Starting solids? - Baby Led Solids Chatter

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!

Pear - First ever solids!

MOV07526.flv - Video - Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting


Carrot - first time

YouTube - Baby Led Solids - First Carrot

YouTube - Baby Led Solids - First Carrot 2nd vid

Zucchini

YouTube - baby Led Solids - zucchini

Hi Roquen, Great thread...

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

This is a great thread and i look forward to learning from your journeys!

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!

Sammijane - where was that talk? I'd love to go to something like that!

Jordan had some bannna for brekky today, then some avocado for lunch, and he also tried some fish, loved it!

Dinner will be some zucchini and carrot again!

bjrose - what I do with Jordan is chew with him, mouth closed, he always copies me, seemed to help him pick it up!

Thanks ladies for starting this thread, I am hoping to skip the mush stage as much as possible but DP is worried about choking so it is good that I can show him this. DP is very excited only 1 mnth to go before we start giving him solids :dance:

I do have a question, Sammiejane mentioned she waits 20 mins after a b/f before offering solids, when do you offer solids BJ & Roquen??

Also I always thought there was an issue with strawberries & eggs & allergies & they shouldn't be introduced until 9 - 12 mnths or something, I might be wrong but I just thought I might mention it & duck for cover ;)

njd - basically this talk that i went to (Roquen - it was run through our council - it was awesome) asks you to totally rethink theway that we feed.

EVERYTHING (well most things) is back on the list that was previously a no no...

IF you or your partner or any of your babies sibling have an allergy to something, it is advised to wait until 12 months, however this new evidence says that it is fine... how is this, PENUT butter (smooth) is fine right now...
Obviously if you are concerned dont do it, this is what i was told (please if you are not happy dont do it) but came from research from the RCH.

The only things to avoid are small objects atm like peas ,corn (unless mushed) and sultanas, oh and rice too...
Whole nuts are not advised until 5 years... but things like satay are fine.

Basicially they say, give you are having it for dinner, they can too.

NO added salt or sugar until they are old enough to ask for it, so when cooking dont add the salt, unless you remove a portion for your bubba first.

I dont always wait 20mins before offering, sometimes it is straight away, depebds on when she wants a feed and we sit down to eat... its what they said as a recommendation, so that they get the milk, which is where the nutrients are to come from first...

Oh and the lady said that farex is bad and should be avoided if possible. too many additives and additional Iron binds up baby...
And no juice unless you squeeze it yourself - but if you want to ge extra fluids you should offer water in a sippy cup if FF but BF babies shouldnt need any extra fluid as the BM will adjust to thier needs...

Cows milk as a drink after 12mths... no low fat milk until 2 years (but you can cook with milk)
Personally if i am doing something for her only i used EBM but if its a family thing she gets cows milk

Wow all that info is great! How awesome that your council is helping to educate about this!

With regards to timing of BF/solids etc. Jordan generally has a early morning BF around 6am, then he will munch on some fruit while I eat brekky around 8 or 9, then he will often have a quick BF again and snooze for an hour. Lunchtime is always a bit different, I sometimes offer him booby and he isn't interested but clearly wants food so I give him some then, then he will have a good drink afterwards. Evenings is always BF then if he hasn't gone to sleep I will offer some food then too, then he has another BF at about 10pm, then twice overnight usually (we mostly co sleep)

Oh which council was it? I wouldn't mind getting in touch with them to see if they could send some info here to my council to do something similar?

Roquen, it was Kingston council (vic)
They also showed the DVD by Gill Rapley which answered most of the Questions. It went for about 20 mins - maybe you could see if your council has a copy of the DVD as ours has one in all its centres

MJ had hommus on toast for dinner :)

7 - 7.30 = wake up
7.30 - 8 = bf
8.30 - 9 = brekky
9 - 9.30 = sleep
11 - 11.30 = wake up
11.30 - 12 = bf
12 - 1 = sandwich
1 - 1.30 = sleep
3 - 3.30 = wake up
3.30 - 4 = bf & sometimes back asleep.
6 - 6.30 = finger food while I prepare dinner
= spoon food til dinners cooked
7 - 8 = bf & bed.
Will wake up to 3 times atm for bf, but is settling down to 2.

