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[poachedegg]

Our little fosling is coming upto weaning and the thinking now is Baby Lead Weaning (BLW), which I did not experience with my birth children.

 

I have done some reading on it, so get the idea of it, however am a little stuck on what to get started on, so would be grateful for some tips.

[SarahJo]

The posts move soooooo quickly with everything nowadays. I started with a little baby rice mixed with formula milk, then little cubes of pureed apple, carrot etc. Added baby rice to these cubed fruit/veg purees and then progressed.

 

Not sure if this is the "new" way tho' - only seemed yesterday that I did it

[scarlettohara]

19 years ago ( ) I started with baby rice mixed with formula or weetabix.

[bigmommasally]

Firstly I have no experience of baby led weaning I weaned mine over 20 years ago the old fashioned way with baby rice but I've had some interesting discussions with a friend with new baby about it, The idea (I think) of baby led weaning is that they feed themselves finger foods from about 6 months rather then being fed mushed up food from a spoon. The thinking being that if they have developed the manual dexterity to pick up the food with their fingers then their chewing development should be at the same stage, so less risk of choking.

 

Any fruit/vegetable, that they can pick up such as Broccoli, courgette, cucumber,carrot, banana, pear, roast potato, potato wedges, sweet potato wedges, butternut squash wedges. Slices of toast, pasta shapes, rice cakes are all good things to start with, before progressing on to meats (if you're not raising them as a veggie).

 

I think the "rule" of introducing one food at a time still applies.

 

Good Luck

[bigmommasally]

Some nice recipes on here:

 

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/healthy_eating/baby_led_weaning.asp

 

[Snowy]

The way I saw it, it was about letting the baby tell you when he was ready for solids, mainly by showing an interest in joining in at the table! I sort of used it with my last one - he always joined us at the table for meals, even when still breastfeeding. I'd get a bit of mash on my finger and let him suck it off, or give a carrot stick to try and just built it up from there. I don't think I had the same rigmarole of preparing lots of baby foods as I did with the first two. He just had modified portions of what we had, when we had it! I did use baby rice a lot, just to temper some tastes and add bulk when he couldn't have everything the same as us. Something obviously went right as he has a very wide range of tastes and is the least fussy eater of all of them

[poachedegg]

Thanks guys!

 

Bigmommasally and Snowy are correct in their description of BLW - basically there is no need for puree as by 6 months as long as they are sat upright and can handle things then their own digestive system tells them what they can eat - it has to be put in the mouth by baby and they sort of self manage......it was the type of foods to start with I was stuck on, as a first they should have things cut into thick chips shqpe or with a natural handle like broccoli.

 

My first birth child was over 19 years ago - so a different way of thinking for me too.

 

I've also got to think of a way to explain how it works to Mum when she goes to contact, so may have to be a mixture of BLW and old style weaning.

 

...... thanks for the link too Bigmomma.

[bronze]

I did blw without knowing there was a proper term for it (until this last one)

 

It just means giving them solids and not purees and letting them feed themselves.

The indicators arent watching you etc like people think but that they are sitting well on their own and have lost the tongue reflex.

 

I just fed mine what we had but making sure I avoided higher salt stuff etc.

Its great I just give him the same and he sits at the table with us and eats.

 

Aitch on mn did a blog that lots of my friends raved about http://www.babyledweaning.com/

I'm too lazy to make sure I'm doing things the 'proper' way. They're all still with me

[freddie]

I'm so out of it I thought the babe needed weaning from fairy lights or something

[sadietoo]

my last experience was 16 years ago..as was the done thing then I just introduced him to little bits of "proper" (suitable) food, baby rice etc...I think he was about six to seven months at the time, ..I used a combination of annabel karmel, baby and toddler food book, and a smaller (penguin?) paperback by someone called I think Sheila Hull ( but don't quote me on that)....he ate everything I made for him, but still wanted regular breast feeding, .... We finally managed to wean him completly at age 2. (He would never take milk from a bottle and really didn't like cow's milk in a sucky cup...in fact subsequently we have found he is allergic to dairy,). He still has really bad eczema and I wonder sometimes if I tried to move him onto solids too soon...but maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. In any event..it seems to me Baby Led Weaning can only be a good thing..you only have to look at their little inscrutible faces to know how wise they are!!!

