Yep! I hear you on that one!!:
Printable View
Yep! I hear you on that one!!:
or Ashtons nappy... nothing like discovering that he didn't eat all his toast and that there is a finger stuffed in there haha
I have just a cheap mothers choice one. Only cost me $70 and I am glad I got it, it's soooooooooo easy to clean! Used my friends hi lo one when I was in Launceston and OMG it was such a pain to clean!
Nothing new here, did buy lots of new vegies yesterday though so he can try them :)
:rofl: Aww, you spoiled his fun!! He was saving that for later!! Unless he of course has a complex and was trying to make his *ahem* package look bigger!! :rofl::
I bought a chair thing that hooks on to one of our kitchen chairs when Aldi had a baby sale (not that they were selling babies....:lol:). Its a cute Disney themed one and it reclines in a few different positions and a clip on tray- its GREAT. I mention it because I see Aldi is currently selling them again if anyone is looking for a convenient chair, go buy!
We have the same steelcraft high chair MT. I have heard nothing but praise for the Ikea ones. I wish we'd bought one!
MT :ROFL: you would hope that little boys hold off on the impressing for a few more years!
Molly Jane is ECing and so spends a lot of time in Undies or with a bare bum, we had decide that if she has no knickers on, there must be some form of additional covering as so much ends up down there!
We have noticed thou, that when she is full, this is the time that she makes the most mess, as soon as she starts playing we move the food away as she rarely will put more in.
Something else i have been meaning to ask - probably a Q for those that are a bit further one, but thinking material for the newer ones too...
The old saying 'you have to finish whats on your plate to get dessert' how does that sit with everyone here??? IMO i need to offer enough food to MJ, and if she is not keen on something i try something else.
Portions sizes vary greatly from day to day, so sometimes she eats everything in her bowl, other times she eats a lot less... but i will still always offer a dessert - either fruit or yoghurt, depending on what she had through the day for snacks... sometimes she is interested, other times not.
What are your thoughs???
I have never made the kids eat anything. If they didn't want it that was fine. Didn't mean they didn't get desert (which was don't often have anyways) however I will not make up seperate meals for everyone. If they don't eat it that's all they get.
Ashton doesn't like lettuce :rofl:
I still find myself in a quandry over this one. When she was a baby I just gave her yoghurt for 'dessert' and only after one meal a day, so it wasn't an issue. She would finish whatever she wanted and then I'd let her out. She was such a pig by about 8 mths she would gobble down everything in front of her anyway! And I only ever offer one meal, with some variety if it's vegies, etc. But if it was butter chicken, that's all she got. She never refused anything doing BLS, but she would definitely eat more of some vegies than others.
Now I don't give her dessert if she doesn't finish her meal, but we don't insist she finish her meal. And Daddy is not a short order cook (he does dinner). If she doesn't feel like what we're all having, then she doesn't get something else!
Thats a good way of thinking. I wish my sister did this. She has 2 girls, 12 and 7 and she has to cook the 7 year old different food every night to what they are having. She knows she stuffed up but i tried telling her years ago. This kid.... eats nothing!!:
Charlotte has 2 options at dinner - what we are eating or toast. And i is funny but she knows lol
If she cracks it, or starts throwing food on the floor, she loses her dinner for 5 mins. If she does it again once she gets it back, she doesn't get any more. She also doesn't get dessert unless she has eaten what I judge to be enough. (or if she loses her dinner)
I refuse to make her separate meals simply because she doesnt want what we are having. If she doesnt like a new food, I will often get her somehting else though (last night she had a very bad topical reaction to eggplant, so eggplant parmigian was off the menu! )
Interesting quandry.
I am a very fussy eater and as a child I was made to eat everything before I was allowed to have dessert. That didn't make me like foods that I said I didn't. I really didn't like that food. I am still the same today. Red meat is my prime example. I would sit at the table and chew and chew and chew that meat for hours. I would work out ways to throw it in the bin (blowing my nose and smuggling it in to the tissue), or flush it down the loo, but mostly I just sat and chewed it until it was dry and white and still I could not bring myself to swallow it. I have tried red meat recently and I still have the same problem. I just can't swallow it. I don't know why, it isn't a taste or texture thing, but I just keep chewing and it feels like I have never broken it up enough to swallow it. So if I can avoid torturing my kids like that I will.
So, by doing BLS we are supposed to make meal time a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone. And the idea is to present them with a full range of foods and let them pick and choose what it is they want to eat. They will eat to meet their needs at that particular time which includes what foods, and the amount. If a particular food doesn't suit them then I am going to be ok with it. But there will only be one meal available, and if they choose not to eat it then they don't get a different meal, they just have to make do with what's on the plate.
