March starters

[rumpkin_bumpkin]

Mini bumpkin had grated apple and cheese today. This was definitely a success and I highly recommend it - she was grabbing fistfuls and shoving it in her mouth! Normally she just licks and sucks things (butter off toast, banana off rice cake) but she really wolfed it down and was disappointed when she ran out. Only downside is I keep finding bits of grated cheese stuck in odd places - how does it do that?!

[SparklePetal]

Grated cheese was enjoyed today here too Is it really less than three weeks since Bluebird started BLW? He is really going for it now! Absolutely hoovering in pasta and veg for dinner tonight and then loads of flaked rice for dessert. I'm sure Snow White didn't take to it quite this fast. He is also much more demanding about eating the same as the rest of the family. Which is annoying because I was hoping not to give him concrete for breakfast (I mean Weetabix!). It is kind of cute though that whenever he sees me take a swig of my water he squeals until I hand over his water cup!

One nice side-effect of weaning him - Snow White asked for one of his baby sweetcorns tonight and ate the lot! She never really liked them in the past and if I'd offered it she would have refused in disgust. She also wanted bagel at breakfast time because he and I were eating it (so that's even less for me... hope this will help me lose weight!) Hopefully Bluebird will encourage her to be more adventurous with food again. She is already making disparaging remarks about Daddy not liking things...

[Fullhouse]

The boy is eating a bit, but not massive amounts and gets bored of being at the table quite quickly, very different to how the girls took to it! I'll be honest though, we're being a bit *too* relaxed though, and possibly not offering him food regularly enough. He's still BFing a lot though.

We have one problem - he hasn't pooed since Thursday! He's normally a once a day kind of guy He has really badly smelly wind atm, dreading it when he does go. I'm not sure if he's constipated or if it's just one of those BF things - as I said, he's not eating massive amounts. He doesn't sem too uncomfortable at the moment. Any ideas?

[gilmic]

Hi All,

Can I join you? My LO is just over five and a half months and after realising we weren't going to get a minutes peace if we didn't give her something at the table so she could join in we've just started to give her some bits and pieces over the last couple of days. So far shes been gnawing banana, plum, strawberries, a rice cake or two and just tonight some roasted cauliflower and potatoes with sugar snap peas - although I think the sweet fruit (or certainly the texture of them) is more her thing right now!

Does anyone elses LO get really frustrated? One of the reasons we've started her 'early' is because she was so demanding to have something.....and she wasn't being distracted/fooled by a toy etc. She was getting really upset (crying) when not being given anything and now is just the same when she doesn't have anything in her mouth. Obviously, because shes just beginning shes still learning to pick up things and get them into her mouth and hold them there long enough to chew on. However, when she doesn't manage she gets really irate and cries/screams. Anyone else had experience of this? She is perfectly happy when she has something in her mouth and will gnaw away for ages if she can so I dont think its anything but frustration at her lack of skills? I did wonder about taking a step back and giving her a little extra time to get a bit better at the fine motor stuff but TBH it would be hard and a little silly (in my mind) as we'd have to keep her away from the table and family meal times/snacks. At the moment shes just on a knee for eating as we still have to rescue the highchair from storage so I dont know if thats adding to the problem? Any advice would be most appreciated!

Looking forward to 'talking' to you,
Emma

[KatCro]

Hi moms. I'd like to join you if I could. My little Peanut turned 6 months on the 18th. Up to that point, he'd been EBF. He's sitting up well and grabbing at plates and other items on the table, but like x.sarahbella.x described, Peanut does not seem at ALL interested in the food. He's definitely not bringing it to his mouth, and he looks at me like he is not at all pleased with the sticky mess I've placed before him. He did take to the glass of water, and will usually take a sip whenever I offer. I've been doing an open cup, rather than a sippy cup, for now. So far, we've given him some bits from the chicken risotto and green thai curry recipes in the BLW cookbook, banana, oatmeal, and avocado on toast. Very little interest in any of it, and none showing up in his diapers.

