BLW - when did your LO actually start eating?

ReeceFamily · August 2013

We're only about 3 weeks into BLW, primarily just dinner. So far it's a lot of fun, but DD is definitely not really eating. She's mostly smearing food around her tray, licking her hands, gagging, and feeding food to the dogs. And she had a long chat with her roasted zucchini stick last night. For you more experienced BLWers, how long did it take for your child to actually start eating?

Emerald27 · August 2013

DS still mostly plays with his food at 22 months! I'd say about 1/4 of what I offer gets eaten.

He really wasn't interested in eating any food (just mouthing/playing with it) until at least 8 months old. And he didn't ask for food until he was over a year old.

Some kids love it right away and others start later. Just go with the flow, and let DD take the lead. There's nothing to worry about if she's not into it yet.

pixieprincss · August 2013

DS1 took to it pretty quickly at 6 months, though he was on primarily BM until 14 months. DS2 actually ate almost no food at 6-8 months but at 12 months has chosen primarily solids over nursing, which is increasingly more for comfort and sleep.

violajack · August 2013

We started offering a little of everything at every meal starting right at 6 months. I didn't think he was eating anything, but I did see some food in his diapers. He started really eating way more than just dropping it back out of his mouth around 8 months. He sometimes eats as much as I do at 13 months.

boogerbearoriginal · August 2013

We started just after 6m, but weren't always consistent offering him meals every day just if things timed up right we would include him. By 8-9m he was getting at least 1 regular meal a day and actually eating things. By 10-11m he was dropping bottles when I was at work in favor of food, however he preferred nursing to eating if I was home.

It definitely was a good month+ before he really started eating more than a negligible amount.

mb314 · August 2013

DS was over 9 months before he started really eating. Now he's a great eater.

blu-eyedwife · August 2013

My guy took to it very quickly, and he was still a little over 7 months before he was actually ingesting/swallowing anything.

SpruceGrouse · August 2013

DS is 1 now and he started really eating at 8 months but there is still a lot of play. He loves to eat so most of it goes in his mouth (or lately his ear). Now at 1 he can eat almost as much as I can.

nosoup4u · August 2013

They both started BLW at six months. DS1 was about 12-14 months before he really started enjoying people food. DS2 was 9 months or so, he took to it a lot quicker.

kjsmith9 · August 2013

I think it took DD about 5-6 weeks to actually swallow anything. But she definitely had fun squishing everything in her hands and making a mess of the high chair tray. She chewed a lot of stuff up in the beginning, but mostly spit stuff out early on. She'll get it

ReeceFamily · August 2013

Thanks everyone!

sucredee · August 2013

DD was slow to take to solids. We started around 6.5 months. I think around 9 months she finally started swallowing more stuff (until that time she mostly gnawed on stuff). Around 11 months she went on a solid food strike for 2 weeks (yeah for BM blowouts again) and then went back to solids. It took her a while before she really started eating larger quantities (she loved her BM and still does

). But around 16 months or so she started eating more. She is a great eater now. Once she started being able to eat a bigger variety of things she always ate what I cooked (unless it was too spicy) so she isn't too picky. There are still things she won't eat of course because she is still a toddler but overall she eats a lot of variety. BM or formula should be their main food source for the first year so don't worry about it if she is slow to really eat much for a while.

neverblushed · August 2013

Eh -- seemed like both my kids were somewhere around 8 months when they actually began to eat enough food to make a difference. My DD liked to play with food, smear food around, and taste food from about 6 months. It just frustrated my DS until he was older.

When babies develop the pincer grasp, it gets a lot easier for them to feed themselves, and you'll see food intake pick up a bit.

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