So I see no reason to shield them from particular foods, or to say that they can't have dessert until they've finished their meal. Especially if that dessert is a healthy one, such as fruit or yoghurt. The more variety of foods, tastes and textures, the more balanced eaters they are likely to be.
Herein lies my quandry - I agree with you in theory, but once they become toddlers, even by using the BLS method they will assert their independence by seeing what they can get if they decide not to have what they've been given. Even when only 12-18 mths old (pre ice-cream days!) she could still use food as a way of asserting herself. If she decided she wanted yoghurt (her fave!) she would try rejecting dinner (even if it was something she might have happily eaten not many days ago) and ask for yoghurt. That's when I started saying "You have to eat your dinner first". I never insisted she eat ALL of her dinner, but she had to make a fair effort. But I digress, since this is a thread for babies after all! Just something to bear in mind.:
So I see no reason to shield them from particular foods, or to say that they can't have dessert until they've finished their meal. Especially if that dessert is a healthy one, such as fruit or yoghurt. The more variety of foods, tastes and textures, the more balanced eaters they are likely to be.
Also babies and toddlers will reject unfamiliar foods up to 20 times before they will taste it in some cases. So it's worthwhile still offering foods even if it's been 'rejected' before. (There has been some speculation that it's a survival thing, when they are capable of moving around themselves they would be more wary of trying to eat everything they came across).
We solved the dessert problem by not having any! It's now a special occasion thing, like if we have gone out to dinner. Seems to work well because no matter how full Danielle said she was at dinner time she always seemed to have room for dessert. :rolleyes: I never make her eat everything on her plate. Sometimes she eats nothing and it doesn't bother her that she will get nothing else to eat until breakfast.
Mummytummy, I was the same as a child, I hated all fruits and veg, I wasn't trying to annoy my parents, I really just did not like them. I used to be made to sit at the table until I ate them. Did nothing for me because I still don't like them, I've just leart to tolerate them.
A funny story, we were at a BBQ the other day and I had brought Ashlyn some cucumber and carrots. You should have seen people's faces when Ashlyn started munching away. At first there was some shock (and I think panic) and after they watched for a little bit they started offering her all sorts of food. It was really funny.:D
MT I totally agree. I was NEVER made to eat things, and mum always said "if you don't like it don't eat it". I have done the same with my kids. I have never treated vegies as some big importance. It is just something they get with whatever else we are eating. As a result my 5 and (almost) 4 year old will eat pretty much everything. We have a 'try it and see if you like it' rule. If they don't like it so be it. However I always serve it up again when we have it. Even if it never gets touched, one day they might try it again and like it. I will never force them to eat! Last night we had cold meat and salad for tea, and they ate it all. I know so many kids their age that will not touch lettuce or cucumber or even anything in a salad yet mine love it, Jaidan even asked for some for school today (which he got) :lol:
Ashton gets given whatever we are eating most of the time. It is always a large variety of things. Most of the time he will play with it, some things go in the mouth other times nothing will. Like this morning, he had toast with vegemite and jam (2 slices). None of it went in his mouth because he had only had a BF half hour before. But that's ok. Tomorrow he will get it again and may eat it. He still got his banana for morning tea :)
Jen - Ahh, I now understand your quandry... I think, but I may change my mind, that I will just stick to my guns and say this is your meal (dessert if any included), eat it or don't but there is nothing more and no other choice. If dessert is a sweet treat then I think yes they will have to make a fair effort on the main meal. It is a hard one, especially when they get to that age of testing the limits to see how far they can go.
Captain, I am still the same with fruit too! :redface: Vegies I have always been ok with, just the normal ones though!! But fruit, nup, strawberries are as far as I go and they need to be small sweet ones, not the large woody ones you get in the supermarket these days!!
Missymoo I think that is very wise not placing the emphasis on fruit or vegies. Food is food and we need it all in balanced proportions. And keeping things relaxed will hopefully not lead to a battle of wills!
Captain we have exactly the same reactions here too. Everyone looks at me sideways when they see me offering my food to Jett but then they see him pick it up, eat it and thoroughly enjoy himself and then I get all sorts of comments like "ooh he's so clever, fancy being able to eat like this at his age, fancy being able to use a spoon, etc", and then they love to watch him try all the different foods.
Ash is happily eating his spag bol haha i think it's gonna be a favourite.
Question. What bowls do you use? I have brought 2 different ones of those stick on ones and neither actually stays stuck to the tray!
