Thought I would start a thread on this as I am very interested in trying this with Lewis. He still has a few weeks till he is 6months old but thinking about it now. Anyone else thinking of trying this and we can take our journey together?

Yes me! Alfie is weaned with puree foods now but hes 6 months tomorrow and im hoping to start trying him on finger foods soon but im scared on where to start!! breakfast is a bit rubbish for him atm bless him as he only like porridge so cant wait to try him with toast and crumpets etc.

i think ill prob wait another week. weve just bought a high chair and want to get him used to sitting in this before trying out the food.

x

A bit of info for us all

• BLW babies look forward to eating; they enjoy learning about different foods and doing things for themselves
  
• Playing an active part in mealtimes and being in control of what to eat, how much to eat and how fast to eat it make eating more enjoyable; the opposite can make mealtimes miserable
  
• Being able to watch their child learn about food, without any pressure to ‘get her to eat’, means that mealtimes can be enjoyable for parents too
  

It’s natural

• Babies follow their instincts to eat when they’re ready – just like any other baby animal
  
• BLW uses the skills that all healthy babies are developing in the second half of their first year to help them to explore food at their own pace
  
• BLW allows babies to follow their instincts to use their hands and their mouths to find out about all sorts of objects, including food
  

Learning to enjoy and trust food

• With spoon-feeding all the tastes are puréed into one; BLW babies can discover different tastes and begin to learn how to recognise foods they like
  
• BLW babies are keen to try new foods; they rarely become ‘picky’ eaters or suspicious of food as toddlers – probably because they are allowed to use their instincts to decide what to eat and what to leave
  
• Enjoying a broad range of food is good for babies’ long-term nutrition as well as their enjoyment of eating
  

Learning to eat

• BLW babies learn to manage different shapes and textures of food from the very beginning, so they quickly become skilled at dealing with a broad range of foods
  
• Handling food himself and then putting it in his mouth helps a baby to work out how to manage foods of different sizes, shapes and textures
  
• BLW babies learn how to move food around inside their mouths and how much they can safely put in; they tend to bite off small pieces to chew, whereas older babies who have been spoon fed often over-stuff their mouths when they are first allowed to feed themselves
  
• Learning to chew effectively makes it more likely that babies will get all the nutrients they need – and it helps digestion too
  
• Practising chewing as soon as they are ready helps babies to develop the facial muscles that will be needed as they learn to talk
  

amyLVZalfiebear wrote:

Yes me! Alfie is weaned with puree foods now but hes 6 months tomorrow and im hoping to start trying him on finger foods soon but im scared on where to start!! breakfast is a bit rubbish for him atm bless him as he only like porridge so cant wait to try him with toast and crumpets etc.

i think ill prob wait another week. weve just bought a high chair and want to get him used to sitting in this before trying out the food.

x

Brilliant. Have posted some info and first foods to try xx

I don't know the first thing about blw so thanks for this! I went on a weaning course but the teacher was really anti blw so I couldn't find anything out! xxx

I don't really know much about BLW tbh but it sounds good from the info you have put there Amanda. I weaned Thomas on purees and I think I did it too early and he has had major food issues since 10 months old and still is a very very poor eater - it has been a nightmare tbh and I will do anything to avoid the same thing happening this time.

Am I right in thinking it is purely based around finger foods or can you do a mixture or mashed food off a spoon and finger foods? The only thing that worries me is that early on, when hand to mouth coordination isnt great, will they get enough food in to satisfy them without becoming frustrated? Like I said - I know nothing about it.

I'm not looking to wean Hannah just yet. I don't think she is ready and would like to get as close to 6 months as I can this time. She completely confuses me tbh. She was having 5x8/9oz bottles a day and was getting unsettled between feeds and drinking so quick that she was making herself sick A LOT! yet she still slept 11 hours at night and even when she woke in the morning would wait a good hour before wanting fed. I've moved her to hungry baby milk and she seems to be getting used to it and not taking as much but now I'm worried she isnt getting enough ounces for her size (she was 17lbs last weigh in 5 weeks ago so following her line she should be around 18lb 4oz now ) and she has also startde waking between 5.30 and 6 am but again is not hungry and will go back to sleep in our bed until 7.30 when Thomas gets up . She is such a different baby to Thomas that I'm unsure even of whet signs to look out for that she is needing more so will see if we get to 6 months. With BLW do you start at 6 months regardless if they are interested or not and if theyre not interested how do you then encourage them to put things to their mouths?

