole, entire world. Then he just plays with it.

Is this ok? Will he eventually get into solids? I kind of figure I will just let him keep trying things and let him go at his own pace, but he is over 8 months now and all the other kids in mothers group seem to gobble down everything they can they their hands on. Should I be concerned?

Jessica - this is FINE... try not to be concerned with how much is going in. He is just finding out what this eating business is all about at the moment.
one of the principles of BLS is allowing you baby to have the choice of what and how much to eat... give him a coupld of things to 'chase' around the tray, allow him to sample bits and peices and if doesnt eat that much, its OK thats why he is still having milk feeds (either BM or FF) and they are still to make up the majority of the intake.

What other foods have you tried him on?
Are you giving single foods like carrot, broccoli, cheese etc or are you giving meals?
By this age i was giving MJ 'meals' i would make some pasta and then do a white sauce, add some veg and tuna and pour it over the pasta, then she would be let loose on a bowl (or tray)full.
Sometimes she played, but more often she prefered to eat this way by around 8 mths
She also loves quiche and sometimes i just mix up some mince, veggies and pasta and make a bit of gravy and give that to her, the other day she had hamburger (homemade) rice and veggies with a bit of sauce (cant rememebr what sauce i used) to bind it together a bit more and she loved it.

Its really messy, but that might help... dont know - but in any case, dont stress about the intake - 'food is fun til their one' you still have 4 months until he needs to be eating well and loads can happen in that time

HTH :)