[Aunty e]

I'm afraid I didn't have the time or patience for BLW. Mog gets some of our food when we're eating, but the mess they make is just unbelievable! We only really just started getting down to giving her regular meals and she's heading for nine months old, but she really didn't show much interest before then, so we let her eat when she wanted to and only started giving her regular solids about three or four weeks ago. She adores the Heinz dinners and breakfasts - it's a bit like smash, only baby food and doesn't go off like jars do. Very handy for travelling too. Spoonfeeding is about a billion times easier for us, I can get a meal down her in five minutes and not worry about making sure that what we eat is ok for her to eat (it almost never is) or having to change her entire outfit and wash her face after she's eaten. When we have eggs for breakfast, she has one too, mashed up and fed to her, although we let her eat her own toast by herself. When we eat out we feed her from our plates and make sure that at least one of us has something she likes.

 

It really worked well for lots of the girls in my antenatal group, and I really thought I would like it, but it just wasn't for us I'm afraid.

[The Dogmother]

The way I saw it, it was about letting the baby tell you when he was ready for solids, mainly by showing an interest in joining in at the table! I sort of used it with my last one - he always joined us at the table for meals, even when still breastfeeding. I'd get a bit of mash on my finger and let him suck it off, or give a carrot stick to try and just built it up from there. I don't think I had the same rigmarole of preparing lots of baby foods as I did with the first two. He just had modified portions of what we had, when we had it! I did use baby rice a lot, just to temper some tastes and add bulk when he couldn't have everything the same as us. Something obviously went right as he has a very wide range of tastes and is the least fussy eater of all of them

 

I did more or less the same 12 years ago. I tried Rosie on a bit of 'baby mush' but she much preferred the look of what I had, so I fed her a chopped up version of that. Sometimes I spoonfed her, other times, she fed herself - with the usual accompanying mess ) I just put a plastic sheet under her high chair or let the dog graze on the floor underneath!

 

She's big, strong and healthy and eats anything so it must have worked.

[PurpleTree]

My 2 boys were quite different, Danny was a starver and was ready to start weaning at 4 months, which meant basically pureed veg and fruit as you're not meant to give them gluten eg. weetabix, bread, pasta. I did use a lot of jars as they were just easier for me. Oliver wasn't so bothered and I waited until near enough 6 months, by which time they can have bread and weetabix and can move onto chunkier things a lot quicker, which makes life a lot easier. Oliver joined in family meals a lot quicker than Danny, I did still start him on purees though, but like I said once they get the idea of that you can move on to chunkier things quickly. It depended on what we were eating as to how I gave it to them, mostly I did let them get on with it with their fingers, unless it was something messy like baked beans or spag bol.

 

Good luck however you decide to do it, have your dustpan and brush at the ready

 

I use Netmums quite a lot and they've got a piece on baby led weaning here http://www.netmums.com/food/Baby_led_weaning.2028/ as well as other types of weaning tips.

[fluffyknickers]

I have a five and three year old and did a mix of BLW and 'normal' purees/mashed up and it worked well.

 

For example while I was in the kitchen preparing lunch/dinner I would put some pieces of cooked veg for example on their tray such as a piece of cooked broccoli or carrot sticks and they would pick it up and munch on it and best of all it kept them busy and entertained. Also at 7months they would have rice cakes, bread sticks etc.

 

I also went on to pieces of chicken to hold and home made chips (wedges) or cubes of cooked potato or pieces of roast spud and they can end up having a whole dinner just from picking up pieces, then if you ever think they havent really eaten a lot if it you can assist with spoons of mashed up/pureed veg/casseroles etc. They can have soft or cooked fruits the same too. They can also then go on to have pieces of bread/toast etc.

 

Personally I found that at times when tired etc that I would still feed them in the 'conventional' spoon method to ensure they had a good meal and wouldnt wake hungry!

 

Breakfast was easy too with easy to pick up cereals like shreddies and cheerios.

 

Just keep an eye on the ages they are allowed certain things as this keeps changing!

 

Enjoy!

michelle

[poachedegg]

Thanks for all your input guys!

 

Health Visitor came yesterday and we discussed my concerns on how practical doing sole BLW would be, as baby is fostered with us and has contact with Mum twice a week (when she turns up, but thats another story ) and as Mum would have to feed her at contact I wasn't sure if she would be up for BLW, so we are going to go with what most of you seem to have done and basically what I did with my own children and have a mix of pureed fruit/veg for now (3 weeks early, so will wait until 6 months+ before giving gluten etc) and offering finger food when she is in her highchair.

 

I wish I could update you with some photos of Baby as she is growing into a lovely, little cutie pie!

[Aunty e]

Oh, I didn't realise you fostered, how lovely! You must get horribly attached though, they're so cute at six months...