He does have bf between those times as a drink too. Sometimes he will have a full feed straight after solids as well. Thats just an average of the last few days.
I don't think he's cut out, but he's more settled & is happier since starting solids. He was still waking every 2 hours through the night, but is more like the happy relaxed bubba I brought home from the hospital now.

Thanks for that info Sammiejane that is really interesting. I think the most thing about being a parent especially a new one is that things seem to change so much which makes BB even more invaluable as we can share info.

Ok - to updae what MJ has been eating the last few days...

Monday Dinner
Homemade Hummus on toast - she LOVED it

Tuesday

Breakfast - banana and rockmelon
No Lunch - too tired
Dinner - Pumpkin, cheese and straberry

Wednesday
Breakfast - Avocado on toast
No Lunch again
Dinner - broccoli, pumpkin and banana

Thursday
Breakfast - Banana on toast
Lunch - Broccoli and strawberry and a peice of avocardo

I am finding that some meals she is more interested than others... some days she will love one food, and another she will prefer something different.

DH has been working laste so we have have had no sit down dinners this week, hense the veggies and fruit for most meals.
She will sit in her high chair in the kitche while i tidy up or prepare other things and chat and munch on things.

Her dexterity has improved over this last week and is picking things better and finding her mouth easier...
She knows that sitting in the high chaor is fun and usually has a great big smile on her face:)

We are all loving it - nanna and tic toc (my dad) included :)

oooh can I pretty please have your recipe for hommus?

Jordan has been eating on average 2 times a day rather than the 3 we started off with. Doesn't seem as interested in solids of an evening, but look at brekky time, he sits in the high chair bashing it with his fist until the food arrives !

Lately he likes banana or avocado at brekky and a little bit of wholegrain toast to chew on, lunch tends to be just some vegies and/or a bit of fish - so carrot, pumpkin, zucchini etc. Will be trying some cheese this week and hommus if I can learn how to make it!

Also - as you will see in the videos - initially Jordan was gagging sometimes, that seems to have sorted itself out, he tends not to swallow at all until he has chewed enough, or it just comes back out! From memory I'd say he gagged slightly once or twice each meal for the first 3 or 4 days, then seemed to figure it out. I made a point of staying relaxed and just reminding him to chew more. I'm sure with new foods he may go through that again here and there but for now it all seems a lot easier and he is quite willing to have a chomp on everything we have offered, other than potato, not a real fan of that!

His 2 top teeth are now coming through, so that brings us to 4 teeth already arrrggg!

Hommus - I take a can of chick peas - drain liquid and set aside (going to do the soaking way soon, so will update with a new recipe when i have done it)
Juice from 1-2 lemons
Garlic (2-5 cloves depends how garlicy you want it)
some tahini paste (about 2-3 dessert spoons)
Put in food processor and blend...
to get desired consitancy add some of the liquid from the chickpeas

thats it :)

We had home made souvlakis friday night so MJ tried a bit of lamb and chicken... she LOVED the lamb. ( i dont eat red meat so she never will have had anything like that from the BM) She also tried a bit of fish to, which she really enjoyed, she actually couldnt get enough of that, so i think i will be doing fish a bit more often

MJ tends to onl have 2 meals too, she is too tired at one meal time

Roquen, isnt it funny how they know that food is coming already :lol: Yep the gagging has sorted itself out here too, and MJ doesnt like potto that much either
How old is Jordan? MJ has no teetth yet - 4 teeth wow, not looking forward to that and BFing :)

Thanks everyone for the great information.
mmmm - hummus

Roquen, your videos were great - and your DS is so cute! There was another one on utube that I found with a kid eating brocoli for the first time - it was so adorable. Definitely want to introduce foods this way, when the time comes.

Do we need a highchair or something like that...? They need to be able to sit up, don't they>?

Thanks for the info - we are starting BLS next week (we have delayed solids as Oliver is having surgery this week and we wanted to wait rather than shock his system with solids beforehand). We need to go to Ikea and pick up the high chair first too. I'm thinking we will probably start with pear and work from there. I've been told to delay wheat and dairy longer because of Oliver's eczema.

Great thread! I'm looking forward to reading more replies.

We are quite a way from starting solids but I think we will give BLS a try.

Jesse had a slice of orange & kiwi fruit today & loved it.
He's been having Avo on toast/bread for brekky & or lunch too.

