…thanks to bossy Mrs Rachel who was desperate enough to communicate her delight in these spooky little mini-ears to put a comment on the blessedly irrelevant Smoked Salmon post.
Now, obviously this isn't a message board, but I'm really delighted to see that conversations are breaking out nevertheless (where there are women…) so what I thought I'd do is make a folder where you can post Original Thoughts (or Thoughts Plagiarised from other Websites, I'm not fussed).
Because the fact is that there are women on this site already who know A LOT MORE about this whole baby led weaning lark than I do, having done it for a while, so I for one don't want to miss out on anything they have to say. And I'd love to pick your brains for more recipes, so if you want me to post them up for you in the manner of Hub2dee's and Mawbroon's recent offerings then send me an email. You'll find my address if you click on my name, I'd rather not print it here as I get more than enough offers of performance-enhancing pills as it is…
So post comments below or send an email and I'll check them first thing for random musings and instructions, Challenge Anneka-style. I'll be the one in the luminous jumpsuit (superfluous British television reference there, American chums). Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
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Ok, feel free to entitle this section Rachel's random ramblings.. :) You may regret this encouragement!
I like this site because I can get on it! Unlike Mumsnet which my work server denies me access to after an hour because it is somehow 'inappropriate to business use'! How very dare they!
Anyway in the course of my gainful employment in education development I was idly searching for something on Erikson's pyschosocial stages and found this:
http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/feeding/pdfs/2_1%20Erikson.pdf
So the next time someone tries to blow you out of the water about BLW – just give them a little psychobabble back!
that is a knockout bit of literature, Rachel, and what's interesting is that it seems to indicate that baby led weaning in a childcare setting is vastly preferable to the norm.
who is this erickson chappie? is he well known?
totally in agreement, this is a fantastic bit of work. I think that the baby led weaning approach is really the way for children to have a healthy attitude to food – something a feel strongly about, especially since I have a little girl. While growing up I had typical phases of bad eating and pot noodle based diets but I think I have come back to being healthy and balanced thanks to the good example that my parents set. Hopefully I can do the same for Boomer
My little one is starting nursery in Jan and wondered what experience anyone has had with informing/ with working nursery to do BLW. Have friend going to same nursery as my babe who is going to do BLW too. So we will unite to educate.
I bought some plain coloured PVC cloth for Stinkerbell's end of the table that gets cleaned after each meal so I put 2 or 3 different things on that – no plates yet – and she eats what she wants and plays with the rest. Cheese playdough!! She also likes to take things that she spies me eating so if I have a bit of something on transit to my mouth that she likes the look of, she yabbers until she gets share whether that is off my fork or fingers. Only suitable things of course (apart from a Magnum ice-cream. However, despite the mother-daughter bond, that's the last time she shares anything chocolate with me….).
My nursery think I'm really weird, but love watching her feed herself. Maybe it's because they don't have to do much work! They just check with me what is allowed or not on the menu. If they have a snack of cereal or biscuit, I've given them a packet of rice cakes to let her have.
I use an ikea high chair right up to the table in a similar way. Our lovely antiquey pine table has annoying grooves to catch all the bits so we put a nice runner on it and covered the whole table with a piece of clear perspex which is blessedly easy to clean and can be removed for visitors.
My LO has just started nursery aged 7 months. I'm lucky because it is a small nursery with only 3 babies:2 staff in the under1yr room so I was able to have a good chat with his main carer and with the chef. I also wrote a little biog of him with all his foibles including info on how to deal with our cloth nappies and BLW. I can't be sure they don't shovel mash into him behind my back but I do hope not! They do say that they are amazed how well he eats and how unfussy h.e is. If anything as long as they can cope with any gagging concerns, it does make life easier for them if babies can feed themselves. I hate that round robin description of feeding :(
Erikson is an old psychology classic – very big in child development although he was a psychoanalyst and his psychosocial stages follow Freud (all the mistrust/shame stuff) so not everyone's cup of tea! He is most famous for his musings on 'identity crisis'.
the perspex idea is genius. i've only just got what you are talking about… very clever. we have a round table, though, it would probably cost more to get the perspex cut than the table is actually worth.
apologies for this post…. 3mm thick clear perspex, cut to ~1200mm diameter would be around £100 + VAT – yes I know there are more important things I could fill my brain with.
you are a freak.
Good stuff…I remember this chap from psych A Level.
I once worked in a daycare nursery where we encouraged children to serve themselves from dishes on the table – and the children were seated in small groups with little floral tablecloths. It made a big difference to their attitude to mealtimes and food (except for the little sods that insisted on food fights etc.!).
The only thing that makes me cringe a bit is the 'not offering food at every distress cue' in the first stage. I'm afraid bf a newborn that was exactly what I did, and I suspect it's necessary…my bub was perfectly able to communicate when I had gotten it wrong and she wanted something else.
