Starting solids? - Baby Led Solids Chatter #2

[ezymay]

We have the same steelcraft high chair MT. I have heard nothing but praise for the Ikea ones. I wish we'd bought one!

[Sammiejane]

MT 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???

[Visitor8]

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

[Jennifer13]

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!

[[M]umma[M]ia]

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!!

[LimeSlice]

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! )

[MummyTummy]

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.

[Jennifer13]

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.

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).

[Captain]

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. 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.

[Visitor8]

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)

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

[MummyTummy]

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! 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.

[Visitor8]

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!

[amberj]

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?!

[ezymay]

Amberj Emily had those same foods last friday night! She LOVED the garlic bread too! I think as an very occasional ting its ok

[amberj]

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!

[ezymay]

Hee hee well Em must love mine cause I eat a lot of garlic!

[Jennifer13]

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.

[[M]umma[M]ia]

oh just give them the bowls!! u get the best pics when the spag bol has been tipped on their head!! lol