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Attachment Parenting
Starting BLW - long
I have debating using this method of starting solids for DS for about a month now. Ive read information from various websites/blogs and I feel like I have the basic knowledge I need but I have a couple of questions if you ladies could help me out.
1. What foods did you start with?
2. How did you prepare/serve the first foods?
3. How much to give at a time and how often?
Basically, is it the same as thing as starting purees just a different approach?
From what Im understanding this is to be started after 6 months, correct? DS's pedi wants us to start solids because he is a big boy (20lbs at his 4months app) but DS isnt ready for a spoon so I was waiting until atleast 5 months. He just recently started to take interest in what we were eating. As in - he watches me put the food in my mouth and when I chew.
Also to add he has been exposed to oatmeal (I make my own) because he had severe reflux that has somewhat subsided. It was added to his bottles per drs orders so Im unsure if this will have any effect on attempting BLW. I mentioned BLW to his pedi and he recommended I take the oatmeal out of the bottles (we now only use it in 2 bottles a day instead of all of them) and spoon feed it too him and to throw bananas and avocado into the mix until he is 6 months then aproach the BLW method. It sounds kind of off to me, WDYT?
I apologize in advance if these are repetitive questions and for this being so long. I have skimmed through and saw a lot of BLW related threads but I didnt see anything particular to what I am curious about. TIA!
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Re: Starting BLW - long
There's really no rule book. (Other than staying away from honey until 12m) just do what feels right to you.
DD's first solid was roasted squash. She turned 6 months in the fall and it happened to be what was prepared for dinner the night we decided she was ready to try solids.
Most stuff we prepared it as if we were preparing our own food. She primarily started in vegetables roasted in olive oil with salt and pepper. Basically, she usually ate what we ate. Part of the pro, to me, of BLW was not having to prepare separate meals.
I think I started with just offering at dinner time before adding in breakfast, then lunch... But I honestly don't remember how long I waited. I went off of her cues and interest.
DD2 8.22.13
MMC 1.4.17 at 16w
Expecting #3, EDD 1.29.18
1. What foods did you start with? avocado, sweet potato, mashed potatoes (which he hated?!), banana, beef, pork, chicken, green beans and broccoli. Obviously not in one meal but those were the popular things initially.
2. How did you prepare/serve the first foods? We gave him what/how we would eat, large pieces for him to grab/gnaw on, meat was slow roasted and very tender.
3. How much to give at a time and how often? We started with one meal every few days, we'd just offer a few pieces of whatever we were eating and he mostly just played with it. By around 8m he started actually eating more than he was throwing and we'd give him at least one meal a day. We kept adding meals - first did lunch daily, then started adding in breakfast, then daily breakfast/lunch and started doing dinner occasionally. By 12m he ate 3meals a day plus bottles. And snacks have been added in as needed. We always just give him what we're eating, including spicy and strong flavors. He loves chili and doesn't like bland stuff which I completely think is because of BLW. Also, we always gave him utensils, starting with just a spoon, even though he didn't use them initially by 12m he was proficient with a spoon and has been good with a fork since around 15m. I owe this early skill to having them available from a young age. T
he whole "point" of BLW is to expose them to real foods and let them control what/how much they eat. Your job is just to facilitate healthy eating by offering them nutritious choices but LO will sometimes eat a lot and other times not so much. Some days he wants fruit and others he loves meat. We just roll with it.
There is no need to start solids early, and clearly if LO is large then he is growing just fine with bottles. And there are big reasons to wait, especially to let his gut fully develop enough to properly digest the solids. LO should be sitting independently and have lost tongue thrust before starting solids - whether puree or BLW. Average age that happens is 6m.
But I should mention, BLW doesn't have to be all or nothing. My MIL insisted on spoon feeding LO so we had applesauce for her to feed him when visiting because we didn't want LO to have purees she kept buying (they had a laundry list of chemical ingredients). There is a BLW book, I read it and it really didn't offer me much besides common sense stuff. Lo never really gagged much and I know infant CPR so I wasn't overly worried with choking.
Anyhow, this got way too long - good luck!
1. What foods did you start with? We started with "breakfast for dinner" - blueberry pancakes, sausage, and some green beans (not really breakfasty, but I wanted to include some veggies). After that we just started giving him whatever we were eating, so pork chops, steak, broccoli breakfast quesadillas, lots of fruit (we started in April - so we had lots of good summer fruit ahead of us)
2. How did you prepare/serve the first foods? I made everything the same as I did for DH and I. With 3 exceptions - 1) I stopped putting salt in the meal. This is REALLY important. Infants need a very low sodium diet or it can be dangerous for them. I added salt to DH and my portions after serving. 2) No honey. I started using molasses in place of honey in many recipes (like bread). 3) Less spice. This could be child specific, but my guy REALLY doesn't like spicy food, so I tone it down for him. Other than that, everything is served in large, easily picked up portions.
3. How much to give at a time and how often? We started right away with 3 meals a day at home. No food at daycare, just the breastmilk he was already giving until around 7 months when he stopped gagging and started really ingesting. Then I sent lunches in there too. As far as how much, I just kept giving him food until he wasn't interested anymore. The benefit of the "Baby Led" approach, is that they can't overeat. They self regulate and stop when they're full. This is different from purees where you're controlling how much they eat.
Basically, is it the same as thing as starting purees just a different approach? It's very different from starting purees. Because you wait until the child is 6 months you don't have to worry about introducing food one item at a time, or even one meal at a time. You also don't have to worry about overfeeding.
From what Im understanding this is to be started after 6 months, correct? DS's pedi wants us to start solids because he is a big boy (20lbs at his 4months app) but DS isnt ready for a spoon so I was waiting until atleast 5 months. He just recently started to take interest in what we were eating. As in - he watches me put the food in my mouth and when I chew. I don't get this at all and it sounds really....old fashioned? to me. There's no reason to start solids due to a child's size. Breastmilk/formula provides so much more "nutrition" (fat, calories, nutrients) than solids, so it takes less of that to fill them up and their bodies are able to use it better. It is really important to wait until 6 months though for both physical and developmental reasons. You need their digestive system to be developed, they need to be able to sit up on their own for more than just a second or two and correctly aim for their mouth with object. Tongue thrust should be gone. I've seen many posters on TB who have started early and then say how dangerous BLW is because their child started choking. Nope, the parents were dangerous for starting BLW before their child was developmentally ready.
Also to add he has been exposed to oatmeal (I make my own) because he had severe reflux that has somewhat subsided. It was added to his bottles per drs orders so Im unsure if this will have any effect on attempting BLW. I mentioned BLW to his pedi and he recommended I take the oatmeal out of the bottles (we now only use it in 2 bottles a day instead of all of them) and spoon feed it too him and to throw bananas and avocado into the mix until he is 6 months then aproach the BLW method. It sounds kind of off to me, WDYT? As I said, I don't really understand the rush to start solids before 6 months, so I don't really understand the need to offer oatmeal/bananas/avocado. Even the AAP is now recommending not introducing solids that early.
I keep reading that with purees babies don't have any control over their food intake... but as someone who is doing both purees and a modified BLW approach, this isn't true. DD just turned 7 months and is just now starting to really 'eat', and even with purees she tells me when she is done. She simply stops accepting the spoon and turns her head. Sometimes this is after 3 spoon fulls, sometimes it's after 20.
Just wanted to say - mealtime can still be "baby led" even if you choose purees.