I take the point that when she's 5 I shouldn't offer her chocolate every time she looks a bit sad :o)
Thell, I agree about the distress cues thing. Certainly when Boomer was tiny wee I responded to every distress signal with a boob – it usually was the problem (only 99.999999999percent of the time. When I read this article I think I assumed it meant starting from a near to fully weaned baby I.e. 8 mths – one year old.
Firstly – sorry if I've hijacked a post – haven't figured out how to start a new thread yet :-(
Okay – want to start BLW but am scared – yup, a big scared cowardy puff who doesn't want her baby to grow up!! Anyway, DD has munched on a banana or two (but refuses to hold herself, just launches at my/DH's hand, tried a green bean and some roast spud, but all on an ad-hoc basis.. we were eating, she decided she wanted.
But now I think I need to start doing it “properly” – she'll be six months in a week or so. Now for the question….. where to start? I know it's been asked before but would like an answer from some helpful soul please. Shall I just start offering her a carrot or two at lunchtime and see how she goes?
hello there, big cowardy puff… i've got some bad news for you, you're already doing BLW perfectly. “we were eating, she decided what she wanted…” that is spot on.
some carrot at lunchtime sounds great, and bits and bobs off your plate as well if you're eating. i gave DD bits of crust as well, but that's dependant on allergies in the family, obviously.
in my opinion, there is no 'properly', really. you've got six months to get her eating food, and she'll really be getting her nutritional needs met by milk during that time. so this is all for fun, LRWG, for all of you and it sounds like she's off to a champion start already. If you read the blog from the bottom up you'll get an idea of where we started off, and just so you know, at the moment we don't really have a way of starting new threads unless you hijack an existing one, so again you did the right thing. welcome to the site, and good luck with everything.
Hi All
Just an example of how BLW in my humble opinion of how BLW can be misunderstood
My friend who I'd explained BLW to and why we were doing it with Euey turned round the other day and said “I know your doing this BLW thingamy and giving him scraps from your plate (made him sound like the family dog) but when will you start feeding him properly!(in adverted Commas)”
The way I see it until he's a year old milk should be the main part of his diet and until he decides otherwise his meals are more or less scraps and if were eating he eats so sometimes he'll eat 4 or 5 times a day other times not at all.
I think puree weaners who are focused on dropping feeds and main course and puddings find this hard to understand.
so basically the jist is after I've waffled on is just carry on offering stuff when you eat.
oops sorry for the gobbledegook first line but typing one handed!
Well, the senior HV came for the Weeble's 6 month check-up and “weaning chat”. I was fully expecting her to push the puree, but when I told her we were BLW, her response was “fantastic! Sounds like a great idea. And well done you for cooking all his food.” She's due in February herself, and says she's going to read up on BLW for her littl'un.
I know people have had bad experiences with their HVs, so I just thought I'd put in a positive word for mine ;-)
Tried the Weeble on Weetabix and salmon today (not together!); he confounded expectations by loving the fish and HATING the Weetabix. Strange child…
lucky you, bunny, she sounds very lovely. and with regards to the weetabix it's posssible that he refused it because he found it salty. it's not a huge amount, but there is some.
that's totally the way i see it too, mrsh.
Well, DD “helped” me with my toast yesterday morning and had a suck on some steamed carrot at lunchtime. Not a fat lot went in her, more a flavour trial for her I think, but she seemed to enjoy herself; in fact she LOVED sharing my toast – sat next to me on the sofa sucking on her soggy toast and grinning at me eating mine – I loved it too!!! Thanks guys!
isn't it just great to be enjoying food with your babakins? Boomer has just developed a new game, she holds out a piece of food towards me and when I go to take a bit she pulls it away and squeals with laughter – its great fun.
Okay, here's the deal.
The Munch and I will shortly be undertaking a 7 hour train journey, (with 2 changes…oh god…) with only 1 buggy to carry her, a change bag, toys for the journey and 4 days worth of clothes for both of us. We will be on the train for lunch and tea, and considering this is when she eats the most, and normally hot food, what can I feed her?
It needs to be things as non crumby as much as possible so she is less likely to drop large bits on the floor as I cant rescue them on a train….and as easy clean as poss (ie, no banana!)
All I can think of is
Raisins, dried apricots, pear (possibly not) cheerios, cheese lumps, bread and butter/marmite and cold pasta (eugh)
Any ideas?
How about some roast veg – potatoes, courgette, pumpkin, parsnip?
Bagels with fillings? They tend to be quite firm and not too crumbly.
Baby Bel?
Good luck with the journey…..I'm learning to just ask people to help these days, they can't say no that way!
do you think she'd notice if you popped a temazepam into a bit of cheese?