Lol - sorry went on a bit there ladies - just find it a bit confusing after having such a rubbish time with Thomas and food.

xx

yes i also am wondering if u can use puree and finger foods because i think i wud like to start with giving him some dinner an then maybe some fruit for desert that he can eat himself so banana or peaches?

x

the idea of blw is that you ONLY give foods they can feed themselves however some babies do need more than just the milk and so we would feed Tyler with purees and then give him finger foods either cooked veg or steamed fruit etc. rusks biscuits just little things to get him used to feeding himself.

I wanted to do this with Izzy, but she started on food a little too early so I fed her, however as soon as she could we gave her finger foods, now she eats lunch and tea (and snacks) herself.

She is not at all fussy - there are some things I keep offering but she still spits them out - they are lettuce & olives -2 things I love so I just pop a bit on her plate every time but she still doesnt like it - yet she chews it every time to check and then spits it out!

My personal view on the 'official' line of BLW is that it is WAY to strict..the idea that you sit in silence and do not encourage or praise your baby when they eat just flies in the face of how I want to raise my child - but in general I like the idea that we can all have lunch and she eats hers by herself.

I think Izzy is a good example to say that it is possible to do both and still be successful.

A really good book for finger food recipes is the Annabel karmel one, I also have her toddler meal planner with is great too!

p.s I have started a new forum for weaning so I have moved this to there as it makes sense to have an area for it.

I lot of BLW followers say not to do purees but I do both and it works fine.

amazing, will pop back when grumpybum is asleep for a proper read

I dont see the harm in a bit of both as they cant eat porridge with their fingers. I started H on purees then introduced finger food as well and he will eat most things now. I am just going to see how it goes and not stress about it x

Well i tried alfie with a little square of toast this morning and more ended up in his ear than down his throat!! but i think he enjoyed it!!

I gave Lewis a toast crust to hold today. He is still 2 young to eat it but thought i would let him have a hold lol x

We had to wean Drew at 3 months old because of his dietry issues. For the 1st 2 weeks it was baby rice only then moving onto veggie purees then onto fruits and other things, he is 6 months old in 2 days and eats lumpy food now, baby sized pasta, baby sized rice grains, bread crusts, baby biscotti this was all lead by him though (he grabbed my sarnie once and started knawing on it and didn't choak) so we are doing a mixture of baby led and with us guiding but I'd say 90% of it has been baby led as we don't want him getting any food phobias etc when he is older. He has little tiny lumps of full fat cheese (Lactofree cheese) he isn't keen on toast though, he will suck it then throw it lol but if we give him bread he'll nosh away quite happily.

Yesterday we introduced lumpier textures into his main meals (until then it was only lumpy rusks he'd had) and he was happily chewing (gumming) them and swallowing without any problems.

Mum said he's ready for lumps a month earlier because he was weaned a month earlier than other babies so therefore has a months worth of more experience in eating, I'm not sure how much truth there is in this but it makes sense (kinda) xxxxx

Well i gave L a crust of toast ti hold and he happily chewed on it till mushy, then i tried a rice cake and he did the same. Also tried him with a beaker and hes been drunking water out of it. Im so pleased x

I gave L a sweet potato wedge and he rammed it straight in lol, it went all mushy and then he gagged and was a bit sick and a small piece of potato came out. Then i got scared so gave him a bit of apple porridge which he liked x

ben is always chomping on his hands. tonight i put a crust in it and he got it straight to his mouth and chewed/sucked the life otu of it. i know he is a bit young for stuff like this yet, but he is teething and it helped him. obvie i was watchign him, well holding him, incase he choked!!

i always thought BLW was lettin the child tell u as and when they were ready for more than just milk. rather than having a set guidline on purees etc...

