BLS when you're out?

[turtleschell]

Yes me again. Seems I need someone to hold my hand the whole way lol.

So I was at Mother's Group, and everyone was spoon feeding their babies gross looking pureed slop, and I didn't bring anything for DD because
a) she never really swallows anything anyway
b) didn't want to make a crazy giant mess in someone else's house

BUT DD seemed hungry. And seemed kind of envious of the other babies being fed. (She refused to bf, too, which seems to be the norm these days..)

Anyway, my point is:

How do you do BLS at someone's house? Do you bring heaps of cloth nappies and bibs and wash cloths and change of clothes?? Seems so troublesome. Or do you just wait till you get home?

And also, DD just seems STARVING. She's so mobile, it doesn't surprise me, but when I offer her solids, she has interest for maybe 10mins max, and only swallows 1cm of food.
Do I just ride it out till she finally starts swallowing, or should I try to help her get some food down (by spoon feeding etc, hand feeding etc)

I've been thinking about getting her allergy test done, but does anyone know what they do? Do they ***** her skin a billion times? Or is it a bunch of needles taking blood?

[Snowy Love]

I take a banana, a bib & hand wipes. Today there was a high chair I could use, but if not I'd just sit him on a flat nappy (on my lap or on the floor) & give him pieces, then wipe the floor afterwards. I don't find it that much more messy than purees were with DS1 anyway. I always have a change of clothes in my bag anyway.

[Arimeh]

Yeah what snowy said. Sandwiches are a good option too, not as messy as a banana.

[Barb Glare]

The great thing is, when they are out you don't need to take anything special. Just whatever you are having - a piece of fruit, a sandwich, an avacado - whatever. Don't refuse her food if she wants it - watching other people eat makes us hungry and it's not nice when you can't join in. My bet is that pretty soon they others would want what your baby is having.

[Loveinamist]

My baby loves gnawing on a finger pieces of pitta bread with vegemite (spread pretty thinly so less mess!!) on it.

[Swoop]

I sit DD in a highchair if there's one available and in her pram or on my knee if not. I take her sandwiches, corn cobs, corn cobs, cucumber, rice cakes or cruskits with avo, dried apricots and dates as the least messy options. She also shares whatever I'm having, but I usually take some of her own food incase what I'm having isn't suitable or practical where we are going. Now she's getting older (10 months) she's usually less messy so I take a greater variety of foods with me - the spaghetti bol and blackberries ae still reserved for when we're at home though lol.

ETA: incidentally, a couple of people from my mothers group started introducing foods that bub could hold, and another got really into BLW, after seeing how well DD was handling her food

[Loveinamist]

Last time I was out with my MG I had a smoked salmon bagel and just tore off a finger piece of the bagel and a strip of salmon for him and sat him in a highchair provided by the cafe. The other mums were fascinated by the way DS was so confident and independent with the real food I had given him. They spent the whole time spoonfeeding their babies and complaining about how hard finger foods were because their babies tend to shove too much in (probably because they are so used to swallowing bucketloads of puree and haven't had enough experience of experimenting with textures and shapes ;-P ) Then they had a lot of trouble getting to eat their own food. They then saw me sitting eating casually and DS sitting beside me eating independently (even if he didn't swallow much!). They no longer are so disparaging about BLS!!!