Ladies who have or want to BLW

crystalknpp

DH and I really want to do BLW with B but I'm a little nervous about the "gagging" people talk about.  He's 5 months old and starting to show alot of interest in food, grabs at our plate, and makes a chewing motion with his mouth while he watches us eat.  He's getting better everyday at sitting so I have a feeling he will be ready to go by 6 months.  What foods did you or will you start your LO out with?  If your LO did BLW how did you stay calm in the beginning when they start gagging?  I'm scared I won't know the difference between gagging and choking.

Missa_g

Gagging = Noise of some kind. Choking = Silence and turning colors. We started with bananas and avocados. I highly suggest the BLW book by Rapley.

hopefulmom81

I am in a similar boat as you as far as being scared.

One thing that helped me was that I read that a baby's gag reflex is further up on their tongue than when they are older, so it triggers the gag reflex way before there would be an issue.

The few times DD has gagged it has been VERY obvious that it is not choking.  

 I would suggest reading BLW: The Essential Guide.... it has suggestions for first foods (mostly roasted/steamed veggies cut into "fingers" so they are big enough for LO to palm and eat) 

 

johnnys june

Hey lady,

 We were nervous too.  We started with avacados and bananas too.  Emma mostly played with them, then one day (just after 6 months) she started trying the food.  It was like night and day.  Funny enough, she started with homemade French Toast on Christmas Day.  Within a week she was having steamed green beans, spaghetti (boiled extra and cut fine), baked sweet potato fries, squash, collard greens, and within a few weeks shredded chicken (cooked in the slow cooker), scrambled eggs, and tons of other fresh fruit.  She has actually only gagged a handful of times.  BLW has been the best decision!  She truly enjoys the eating experience and we love watching her (and also that we don't have to spoon feed her).  We get to have dinner as a family.

 I didn't read the book that Melissa suggested, but I wanted to.  I did read their website over and over and over again and I researched a few other blogs.

crystalknpp

johnnys june:

Hey lady,

 We were nervous too.  We started with avacados and bananas too.  Emma mostly played with them, then one day (just after 6 months) she started trying the food.  It was like night and day.  Funny enough, she started with homemade French Toast on Christmas Day.  Within a week she was having steamed green beans, spaghetti (boiled extra and cut fine), baked sweet potato fries, squash, collard greens, and within a few weeks shredded chicken (cooked in the slow cooker), scrambled eggs, and tons of other fresh fruit.  She has actually only gagged a handful of times.  BLW has been the best decision!  She truly enjoys the eating experience and we love watching her (and also that we don't have to spoon feed her).  We get to have dinner as a family.

 I didn't read the book that Melissa suggested, but I wanted to.  I did read their website over and over and over again and I researched a few other blogs.

Hey Hun!  It's so good to "see" you.  Thank you for all the advice.  I really want to do BLW and I think DS will do really well with it.  I just need to get over my nerves about it first.  How old was Emma when you first started BLW with her? 

big_noise

Missa_g:

Gagging = Noise of some kind. Choking = Silence and turning colors. We started with bananas and avocados. I highly suggest the BLW book by Rapley.

This is where I started too. I also did a mix and did some purees but worked hard at the start on finger foods and allowing her to feed herself, which she did well with at the beginning and was a rock star at by 8 months.

Izabella22

We did a hybrid of BLW and purees but we started w/ avocado and banana. He has been awesome at feeding himself since day one. Very well steamed baby carrots and sweet potato slices were also early favorites. If you're nervous about choking, read Rapley's book, it explains it well and may help put your mind at ease. It was nerve wracking at first but honestly after reading the book it makes sense why they are less likely to choke doing BLW than purees since they have to learn to move solids in their mouths instead of just sucking it down.

adoxyinherear

johnnys june:

Hey lady,

 We were nervous too.  We started with avacados and bananas too.  Emma mostly played with them, then one day (just after 6 months) she started trying the food.  It was like night and day.  Funny enough, she started with homemade French Toast on Christmas Day.  Within a week she was having steamed green beans, spaghetti (boiled extra and cut fine), baked sweet potato fries, squash, collard greens, and within a few weeks shredded chicken (cooked in the slow cooker), scrambled eggs, and tons of other fresh fruit.  She has actually only gagged a handful of times.  BLW has been the best decision!  She truly enjoys the eating experience and we love watching her (and also that we don't have to spoon feed her).  We get to have dinner as a family.

 I didn't read the book that Melissa suggested, but I wanted to.  I did read their website over and over and over again and I researched a few other blogs.

This is so heartening! We're looking to get started doing this in the next few weeks (DD is almost six months), but the biggest stumbling block for me is the idea that baby eats what you eat... but we season our food with pepper and sea salt, and I often cook with olive oil. It seems like maybe she shouldn't have these things? Of course she wants what we have, so she's not as jazzed when I've offered her some roasted veggies I've made separately from whatever we're having.

Sonadora

We started with soft foods. Avacados, bananas, peaches, scrambled eggs....

The difference between gagging and choking was REALLY obvious. She rarely gagged for us but one time did choke when she managed to actually tear off a huge piece of lamb from the meat she was sucking on and then she tried to swallow before we could stop her. She never did it again.

johnnys june

She was 6 months and a few days.  She showed interest sooner, but everytime we gave her something she didn't quite know how or what to do with it.  On Christmas morning we gave her a "fry size portion" of homemade french toast and she loved it.  A few days later we tried steamed green beans and baked wedge potatoes.  Both were long and skinny enough for her to pick up, and easy enough to mash with her gums too.  A few days later we tried spaghetti.  Spaghetti is by far her favorite.  Messy, but her favorite.  There was no rhyme or reason to our method.  We just sat her at the table and gave her something that was soft enough and big enough from whatever we were eating.  She mostly played with it, but would put it to/in her mouth.  After a couple of weeks we noticed a big difference in how much she was eating though.  Now we give her anything and everything as long as it's not too hard. 

If you want to try something easy other than "real" food, try some puffs.  Those things practically melt with a tiny bit of water.  We got those in the first few weeks too.  Let me tell you, those things are like baby crack, lol.

johnnys june

Seasonings are good!!!  Just taper back on the salt.  They can't digest salt as well so maybe cook your food, separate some for LO, and then add salt.  We use all kinds of seasoning though and cook with olive oil.  It's actually all good for them.  We stay away from spicey, but in a couple of months you can introduce mild spices (think peppers, salsa, ect.).  In fact, Emma wouldn't take to her scrambled eggs the first time I gave them to her plain.  My MIL scrambled some with italian herbs and she gobbled them up!!!

adoxyinherear

johnnys june:

Seasonings are good!!!  Just taper back on the salt.  They can't digest salt as well so maybe cook your food, separate some for LO, and then add salt.  We use all kinds of seasoning though and cook with olive oil.  It's actually all good for them.  We stay away from spicey, but in a couple of months you can introduce mild spices (think peppers, salsa, ect.).  In fact, Emma wouldn't take to her scrambled eggs the first time I gave them to her plain.  My MIL scrambled some with italian herbs and she gobbled them up!!!

AWESOME. I really can't even wait.