Those sticky bowls never seem to work. I just put anything straight on his tray because I know he would just knock a bowl over or pick it up to play with and pour the food all over himself. For yoghurt, I hold the bowl and just give him the spoon.
Tonight we had pizza and garlic bread and Peter had some of both- is that bad? I just gave him crust of both but the pizza had a little bit of ham and the bread had some garlicy butter. He LOVED the garlic bread. Am I only supposed to give him healthy food?! :redface:
Amberj Emily had those same foods last friday night! She LOVED the garlic bread too! I think as an very occasional ting its ok
Thanks eej, that's my thinking too.
I seem to recall reading somewhere that babies like the taste of garlic and that they preferred their mother's breastmilk after their mother had eaten garlic. Sounded a bit odd to me, but Peter certainly seemed to love the garlic bread!
Hee hee well Em must love mine cause I eat a lot of garlic!
The stick-on bowls are a myth!
I use tupperware bowls and also melamine bowls (from sets you can buy with a plate and cup, we were given a couple of Royal Doulton rabbit ones). The melamine ones are usually a bit heavier so don't shift around as much. But they can break if they're dropped.
oh just give them the bowls!! u get the best pics when the spag bol has been tipped on their head!! lol
We use a stick on one on Mums IKEA Highchair and it works well.
Here we just use the bowl from the stick on one or a bowl with a handle - it came as part of a set that my sister bought me when i was UTD, i think its a UK brand early learning or something like that, they are great bowls and dishwasher safe.
When we started however i did the same as Jessica - food straight on the tray in a blob and she would eat it from there.
Re the food question taht i asked earlier, Its a hard one really, part of the basis of BLS is that the baby will select what they want and nutritionally what they need, therefore if i limit what i give her because she doenst want something, i am not allowing her the full choice.
I am lucky really, she is not a guts, she will leave food and if offerd fruit (which she loves) when full she wont eat it... She also is really into most food that i make, especially curries or really flavoursome food...
I give MJ 2 options usually, like for b/fast if she is not keen on her cereal i will make toast - i give DSS and DH the same choice in the morning, only they can vocalise what they want.
Lunch i will do the same, IF i am giving options on sandwiches, like cheese and ham or chicken or hommus (what ever is on the go)
Dinner she doesnt get a choice between meals, i am not cooking two meals (like others have said) but if she is not interested in dinner, but still appears hungry i will give her a dessert - which is only EVER fruit or yoghurt, we are not dessert eaters really, but i read somewhere that its good to offer 2 courses... Anyway, thats my take on it...
MJ has hade both garlic bread and pizza (usually just the crusts) the garlic bread has been store or restaurant bought, the pizza home made... I dont think a little bit is harmful, i think that she has only had it once or twice, MJ eats the same meals as us, so its a bit hard not allowing her the things that we are all eating - usually i give her some leftovers of something that week (i usually have 3 or 4 things in the freezer) and then a smal taste of what we are having.
There are a few things that i dont give her, lollies, chocolate are the main ones as well as cordial or anything with added sugar of loads of salt...
Another question - Easter is coming up - what are you going to do, DH and I have discussed that we dont want MJ to have chocolate at easter... its going to be a bit hard, especailly as we go away with friends and their kids have chocolate/coke/lollies like its going out of fashion (what a old saying tat is!!!) Seriously last easter the then 6mth old was chowing down on chocolate all day long and i was asked if i was going to give MJ a try (she was 3 WEEKS old :wall:)... this year as she is iver a year it is going to be harder to justify, but i have my family on my side, hopefully they will stick up for us (even DSS who is 11 is on board and jokes around about it, but is really good and wont tease or eat something in front of her that she cant have)... IMO she has her whole life to learn about chocolate and lollies etc etc - what are you thoughts???
Well Ashton will get a huge easter egg, it's a tradition... he wont eat it though. Maybe a tiny taste for a photo but then mummy gets it later :D I usually get the boys a little egg each and some toy. We do other things like painting eggs and making crafty stuff.
Something I learnt in my nutrition class last year, babies/young toddlers/kids don't overeat unless we make them. If we offer food they will eat until they are full. It is parents saying "finish what's on your plate" that makes them overeat, which then becomes a habit. At the time I thought it was interesting as I had never thought of it like that. Made me make sure I never told the boys to eat all their food!
I am going to try the dreambaby suction bowl and cutlery. It looks awesome! There are some things I plonk in front of him, like toast and vegies etc but when he eats his yogurt and things, I would like him to eat it from a bowl YK. He likes to wipe it everywhere though haha Got a couple of classic photos at dinner tonight. Off to upload them to facebook!