Failing that, i reckon that moomin's chickpea burgers or onion bhajis would probably travel well because even if they crumble i'm guessing they would do so quite cleanly. I haven't tried them yet, so maybe do a test run first to check, though.
what about french toast as well, you could keep it between some kitchen roll to blot any oil, and stick it in a tupperware? i'd also make some breaded chicken pieces (the recipe is on here) which are delicious cold in a sandwich for adults and easy to eat for the wee ones. Also, if by some chance you happen to have any leftover roast beef on the day of travel you could pack a whacking great slice of theat. Babybear finds bread sticks unbelievably amusing and while we haven't yet tried Babybel i can easily imagine something like that occupying her for quite a while. all of the other ideas sound good, particularly a tupperware with roast veggies, which sounds most civilised. and there are always green beans, mangetout and little potatoes which are pretty clean.
i think pear is an excellent idea, by the way, and also apple. i have a little penknife in my purse at all times (once a girl guide) so i'm handy with a bit of fruit. i also like buying those fruit salad packs that they sell in M&S at the station as they are nice and chilled and contain a mix of yummy things like pineapple so they're a real treat. to be honest i'd probably think about putting the baby in lots of thin layers of clothing so that as one becomes filthy you can just peel it off. and take muslins with you, thousands of them.
Thanks, lots to keep me busy there! I know she loves the breaded chicken so thats an idea, the chickpea burgers do crumble a bit (I might be making them wrong) I was handed the hoover in baby group after Munch attacked one and told to clean it up (!)
And are you kidding? I have tried to hang onto leftover roast beef nearly every weekend since moving in with the Male Munch, he always finds it!
Shall let you knwo how it goes, but its not for a month, am already stressing out!
Ha ha ha. “Told to clean up”. Surely you put the babies on the floor and let them hoover up the bits?
Chickpea burgers do crumble a bit so I don't think there is anything wrong with your cooking. Mr Moomin was very embarrassed about the mess in Startbucks – I don't care anymore! It was still neater than the time me and a friend let our babies have a wild lunch of roast chicken, potatoes, green beans, tortillas and chickpea burgers and then Mole dropped her Tommy Tippee beaker on the floor and it exploded everywhere. At least we washed the floor down, I said.
i absolutely do not give a shit about mess in restaurants, as it happens, so long as it is clean mess and i can grab it in a napkin and stick it onto a plate near the end. i've worked in cafes and the only thing i'd beg you to do is never order a muffin for a baby as they are hellacious to clean up, and always show willing by making a stab at the bigger bits as you go along. and tip well, my friends, always tip well and you'll be welcomed back with open arms and a sweeping brush at the ready.
I 'swept' it up with my feet, well the carpet was brown anyway….to be fair it was the uber-bossy neat freak mum that said it!
At risk of sounding totally selfish I am only concerned about the mess as I will have to sit in it for 5 hours…..at home she is welcome to chuck food about as much as she likes! She got some spaghetti in the fruit bowl yesterday and I didnt spot it until the Male Munch told me there were maggots in the fruit…..
We tend to make a huge amount of mess – it's actually me but I do pass it off as my daughter's mess !
Just got back from dinner out with some friends who have sprogs the same age as The Weeble. Being an utterly rubbish mummy (and also overcome with excitement at the prospect of an evening outside the house) I managed to forget his nappy bag, toys, and the pot of carefully selected veggies and ricecakes.
No matter! The nappy remained thankfully pristine, he swiped a toy from one of the other children, and a side order of seasonal veg provided the rest. Other mummies looked on in envy as The Weeb shoveled down carrots, beans and broccoli with abandon. I was quietly smug and Mr Bunny lectured all the other dads about BLW.
Of course, when I took him out of the highchair, The Weeb smooshed a hidden bit of broccoli into my hair, but hey, it's a small price to pay.
Aitch and Morv (and of course, the goddess that is Gill Rapley) I salute you!
I also had some wine. Can you tell?!?!
BLW goes hand in hand with going out normally, being a bit smug and having a good time. I too am a terrible mother – we regularly borrow nappies from people (although I doubt they want them back).
LOVE the thought of Mr Bunny lecturing all the other dads… my DH is baffled by the whole puree thing – if we're out and he sees people spoon-feeding their babies from a tupperware he stares at them open-mouthed…
I went out for lunch with friend today. Her little man is only 12 weeks so he just had the boob. Put the Baba in high chair (after wiping filth off it) and she had oatcakes with cream cheese on and pear for afters. She merrily stuffed it in. Friend mightly impressed and thinks she will give BLW a go. Which I too had had oatcake with cream cheese as my steak sandwich was pap! Full of raw onion. Service also pap so I left mess all over the floor and did not feel guilty at all!!! I am such a bad mummy. My hubbie also likes to tell his mum about BLW. She is yet to be coverted…
He was explaining all about “broccoli trees” ;-)
One of the mums was rather sceptical, but her daughter was drinking fruit juice, which I think is a bad idea, so we agreed to disagree (although I am right, obviously).