Thanks for the recipe! What section of the supermarket will the Tahini paste be in?

I'm learning to bake bread, sick of buying crappy supermarket bread full of perservatives, will let you all know how that goes lol

Thanks for the vid comment - will try to do some more this week. Today he used his thumb and finger for the first time to pick up a piece of pear, big milestone as before it was getting messy with just the fist mashing everything up :-) !

Tahini is in the health food aisle...
I am also baking my own bread, my MIL had a bread maker that she never used so i got it... I am using the flour that you get from Safeway - leucke (or something like that, cant remember off the top of my head lol).. its really yummy and you feel so good about yourself when you eat it (although fresh bread tends to be eaten far quicker Good luck with the baking :)

I really need my DH toput some wheels on the high chair so i can move it easier, we have an wooden one that i love, however it is harder to move...

Great thread guys, I am glad i stumbled on it.
Little L has been staring at food for so long trying to grab mine, but i tried Farex and he was less than keen. Annoying people said keep trying, keep trying, he'll get used to it, but he looked like he was grossed out by it. So, I grabbed a banana - and OMG, he loved it. And then pear, and the same reaction. So, :p:p to all the people who said i had to give him Farex!!
I'm a bit sad though, it seems so early for solids? I feel like if i keep giving him more then i'm a bit of a BF failure, after working so hard to get the BF going so well.

ETA: now i need a Highchair - 'cos it's going to get messy!!

Lenny - I'm still bfing my little man. I only introduced solids this early coz he wanted them so bad. He was waking every 2 hours through the night for a feed & since starting solids he has gone back to waking twice a night, & then slept through til 6am last night!!!!!
Some babies are just ready before others.

Hi everyone,

well I showed DP Roquen video's of her DS feeding himself & we checked out youtube as well & it really inspired DP to want to feed our DS again. I don't really want to give him much mush, I'm hoping to skip this stage so these videos were really inspiring. So we have started solids, only very slowly & it is more about experimenting & having fun then eating. He is also getting teeth so while he isn't at the magic 6 mnth I figure teeth have gotta mean he is ready for some food & isn't baby led solids all about the baby's interest & development guiding us?

I would love any advice cause I am a bit worried that he may be a bit young but he has loved it so far. Roquen how old is your little boy?? how do you know if they have lost the sucking relex? He is sitting & is very interested in what we are having....

So our journey to solids started when I gave him a brocoli floret which he put it in his mouth & squished with his fingers & sucked his fingers. I am not sure how much he had (although there were bits of brocoli in his next poo) but he really seemed to enjoy it. We picked up another peice which he wanted of course so we gave it to him & the same thing happened. We then showed a peice of cauliflower which he wanted it & you could see from the look on his face that he could taste the difference, again he sucked but not with the same enthusiasm.
The next night DP mashed up some pumpkin to give him but he didn't really like it - I'm think it may have been because it was cold cause we then gave him a some brocoli which he loved & then we gave him a cube of pumpkin (which was warm) & he seemed to enjoy that more - again he squished it & sucked it.
The next day we gave him a strawberry which he wasn't that fussed with, he would have a bite & suck but that was about it. We gave him some banana which he managed to gum a chunk off & his expression was priceless, I don't think he liked the weight of it in his mouth & kinda had this disgusted look on his face so we fished it out for him :cryinglaugh:.
The next day (yesturday) we gave him some more banana which he seemed to enjoy more, he did have a gagg but you could see him bring it back up & he had no problems. He even seemed to swallow some. He may have just enjoyed squishing it in his fingers more than eating it though. At dinner time last night we gave him some avocado which was cold & he mainly just squished it, we gave him another peice of brocoli which he really enjoyed - again he gummed a pretty big bit & you could see him gag but he just brought it back up & spat it out & then put it back in his mouth so it mustn't have been that bad.