We have a suction bowl, but it doesn't work either unless you try to lift it straight up. But tilt it, as most kids would do, and no resistance it just tips over!! We do a bit of a mix of things when offering food. Pretty much it gets just put on the tray in front of him so he can pick it up and eat it by himself. If the food is sloppy I have it in one of his bowls, I put a little on the tray (cos I know it will end up there anyway!!) so he can play and experiment with it and then load up the spoon for him to use. He doesn't understand the dipping concept yet, but as he grows I might give him toast or rusks to dip in to the sloppy stuff as well as a spoon.
We have also fed pizza crusts and garlic bread here. Jett loves garlic bread too.
SJ - Could you give toy instead of chocolate? I wasn't going to do much for easter this year, I don't think he will notice one way or anonther!! He might get a taste of chocolate, just as part of his food education of course!! But no, I am certainly not going to be giving chocolate in large quantities until he is much much older. I can't believe how irresponsible your friends are, as if you would let a 3 week old try chocolate! It's always hard when your friends have different views to you on parenting, so I can see how hard it will be to watch their kids eat and drink themselves silly on high sugar foods. But I hope they are the kind of friends that can respect your views on parenting and won't sneak anything to MJ behind your back. I think you have a very sensible approach to it all. You are right, MJ has plenty of time to learn about chocolate and lollies and I think these early years are the ones where you set the good foundations to set them up for life.
MissyMoo - I love your idea of doing crafty stuff. Sounds like so much fun! I'm not a fan of Easter egg chocolate (I like chocolate, just not the cheap easter egg chocolate!!) so I might adopt that one as Jett and any other kids get older!
I'd heard that about kids overeating too. By teaching them to finish what's on their plates they learn to not listen to their appetite and learn when they are full. They also learn to eat quicker so they can finish their plates before they register that they are full which of course leads to a whole lot of digestion problems!! They reckon our appetite suppressant is slowly disappearing through evolution because we no longer listen to our stomachs. Food for thought huh?
We do the Easter egg hunt, but DD then 'shares' the eggs (and has only had one herself, and only since she turned 2). She seems to get given toys and books as well, so isn't fussed.
Last year I found these cool egg 'wrappers' that you put over normal boiled eggs (dip them in boiling water over the egg). I tried those and they were a hit! So if your little one is having egg, that might be a pretty distraction.
Re the pizza, when DD was a baby I used to make her a pizza with english muffins, spread with tomato paste and top with whatever you like. Cover with some cheese, put under the grill for a couple of minutes and voila. They were a huge hit! She's only started having pizza with us in the last few months (we order from a gourmet pizza place and they aren't too oily and have lots of vegies).
Hi all, another jumping on the bandwagon.
I had never heard of BLS until I stumbled on this thread today. We do about 50% that anyway but will be doing as much as possible as of dinner tonight.
Makes sense to me
Just one question, what do you do when you are out & they are in a pram to eat?
I dont really feel like washing the pram everytime we have to eat when we are out
Sorry if its already been asked, Im reading back over the pages & am only up to page 12
take them out and use a high chair. There is usually one where we eat. If there isn't I sit ash on a chair next to me, or on my lap and hold him so he doesn't jump lol
I have a question about salt. I have a bunch of jars left over from pre-BLS days and occasionally I break them out (just to reinforce my BLS choice!!!). Anyhow, the age appropriate ones....they really don't taste very nice. There is seriously NO SALT in them. I know my MCHN said that babies taste buds are much more sensitive than ours, so they don't need to salt, and giving them salt can badly affect their developing taste buds. And I know their kidneys cant handle too much salt.
But with BLS, I tend to give Peter whatever we are eating, although not anything blatently salty, like pretzels or soy sauce. But a lot of things we cook already have a bit of salt in them- pasta sauce, dips, stir fry sauce, even bread and butter. What is everyone's opinion on the salt issue? I am just alarmed by how different in taste the jarred baby foods are against the "normal" foods I give Peter.
With salt, I try and restrict it as much as possible. I've started making my own bread which has far less salt and atm Ashlyn really only has fruit and veg. I make sure a read labels and pick things with the least amount of salt. Not sure what else to do.
With Easter, Ashlyn wont be getting any chocolate this year. I've got Danielle a Dora egg with torch, though I'm sure she'll have more fun with the torch because she's not that into chocolate (unlike her mummy, lol!). I don't generally restrict food, I like to teach moderation. I didn't do BLW with Danielle, but I did make sure she had a wide range of food and we teach her to eat until she is full and that she doesn't have to finish her plate. She actually eats very well now and is just as likely to pick up an apple as she is a biscuit.