I agree that pap service means less clearing up or feeling guilty about BLW mess, especially if the high chair is sticky and greasy.
I am now rarely without Milton wipes (unless I've forgotten the nappy bag, natch). Restaurant highchairs really are quite revolting. Sometimes I think I;d be better off putting The Weeb on the floor…
well, obviously.
Just wanted to say hello and introduce myself. Babyloo is almost 6 months and being v. lazy I LOVE the idea of BLW! I'm a bit nervous about starting though, not really sure what to do so i've been reading everything I can on this site to get lots of ideas. :o)
Babyloo has so far licked a banana (and pulled a disgusted face) and gummed a rice cake to death before spitting it all out. Didn't plan ahead very well though so ended up with mushed up rice cake all over her (no bib) and all over me (no highchair so sitting on my knee). Oops!
aaah, the disgusted face… i am more than familiar with that one… welcome to the blog, looby.
Minky has got over her sickness and is now starving. However, she has a small tummy. I can fill her up temporarily (mainly with boiled potatoes) but she is waking every night for a full feed. We stopped doing that two months ago!! I don't think the teething and the cold help, either.
Any suggestions for calorie-dense food? I'm going to start her with yoghurt today and hope she isn't allergic to it. She really doesn't like meat. I am so tired after having a fretful baby in bed with me all night. Woe is me.
oh you poor thing. i find that apart from roast chicken, pasta and bananas are Babybear's comfort foods. the pasta is probably like the potatoes, just a massive carb hit. would rice pasta have the same effect, d'you think? fingers crossed with the yoghurt. if she's not allergic than cheese should be quite calorific i'd have thought.
i'd have to say, however, that we too are back with a waking baby. if we don't give her a bottle at 11ish she wakes up really cross and red-cheeked at 1 for a feed. i was putting it down to a combination of bad parenting and teething, to be honest. apparently we should be getting all hard-core and giving her water in the night to discourage her, but i can't be bothered with the hassle.
i don't know if that will make you feel better or worse, Moomin…
I guess what I wanted to say is that I feel like pureeing a chicken breast, stuffing it down her and then crying with shame. I love letting her feed herself but I know she's getting hungry in the night.
Glad I'm not the only one back on night feeds. Perhaps it is the teeth. We tried with water last night. She just got more and more upset. As soon as her dad took her she became hysterical – so it was definitely time for milk. Then she had a full feed. Can't really deny a hungry baby milk just because she should sleep through.
Bad day…
God, puree it if you think that'll work… she can always feed it to herself on a spoon if you think that she wouldn't tolerate being fed. Who cares, it would only be for a short while… it's the appetite control thing that strikes the biggest chord with me and BLW, so if she's too tired to satisfy her own appetite with self-feeding and you're too tired to do it with milk (can't remember if you're still bfing or not) then there has to be a middle way. Does Minky do dairy yet? what about creaming some chicken and cream cheese, that would pack a calorie load and stick to a spoon.
Remember, Babybear was the same after being sick, just absolutely ravenous for food and milk. Her appetite for food, though, seems to have tailed off again and she's taking more milk. i'm sure it's the teeth, she's drooling for the first time n ages (she's cut six and only drooled for the first one) and has spots on one cheek and it's bright red.
OOOOh, that's a thought… have you tried numbing her gums with some teething gel (the Boots stuff is cheapest and strongest) before her tea? i'm doing that sometimes with Babybear so that she'll take her bottle… the poor thing's in agony… tears and everything.
Plus i think it's bollocks about sleeping through as well. i think a lot of people have very selective memories about that one, personally. to hear my mother we were all doing calculus, ,studying fine wines and travelling the world charting the transit of venus by eighteen months…
Cheers Aitch.
You know what, I was deluding myself to think that pureeing would work. I just tried to give her some Plumbaby with her tea. She opened her mouth eagerly and then spat it out and laughed in my face. She did eat some lamb burger though (burgers clearly the way to go) and a huge amount of sweet potato.
I was carrying her round this afternoon (permanently) and she crawled from my arms into the highchair. I think she must have been hungry! Twas only an hour and a half since milk and raisins and a little unexpected.
Poor Babybear. Tears with milk. How unfair. Minky's taking her milk okay, although the bunged up nose isn't helping and she really hates me squirting saline up there. I don't have the energy to bf her every two hours though. It's worse than when she was a newborn.
