BLW or rice cereal or purees????

Hi everyone,

I've read a few posts/threads about baby led weaning and solids but am still needing some advice please!

DD2 is 5 months, shes a big booba, 7.2 kgs at 4.5month weigh in, was 10.2 pounds when she arrived into the world. My mchn is advising me that she's a big girl and is 'needing' more, ie, solids and is encouraging me to start. I started DD1 at 6 months and feel I should do the same this time around, I don't know why it just feels right?? She is looking at my food....has been for a while actually, and has started reaching out but when I looked at other posts about BLW most mummas wrote that their bubs were sitting, whereas my DD2 is not by herself yet. DD1 is quite fussy (understatement!) and I did the whole puree thing so maybe that contributed to fussy-ness? So this time around I don't want to feel like I'm 'shoving' a spoon of food into DD2's mouth, even though I think she'll take it!

So in a nutshell I think I'll wait another few weeks, whats a few weeks after all, and go with BLW but does she have to be sitting by herself...what if shes not? I think shes ready even if shes not sitting up by herself. Also should I start with a little bit of rice cereal before going to BLW? Has anyone else done a mix of BLW and purees? I ask as DD1 won't mix her food even at 5 years! So I thought if I did BLW DD2 can control her food herself but in purees I can mix different flavours so hopefully she's not as fussy as her big sister!

Thanks ladies :-)

I forgot she is exclusively breast fed at the moment so I am a little bit proud of how shes grown just on boobie milk with her little rolls! :D

They don't 'need' solids before 6 months if they are breastfed. Breastmilk has everything and it is a creamy, fatty milk.

For when you do decide to begin solids, it doesn't have to be one or the other. Do a mix of both. And purees don't have to be totally smooth, and you don't have to begin with baby cereal.

My boys were almost sitting alone when we started blw at 6.5months. They could sit with a little support.
Its good to remember that milk is higher in calories than the little solids their tummies can hold.
Id wait as it sounds like you want to.
We offered a couple of times a week from 6 months and they took a bit of practice to be able to get the food to their mouth but when they did it alone we knew it was cos they were ready :)

I agree with bellany. Just because she's a big babe does not mean she needs extra feeding. You've obviously provided well for her until now.
I can't help with the purees as I've never used them, but the reason they give the sitting guideline is to show good head and torso control and lessen the risk of choking.

The fact she's so big I'd say she's being fed fine I do a mix of purée and blw with both ds isn't too fussy but I think it comes down to personality some kids are fussier than others

If she's big, that's evidence enough that milk is doing its job, no?

We did BLW with some puree but never rice cereal. When DS was about 5 months, sitting with some assistance and had several teeth, we just started giving him what we were having. At 1 he can now spoon feed himself cereal with minimal mess. He is no way near fussy, will taste everything and eat most things.

ETA: rice cereal is just a processed, refined 'filler' there is nothing nutritional about it hence all the added iron etc. Also the cereal being an empty carbohydrate is just converted into sugar by the body anyway. Actual food is better, there are lots of different textures, tastes and colours which is a learning experience for kids. If you offer a variety (the full 'rainbow') there will be enough iron, vitamins, folate etc etc to keep baby healthy. You could puree them if you wanted to.

We did a bit of a mix with DS - he had rice cereal, purees and whatever was on our plate that could be finger food! He ate beautifully and tried everything until about 2...but at 3.5 he flat out wont eat fruit, doesn't like things mixed at all and is a pretty fussy kid. It's more of a sensory thing than a BLW vs purees thing.

Sounds like you're already doing a great job feeding your baby.

If you do a nutritional comparison of breastmilk versus *anything* else, breastmilk wins. More calories, more complete nutrition. Saying baby needs 'more' doesn't really make sense at this age, because if she really needed more, the best thing would be more breastmilk anyway. However, since she's 'big' then that suggests she's doing very well on breastmilk alone. Well done.

A healthy, full term baby will need a complementary source of iron and zinc sometime after 6 months. That's basically why 6 months is the recommended time for introducing solids. Complementary means small amount in addition to breastmilk, which remains the most important source of nutrition till 12 months or so. Basically, this is because it provides pretty much everything they need and is the best source of nutrition for at least this long.

When babies are given lots of solids early, this displaces breastmilk in their diet and they actually end up getting 'less', and there's also the risk of precipitating early weaning - the other reason for the 6-month guideline.

Baby's expand their palates through exposure to the foods in your diet when pregnant and breastfeeding, as well as having a wide range of foods available to them when they start eating. If you follow her lead, you can simply let her share in your family meals - no need for pureeing or any extra work like that.

:)

Yep, what MadB said!

