WMs who did BLW
NithyaV
member
I'm looking for some advice insight since DD is my first baby and I still am flying by the seat of my pants (or so I feel). We are doing BLW. We introduced solids once/day since she was 5.5 months or so. Only recently has she shown an interest in actually eating it (she went after some sweet potato wedges last week and ate a tbsp or 2 of oatmeal on sunday).
Anyway, now that she's 7 months old, I want to "expose" her to food 2x/day. I still don't know if I feel comfy with her DC doing BLW so here is my schedule:
6A - nurse
7A - oatmeal
7:30-5:30 - DC - bottles only
6P - nurse (at home)
then she gets a bath, then I shower
6:45P/7P - solids of some kind
8P - bed (maybe nursing)
The last 2 mornings she hasn't been very interested in the oatmeal and last night she wasn't interested in the sweet potato so I didn't push it. Do you think that she should be more interested in it at her age (therefore, is it too early/late for her in the day to show an interest in food)? Also, on the weekends, should I try to stick to the same feeding schedule as far as the times when she can experience solids?
I'm looking for insight since you guys are more likely to have the scheduling/work demands while trying to do BLW.
Re: WMs who did BLW
We started BLW with DD around 6 months and it wasn't until about 8 months when she really showed an interest and started to understand that this stuff is something I eat and it makes my belly full. I too was hesitant to have DC do BLW since they aren't used to it, but I had them start around 7 months and DD had no problems.
DD didn't eat dinner until around 11 months (she wasn't interested) so she would do BLW at DC for breakfast and lunch. On the weekends I would give her food at the same time that DC did.
I think your LO sounds normal. Some babies pick up BLW/solids right away and it takes others a while to ease into it. Since your LO doesn't need the nutrional value of food right now I would let her take her time with it.
Good luck!
Bella - thanks for the tips. DD also likes to be involved when we're eating. Unfortunately with dinner, it's usually right before she goes to bed or right after (no way to avoid it with our work schedules). This morning she wasn't at all interested in my bagel (she usually tries to grab stuff from me) so I didn't feel too bad she rejected her oatmeal.
In a month or so, I'm going to just give her what we eat. I'm still getting her used to the different softer foods (bananas, avocados, sweet potatoes).
At the beginnig I gave her bananas, avocados, steamed brocolli (she loved it!), steamed sweet potato chunks, steamed fruits coated in wheat germ, stuff like that. DC wasn't used to BLW so when I told them not to spoon feed but to let her self feed I got a lot of confused looks. But then when she really got the hang of it the teachers were shocked (in a good way) about how well she was eating.
We are just doing foods at home right now. I have brought up BLW to her teachers at daycare, and at first they were ok with it. Then one teacher (who has since left) said that another mom sent huge chunks of all sorts of foods (aka BLW....) and she would break the food up into itty bitty pieces b/c she didn't want the baby to choke! (Yes, I chuckled to myself.)
Just the other day, my LO's teacher told me that the daycare's director now says BLW is prohibited so we can't do it, but to please send purees so LO can eat at daycare. Now, this daycare has been overfeeding LO from Day One (giving her 16oz of BM in the 7 hours she's there) so I do not want to start the same thing with foods.
So we bought some of those puffs and we sent those. Now LO sits at the table with the rest of them and plays with her puffs. The teacher tells me that LO doesn't get them into her mouth, so she has been putting them in her mouth for her. Arg! We do dinner at home together as a family. LO just the last few days has gotten interested in food.
I do breakfast with her on the weekends in addition to the dinner. (Waffles!)
My DH has LO in the AM before she goes to daycare, but he isn't a breakfast person and the whole idea of BLW is about sitting at the table together....so we'll probably do just the one meal for awhile.