I agree about the selective memory. My Mum claims we all slept 11pm-7am from six weeks. When you probe a bit deeper you obtain the “not when teething”, “not when ill”, “not during a full moon” caveats.
Ooh so not alone with the night waking thing. Its my own fault for being smug, Munch slept through from 8 weeks, until she got to 7 months, and it has been nearly every night since.
Dont want to dishearten you but we have tried pastaing (!) her up before bed and it just made her wake up earlier. Have tried bread, rice, moon biscuits, potatoes, basically every stodgy thing we could think off…nothing worked.
I have also tried giving her water on HV advice, but she just screams but if I feed her she is out like a light so feedin her it is. (she is BF by the way)
Oh and if you put teething stuff on her and are BFing, dont feed her straight after, it numbs your boobs…..
Grizzles has woken me 3-10 times a night since she was born. Not hungry- just teething, windy, lonely, whatever. Think it's a good night if I get woken fewer than 5 times. Have stopped telling people tho, as just get oh, you must try [insert baby guru of choice] they saved our lives
My mother told me that she didn't get an uninterrupted night's sleep with me until I was 3. Ah well, only 2 1/4 years to go…
Once again, thank you for sanity saving coments. My ds has decided that he needs to feed every two hours (he's eight months), and besides waking three to four times a night, he's starting to believe he is a morning baby… a very early morning baby!
Thankfully, he is also eating other stuff (mango is our latest discovery), so we're not worried about that. He is cutting his second tooth, though, so I'm blaming it on his pearly whites…
Thanks all. It's so much better not to feel alone. Mr Moomin always thinks it's just us that this is happening to!
Minky woke up at 2am again. Not hungry this time. Fell asleep every time she was picked up and roared with anger every time she was put down. She came in to bed with us in the end. Mr Moomin did not sleep. He has gone to work in a very bad mood.
She did manage to eat a lot of food and milk yesterday, she just needs to remember how to go to sleep. She does seem brighter today, plus she's going to nursery and I get 4 hours off!
Sorry for being a big whinge pants yesterday. Onwards and upwards…
We all need a whinge sometimes! The Baba is seven months and always wakes 1 or 2 times for a quick boob. No teeth as yet – we have that joyious event to come. Hope MrMoomin has got rid of bad mood by the time he comes home.
babybear does a bit of roaring too… it's quite shocking. i think it's teeth, like i said, but it does seem mixed up with sheer temper. but i suppose that developmentally they are getting to that separation anxiety stage, and that they are also learning that they have some control over their environment. we could just do without them wanting to control it at 2am…
have you tried feeding her at 10.30pm/11pm ish? i can't believe that dd will eat her dinner, then a good bottle before bed and then within three hours will sink the best part of another one, but she does. most of the time, at least. she didn't want any last night so was up and starving at 4am…
I do think separation anxiety is part of it. As soon as she's in bed with us she's fast asleep. I guess it's lonely in her cot. Still…
I tried feeding her at 11pm a few times when she was younger. She used to do a big sleep 7pm-3am (ish), then feed and back to bed. If I woke her at 11pm, she still wanted a feed at 3am. I stopped trying to reset her natural rhythm and started going to bed early!
Mr Moomin's mood was slightly elevated by Minky's attempts to say “Dada” for the first time this morning. He is a pushover!
I would really like to know where all these Ford/Hogg babies are, who feed to their schedules and never wake up. What do their mothers do – just ignore them? Ear plugs? Sound proofing? Most of the mothers I know tweak the feeding constantly in the hope that they sleep through…
Grizzles has chronic separation anxiety, to the degree that she burrows into me if we're in any group and panics if I go for a wee. The other mothers have started giving me pitying yet smug looks and asking if her little problem has improved. Yes, but, but – she can eat a WHOLE BROCCOLI FLORET I blurt in response…
LOL, Loll…
Yes, more showing off in public for BLW babies. IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY, so Mr Moomin took the day off work and the three of us went for lunch. Minky sat up at her highchair eating her chickpea burger, sweet potato scones, carrots and blueberries and we tucked into our hot dinner. Mr Moomin went on and on and on about how wonderful BLW was “It's so easy”, “I'm so proud”, “She's making much less mess” etc…
And a big hooray for Cafe Rouge who provided a highchair and sprayed and wiped it down before we put Minky in it.
sorry, did you say something about your BIRTHDAY, i didn't quite catch that…
isn't it hilarious when the chaps get all puffed-up about BLW, my husband absolutely loves taking Babybear out on his own for some showing off – says she's the ultimate chick magnet…
Happy Birthday, Moomin, glad you enjoyed your meal.
Happy Birthday Moomin!
