Hi there,

I'm new to this site. Been lurking on and off. We have been BLW here since about 6months (L is now 10months). I did start some mush and it took me a while to wean her off it! Paranoid about her getting enough food. I'm over that now, but my question is such a fun one (not!). Any advice on constipation???? I've tried prunes, pear juice,etc but it get good then it starts again. I read someone that cooking veges thoroughly and making sure the pears are ripe or they do the opposite (carrots etc for the veges.) So with BLW of course, we are cooking less and less now she is getting older. I try to give her a varied balanced diet throughout the day. Ie if she doesn't eat much at lunch I make sure that she gets her veges etc at night.

Any advice out there??

I always found that bananas were quite binding and apricots were...well, the opposite!

definitely a no to the bananas, if you're still giving them. Apricots do the trick with Babybear but she doesn't tend to suffer much from constipation. i think that from what i've read, boiling prunes and and giving them as a liquid is pretty much the best way. or what's that medicine? Califig, is it? My friend used to recommend that for her (puree-fed) wee boy.

We had a serious bought of constipation here, with much screaming.

More liquids (which is a challenge as he doesn't do cups yet)... no bananas, no cheese, no applesauce, no eggs, fiber can go both ways as lots of fiber without lots of liquid just creates another problem. For US no dairy, I think... but we are going to try to add some back to see if that was the problem.

We tried lots of different fruits, but they were all very difficult for the bub to hold and eat, so after several days of screaming during bms and little tear that broke my heart, I bought (hang head) some pureed prunes. Frankly, he loved them. Now that we are past it, we will probably put the second tub in some porridge pancakes.

Any advice, while we are at it, on fruits that younger blw-ers can hold more easily?

apricots and peaches, in my experience.
and there is No Reason Whatsoever to be hanging your head about prune puree. regardless of whether they have a bit of puree or spoondfeeding every so often, BLW is still a very different first experience of food than being given homogenous purees on a spoon at every breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Try plums - easier to get down than prunes. The Victoria plum tree in my garden is currently at the perfect pitch of ripeness, and I find one or two after dinner guarantees a good result the next day! Don't know what will happen when I have used all the plums!

I've been suggested pineapple or mango - which of course they can suck to their hearts content. Haven't tried it myself - the effect of some steamed apple was enough to cope with!

This is so annoying, for the past month minimoo has been placing veg in his mouth then spitting it out with as much disdain as he can muster. All things he's been eating for months. (He's 15 months now we started at 6) I'm trying to be calm and unruffled, just representing them. BUT it's driving me mad. What's happening to his balanced diet. His daddy was an horrendously fussy eater (not surprising really as he was spoon fed til 3 - whole other MIL story!!) which is why I'm so keen minimoo isn't fussy. Has this happened to anyone else?

Babybear goes on and off vegbut is always keen on peas so i give her them like sweeties, Scary. A wee bowl of frozen peas while she's playing or having a story read always makes me feel much better about her vitamin c intake. perhaps you could give that a try? or if you do pasta and veg, make sure you get conchiglie as the veg goes into the shells so there's not much they can do to avoid eating them.

DS2 likes frozen peas too. I did read it says you're not to eat them frozen on the packet, but I did when I was little and it "never did me any harm" ;o) I used to like the minted ones best - green veg vitamins and minty goodness, what could be better?!

I'm sure I am probably telling people something they already knew, but just in case.

Last night I was going to make spinach bean burgers (thanks minimoo, we loved them). But I didn't have the recipe and the website was down due to bandwidth over load. (It was probably 12 am in Your part of the world).

Through my sleep deprived fog, I figured to google the exact title of the recipe and then accessed the version of the recipes page which was cached by google. Instant access to exactly what I needed even though the site was actually down.

I would have been desperately sad if I couldn't have made those burgers last night!

That is very useful info as was trying to check a recipe myself this morning, but the site was down. So... ta muchly Nutmeg!

Very handy mutmeg.

Glad you like the burgers, it's amazing to think of someone in the US eating my minimoo's burgers!!

