I've been meaning to say this for ages but have been rather too busy to update. I just wanted you to and the rest of the interworldwideweb to know that my daughter's nappies are now more solid, like human poo, rather than a motley collection of semi-digested and completely identifiable bits and bobs of undead zombie foodstuffs. 'The Peas That Would Not Die, The Raisins That Came Back To Life (As Grapes) ' etcetera etcetera.
It's been a good few weeks now since I've spotted a borlotti bean corpse, since she wasbout eleven months old, I reckon. Just thought I'd let you in on our latest proud parenting news… <Aitch preens uselessly>
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Hi Aitch. Good to have an update on madam's nappy contents! The Babba is now 8 months old and BLW is going a treat. Her nappies are varying from mustard like mess to thick orange tomato puree to quiet solid turds. One thing remains consistent though…they stink. Gone are the days of fruity pants where you got barely a whiff of anything!! Carrots seem to be particulary stinky. The babba entered into the Christmas spirit and we discovered she loves sprouts!!! Nice and easy to cook too. She's not too keen on meat. Only just got teeth a few weeks ago. Does meat get easier with teeth????
Hi all. This is my first posting on this website. Thanks to those that set this up. My son, Little A, is just over 6 months old and we have just started baby led weaning. My husband and I are really loving watching Little A experimenting with tastes and textures (favourite so far is broccoli). Only down side is indeed the poo – which has gone from inoffensive mustard stuff to more solid stuff with clear bits of food in it, with a nasty smell…
Anyway, I would really appreciate some help from some of those more experienced in all of this! In particular, I am interested to learn how long you spent at each meal at the start? E.g. 30 mins, or until the baby has had enough? In Little A's case, I feel he could sometimes sit for over a hour enjoying playing with the food. Also, how quickly did you build up to 3 meals a day? Also, how much food did your babies take at the start? Little A varies but I don't think actually ingests a huge amount at each sitting. Finally, any suggestions for good early foods would be great!
I know this is a long list of questions, but any tips you could give would be VERY welcome! Thanks so much.
P.S A friend of mine raised any interesting point with me. If you BLW, how do you get your little ones to use a knife and fork/spoon and at what age??
my understanding is that blw babies get along very quickly with utensils cos they're already used to hand mouth co ordination. i think a good way to start things off is to use lots of forks jabbed into things and put them all on their tray, sort of like fork kebabs.
i let dd (7 months) sit with her food until she loses interest. usually this is around 30 minutes. she stops eating, puts her hands by her side and looks at me when she's finished.
Hi Chilledy, welcome to the site.
If you bear in mind that this is a blog you can go back to the early postings and work your way through (should you have the stomach for it). That way, you can watch as Morv and myself tussle with many of the same issues that you are now encountering.
The poo is a shock, I grant you, but I am pleased to report that it settles down in the end. I'll have a think about your other questions if you don't mind, and answer them a bit later. Cheers.
Hi
LittleE is sometimes having 2 meals sometimes 3 depending on what we are doing and this is nearly 3 weeks into BLW. She tends to take between 30 -45 minutes (or longer if we are all sitting at the meal table together and taking a long time over it!). She generally stops putting food in her mouth and looks more intewrested in the cat or pictures on the wall, then she drops her food on the floor and we take that as a sign shes had enough. It never looks like a huge anount has gone in but her nap[pies tell a v different story! She is already quite good with a spoon, if we help her load it up with porridge or fruit she generally managed to get it to her mouth with no help from us! She enjoyed Christmas dinner, but favourite food so far are sweet potato (roasted with skin on in wedges), rast parsnip, toast, mango, melon, pear and broccoli. Also like chery tomato today.
Anyway, have fun with BLW
Alison xx
If you do a search for the 'three meals' you should find a couple of articles entitled Health Visitors and Eating Enough, and You've Got 6 Months To Get This Eating Thing Cracked. In my ever-so-umble opinion the three meals a day thing is pretty bogus, really. Babybear sometimes eats ravenously for a whole day, then nothing the next. Best not to stress about it, to be honest.
Dear all
Thanks so much for all the advice and tips! Things have been going really well with little A and his food. We even managed to sit down and have a family meal together of roast chicken and potatoes (the yummy Nigel Slater recipe, minus the salt of course), which felt amazing.
Thanks again
Chilledy
it's really good fun, isn't it? congratulations, chilledy.
Hiya,
Can I say (as the Munchkin is now 17 months) that 3 meals a day is still variable but post 1 year implements were definitely preferred!