Now, why is it that an adorable little baby renders men irresistable to women (Mr Loll loves wearing Grizzles in the sling, but is a bit disconcerted by hot looks from older ladies: well, allegedly) and yet when WE go out with the babas, we're invisible to men?
it's just a shame you're on your Nude Hiatus, Loll…
That's true, for I would no longer be invisible, but the good folk of St Albans would run screaming in horror as I wibbled around the shops with my post-baby body, and unkempt, hirsute (ok NEARLY too much information there…), perhaps pausing for hot choccy at Carluccios or looking at babygros in the White Company (for the Albans is that type of town).
Actually, I would still be invisible to men, but the yummy mummies would form a chanting army and drum me out of town by hurling waxing kits, lipsticks and yoga mats. Let's just say my devotion to looking gorgeous has faltered in the last year and that seems to be the raison d'etre of many Albans mummies.
Mini-pig eagerly devoured carrot and lentil soup last night….she dunked her fist in mine (luckily only lukewarm!) and sooooooked it all off….I gave her a little bit more, (which mainly ended up in her eyebrows) but there were bits in her nappy this morning!
Hurray!
Pink
Hurray back at you! Clever girl.
hello all messy mummies!
I'm new on this fab site. Have just moved from UK to Australia, and they don't seem to have heard of BLW over here, though this may be language barrier stuff, as they use “weaning” to mean coming off boob and onto bottle, so BLW may be BL-something else. Anyway…
I am mum to Flump (2 yrs) and Pipsqueak (7 mths) gorgeous guzzling girls, the pair of them.
Flump drives my MIL craaaayzeeee with her sticky fingers/face/random bodyparts. I have had to ask MIL to not wipe her within an inch of her life after each mouthful. So IMAGINE her horror when I get out the avocado for little gummy Pipsqueak? LOVE IT.
Hi Bat and welcome to you, Flump and Pipsqueak. And for the record, if you happened to move to Sydney then i know that there is a Sydney Attachment Parenting Group (hippy enough for ya?) on Yahoo and the woman who runs it is really pro-BLW. they do seem like a nice bunch, actually. when i get a minute i'll really have to put more BLW-friendly links onto this site…
thanks for saying hello.
Hello there! I have been happily lurking around this site for the last couple of months since my Leafbud took the plunge and started solids. I enjoy your site so much. I would love to post a picture of him enjoying his toast…but I'm not quite sure I've got that figured out yet.
Here in the States last week we just had our Thanksgiving holiday and Leafbud enjoyed several “fist-sized” strips of organic free range turkey. It was his first meat. Though I'm a bit of an ambivalent meat-eater (lapsed vegetarian), I must say I was thrilled at how he took to sucking and gumming on that turkey. It absolutely delighted him. (Primal, maybe?) And it confirmed his good taste—it was fantastic turkey.
Of course, the Entire Family had indigestion I do believe, as they watched with great horror (“Are you sure he's not going to choke?! Can he handle that?”) and several times my dad nearly leaped from his chair as the turkey spear shortened rapidly under L-bud's capable gums. Leafbud also enjoyed turnips and their greens—fairly pureed already, the way my dad cooks them. And he enjoyed the sweet-potatoes very much as well.
I have questions for you…but I've rambled enough. Don't want to wear out my welcome on the first post.
Plink
So, having reached the ripe old age of ten and a half months I'm thinking that notsotall should probably be showing some interest in using a spoon and/or fork for some of her food… but she has no inclination to do anything with a spoon beyond tapping it rhythmically on the table.
I'm just wondering whether she will go on feeding herself with her fingers forever? How will I ever persuade her to use cutlery (slightly hysterical first-time-mum's mental image of embarrasment on notsotall's wedding day etc.)??
Of course I know that I shouldn't be worrying about this at all, and that she'll probably get the hang of it in her own time etc. etc. but go on you old hands, indulge me, give me some idea of how keen your babes were on using cutlery, and at what age did they/are they getting the hang of it?
Hello, me again. Sorry, just found some cubes of puree in the freezer (must be four months old now), and am wondering if I can incorporate them in some clever way into some food more suitable for a ten and a half month old BLW baby…
I'm thinking soup and bread, and I'm thinking pasta sauce, and then I'm not thinking of any more ideas…
…anyone?
And its totally baby led as he-who-must-be-obeyed apparently feels that purees are for wimps, and a spoon is only acceptable if placed in his mouth by his own fair hands… And the mess caused by a 6 month old hand on the spoon of butternut squash far outweighs that caused by broccoli floret fall out.
Fortunatly his nursery are reasonably unworried by this as they have already had a BLW baby (although she only goes two days a week).
Does anyone have words of wisdom to offer a full time working, coeliac mum of a very persistent and selective (to use the positive parenting words) 28 week old ?
Plink! i saw that you had subscribed a while ago so i was hoping you'd stick your nose out sometime. glad that you're not just an unusually committed lurker.