We are only two and a half weeks in to blw and having ups and downs. Some days I wonder if I'm doing the right thing. Lots of pressure from the HV to be giving him a certain number of "teaspoons" of food at each meal (she knows we're doing finger food but still wants to know how many teaspoons!). He's not getting what she wants him too so I start to worry. He has weetabix off a spoon for breakfast, so we are cheating a bit there, loves fruit, I guess cos it's sweet, ok on the veggies, but we have real trouble getting any sort of meat into him. Have tried sausages, turkey burgers, roast chicken and some cooked chicken pieces out of our pasta. He gets really upset any time he has tried meat and gags a lot when he tries it (had a close call with a piece of roast chicken on the weekend). We had the chicken pasta tonight and he sucked on it for a while which he seemed to enjoy but then when he managed to bite a bit off it was too hard for him to chew, got stuck on the roof of his mouth and he got very upset, starting crying and mealtime was over. I am wary of him needing more iron in his diet as he is getting less in my milk now, but not sure how to tackle it if the meat is going to be such an issue - plus we don't eat very much red meat. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to cook the meat in a way that he may prefer, or will make it a little softer and easier for him to chew, or any suggestions for meat alternatives that will still give him the iron boost he needs? I really want to keep going with the blw so I'm hoping we can get this sorted, because at the moment, to be honest, I'm finding it all a little stressful, probably mostly because of my fear of him choking, even though I have read all of your posts saying they gag, get over it!! Hopefully I can!

We've been at this for 2 months, really only eating much of anything for a month.

I've been concerned about iron also. The bubs was born a little on the small side and here in the US those are the only babies they say need iron supplementation before 6 months, which we did not do. And he isn't receiving iron fortified rice cereal, and we give him almost no meat. So we are just crossing our fingers and hoping that the iron in the dark green veggies and in the grains he is getting is enough (plus the iron that is more readily available in breastmilk so even though it is low concentration it is easily used by babies). If you are concerned about iron, ask for a blood test. I've decided at his 1 year appointment I will ask for a blood test and then I'll just know and I'll be able to do something about it. Elias is quite hale and hearty currently, so I'm going to let it go. Kind of like the gagging.

As far as meat I have little advice, as we haven't pushed the meat much, but he eats something dark green at every meal. I know others have suggested roast chicken legs, with the little pieces of meat that are nice and juicy and just the right size.

hi mc
we are in similiar boat to yourself, now beginning week 3. sounds like you pair are doing great. we're taking it slowly this end, as we've had a couple of contact facial rashes, plus 2 particularly horrible gags(which minnie mooch coped with without me jumping in, thank god). i've not even thought about meat yet. want her to get her technique for chomping etc better before we move on to that. but happy with whats she doing so far.

thanks collymags, maybe we should hold off on meat too. our little one has sorted himself out with the close calls we've had with the gagging aswell, just panics me a bit. maybe the meat should wait until i've relaxed a little and he's gotten the hang of it all a bit more. nice to hear from someone who's at the same stage as us - is there any particular food that you've tried that has been well received?

Hi MC

You say you don't eat much red meat, which I understand, but have you tried him with roast beef? I found that pretty successful with my first son - he had a chip-shaped piece when he was 9mo and sucked and chewed at it till it was grey - I tried to take it off him absentmindedly when I realised he'd had it a good while and he growled at me and clung onto it...!

But my second son didn't eat much meat till he was about 16 months old (he's 19mo now) and even now, he'd prefer a piece of fruit or some carrots.

Do you have any particular concerns about your son being anaemic, because I have to say, I just sort of went "oh, it'll be OK, I'm sure". Not sure if that's advisable or just me being lax, but it seems to have worked! It sounds like if your HV wasn't on at you about how many spoons of food he's gettting, you might not be worrying?

There's iron in other food though - will he eat dark green leafy veg things?

How many times does he feed? Has he reduced his intake significantly since he started weaning?

Euan has only just decided to like meat in a big way - he is 13 months now. But I did find that he would eat the wafer thing sliced meats, then graduated onto thicker sliced meat and now he is eating chucks of meat.

