Starting solids? - Baby Led Solids Chatter #2

[jackrose]

Hi all, BLS going along very happily in our house too! Its heaps of fun isn't it!

We began solids with BLS, DD was playing with a carrot stick, bean, broccoli stick etc from the moment she could sit up. She was uninterested in purees and cereals from the beginning and really only began eating anything at 8 months. It was off and racing, and has been soooo much fun getting into food. Now, at 10.5 months she will give anything a go. Tonight she had a go at fried rice! Classic watching her shove handfuls of rice into her mouth!

I realise that it is probably a bit late now, but in response to the banana slipping through the fingers qn, I gave DD banana with a handle in the earlier days by cutting the banana into thirds then slicing off half of that banana skin, leaving a small handle of unpeeled banana for DD to hold as she munched on the exposed part at the top. She loved it.

And for more of a reason that this is a cool way to feed kids, I read that babies who are fed with BLS are less likely to be finicky eaters later in life.... I hope that this theory has some truth in it and helps DD with her approach to food.

I also just wanted to add a little link to advice about choking, (here) it is probably very responsible for all parents (BLS or otherwise) to be familiar with the procedures. It should help to make anyone who is still a little concerned, just a little more comfortable to go ahead with BLS. At best, it has made me much more comfortable with giving her foods and letting her learn by gagging as I know that I know what to do if it goes a step beyond gagging.

[Sammiejane]

And for more of a reason that this is a cool way to feed kids, I read that babies who are fed with BLS are less likely to be finicky eaters later in life.... I hope that this theory has some truth in it and helps DD with her approach to food.

And also meant to help with obsesity as children are given the choice and not made to eat everything that their parents serve up infront of them...

Anyone giving morning/afternoon snacks? when should we start? anyone know?

Also how much do you reckon your bubs is actually eating? i got a jar (baby food jar) from a friend and shoved her meal in that and gave her a full one, she ate more than that, sometimes loads less thou...harder to tell this way than spoon feeding from a jar, but would never swap to that way

[rhyb]

Hi sorry to crash your thread but I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction with articles or books on BLS?? Thanks

[Sammiejane]

HI Rhyb,
I found most of the info by just googling BLS or BLW (weaning)... there are a few good websites.
Also my local CHM centre had a vidoe that i could watch that explained it.

Feel free to ask questions in here, its how i started

[Astrid]

Have been following BLS here and it has been going quite well, so much better than the other way we did with DD1. I find it takes a little bit of thinking and having to remember to put some food aside before sauces etc are added. Cafes find us strange as I will ask for finger sized slices of cucumber for bubs to much on.

One friend of mine, whose bubs is a couple of weeks younger, was talking about solids with her DD. She was complaining that she now has to find and extra 1& 1/2 hours each day to prepare and feed her DD. When I heard that I was so glad I had heard about BLS, as I certainly do not have that much spare time these days. I have to admit though that I was not great at feeding DD1 solids until she was on finger food.

[Gabi]

Hello.

We're thinking of starting solids soon and I have a few questions. First things first, how important is it to wait for that magical 6 month mark? My baby is still two weeks away from 6 months and it is such a challenge to keep him away from food at meal times. He is sitting up, reaching out and trying to eat our food. This, along with his nursing habits, makes me think he is ready, but I am hesitant because it's still a few weeks 'til he's six months and I don't want to do him any harm!
Second, we're thinking we'll start with banana, do I need to puree it since he is so young?

I'm so glad I found this BLS thread It just seems to make sense to me. I haven't done any reading about it, but from what is described here it seems like BLS is the way babies are designed to start eating.

[Gabi]

Astrid - funny you mention that. There seem so many advantages! DH and I were at the mall at lunch time the other day and we saw a little five year old and her GrandDad eating lunch. GrandDad would pick up the burger dip it in sauce and then bring it to the little girl's mouth. Then give her a drink etc etc. She wasn't doing a thing herself! Then at dinner at a friends house a few weeks back the mother of the family cooked for us adults and then she cooked TWO separate meals for her 6yr old and her 8yr old because neither of them would eat what we were having and they both wanted different things.

I don't want to end up there hahaha. I think BLS would go a long way to preventing those situations.

[Astrid]

I found with DD1 that even though I did start with purees and then mash, I did try to get her onto family foods quite quickly. It was just easier to portion out some of ours, than make something special. I found that when we were out with the other mums that they were surprised at what she was eating (cucumber, hommus etc). I said that it was easy, I just gave it to her and luckily for us she liked it. With many of the other mums it had not even crossed their mind to try anything other than the standard baby foods of custards, fruit etc even amongst those that prepared their own.

