i have been giving the subject of weaning a lot of thought recently

we are breastfeeding on demand...we have a vague routine but no set feeding times (generally a couple of feeds in the morning, a couple in the afternoon and alllllllllllll evening ) so how do i work out when elijah should be aiming to have some proper food? do you do it after a feed, like if he has his second morning feed at 10am give him a few spoons of rice after...or leave longer between them so he isnt already full? or do it seperately, OR try the rice first then the breastfeed???

uggh i think i am overthinking the whole thing!

I started by giving Stephen rice in the afternoon, about an hour after a feed so that he had room to try it but wasn't starving hungry either. I got advised to start him off at a time when he'd be nice and relaxed and there was no pressure on him to take it so either after a feed or you could try him with half a feed and then some rice. You could try it in different ways and see what he likes xxx

stalking you tonight

i would say make sure he's not too hungry otherwise he might reject the food. Ava usually has a milk feed about 1030 so when I first tried her with food I did at at 1200 , I just gave little tastes at first and then offered bf after that.

I do think its slightly harder than bottle feeding because they can have a set routine on when they get their milk, but ava's still errratic now, she can have a full lunch and still want a full milk feed so I just do it on demand still. (although i'm supposed to be stopping soon but I keep puting it off

oh, that sounds about the same then...i could give eli a feed at about 10, then he often has a nap but isnt hungry til maybe 1 so could try once he is awake from his nap (although having said all of this, a lot can change in 6 weeks )

i suppose we don't have to get it right first time, the perfectionist in me really struggles with the mummy!

As Pinky says make sure they aren't starving - as they won't want to try things then...so you could try giving half a milk feed and then see if he fancies picking at some bits

At first with BLW don't worry if he just picks things up, licks them, sniffs them etc - the experience is still there and obviously baby led means he will eat it when he chooses to eat it - and that's when he feels hungry enough and capable of eating it.

You will really have to get the perfectionist view out the window or you may find BLW extremely difficult - you need to be very relaxed and not to worry at all when he doesn't appear to like something or doesn't seem to be eating anything - it can take a while for them to swallow and take a decent amount when BLW - or he may take to it really quick - but because its his choice you need to be prepared to just take everything away untouched and try again tomorrow!

BLW *can* be very stressful if you put too much pressure on yourself and the baby - and stress won't help at all, so go in with the attitude that its ok if he doesn't even put anything in his mouth...anything extra is a bonus!

hmm i think from what i have read on the blw section a sort of relaxed approach is the way to go - i'm not all that comfortable with eli starting out with finger foods (i would like to give him a go at some purees and things first) so a sort of combo effort will probably be the way for us to go!
Having said that, i know eli's weight is really good and that he feeds plenty, so at least that is something i dont need to worry about - working out how much formula and stuff he needs, he's pretty good at letting us know when he's hungry!

You aren't alone there, lots of people feel a bit anxious, for whatever reason, about starting with finger food

I know some devout BLW's say that its no good if you do a bit of both - but I know of loads of people who started off with puree and then moved onto finger food - with no problem

I still spoon feed some things to Izzy - like most breakfasts because a)I don't have time for her to feed herself b) I dont fancy making 4 bowl fulls so that she gets 1 bowl full inside her c) can't really face the mammoth porridge hunt every day ...the dogs really can only manage to clean the floor... and the skirting boards at a push!