I'm in the U.S., and when I describe BLW to people here (friends, relatives, and even my other BF friends), I get some serious looks of disapproval. Everyone I know is doing/has done purees, so this is out of their (and my) comfort zone. Even with my lack of experience, however, the method just makes sense and feels right, as BF did, so I'm hoping for some encouragement and patience from this group. Looking forward to hearing about all of your experiences!

[SparklePetal]

Hello gilmic and KatCro Nice to have you along for the journey!

Gilmic, I just wonder from your description whether there could be teething pain involved in the equation with your LO? Or does it definitely seem to be frustration over getting the food into her mouth? Bluebird has been very actively teething since we started BLW and there are some meals when the timing is just wrong with Calpol about to wear off and he just cries and has no patience with picking up food. I suppose all you can do is to try and work out which foods are most successful for her and make sure she has something from that range at each meal - in order to encourage her with what she can pick up. And also continue to give things that are trickier because she can't learn without the chance to try. It's all such a learning process for us and them!

KatCro, it's perfectly within the spectrum of 'normal' for them to start out with little or no interest. They change their mind at some point! It must be hard though when you're in circumstances where nobody around you 'gets' it and you're confidently explaining how your baby will pick up his own food... one day!

Uh-oh, Bluebird's crying. Better go!

[gilmic]

SparklePetal - I did wonder if there was a teething issue in terms of what she was enjoying exploring, soft fruits, and due to the fact that she did mot want to entertain a rice cake yesterday where as the day before she sucked her way through an entire full sized one! Still it seems a little more than that. Trial and error I suppose. And I guess we'll see an improvement as she gets a bit more independent. Ear plugs until then? I think she's copying her brothers sound levels....

e x

[100years]

Hi again folks, been unusually busy here.

Had a bit of a moment last week when I felt like things were not progressing much, and even wrote a thread on here about it - Tell me this is normal, bit disheartened - but things have been going fairly well since then. We are still at the playing with lots of food, but she's picking up more and more and slippery food isn't as much of an issue, although it still slides out of her hand quite a lot. I've taken to cutting up things wonkily, so doing zigzag cuts on things like avocado so it's easier to hold, which I think is helping a little bit.

There has been less gagging on the whole, although it is still happening off and on, definite food consumed judging by the state of her nappies! I Things like toast/pitta bread and the like are very popular. She's not quite worked out how to open her hand, but has started to use both hands with the food to help the other hand get the food to her mouth.

I've tried her with a shot glass on occasions for a glass that is more baby sized and it's fab to watch as she does it reasonably well, until she goes back to throwing things!

And ice lollies, I had a mango smoothie lolly the other day, Pumpkin reached for it so I let her try it, she cried, she reached again once the cold had disappeared and cried again, then reached again! She then bit a bit off, and proceeded to cry until all of that had melted. She then reached for it again! Silly sausage.

Strawberries are FAB - or at least Pumpkin thought so.

Now trying to reply to bits I've seen from other posters.

Re checking mouths, it's hard, I try and get pumpkin to copy me opening my mouth wide, or make silly faces after which she makes a bit wide smile with her mouth open and starts 'chattering' I also offer her a drink at the end of her meal, once I'm happy there isn't a big chunk of food in her mouth that could choke if swallowed with the water. If that makes sense.

We've given strips of chicken, which was sucked with half of it hanging out of her mouth! She was there for ages like that. She then took another strip and gummed a bit off which she chewed on for eternity!

Like the idea of grating foods, that would help with her opening her hand up. I don't eat cheese myself, so I will save the grated cheese for when Daddy is around and he can deal with cleaning her off then

Welcome to the new people in the group.

KatCro, I have also encountered people thinking what we are doing is 'wrong' and not understanding it at all. It is nice to have somewhere to chat about it.

[KatCro]

Thanks for the encouragement and support, ladies. Last night Peanut picked up a banana and today he picked up a toast finger. Still no attempts to bring it to his mouth, but steps in the right direction no less! I'm sure he'll get there one of these days. For now, we'll have fun trying!