When did you start giving your LO meat/chicken and how did you prepare it?
Jessica I don't add salt to ANYTHING. I dish the kids food out and add it to my plate if I want salt. They have never had salt added to their food. Those jar foods are gross!
Captain I am already giving Ashton some meats... he has had mince and chicken and fish too.
Tonight we had stirfry. Ashton didn't have the beef strips but he had rice and vegies and he actually loved it! Chase took it upon himself to help feed him too, it was so cute I didn't want to stop it hehe
:yeahthat::
I have never cooked with salt so this isnt really an issue for me.
BUT DH uses salt in his cooking, so we take out a bit of what ever he is cooking before he adds salt, or we add it afterwards, on the table
MJ has meat, if we are having a BBQ, DH will give MJ a bit of his lamb or beef (i dont eat it) or if we ae having chicken she gets that.
With the cicken we just break it up and she chews it.
In the earlier days she would just suck up and not really eat it, now she actually eats it all up.
I find that if MJ doesnt want the meat, she just picks it out and leaves it on the side of her bowl or tray! I think that i started off with mince though, i make litle hamburger patties, just mince, egg, breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, herbs, pepper and a bit of HP sauce or mustard... mix it all up, then fry, I usually make a massive batch, we have some and then i freeze the rest, great thing to have with some veggies at the last minute... i do all types of mince meat this way...
Hi :)
My babe is nearly 7 months and we want to try some diff foods, any suggestions?
So far he has tasted Pear and thats it.
I don't add or cook with any salt either, but I do use jars of pasta sauce and meal bases which undoubtedly have salt in them. So if Peter eats a bit of pasta or meat, it will have a little bit of sauce on it, and therefore a bit of salt.:
I am just wondering whether I am supposed to give him TOTALLY plain food (eg pasta with no sauce). Sometimes I feel so lost with food and whether I am doing the right thing!
Thats the joys of BLS you can give them what ever you eat. Minus caffiene... choc.. lollies etc lol:
Amber - giving some pasta sauce with salt in it is not going to affect bubba. Giving him a packet of pretzels, well.... lol
It is important to remember that salt is necessary for many aspects of your body. So NO salt at all is not healthy either. Salt is not only added to food for flavour, but also stabilises starch and gluten.
Soduim is also different to salt - so the "sodium" measurements on the side of the box are not a great indication of the added salt of a product. Low sodium intake can lead to many problems, including muscle cramps. Your body needs sodium to function correctly.
Go with your instincts, dont second guess everything you do otherwise you will forever be criticising yourself, and this will not be helpful for anything! A little salt is not going to hurt him, just like some sugar (such as fruit) isnt going to either. YOU need to be comfortable with what you are doing. BLS is simply a method of feeding - it really doesnt change WHICH foods you can give. It simply allows you to give them whole, or cut, rather than mashed and pureed.
When i say I add NO salt, I am not saying they GET none. They have foods which already have salt in them like sauces etc. I just don't add extra when I cook.
:yeahthat: I was going to say the same as LS regarding the body needing salt/sodium. Once they are past six months old their gut is mature enough to process "adult" foods so a little bit of salt is not going to harm them. The best thing is to avoid highly processed foods, and avoid adding salt to your cooking if you can. If you use a jar of pasta sauce, the amount that bubs will eat will be minimal enough to not do any great harm. Most baby food is based on the formulas that were created for babies when 3 months was the age to start feeding solids, even though the current age range may be much further along. I hope that helps a little Amber.
Skittlebub - I have never had Jett eating in the pram, cos I sooooo don't want to be cleaning food out of that. So, usually he eats when I am eating so if I'm out and about I either use the highchair at the cafe/restaurant, or I have a Phil&Teds metoo high chair that clamps on to the side of the table. This is fantastic because it folds completely flat so I leave it in the bottom of my pram, and Jett loves it because he sits "at" the table with everyone else and gets to join in. So I can really recommend this to everyone!! If failing all this and there is no table (perhaps a picnic in the park or something) I would sit him on my lap, or prop him up against something so he can't fall over.
Captain - I started giving Jett meat about 2 weeks after we started BLS. He just sucked it to begin with, but that is ok, because the juices of the meat is where all the good stuff is like protien. He has it in whatever way it is prepared as long as it isn't deep fried in fat!! I tend to mop up pan fried food with paper towelling because I am not an oily food fan so it is always pretty much as good as we can get it. We don't do anything special for Jett, he gets a little bit of everything that we are eating as long as it is healthy and not dangerous for him.
Time for a new thread here.