I suspect it will be 4 meals today, he ate little yesterday and as at 11:00 this morning he was devouring everything he was offered and what started as snack turned into a meal, but he won't last until tea time. He will probably eat with his big sister once she's home from school and then eat with us when I get home from work.
Munchkin was now blw as we had never heard of it and he was majorly HUNGRY but I have enjoyed reading all your posts and he is definitely on feeding himself and was from quite early on as he is a second child.
Apologies if this comes up as Anonymous, I logged on but its still seems to think that I'm not.
MSal.
Sorry if this isn't posted in the right place as I'm really talking about a lack of contents in nappies!! Just wondered if anyone has any suggestions as to what to give a bit of a bunged up baby. She's been doing the BLW for about four weeks now and about just over a week ago I noticed her poo start to thicken up. But she now hasn't done anything of a significant poo in nearly a week and when she has done a tiny one she's cried as it's obviously hurt a bit. I'm quite surprised at the amount of solids she must be swallowing so soon and didn't expect to have the bunged up problem (certainly not this soon anyway) with BLW. She's on three meals a day and generally eats quite well (I think!) each time – often happy to sit at the table for up to an hour nibbling away! Has weetabix/toast for breakfast, veggies/potato at lunch then something on toast with a few veggies at dinner. Am I giving her the wrong stuff or too much at this stage? She's nearly 7 months old and has been introduced to most stuff except meat.
Here's hoping for a big poo soon!
oh dear, that does sound a bit miserable. has she been eating a lot of bananas, i do know that bungs Babybear up quite quickly (a fact which i have sometimes used to my advantage, to be fair). and do you think that she's drinking enough liquid? Have tried giving her a couple of prunes to chew on?
I don't have much experience of this with Babybear, but i think that (if the prunes don't work) a week is a long time to go without a poo so personally i'd be inclined to ask the GP for a stool softener just to help things along. (that's if you can give them to babies…)
also, have you tried any baby massage? Here's a bit about it, if you scroll down to the bottom.
Hey there,
I remember my HV recommending water with a squeeze of fresh orange juice in it as causing a good clear-out….haven't needed to use it yet, so not sure how effective it is…..
Sonia x
Hi Caroline, we had success with watered down prune juice. Maybe substitute in some more fruit? I'm not saying there is anything wrong with her current diet, just maybe a change would, er, get things moving…
Thanks for the tips. I have tried massage but still no movement. She's still breastfed on demand and although I do offer her water with her food I don't think hardly any goes down as she hasn't quite grasped how to use the cup yet! She wont touch a bottle so I can't get extra fluids down her that way. Will give her a couple of prunes and see what she makes of that! Will update you with any progress . . . full details may be included so may not be suitable for anyone with a delicate stomach!!
LittleE really likes the Tesco Organic ready to eat prunes and they seem to do the trick. Bananas definitely make her constipated so we have given up with them for the time being. What sort of a cup are you using – LittleE is v keen on the Doidy cup or one of the cheap TomeeTipee ones with a spout. She is another one who refuses a bottle and she can't work out how to get liquid out of the no- spill Avent cups and similar so we a re jsut resigned to her being thoroughly soaked each time she has a drink. Oh yes and she also likes drinking out of any 'grown-up' drinking implement – might be worth a try??
E has now had a good go at a few prunes at lunch and dinner time and is as we speak making a big straining noise . . .followed by a bit of a cry bless her so I'm guessing there's another little poo now! Will continue with the prunes each meal time I think until she gets sorted – hopefully that will do the trick. She has a Tommee Tippee cup (not non spill so we do have water everywhere but down her throat!) but just kind of licks the spout and bangs it around a lot! Sure she'll get it eventually! Hasn't been eating much banana (I don't think) just bits on toast. But think we'll skip that for now. Thanks again.
We're officially unbunged!! Thank you all. x
HURRAH! God, i love prunes…
I love prunes too, or rather Widget does, unfortunately not even they do the trick for her.
The poor love ended up in A&E on Tuesday when she got a poo stuck halfway out! Was not a fun couple of hours for her. With her diet – fave foods are prunes and apricots – and the fact she's on Lactulose and teething she should be pooing for England, but not this girl!
So at the moment she's on hunger strike. Won't touch anything but milk!! At what point do I panic?
My LO has just turned 9 months old and fell on BLW by accident, he was a very fussy eater and went though a phase of only eating crumpets and I started to add other finger food here and there, with I am happy to say resounding success – he now eats anything from black olives to fish to lentils and the list keeps growing and growing!