Funny little creatures they are ;)

And Lenny :hug: Little L's reaction to food has nothing to do with your b/m or lack of goodness it just sounds like he is ready for food. I have read elsewhere that babies that are having solids still b/f nearly the same amount that they use to before solids so you will still get that time with him

Lenny, starting solids does not mean that you should start weaning your bubs at all. Milk either BM or FF should still be the main source of nutrients, energy, vits and minerals etc until your baby 12 months. So please dont feel like a failure at all :)

MJ has not decreased the amount that she feeds at all, the soilds are so minimal at this stage that it is more about learning rather than the intake.

njd - its not the sucking reflex that needs to go, its the tongue pushing out reflex (dont know what its called) that needs to be absent, basically if your DS is taking food himself, he is fine, the tongue thing is when food is given to them, they push it straight out with their tongue. The only mush that we do, are foods that come like that, i.e. mashed potato or weetbix (and isnt the clean up after that fun!!!)

The screwing up of the face like its an awful taste is a reactiong to the new taste or texture i think, MJ does it a lot, but keeps shoving the food bak in, so she must like it.

MJ sometimes doesnt eat at all, she just plays and squishes the food all over the place, i figure she doesnt need it, but is also enjoying the experience.
I mop after every feed now :lol:

Tried some orange for the first time today - she loved it

I believe it's the tongue extrusion reflex....(could be wrong):redface:
Getting excited about exploring solids with DS, but he's not ready yet. Don't think it'll be too long now. He has used a sippy cup a few times, which he absolutely loves. Not solids, obviously, but something different.
Thanks for all the updates

:rofl: was having a preggy brain moment - but i cant even blame it on that as MJ has been here for amost 6mths and AF is here lol... i did know the name of the reflex, just couldnt find it in my clogged up brain... you were right marcellus thanks

i just call it the tongue thrust reflex... alex lost it about a month before we started.
i honestly think we could have waited a bit longer for solids but now that i see him with it im glad we started.


so far alex is really enjoying cheese sandwiches and pumpkin. any veges seem to go down really well, thank goodness as his father hardly eats them!

Does bubba need to have teeth to start BLS? I don't intend starting until DS is 6 months but though I would ask anyway.

SG
xo

I dont think its necessary they start chewing before they get teeth. they dont need to have teeth, you will find they sort of just like to suck and mucnch and spit it out after getting it all over their face to begin with anyway

Thanks cookiemonster.

No they don't need teeth.
Some babies don't get their first teeth til they are over 1.

Hi Shoegal, I read that someone's bub gummed her apple, skin & all no teeth, which is how she knew they were ready for solids. :lol: So no they don't need teeth. They were from BB but can't remember where - nappy brain I think they call it.

No teeth needed to start solids.
MJ slobbers all over things such as toast and they go softer and then she sucks and chews them.
She also bashes the food with her hands...
But as i have mentioned earlier, it is more about the experience that the intake... If you compare what you would be giving your little one if you were doing the mushy foods, you would start of with one teaspoon only - its a very small intake really.
The health nurses told me that grated apple was really good too.

Cookie, i would be interested in helping out with the paper :)

:

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The health nurses told me that grated apple was really good too.

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Interesting, thanks for that. DS has a tiny red mark on his mouth from the apple skin - i think it is too sharp.

He has been totally disinterested in anything that i have given him lately. My mother said Oh, keep trying blah blah, but I'm not going to force feed him! I keep offering, he keeps basically refusing, so that's fine. He still wants whatever I am eating though, but i guess it's just a curiosity thing. The BF's are going great at the mo, and he seems happy and settle most of the time, so I figure that he isn't hungry - just curious. But wow - he can fling food for miles from that spoon!

Lenny - why dont you give him what you are eating then?
We give MJ the same thing as us, or we feed her when we are not eating.
Sometimes a lot will go in sometimes she just plays with it - there is nothing wrong with letting them play and taste new things

lol thats hilarious lenny!
i always just give what we are eating becase thats when he wants it. he doesnt have a need for schedule yet so i only offer when its clear that he wants it. it works for him, it works for us and its clear to see he reallk enojys it learning rather than eating anyway

njd - Jordan was about 5 months and 1 week in those videos - he is just over 6 months now. You can tell re the reflex if they push the food back out, or try swallowing. It has pretty much been a one way street with food from the word go here, so we were always confident he was ready!

Updates from us - he is LOVING mutligrain toast with avocado - would say that is his favourite! My first batch of home made bread (by hand) is rising as we speak so he can try some of that later!

He has really gotten better at picking up the food off the high chair "table" now, and is quite efficient at getting it into his mouth ehhehe, lightning fast hands lol