Sounds like little leafbud is doing brilliantly, send the photos to my email (press Aitch) and i'll stick them up for you. Give the grandfolks a month and their hearts will burst with pride when they see what their boy can do to a piece of prime beefsteak.
can't help you with the purees, as i have never used my stick blender in anger… but Morv has written something on using them up, so do a wee search.
as for the spoons, the only ones that Babybear can use are the ones the have a kink in the handle. i think ours are from TommeeTippee.
and when i say 'use'… she's getting better at it, but i still load up the spoon (with not very much food, actually, or it goes everywhere) and hand it over. she often turns it over to eat upside-down and like to use the other spoon as a percussion instrument. i'm pretty sure she'll have cracked it by her wedding day… should she wish to take a husband, that is.
Not sure what your puree is but how about mixing in with some mash and a bit of flour and making flavoured tattie scones always a favoourite in our house especially if you leane them in the fridge till next day so they're really firm, makes a great food for when out and about.
We celebrated thanksgiving in our house too, not americans but any reason to have an extra xmas dinner with all the trimmings is great in my opinion plus DH is a massive american football fan.
We had a friend of ours over who spent the whole dinner staring in amazement at Euey as he worked his way through everything on the table!
I tell you I'm gonna start selling tickets soon either that or just set up a side stall at the next travelling fair
ROLL UP ROLL UP COME AND SEE THE AMAZING BABY EATING REAL FOOD!!!!
Hah! 'purees are for wimps'… perhaps i should use that as a totally uncontroversial strapline for this site? perhaps not.
i'm not sure exactly what you are looking for, are you keeping your son off wheat? if so, have a look at the Allergies folder and do a search for recipes from Moomin as she has so far been our boldest experimentor with gram flour. welcome, by the way.
Actually this is probably the only place I can say that as I am already apparently weird for excl bf for 6 months, still sleepng next to DS, using sling etc etc, and all my friends are early weaners of the shovel it in variety..
Anyway, have already really enjoyed Moomins adventures with gram flour, and will give them a bash in the mystical free time that will eventually appear, but am struggling a bit with trying to provide something by 6pm when we don't return from nursery / work until 5.40. I read about steaming a load of veggies and chucking them in the freezer to warm at will which will be happening this weekend, and wondered whether anyone had any favoured reheatable and pref freezable protein type things that were wheat/barley/oat and dairy free.
We have TommeeTippee spoons too. They change colour if the meal is too hot. I thought this was a good feature however, when they go yellow, I stick my finger in her porridge and decide it's fine!
Minky has been using a spoon since five months (pretentious, mon enfant?). I have some incredibly cute photos of her feeding herself pear puree (you can forgive the puree, she was doing it herself). On Granny's advice we gave her a spoon to play with from about three months and she just got used to using it.
Just keep chucking spoons in her direction. She'll get it before the legal age to wed.
I used my left over purree in soup and also added to some lentils , it was pretty nice. If I remember correctly me and wonderhubster ate most of it, making the whole pureeing for baby exercise pointless.
ive tried steaming and freezing veggies, they come out of the microwave really soggy and josh doesnt seem particularly keen, if u have more success let me know how please!
Just about everything we have is/can be wheat/barley/oat and dairy free. Currently, there is bolognaise sauce, chicken casserole, savoury mince and lamb tagine in the freezer. Whatever I cook for dinner, I take two portions out for Minky, one for the next day and one to freeze. There's also loads of homemade burgers in there.
There's just about time for you to boil some potatoes/buckwheat pasta/rice. I also rely on frozen veg a lot – it's okay, Sainsbury's do an organic range to alleviate my guilt.
Hi Just thought I'd introduce myself
I live in Scotland and I'm Mum to a four and a half year old DD1 (call her Fruit) and a 21 week old DD2 universally known as BabyB. I did the whole 17 weeks multi-coloured ice cubes business with Fruit and I HATED it. Deeply stressful, especially because I had a history of being a very fussy eater myself.
But this time round I'm planning on doing things rather differently. I've trained as a breastfeeding counsellor with a certain well-known organisation and knowing a damn sight more about baby development and feeding, BLW makes a lot more sense to me. I'd rather trust my baby to play a bigger part in the process, and it feels more honest to offer foods I'd be happy to eat myself rather than ghastly mush. And I fancy Jennis Maizel's recipes more than Annabel Karmel's…
BabyB will hit 6 months a few weeks into the New Year, and I'm just starting to browse around for fun food ideas. Delighted to find this site and see such a great range of ages, stages and feeding choices represented.
