Preemies

Baby Led Weaning...and a NICU question :)

kwalk1kwalk1 member
edited October 2013 in Preemies
I just wanted to ask if anyone has tried this with their preemies? DD is obviously not ready yet as she is only 4 months actual and 3 months adjusted, but I was just wondering if anyone has had luck with it? Any advice/stories will be helpful for the future! I really want to try that versus purees!


Also, a bonus question, because I didn't want to clog the board with 2 posts lol. Is anyone willing to share which NICU they were/are in? I just figured it might be another way for us to connect without being too revealing about personal info! ETA: We were at Cincinnati Children's NICU for our stay :D
Lilypie - (4VBD)
Kira Otter

Re: Baby Led Weaning...and a NICU question :)

  • We had a 32 weeker but she was big and a grower.  Many preemies having major texture and feeding issues, but she didn't appear to have any problems.  Our ped told us to not wait to on solids, so we started at 6.5 months actual.  We started with some tiny pieces of very soft fruit, and she demanded more.  We tried purees too, and she liked that too.  At 9.5 months, she eats what we do for the most part.  I still cut things small and thin.  I never did big chunks of meat or other things that I didn't think made good sense with respect to choking--perhaps a deviation from some BLW folks on the BMBs.  If your LO is very small or has breathing issues, demonstrates aversions to textures, gags a lot, or you are worried about nutrients from food and your LO can't get much in, I would back off a bit on this, but I think otherwise, it could work.
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  • We did BLW with our boys who were born at 29w4d. We tried at 6m actual but they had zero interest so we stopped until 6m adjusted. At that point we sat them down at dinner with us and offered just one item - Fruit, veggie, scrambled eggs. It took awhile for them to get it but I counted it as a win if they just touched it since it was still experience. They really caught on at about 11m actual and have been eating us out of house and home since! I would recommend reading the book to get a really clear idea of it. Also making sure everyone around your daughter understands the difference between gagging and choking because a BLW child WILL gag some until the reflex moves back a bit.
    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers
    Married 9/22/07, began TTC 8/10
    Diagnosed with DOR, LP defect, mild endometriosis and cysts
    BFP #1 EDD 9/10/11, natural miscarriage at 6w
    BFP #2 Medicated cycle, twin boys born 4/4/12 at 29w4d
    BFP #3 EDD 8/8/14, D&C for missed miscarriage at 8w, baby boy with triploidy
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  • We are doing this with Anna. She loves eating but she can't feed herself due to delays in fine motor skills. We hold it in front of her and she grabs our hand, pulls the food to her mouth and gnaws on it. So far she has had banana, avocado, pear, and cantaloupe. She is getting the hang of chewing and swallowing! We are all about food for fun before one, but DH would also like to start some purees and maybe oatmeal so I'll let him. 


      Our Angel Patricia born sleeping 3/30/12 at 31 weeks
    Our Fighter Anna born early 1/8/13 at 26 weeks
    Hoping to bring home #3 due 9/9/15
  • My little guy was a 34w with severe IUGR. We did BLW and at a little over a year (11 months adjusted) he is a great eater. I made sure we started with very soft easy foods first (avocado, sweet potatoes, strawberries, banana) and we advanced very slowly. We started introducing closer to his 6m actually date as we followed the rule of being able to sit up fairly well before starting BLW. I think it has really helped his fine motor skills and him being able to handle lots of different textures. 
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  • We are a long way from weaning, my little guy is only 6 days old. We are in Westchester Children's Hospital, in NY (about 45 min north of NYC)! So far, the staff has been amazing and our little man is doing well.
  • We didn't plan on blw but ds hated purées. He went straight to solids at about 9 months actual/ 7 adjusted. We tried purées at 6 months actual /4 adjusted and he cried and clamped his mouth down.
    A great first food is seedless watermelon. It is cool and sweet and disintegrates in their mouth. It was one of his first at least. He also loved banana. He's now 16 months old but eats everything and has for a while. His favorite foods are black olives and black beans and bananas. He always feeds himself and loves trying new foods.

    Good luck!!

    Random edit- look at videos of choking v gagging. It's scary at first but there's a big difference!!
    imageimage

    Our little hippo was as impatient as mom!

    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers


    Hoping for a full 40 weeks!! 

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  • Thanks for all your advice ladies! I can't wait until she's old enough to start trying, it just seems like it will be so fun to try!
    Lilypie - (4VBD)
    Kira Otter
  • Forrest General in Hattiesburg, MS. Amazing place!!!!!!!
    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers

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    Pregnancy #1 EDD 1/20/13, D&C for unexplained miscarriage at 12w
    Pregnancy #2 EDD 8/28/2013, Carson was born on 6/28/2013 at 31w - spent 37 days in the NICU
  • We started with rice cereal/oatmeal at about 4.5 months actual, but she wasn't into it.  We kept trying about once a week until she was about 5.5 months. She started showing some interest also when we would all be eating and wanting to grab at our fork (I would wear her often at meals).  She wasn't a fan of the rice cereal/oatmeal and we started with 1 veggie a day.  She loved the purees, and had her favorites.  We did all the green veggies first, then the color veggies, and finally the fruits.  She started refusing the purees and only wanted puffs or cheerios when she was about 9 or 10 months actual.  We started BLW then, letting her pick things up, and it has been great.  She loves to eat veggies (we buy the steambags) and to this day she prefers veggies to fruits. 
    GL! 
    TTC Since July 2008.
    Me: PCOS DH: Low everything (MFI)
    Clomid with TI x 3 2010 BFN
    Clomid+IUI+Ovidrel 2010 BFN
    IVF w/ICSI #1 2011
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    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers
  • Oh, yes!!!! I get the USM! Did you go to school there???? All the nurses were absolutely amazing!!!! It made a bad experience much more bearable.
    Lilypie Premature Baby tickers

    imageimageimage

    Pregnancy #1 EDD 1/20/13, D&C for unexplained miscarriage at 12w
    Pregnancy #2 EDD 8/28/2013, Carson was born on 6/28/2013 at 31w - spent 37 days in the NICU
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