He tends to eat everything with his hands from his high chair tray (mind you, I still spoon feed natural yogurt with fruit and Weetabix – chicken I know!). I have noticed that a lot of you say that your baby uses a spoon, my LO occassionally will use a spoon with cream cheese on, but mainly he just plays with it and to be honest I dont really give him one. I am a little confused as I dont know if I should start giving him a spoon maybe to try and feed himself with say the yogurt and Weetabix or whether I should approach it differently – say with different food?!? Can anyone offer any advice?
Also as a consequence of him using his hands I mainly give finger food such as lentil cakes, fish cakes, bean and meat burgers, penne pasta with pesto or bolognase sauce, veggies, fruit, rice cakes, cheese, sandwiches, polenta, pizza, toast, fish, omlettes…you get the gist. I am now starting to run out of ideas and would welcome any recipe ideas for finger food and for other meals as I would love to encourage him to use his spoon more and also increase his repertoire.
By the way my LO is fully B/F and drinks water frequently from a basic tommee tippee cup too
Sorry if I have babbled on, but feel that I am hitting a brick wall with the next stage of BLW weaning.
Carrie x
poor thing… i wouldn't even think about panicking for a week or so. she's under one, isn't she? and i'm sure that she'll start picking up bits and bobs if you leave them randomly and non-threateningly lying around. what a shame for her… what do the docs say about it?
i think that sounds like a great diet he's got there, to be honest, and by nine months i wouldn't have thought there'd be anything he'd not be able to eat. what are you missing that you used to eat? stir fries are great for blw, and of course i think everyone should try my cannelloni at least once…
as for the spoon thing, i came to it late as well as i couldn't be bothered with the faff. dd thought spoons were for teething or playing in the bath. rather than spooning the yoghurt in, though, you could hand over the spoon and see if he puts it in (or near) his mouth. it's messy… don't overload the spoon as it'll fall off. porridge is also good for practice too as it's pretty sticky, but honestly if we did it once a week she was lucky.
in the last week or so, however, dd had been spoonign her own yoghurt out of her own yoghurt pot, much to everyone's general amusement. it ws pouring down her legs but she neverhteless ate at least half the carton all be herself.
Thanks so much for responding, I think it is just paranoid mother moments that I am going through as it is all so new. I am glad you said that about the spoon as that is all that X really uses his for oh and nicking my porridge in the morning. I never thought of stir fry, I am missing spicy Thai food etc, but could definitely do that for X minus the chilli – Thanks Aitch and thanks for your great site – I am on daily dose at the moment! :)
Thanks Aitch. Widget is nine months now (blimey, that went fast).
She ate half a prune yoghurt at lunchtime and has had a chew on some left over pork loin roast from last night so think her mouth is feeling a bit better. She also tried to bite a chunk out of my chin, so all in all an improvement in the mouth area.
GP says keep going with the Lactulose, it can't harm her in any way as it is not absorbed into the body at all, so that's what we're doing! Hoping for a poo explosion (when DH is home to change of course).
We do the double spoon thing – I hold one, Weeble holds one. I am also chicken when it comes to yoghurt – I tried just tipping one onto his tray and we had to redecorate the kitchen.
He has once or twice put the spoon in his mouth, but then he puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. Like so many things, he'll get there…
And Aitch – stir-fry – genius!
Poor little thing – what a nightmare! Very weird the whole pooing thing I think. My little boy (now 2) would poo at every meal time and sometimes inbetween – and still does! E however just doesn't do it very often – would often go 5 days without a poo when just on milk. The prunes do seem to have helped her poo but she does tend to cry each time she does one . . . and not wanting to get too graphic, they aren't hard little pellets, kind of softish, but I guess much firmer than the watery poo she used to do. Maybe she's just not liking the change in poo! A friend of mine suggested baby massage and cycling their legs – not sure it did much for us but might be worth a go. Does Widget drink water? E not quite grasping it yet but is trying . . . or rather just banging her cup around as I speak! I must confess that I did puree some prunes earlier in the week and spoon fed her them to try to get a good quantity down her – think most ended up over her and me though! Must post a picture of it if I can work out how! Hope it gets better for you . . . and obviously Widget!
god i love lactulose… saved my life after having Babybear…
Thanks Caroline! She will drink water and this morning actually ate some Oatibix – yippee!!!
Re: your picture – send it to Aitch, just click on her name and you can email her. Look forward to seeing it!
Following on from my pitiful messages of Friday, I am proud to announce that Widget's done it! TWICE!! Once yesterday and once today!
I do appreciate that this is a very sad thing to get excited over, but I was so worried about the poor love, she was uncomfortable, not eating and not pooing, even since the hospital episode. There was much celebration in our house last night following the filthiest nappy I've ever had to chuck in the washing machine!