I dont think L likes purees but has happily munched on toast, rice cakes, cookex carrot sticks, cheese. I dont think he swallowed much but let the big pieces fall out without much gagging.

Hi all

Its good to see a blw thread going! When i started 9 months ago i posted a diary on another forum which a lot of us used to use. This seemed to spark a lot of interest and i think was useful to others wanting to try it. Might be an idea for you guys too.

At first Sophia didnt eat very much at all, it was more playing with the feel of it in her hands and her mouth. She started at five months because she decided to eat a piece of my toast from my plate and so i took that as a lead from her that she was ready to begin.

The next day she had avocado and really enjoyed having a good suck on it.

There is no set time to start, but they recommend six months as that is when most digestive systems are ready to deal with it. But some babies will wnat to atsrt before and some after. If you are milk feeding on demand, then this should be enough to keep them going anyway. The food at first is not to fill them up, just to explore. And milk should be ther main food. It took Sophia a good couple of months before she actually started eating much adn then another couple before she started eating full meals.

Another point, dont restrict yourselves to finger foods, any food goes, even porridge! Though very messy!

And BLW does not for one minute suggest you sit in silence whilst your child eats. Its not just about the eating but about the social interactions. I think what they mean is not drawing attention to it so they dont feel anxious about what they are doing. I do praise Sophia though if she does well, i just dont draw too much attention to it if it all goes wrong.

You are welcome to pm me if any of you want to know any more. Glad this thread is here, especially as this is a more and more popular method.

It worked briull for us, and sophia is brilliant with all food, not fussy at all really. I know many babies of her age, (though i dont for a second mean to take this as the norm) who are still on mashes and purees at her age. Sophia eats the same as us, just with ehr hands. She is though starting to experiment with a spoon and fork.

Too much information!

Mandy xx

Thanks Mandy for the info. I was a bit worried that he isnt really eating but as you say can take a while. He had a carrot stick tonight whilst we were all eating and he bit off a piece the gagged and was sick a bit but that just his body doing what it should do. Im going to try not to stress and let him take the lead x

yeah, its hard at first to see them gag, but it does get better. He'll soon get the hang of it. For ages, we ended up with more food on the floor than inside her. You will be able to tell when he does start to eat somrthing though, because you will notice fairly big lumps of half digested food in his poo! Sophia's first prperly eaten lump was strawberry! one whole chunk of it. And as they eat more, the lumps will get smaller and more digested, then when they are eating a decent amount, it will just chamge to adult type colour and eventually consistency. Sorry if tmi! lol

A few tips for porridge and rice and couscous and pasta

With porridge (talking the adult kind) make and add sweetener whilst still cooking, then serve into bowl and allow to cool for 5-10 mins. This helps the porridge set a bit and then you can serve out 'lumps of the porridge. easier to hold and much less messy!

With rice and cous cous, over cook lightly and then press into a weaning pot and turn out. Then you can cut it into 2 or four chunks, again easier for small hand to hold.

Pasta twists are a great one to start with as its a good size and the twists make it easier to hold. At first try plain as the sauce makes it slippery. But also, this is the best pasta to start with when they are able to pick it up with sauce on as it sticks evenly and not too slippery.

Hope that lot helps, do let me know if i get too carried away or annoying though!

MAndy x

We had a horrible incident at dinner. Gave L a roasted sweet pot wedge which he rammed in but he got some stuck and was awfully sick, scared him poor thing was horrible. Now im nervous about it! Keep thinking he should be eating food by now x

Oh no, poor you! Maybe try something softer like avocado, or cooked carrot, or banana. No skin on those so less likely to get stuck.

Try and persevere for a few days, see how he does. As i say, its not about eating yet, he gets everything he needs from your milk. But also, if you think about it, babies on purees only start on a couple spoons a day, so very little food in the grand scheme of things. He will get the hang in the end

But also, if you are really worried, why dont you try a bit of mix and match, some puree and some finger foods?

Hope it goes better for you guys soon, big hugs,

Mandy x