hubby and BLW vent

bfstacy

so we decided to try BLW approach and are just slowly starting since DS is nearing the 6mo point but soo very interested in food and wants what we're eating. 

I do some hard pieces and some soft for the variety of textures and I read that some of the harder fruits/veggies actually feel great for babies teething, so i figured it can't hurt...

so the other night we had a mixed meal of mostly leftovers and fruits/veggies. so for DS, i gave him a few things on his tray apple slice, carrot, cucumber, cooked broccoli and about a spoonful of mashed potatoes. DS was having a ball experimenting with all the textures and tastes (loved sucking/gnawing on the apple and carrot the best) but enjoyed squeezing the mashed potatoes...and of course it was all over him and the high chair 

Hubby kind of freaked....i had no idea he felt this way about being messy bc he isn't a clean freak by far....but he was like you shouldn't give him the potatoes you know he's just going to get them all over everything. It's a preventable mess. yada yada yada...

i let him calm down and talked to him about it again later and it just really shocked me, its not like i was asking him to do all the clean up...and honestly, i know the mess is going to get far worse before it gets better! lol and I'm okay with that, but I want him on board as well...our high chair is super easy to clean (baby boon--awesome by the way) and LO absolutely loves bath time, oh and we have a dog so anything that gets on the floor he gobbles down. so really, cleaning up is a breeze!

i guess i just needed to vent...and would definitely appreciate a little BLW support or similar struggles and how you went about it... 

tjkdlhb

Kids are messy.  He needs to get over it.  LO needs to learn how to feed himself and whether he does it now or at 8 months or 10 months it will be messy.

Take pictures.  It should be an enjoyable memory.

P.S.  Apple slices are a choking hazard.  They should be grated.  The texture/easy to break off pieces. They, like grapes, are often on lists of choking hazards. 

jennyelf

He thinks mashed potatoes are messy, he should see what happens when an infant bats a spoonful of puree away or spits the puree back at you. I remember purees with my cousins and BLW is definitely not as messy for us.

henrytviii

tjkdlhb:

Kids are messy.  He needs to get over it.  LO needs to learn how to feed himself and whether he does it now or at 8 months or 10 months it will be messy.

Take pictures.  It should be an enjoyable memory.

P.S.  Apple slices are a choking hazard.  They should be grated.  The texture/easy to break off pieces. They, like grapes, are often on lists of choking hazards. 

I am confused on the apples as the BLW weaning books says they are okay and people keep mentioning them as a choking hazard. Is it just the slice they can get into their mouth to bite off a big bit that's an issue? Can they have a whole apple or a very large chunk to "scrap" off bits or is that a choking hazard too.  My LO's favorite food is apples and I am never sure what's okay.  Right now I eat half it it and hand him the rest,  or give him a huge chunk to scrap his teeth on, he does well with it but I don't want to do it if its not safe.

tjkdlhb

henrytviii:

tjkdlhb:

Kids are messy.  He needs to get over it.  LO needs to learn how to feed himself and whether he does it now or at 8 months or 10 months it will be messy.

Take pictures.  It should be an enjoyable memory.

P.S.  Apple slices are a choking hazard.  They should be grated.  The texture/easy to break off pieces. They, like grapes, are often on lists of choking hazards. 

I am confused on the apples as the BLW weaning books says they are okay and people keep mentioning them as a choking hazard. Is it just the slice they can get into their mouth to bite off a big bit that's an issue? Can they have a whole apple or a very large chunk to "scrap" off bits or is that a choking hazard too.  My LO's favorite food is apples and I am never sure what's okay.  Right now I eat half it it and hand him the rest,  or give him a huge chunk to scrap his teeth on, he does well with it but I don't want to do it if its not safe.

It depends on how you offer it. From what I understand, it should be grated, or softened in some way (baking, etc)

With raw apple slices, pieces can break off and they can choke.

With a whole apple, they'd essentially be grating it with their gums, so that would be a better choice, according to the book.

The BLW cookbook talks about them being a choking hazard (p.27) if they aren't offered in appropriate sizes and so does some information given to me by  public health.

beany02

my DH is the same way about the mess. I let DD eat almost everything with her hands, and she is a disaster when she's done. DH tries to use a spoon but DD usually hates it. He always tries to prevent a mess but i have just embraced it. I try to tell him its ok if she gets messy but for whatever reason it bugs him.

When DD has apples, i will take a few bites off a whole apple and let her gnaw on the rest. I keep a real close eye on her in case she bites off a chunk because it does seem like a choking hazard. So far so good.

 

kaybee10

For apples I just steam them first.

Babies are going to be messy, all part of the learning process. Tell your hubby she is learning now and he will be impressed by her early eating skills compared to even older babies! Dd loves mashed potatoes she squishes a handfull and shoves them in her mouth until she has way too much lol! But again she's learning to not put too much in. At the beginning it was hard for her to grasp things and now at 8m she's is getting so good at it and has learned the pincer grip, and has tried all kinds of foods. I'm glad we did blw:

kderham

We are doing BLW and my husband IS a neat freak. (Honestly, I am doing it in part because hubby's reaction is funny). Although its easy to say "your husband just needs to get over it" that's not very helpful advice. Has your husband read the BLW book? Although it does explain how messy it is, it also talks about how much easier it will make things in the long run. I would think that might help. My husband had never been around kids before. Once he saw what a mess other kids make, especialyl at restaurants, he has started to calm down. Hopefully it gets better soon. Plus, as baby gets older, the mess will lessen. GL!