[gilmic]

Hi Everyone,

Hope you are all having a nice weekend in the sunshine. A wee update... E has been a lot less frustrated since we got her in the highchair and have been giving her her own selection of food rather than just letting her have a go at ours while she's on our knees. Still sticking to fruit & veg 'til she reaches the 6month mark but we're trying it all! Roasted butternut squash has definitely been the biggest hit so far taste and holding wise. I've dusted off the steamer and got one of those zig zag cutters to see if it helps her with her grip on slippery things a little. Also, we had our first eating out experience. OK, so we were just at my folks but everyone thought it was great to see her gnaw through an entire wee orange. Still kind of dreading the first public outing..... Anyone done it yet? Finally, wow! Nappies do really change, huh? Didn't expect that at these early stages!

e x

[ScotchEgg]

Wow, can't believe how time flies!

I signed up when I had first DD two and a bit years ago but didn't manage to keep up posting and now my second daughter is blw-ing... Scary how quickly it's come around.

DD1 was well over a year before she ate any amounts of anything which was a bit of a test of nerves but DD2 seems to be a bit more interested. Still quite a bit of gagging going on but some nappy evidence which is exciting (in a way!).

[Chase]

Hi all, hoping I can join in? My daughter turned 6 months on the 23rd and we started solids that week. LO gummed some steamed sweet potato fingers, steamed pumpkin fingers (great for smashing!) and steamed carrot fingers.. Tried banana but hated it. Went nuts for whole meal bread witha scrape of butter (ate half a slice with both hands to make sure it wasnt dropped!) but it didn't agree with her and she did massive vomits & had diarrhea into the next day, poor thing.

Bought some avocado to try next but had a spanner thrown in the works with needing to feed her powder at each meal (long story, I just posted another thread about it), so we have to try a spoon fed purée now to my disgust!

Look forward to sharing this journey with you all and getting some new ideas for meals!!

[christyc]

Hi all, I'm joining a bit later, we have been blw for coming up for two weeks now and have been loving it! Wee bubs is looking at me like he can't believe I've kept food from him for this long! Thought I would join up for ideas and help though as we are having a few nappy issues!

Gimlic, we have been out for lunch, a big family birthday so wasn't sure how he would manage with all the distractions but he did well. I took some rice cakes, strawberries and melon in case there wasn't anything suitable but he got some mushroom from my starter (he loves sucking the juices out!) and I ordered a side of veg, the sizes weren't great for him to eat but it kept him busy trying to catch it!. The only thing I would maybe suggest depending on where you are going is taking something for under the highchair, we have a couple of large fabric tablecloths we lay under it at home to get the worst of the mess and I was wishing I had taken them as the restaurant had a carpet and there was squished strawberries, mushrooms and pulpy rice cakes everywhere! The staff were lovely but I was very concious of the mess, in future a big cloth will be used to whip away what has been flung!

[gilmic]

Hello to the other newbies!

Christyc thanks for the eating out tips. We actually had our first experience of that yesterday. Lunch & dinner out in busy cafes. All went ok apart from the fact that little miss ate everything I'd packed for the day at lunchtime! Just as well we could easily get something for her. Both places had hard floors so easy to clean up but should invest in wee splash mat for the future.

Chase - have you tried letting your LO feed themselves some puree from a pre loaded spoon? As far as I understand that's ok in the blw approach....My LO quite enjoys brandishing a spoon and gets a suprising amount in her mouth. We've tried steamed sweet potato and porridge this way.

That's my LO finished her milk feed so time for breakfast no 2, she's loving it


e x

[Chase]

gilmic - yes, she has started grabbing the spoon and chewing it/sucking purée off it. We probably will try doing a bit of this with homemade yoghurt.

Tried avocado fingers last night and she had a small taste, not too sure though! They were very nutty flavored avo's, maybe an acquired taste..