I do get shocked when I see what some grandparents do when out with the grandkids. I was at Macca's one morning and saw a grandmother cutting up the hotcakes for her 8yo grandson. How hard is it for anyone to cut hotcakes?? If it was a steak, then I would have understood, but mooshy soft hotcakes! - Sorry gone of tangent.

[Sammiejane]

Hi Gabi - to answer your question, it is best to wait until 6 months, however in saying that we started at 5.5months... I guess the best thing with starting with BLS is that your bubs probably wont actually consume much at all in the first few weeks... its all about tasting (and spitting out!!) and the textures. It took MJ a good 3-4 weeks to start consuming anything substantial.
I would start with fingers of carrot, broccoli and other veggies that are wel cooked and then cooled.
Im not going say to start right away, but if your baby has ALL the cues then possibly he is ready.
Waiting til 6mths IMO is way more important if you are spoon feeding as you are shovelling food in and asking them to swallow the food the day that you start. With BLS you are offering foods and giving your baby a choice to consume.

Gabi re pureeing stuff DONT! just cut up in fingers and present to your baby. he will make a huge mess and play and spit it out and possibly gag (go back and read the previous pages for a bit more info) but this is all learning.
MJ has never had any pureed food and only eats stuff from a spoon that she put in her mouth herself (i load the spoon though)

I also would advise that you start on Veggies not fruit and dont bother with rice cereal either...

gotta go, ask any more Q' if you need clarification, i will be back later or tomorrow if you want to ask

[feeb]

Ohh this all sounds great!! we gave DS some farax tonight and the faces were hilarious and most of it was spat out i am sure!!

This sounds good. So basiclly can stem vegies in finger size pieces and give to him like that (he is 5 months 3 weeks) and after vegies go to fruits and meats later?

[onthefly]

Yep feeb, that sounds about right. You can give them whatever you like, just needs to be soft enough for them to gum (unless he's got teeth already).
Brocolli is a great one to start with. Pumpkin and potato are smooshy so mean more mess - but lots of fun for babies.
We gave veg & fruit from the start and have more recently started with eggs & some meat and more complex stuff. DS loves nectarines & apricots, which are very easy for him to eat, as are soft pears and bananas.
Sometimes we spoon feed him stuff - when he'll suffer it.... mostly he likes to feed himself.
For a rice 'mixer' with other stuff we use a rice porridge, which can be cooked up like regular porridge, but is made from brown rice and doesn't contain any other additives and stuff like is in farex.


Recently we've made beef rissoles, which he loved! Made a huge mess and most went on the floor, but he really enjoyed it. Oh and some fish at christmas cooked with garlic and chilli, he loved that too.

[Gabi]

Marcellus, what additives does farex contain?

[onthefly]

In farex, vitamins & minerals - which, I think, babies can't really absorb. THink it also contains vegetable oil. Plus it's refined white rice, which is not so good. I have used farex, so I'm not saying it's poisonous or anything (well, not as far as I know!), just not the best thing for babies, necessarily.

[Sammiejane]

we never used farex, there is a lot of added iron (so i have been told) and this can constpate your bubba.

MJ has Kids weetbix or normal porridge as a cereal, mixed with soy milk (one with no added sugar) as it tastes nicer/creamier and she prefers it to dairy.
She self feed this most of the time VERY messy!!!

[onthefly]

SJ, did MJ just figure out how to use a spoon herself (you load it for her, right)? DS just grabs it, pulls the food off it, turns it around and chews on the handle...

[Sammiejane]

Yeah she did that for ages, and still does at times, but is getting better, do you eat with DS? i find that if i am eating at the same time it helps, also i let her play with the spoon during meals... Also when she is hungry, like at the start of the meal she is better... i load it and feed her the first spoon usually and then hand her the loaded spoon for the next one.
Sometimes i have two spoons as she plays with one and will feed with the other.
Really messy going though and she wears a lot of it! She mostly has the option of self feeding with her spoon or fingers, if she starts with the spoon she nearly always finishes with her fingers.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

we don't spoon feed at all. I leave it there and i know he will try when he is ready to.
we are finger foods all the way here.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Oh, and Rhy, I have some links to BLW, pm me if you still want them, i cant remember if i gave you them already or not