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January 2016 Moms
KFrob
member
Baby led weaning
KFrob
member
We're trying to do mainly BLW. This solid food experience seems the most overwhelming part of motherhood for me so far! Since I spend so much time googling and over thinking what to feed LO I wanted to see what others doing BLWing are feeding their LOs.
Re: Baby led weaning
Slowly introduce things. You don't have to go a whole week, but give some time to gauge whether a reaction is going to happen.
He recommended first foods were raw cucumber, carrots, or broccoli. He said they're not going to get anything off of it, so textured things were good. The bigger, the easier to hold, and less risk of choking. He said cucumbers particularly were soothing on sore gums. I asked about avocado and banana, and he said there wasn't any benefit or deterrent to using those, other than the amount of mess you want to clean up.
The only thing he said to avoid right now is acid-based fruits. (Citrus, pineapple, etc.) LO has AR anyway, so we would avoid those regardless.
He said the best thing is that Mom and Dad actually get to eat their own meals, while they are hot, and baby is occupied and feels like part of the group.
That's what I got so far. I'm really hoping this goes well...
We've tried avocado, sweet potatoes, blueberry pancake, today I made some mashed apple to give the spoon a try. I got a cantaloupe but it just seemed to hard. I want to try broccoli next.
We have our Drs appointment on Monday and I plan on asking a thousand questions!
So so far LO likes avocado, cucumber, and corn puffs. He does not like bananas at all. And we have had one allergic reaction to yogurt (hello probable dairy allergy!) so we have to take it easy with dairy.
@kaym6 I'm having the same fear!!! I read so much conflicting information about egg whites and whether they're okay or not. It just seems so easy to give her scrambled eggs!
Also, how is everyone handling this with working? My pedi said we should be feeding her solids in the morning and at dinner and to start lunch time very soon. I'm finding trying to balance the morning routine of bottle feeding, pumping (EP), and then solids very cumbersome (I should also add that I do mornings by myself, bc of my husbands work schedule he's already gone for the day). LO doesn't seem that interested in solids directly after her bottle in the morning. I'm also not sure how to handle it with my daycare provider. I'm thinking I might just send homemade baby food to daycare.
edit added more
@cali1710 yes, that will happen! The babies will eat less milk as they get more calories from actual food. As long as she's still gaining and you are giving her plenty of opportunity to drink as much as she wants, then don't worry if she doesn't have as much as in the past!
She does like the puréed sweet potatoes and a few other things. So I just need to start making those more for us so that she can have them fresh instead of from a jar
@mrsnc i love her red hair! I'm hoping Violet gets her daddy's red hair, it's not thick enough yet to tell if she's got daddy's red hair or mommy's blonde hair! Cucumbers are my favorite!
Cucumber is a big hit around here, too. We are doing a combo of BLW and traditional baby food. We send oatmeal and purees to daycare, because I don't feel like they can watch her closely enough. At home, she eats real food. She's only choked once, on watermelon, and a good finger sweep got that out. I think with her one tooth, watermelon was too crumbly. We also have done carrot sticks, zucchini, broccoli, bananas, and peaches. She's liked everything we've given her. We also are only waiting one day between new foods. Pediatrician said since we had no history of food allergies at all, we didn't need to wait at all, but I've kind of split the difference.
I mainly make the food myself and I find the smoother/more liquidy it is, the better he's able to eat it.
Last night we tried watermelon. I think I cut it too big bc she had trouble picking it up. She also wasn't too sure what to make of it. She would bite a chunk off and then spit it out. She also kept putting the rind in her mouth, gagging on it, and then threw up. It was a learning experience for her for sure haha!
We were doing a combination of BLW and purees but LO has just decided hes had enough of purees! Only 'real food' from here out!
Sooo weird this was on my Bump homepage today.
https://kellymom.com/nutrition/vitamins/iron/
I'm not stressing about it, I eat a tonne of red meat and green veg myself so I'm sure LO is getting enough from me. However he is eating a lot of greens, meats and grains like quinoa simply because that's what we eat a lot of.
Also, I do not know why but I am SO intimidated by integrating solid foods into LO's diet. I guess because there are so many options and methods and I have no idea what I'm doing, haha. We're going to try avocado first, because she's a California baby and I think that's appropriate, and that should be very easy to mush up enough that she can easily eat it. But after that I think we'll try baby food for a bit (veggies only) until she has the hang of it (1-2 months?) then do BLW.
I'm just not used to so many choices after only breastmilk or formula for half a year!
@maureenmce where in CA are you? I'm in the North Bay. We started with avocado too. I had wanted to do BLW but felt a little intimidated/scared when he got a big chunk of apple in his mouth. So now we're doing a somewhat modified plan. One of the things I liked best about BLW was that baby controls what he eats and how much, so we're sticking to foods that he can self feed. That could be a wedge of avocado (on the peel so he can hold on), a piece of cucumber, something in his mesh feeder, or mashed up foods (not too runny) that we load on his spoon and he then puts into his mouth (or doesn't). We did not have to teach him to put the spoon in his mouth-- he knew what to do on the first try. His aim could use some work though
I felt intimidated about it too, and even a little sad about him growing up, but now that we're doing it it's so fun to see his funny faces and the messes he manages to make. The dog lives under his high chair at meal times, so the whole family enjoys it. Good luck!
Have you ever seen this animated short film with the dog who gets a bit ignored when its owner falls in love, but then is so happy when the baby is born and starts dropping food on the ground? It's absolutely adorable.