Baby-led solids: Where on earth do I start???

[Artechim]

Melody, you don't need to offer him cereal if you don't want to. Most people don't know that babies can start eating whole food this young. I bet if you suggest finger food to them they will look at you in horror and tell you the baby will choke. They are feeding cereal because they don't know any different.

My mum growled at me for feeding my DS finger food and said she hoped we knew first aid for when he choked but then she saw him actually eating something and I haven't heard anything about it since lol

My DS is 7.5 months now and apart from a few dismal attempts to spoon feed him he has never had puree or cereal. He is very happy to eat bits of fruit/veges/cheese or whatever is on our plates. He loves to chew on meat even though he usually doesn't swallow any. To be honest he probably only eats a couple of spoons worth of food a day but he is happy trying and at this age the amount they eat doesn't matter.

Try not to doubt yourself, if you and your bub are happy then it doesn't matter what the other mums are doing.

[MantaRay]

Melody, I agree with Artechim. Most people start their babies on cereal because that's what everyone else does, and they don't know better (like you do ). There is actually no nutrional benefit to those commercial baby cereals, so you are doing your baby an extra favour by not giving them. If you do want to give cereal, you would be far better off to make your own. But what you are doing is far easier, and will continue to make life easier for you and bub as they will be eating the same as everyone else earlier. How much better will it be for you to not be preparing two different meals each time - and also for meals at restaurants and other people's houses!!

[happygirl]

can I just say I looked for this thread looking for some encouragement and thankyou I got it!!

My bub is 7 months old and HATES being spoon fed. He loves and is so interested in food though. I didn;t know about baby led weaning - the only thing I have been able to do is give him bits of banana, steamed carrot, broccoli, cheese, cucumber, pieces of mandarin to feed himself. He loves doing this but doesn't really get any in. (although there was some bits of broccoli in his poo-yuk) I 'm still breatfeeding him as much as he wants.

I've been worrying because the other babies in my mums group are eating heaps and the lady on the parent help line said I might have 'missed the boat' when it comes to solids because he hasn't learned to eat from a spoon and that he should be eating a cup of food plus dessert by now!

It has really stressed me out because I felt like a bad mum for not getting him onto solids earlier. The parent help line lady made me feel scared he will never learn to eat, that his nutrition is compromised and will never wean! I don't want to wean him yet though and he certainly doesn't!!!

Anyway thanks for the great comments and discussion. I felt better after reading this.

CAn you just reassure me that it is ok for him just to play with his food at this stage? Wll he get better at actually eating it? I just really don't want to force feed him with a spoon its horrible.

Thanks again.

[MantaRay]

Oh happygirl, big hugs. It's awful when people undermine you like that. Absolutely he will be fine. Many bf babies don't take to solids until later on. My first DS really didn't eat anything until 8 or 9 months, and only ate any sort of quantity at nearly 1. He is now 3yo, very, very healthy, a good weight - and a great eater. I know of many others who's kids were the same. Your DS sounds perfectly normal to me - probably he's just smarter than most bubs, he knows where the good stuff comes from . I'm guessing your MCHN doesn't see so many bf bubs - how sad really!

[Melody7]

Hi,

CAn you just reassure me that it is ok for him just to play with his food at this stage? Wll he get better at actually eating it? I just really don't want to force feed him with a spoon its horrible.

The Breastfeeding Association have told me "food is for fun until they are one" - a great mantra! They say that introducing solids is more about a baby exploring tastes and textures and developing technique. My DS has a great time exploring and experimenting with his food now.

I must say, I've come a long way in the month since posting this thread. I now have great confidence in my son's ability to feed himself. I watched my MIL today hovering over him and getting agitated over every little cough or movement - thinking he was going to choke - and he wasn't. He's constantly refining his techniques and is becoming better at feeding himself as time has passed. Having said that, he doesn't have 3 meals a day every day and eats varying amounts each time. He's still a BF baby, with no intention of stopping (from my perspective or his).

I tried some rice cereal with him one day because I was eating porridge - and he hated it. Why bother with the hassle? He'd much rather feed himself a nice 1/4 pear or finger of zucchini (his fav atm).

Don't be afraid to be a bit different. I'm now asking mums when I see them feeding their babies mush, something like: "why are you feeding him/her that?" (nicely, of course). It's got them thinking!

[LimeSlice]

So I am startingto think about all this solids stuff (omg shes growing up on me!!)
I know this will sound silly given everything everyone has posted, but am really paranoid about her choking! I have had choking scarethis week with DD chewing (gumming) envelopes to their very soggy death. she has been doing this for a while, and I didnt think much of it, until a few days ago when she started choking on a soggy wad of paper!! Mum tells me we all ate papaer at that age and now to worry, she will learn, but I am so paranoid now! So lucky she was on my lap at the time!
So now I am paranoid about her choking on food!

Is there really no chance of her choking?

[MantaRay]

LS, it's not that there's NO chance, but it's very unlikely. There is less chance of choking on finger foods than on spoon fed mush. And you should always supervise them when eating jic, but it not likely to be a problem. Certainly neither of my boys have ever choked.

If you haven't done a first aid course for parents/carers, it is a good thing to do for a variety of reasons, including learning what to do if they choke. St Johns and Red Cross run them, and mostly likely other organisations too. Might give you some peace of mind?

[Janie]

LS, MR is right, it's not that there's NO chance, but it's less likely when they are feeding themselves, rather than you feeding them from a spoon. When they feed themselves, they are in control, rather than having an unknown quantity of unknown food shoveled into their mouth, IYKWIM?

We do a mix of spoon feeding, and DS feeding himself, whatever works at the time (I only heard about BLS when DS was 10 months ). We very much follow his lead. It works really well for us all, particularly when DS is feeling a bit fussy, instead of it doing my head in I just steam him up some vegie fingers, and some pieces of pasta, maybe a stick of tasty cheese, and let him go for it, he loves it! And that way, if he's not particularly hungry, I don't stress, because I don't really know how much he's eaten LOL. Otherwise I tend to get a bit worried and wonder why he doesn't want to eat Even though I know it's perfectly normal. I do wish I'd known about this when we introduced solids, though it hasn't impaired his self-feeding in any way. Oh well, there's always next time