Cheers
Cloviscat
Hiya cloviscat good to have you aboard! blw does make so much sense, it makes the gradual weaning process fun rather than a struggle to puree everything, freeze, defrost, clean up and then utlimatly throw out (and still pretend that you don't mind doing it). Keep us posted on BabyBs progress.
and to be honest, Cloveiscat, you'll probably find that you don't need that many recipes, really, you just need to tune your head in to BLW-friendly food you already cook. (says Aitch, about to go and make some of moomins's chickpea burgers…)
welcome aboard.
Cheers Aitch!
I feel I could do with a kick up the backside with family food, to tell you the truth! I'm bored with recycling the same meal ideas week in, week out: meals whose preparation can cope with being neglected while I deal with one or other child, meals that can cope with DH's unpredicatable public transport journey home (which sometimes involves me piling the kids into the car to rescue him from some distant bus stop while the dinner simmers/burns/goes cold).
So any new ideas are eagerly sought out for all of us! BabyB knows her own mind: she's been changing the family from the bottom up since before she was born – she may as well get to work on our tired menu ideas.
Incidentally, I just thought I'd see how she reacted to meeting some food yesterday. I was eating a raisin bun when she was sitting on my lap, so I put the plastic bowl with a chunk of bun on *her* lap. She promptly chucked away the bun and gave the bowl a really good chewing! That's my Girl!
Chickpeas…? hmmm….
ooh, you should have a look at Morv and Moomin's tagines then. i know for a fact that Morv in particular has been known to leave hers lightly bubbling on the stove top while going out and attending glamourous mother and baby events and suchlike.
Yes, we are in Sydney! Link to hippy site would be good.
It has taken me a week to find this bit of the site again – sorry for delay in replying. Am a bit durr with my navigation.
Hello, I am new here! My baby Aphra is 8 and a half months and has been having solid food from 5 and a half.
The dietician for our SureStart area was really pleased when I said what Aphra eats. She says they are trying to push less pureeing and was really glad I'd come along to the weaning meeting (went for the freebies – terrible eh?) to prove that it does work!
I am not sure I do completely BLW (never heard of it til recently) but she has always had bits from my plate from my finger or she'll pick it up. she always liked so-called 'lumpy food and I couldn't be faffed to puree. Will take food from a spoon sometimes, yoghurt etc but likes to hold it. I can't see how feeding them with a spoon is so evil though – she definitely lets me know if she wants it or not. Just like how I can't see how you can overfeed on ff. Tbh I just got on with it – her first taste was a bit of my banana. My mum has been a bit unconvinced but beamed with pride when Aph sat eating her Xmas dinner last week – proper brussels sprouts (a winner) and turkey, not pureed yuk!
funnily enough the dietitian for surestart here said the same thing, it was a really good way of weaning, better than purees and jars etc. i showed the gill rapley paper that i printed out to the mw and surestart worker at my bfing grp who passed it on to the dietitian and took photocopies.
had a different reaction at the weaning party i was invited to tho, josh was only 4 months when i go the invite and they said it was ok to wean at 4 months so totally wrong outdated advice – i too only went for the freebies, they were giving away a hand blender. its still in its box, ive never used it lol
There's nothing evil about spoons at all, for the record. Most of the babies here, by whatever age, are taking loaded up spoons and puting them in their mouths. The issue is more with spooning than spoons per se, I think. I didn't realise everyone would take the strapline so seriously… should i change it to 'two babies, two friends, no spooning'? but that sounds a bit sappy, does it not?
Hmmm… I think I missed the strapline? No spooning? Aw… shame!
Yeah, I just read a few sites/comments on BLW that seemed to suggest that if you were spoonfeeding at all, you were automatically shovelling it in with a blatant disregard for your baby's involvement. I totally think it is possible to spoonfeed sometimes in keeping with the BLW philosophy. Just like it is possible to ff lovingly and on demand (rather than the strict schedule we are assumed to use).
i totally agree. in fact i think i have ranted about the ff thing a number of times. i suppose people (myself included) probably go in a bit hardcore in the beginning which might explain the comments you've read. But we always kept spoons in the bath for Babybear to play with, and the minute she showed any inclination to use them as a utensil we let her.
OK so I'm neurotic about giving 7 and a half month Minimoo food I've reheated and then him getting sick. I have lovingly made pork and apple burgers and onion bhajis and they are now sitting in the freezer waiting to be used. So do I defrost, then nuke in the microwave then cool? That sounds like such a silly question as I reread it, but hey!
couldn't you just do them in the oven straight from frozen? that's what i do with things like the home-made chicken nuggets… in fact i wonder (only wonder, i'm not a scientist) if you're better to do that as bacteria won't get a chance to grow during the defrosting process?
and i definitely don't think that the onion bhajis could pose a problem as they don't have any meat in them.
I don't think it's a silly question, by the way, none of us wants to poison anyone!
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