Plus, have you actually tasted rice cereal??? Tastes revolting! ;)

In all seriousness - I always say to myself that I won't feed my babies anything I haven't tasted myself, or wouldn't eat myself, so I tried rice cereal... Blegh. Much easier to just feed them what I'm eating ;)

I didn't mind the taste of rice cereal tasted like vanilla pudding

I'd follow your instincts. Only you know what's right for your bubba.
We gave DD anything and everything (except honey) from about 6 months cause she was so interested and we gave her tastes of things before that if she was keen. We did BLW and some spoon feeding cause some stuff you just need a spoon for. Our goal was to give her a huge range of tastes and textures including the top allergenic foods before 7 months of age. If I was eating rare steak, she'd suck on a strip. If I was eating goats cheese I'd give her a taste. Dhal, spiced foods, veg, new stuff... She got it all. But never rice cereal- not a fan of the stuff. There's heaps more yummier stuff that's rich in iron than rice cereal and iron rich foods that your LO will love and eat for a lifetime. Can't say I know anyone to say that rice cereal is still their favourite food :-)

ETA- here's the article from Kellymom that helped me to wait a bit longer before officially offering solids.

http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starti.../delay-solids/

Thanks everyone so much for your replies I appreciate it very much :-) I will wait till 6 months, it is only about another 3 weeks or so and hopefully she'll be sitting more by then...well kind of! Will think of something to tell the Mchn why I haven't started haha! OceanPrincess you remind me of my DP! With DD1 he would say 'have you tried it, it tastes crap!' I did think to myself well if she's hungry why isn't she just wanting more and more boobie?? So starting solids felt weird cause she'd be on boobie all day if she was starving! After your replies think I'll give rice cereal a miss totally and start with a chunk of a veggie. One other question popped into my thoughts....if broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage cause gas/reflux with bf what about if you offer it when doing solids, ie, a soft chunk of broccoli....does it have the same effect?? Thanks again ladies :-)

Glad you made a decision you're pleased with :)

As for the gas/reflux foods, its an individual thing. If your DD reacts to those things in your Breast milk, I'd imagine she would do the same with chunks. However, I wouldn't avoid it on the off chance she might react. DS loved his steamed broccoli chunks as a Bub, along with steamed carrot and zucchini sticks. ;)

Very coarsely Pureed cauliflower and broccoli were an early favourite with DD. She was a gassy baby but they were not culprit foods for her during BF or solids.

When it came time to starting solids, both of my kids were over the gassy thing for the most part. One loved broccoli, one loved cauliflower. Both really loved potato early on, but just shunned it for dinner tonight, in favour of carrot. Weirdos.

You're the mama. You'll know. ;)

My dd is obsessed with broccoli at the moment, it hasn't caused any problems but she might fart a bit more. She eats a lot of 'farty' foods though so could be anything- just try it and you'll find out!

FWIW my mchn pressured us to start solids at 5 months too, but that was because she was 'too small' so I think some mchn just like babies to start early and come up with any excuse. Made no difference to her weight of course lol.

We did a mixture of purées and blw, but dd quickly decided she wouldn't be spoonfed and mostly eats everything with her hands(whether it's actually doable or not) it's funny watching them try and eat yoghurt etc with hands!

I wouldn't bother with rice cereal, we used it a handful of times only.

Thanks so much for replies!! We are starting today!! :-) Going with steamed pumpkin chunks to start...have dd1 pumpkin first so go with the same, except blw instead ofpuree! I have another quick question, is it possible...and how do you pre-prepare foods for blw?? I did the puree thing for DD1 and froze in, an, ice cube tray portions of puree...can I steam veggies in chunks &.freeze? I know sounds silly but for days if we eat something she can't have?!

One of the great things about BLW is that you don't prepare separate meals, you just share what you're having :)

I still make some baby stuff and freeze it, eg fish fingers, meatballs, zucchini slice, so that I can grab something out for lunch, especially if we will be out and about or if I am in a rush. My DD eats earlier than us most of the time, and sometimes we have stuff she wouldn't eat like hot curries etc, so I do make separate stuff about 50% of the time or hers is an adapted version of what we are eating. There's a good blog I found by a woman who puts up recipes for BLW, I use her stuff a lot, google my lovely little lunchbox.

Thanks girls :-) think I'm just paranoid & unsure as different to doing purees like I did with dd1!?! MadB I still remember how used to be told to do same food for 3 days for allergies, is it diff with blw? Did pumpkin chunks dd2 was so excited you could see, she reached out for the bowl...couldn't wait, squished it a bit, straight in mouth & then very obviously didn't like it haha...neither did her big sister with pumkin! Should I do pumpkin again tomorrow or can I try different....thinking banana, think both girls have my sweet tooth! ;-) I borrowed blw book by jill rapely(?) Which says no need to do same food for 3 days, just wanted to see what others have done, not trusting myself! Saffy thanks so much will check it out, I get all ' creative' & enjoy recipes etc with baby food but not as, much with 'normal' food hah!! :-)

I give everything, you don't need to wait now, they changed the guidelines. Have fun and enjoy the mess lol!

Hahaha thanks Saffy :-) I have a mess mat but she has a good arm lol!! :-) in & out today so will go with banana as it's portable! Have a great day and thanks again :-)

The allergy guidelines have changed, yes. Unless you note a reaction to something - and if you have a family history of allergies you may want to be a bit more cautious - there's no need to delay anything or go so slow.
The broader the range of foods available to them, the broader their palate will be.
Remember, also, that some of these suggestions for introducing solids that are still around are geared to 3-4 month old babies who cannot sit up or chew and swallow and so are at significant risk of choking, whereas if you wait till your baby is ready to actually eat, then they can handle it all themselves.