Hi everyone,
I have been taking a few short videos of my LO's BLS/BLW journey. I am no expert but I know so many people want to try this way of introducing solids so I thought I would share what I have learnt so far in case it can help someone. Thinking about doing up a website if I get a chance!
He has been BF exclusively and now is eating some solids. He has always been a big strong boy - 8.5kg at 5 months. I wanted to wait until 6 months for any solids, but we ended up starting at 5 Months and 1 week (just random offering of food and normal BF) as he was constantly chewing and salivating watching us eat, very unsatisfied after days of big feeds very close together. I was constantly feeding and he just wasn't satisfied. I have a good supply and he is a very efficient feeder. He has been able to sit up for some time with a bit of support and was able to sit unsupported for up to a minute by the time we started solids. Other cues for me that it was time, was that he could easily pick up things and bring them to his mouth.
We started with a nice yummy ripe pear as his first food. Since then he has eaten pumpkin, avocado, zucchini and bannana. He also loves rice cereal and I encourage him to feed himself with the spoon as that is just as an important skill to learn! We offer him "food" 3 x a day now. He is just on 6 months. I BF him 2 x overnight usually, and demand feed so during the day he may feed a lot, or just 3 or 4 times, depends what is going on and taking his interest! With regards to volumes of food, I usually microwave/steam/bake some fingers of food and offer him 2 or 3 to play/chew/eat, and he gets about 80ml EBM with some rice cereal as well, and of course his booby drink. He has a huge appetite and often eats the lot, has eaten a whole pair, the cereal and booby in one sitting hahah.
He ingests a lot of what he tries, but as you would all know a lot ends up over everything :-)
Thought I would ask here if I should post up links to the videos as I thought it might help others thinking about trying baby led solids/weaning to see what happens. The main issue people seem to have is that there is a risk of choking. Jordan easily chews/gums his food up, and then swallows. He sometimes gags, which is just their way of getting the food back into their mouth to chew a bit more. If you stay relaxed and just laugh and say something like "chew more!" and keep it all very relaxed, they stay very relaxed and figure it out quite quickly.
Gaggging - noise, coughing, tears in eyes, food coming back to mouth etc
Choking - no noise, no food moving, silence and baby not breathing, airway is obstructed.
2 very different things, both scary but one is normal and part of the process. Everyone should do a first aid course, as no matter what age you introduce food that has to be chewed, there is always a risk and it will give you some confidence if you know what to do in the event of a problem.
My way of thinking is "food for fun until they are 1" so I don't worry too much at each meal time about how much he eats, sometimes he just plays, sometimes gobbles up a heap of food, just go with the flow, they know what they need/want!
So yeah, if anyone wants to watch any of our videos I will post them up here for you!
Last edited by Roquen; August 18th, 2008 at 04:48 PM.
I was going to start something similar documenting our food journey... not with vids thou as i am not as good with that stuff...
I went to a talk last week and got a whole heap of information and thought that i would share it as i think this is a fantastic way to introduce solids and will be doing it despite the MESS !!!!
I agree with the choking/gagging stuff - it freaked DH and my Mum out the first time, but once they realised she was OK - it was all good.
The biggest points that i took away from the talk were that
Its all about letting your baby choose what he/she puts in theor mouth and that they enjoy the experience.
Milk-I am still BF too - is the most important and that meals should be about 20mins aftet a BF
At this age it is more about the taste, feel, smell and textures than the nutrition
you can start family foods straight away, these can be cooked veggies in wedges or rusk shaped, soft fruits, cooked soft ;and moist meats..
basically they can eat anything you are eatin, with exceptions on smaller peices or hard bits as they present a choking hazard.
We have 2 rules in starting at our houseq
MJ decides what she puts in her mouth, she is given several options on her tray and she picks up and eats or mouths what she wants - we can give things to her for her to take with her hands, but we put nothing in her mouth
If she appears to have had enough or gets upset, we finish straight away
First meal - Friday lunch
Stick of cheese (prefered this)
wedge of avacardo
stick of banana
Saturday morning
weetbix - wore most of it but loved mushing it everywhere
lunch
strawberries
dinner
Floret of broccoli, kiwi fruit, rock melon and avocado(she loves the broccoli and melon)
Sunday breakfast
Scrabled eggs (just played with it)
vegemite on toast (loved it)
lunch
stick of cheese and kiwi fruit
Dinner
some of my home made chicken pie (liked the chicken pieces)
Rock melon
Monday breakfast
Weetbix and stawberry
- no lunch - not interested
This has been such a fun experience and MJ loves sitting at the table with us all and eating. she looks around and feels part of the family. We give her a sppon and sometimes fill it with food, but let her put it in her mouth.
Roquen, i will keep 'logging' here too, hopefully we will be able to provide some of the answers that others have and examples of what we are doing i will post some pics in my gallery soon too
I am sorta going this way. I am giving him farex & fruit for brekky. Tried weet bix this morning, but have been using a spoon & feeding him that one.
Vegemite sandwich for lunch. He loves it. Then something while I'm getting dinner prepared for us. He's tried banana, broccoli & carrot so far.
Then I usually give him something from the spoon as well. Pumpkin usually.
I think I'll let him feed himself the mash tonight though. & I have a pear in the fridge to try.
I will put him more on the finger foods, just want him getting used to eating & swallowing a bit first. I'll get my confidence up though.
He's really good with bread!
BLS/BLW Information
i will post some pics in my gallery soon too
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