 

I would really recommend these things

 

http://www.heinzbaby.co.uk/products/baby-food/product-list.aspx?q=Heinz%20Dinners&r=1

 

Sold in Boots and Tescos that I know of. They do breakfasts as well, and Imogen can't get enough of them. We started her off on the broccoli one, as you can make it really smooth and she was like a starving little bird, it's the cutest thing ever. I really like that there's very little wastage and that it's made fresh, rather than half empty jars stashed in the fridge. If you get little weaning pots with lids, it's super convenient to take out and make up when you need it too.

 

They should pay me for this advertising really, I've been telling everyone I know with babies about it

[Shirl]

Sorry I didn't see this post before. I did BLW with H (traditional way with the other 3). I am a massive fan and to be honest if you provided someone with the food I can't see why they'd object. If the parent is the sort of person not wanting to cook a few sticks of carrot or won't use a few sticks you've pre-cooked them then you could have problems. Good luck with whatever method you use.

[poachedegg]

I am a massive fan and to be honest if you provided someone with the food I can't see why they'd object. If the parent is the sort of person not wanting to cook a few sticks of carrot or won't use a few sticks you've pre-cooked them then you could have problems. Good luck with whatever method you use.

 

It's a little more complex than just providing some food for them - Mum isn't in a good place at the moment so may not be able to take on a different concept to what she may have used with her previous child and sometimes their food maybe the only control they have in their child's live at the moment, so again maybe not necessarily be open to new things.

 

We have only been fostering for nearly 6 months now and its amazing what you learn about people, especially people who ordinarily you wouldn't mix with, suprisingly you do start to empathise with them (though the empathy does only go so far!)

 

Have given Baby a little baby rice today which was fine, going to try banana tomorrow with some carrot sticks for finger food.

[theherd123]

Im positive the little one will enjoy anything thats offered but go for mild/bland tastes to begin with & orange veg are more easily accepted by the system than green veg when weaning begins - so I was told by my health visitor.

 

Isabelle loved butternut squash & carrot. I also used to mix the veg with either a little pear or apple to make it taste a touch sweeter.

When she is well established with food try parsnip, pear & basil. Also apple, raisin & cinnamon stirred into baby rice or porridge. These were a real hit with Isabelle.

 

Be careful when introducing wheat and other higher allergen foods as she may show signs of allergy. Unfortunately Isabelle is allergic to many foods and this firsted showed when we weaned her.

[Shirl]

I see, not knowing the background always makes it difficult to comment. Yes I think for everyone doing something in a diferent way is always harder than doing the same things than has been done before. For those with other issues I can see it might be too much. My sister fostered and then adopted a baby so I'm aware of some of the issues.

 

Well good luck and I'm sure it will go well.

[poachedegg]

Im positive the little one will enjoy anything thats offered but go for mild/bland tastes to begin with & orange veg are more easily accepted by the system than green veg when weaning begins - so I was told by my health visitor.

 

Isabelle loved butternut squash & carrot. I also used to mix the veg with either a little pear or apple to make it taste a touch sweeter.

When she is well established with food try parsnip, pear & basil. Also apple, raisin & cinnamon stirred into baby rice or porridge. These were a real hit with Isabelle.

 

Be careful when introducing wheat and other higher allergen foods as she may show signs of allergy. Unfortunately Isabelle is allergic to many foods and this firsted showed when we weaned her.

 

Didn't know that about orange food - so thanks for that.

 

Baby was a little early, so am going to leave the gluten products etc until she is about 6.5 months old just to be on the safe side.

[theherd123]

Baby was a little early, so am going to leave the gluten products etc until she is about 6.5 months old just to be on the safe side.

 

 

The advice given to a friend who had her baby 5 weeks early is to wait 5 weeks for any developmental sstages & to use this with weaning too.

So when starting to wean at 6 months she will wait til 6 months + 5 weeks (approx) and to keep this up til her baby is around one. It allows for the babies system to 'catch up' apparently.

 

This is a really informative link

http://www.nhs.uk/Planners/birthtofive/Pages/Weaningfirststeps.aspx

[bronze]

With prem babies you go by actual age not corrected unless the paed says otherwise. Thats why with dd we weaned her more with purees as prems are the exception to the sitting up rule (some never sit up after all).

 

In your case I would do a mix of blw and a few purees but still wait for all the correct weaning signs first.

That way you can focus mor eon blw when you want but mum can do purees. As long as baby is happy to eat both then there will be no problem.

I blw and with the is last one hes now 13 months but for some reason I still spoon feed him his yoghurt though he feeds himself other things with a spoon. I think because from an early age that was the one thin gI always fed him myself.

[bronze]

http://www.bliss.org.uk/page.asp?section=584&sectionTitle=Weaning+your+p