He has been diagnosed with very mild anaemia and is taking iron medicine, but at the time he wasn't eating much of anything (including green veg).

that's interesting, isn't it Katy? because until very recently Euan wasn't eating hardly anything, was he, so the fact that has only very mild anaemia is actually pretty positive, i'd say. i personally think the iron thing is a bit over-wrought in this country. HVs talk about it like it's a tap that gets switched off at 6 months, whereas in fact if you're bfing it's a gradual fall and if you're using formula there's iron added.
there's lots of interesting data on iron here, which basically appears to conclude that if you're bfing exclusively 'At some point toward the end of the first year, your baby will gradually begin to need more iron than that provided by breastmilk alone, so offer your baby foods naturally rich in iron and vitamin C as he begins to eat solids.'
To the people who are starting off, it's not exactly reasonable to expect you to know in teaspoons what a non-spoonfed child is eating, nor is it even a particularly sensible question at this stage. that's great news about the gagging, it is a bit 'wow' but much better to let them get on with it and they'll learn all the faster. welcome to you both, by the way.

I so remember that feeling of "am I doing the right thing" in the early weeks ... I wish I could go back in time and tell myself "It's fine, she'll do really well on it and be eating you out of house and home in another 6 months - stop worrying!" So hang in there :)

This thing about numbers of teaspoons is a bit weird, I think. If you were puree-feeding, wouldn't the number of teaspoons depend on how watery you made the puree?

Piglet didn't get the hang of eating crumbly things like burger mince until later, and the same with chicken because of the way it breaks up into strands. To start with she was better with things like strips of beef stirfry or roast lamb. Good iron alternatives are dried apricots or date puree (no really - goes down a treat spread on a bit of ricecake)!

Thanks Eleanor, I think a little reassurance is what I needed! I saw my HV today and she didn't go on about the teaspoons and was much more supportive of the whole thing so I feel a little more relaxed about it today. I stopped worrying today about how much he was eating and just let him go for it and, coincidence or not, he ate much better. Think I might leave the meat thing a little longer until he gets the hang of chewing a bit better and stick with the alternatives, so thanks for those suggestions and your support. Much appreciated.

Hi

Just to say we left meat a while after starting BLW and I think she only really started to 'eat' it around 12 months...so relax and chill about it. Like lots of other people have said - you will look back and wonder what you were worried about!!

I haven't tried meat but I have read somewhere that chicken can be more of a problem that more "fleshy" types (ie your red meats) due to the thin fibres and how it can break the wrong way. Does that make sense?

I'm going to wait until Bruno has got the hang of a few veg before we go on to meat.

Hi MC,
I found in the beginning that cod was squishy and easy eating (especially covered in some cheesy tomato sauce). Also if you blend LOTS of apple with chicken breast so that it is more goo than solid, you can coat in flour and fry in olive oil for sausages that fall apart in their mouths. Lastly, we don't eat much red meat in our house, so sometimes I buy jars of beefy baby food and spread on bread for peace of mind about iron intake. Hope that helps!

hi there, I'm new on this site, tho have been a fan of BLW since before it hit the headlines. My older DD is 5.5 years now and wouldn't take any solids in any form willingly til she was a week under a year old, (at which point she grabbed and ate a piece of chicken tikka off my plate) and all the children in my family have been well known for being reluctant eaters, so I was more than happy to bf for 6 months minimum and not introduce solids til my younger dd was ready willing and able. She is now a week over 4 months, and from all the info I've ever read anywhere, showing signs of being really really desperate to eat! So a few days ago I let her suck on a chunk of ripe nectarine, which she loved, and she did seem to chomp bits off it, no gagging. And the same with a piece of pear more recently. Problem is, she can't hold them herself, and I'm worried about safety. DH wanted to try baby rice, which was a great hit, but pureed carrots less so. What should I do? I tried to not give her any solids for one day, and she cried, slept less well, and obsessed at our food (I admit the 1st 2 could be coincidence and the last she does anyway.) So do I just stop the solids for another 2 months, or should I try her with finger foods, or should I do more purees? She doesn't sit up by herself, but does have a strong back and neck and her tongue thrust reflex is going.
To add to the issue, we have a LOT of allergies in the family, so I'm going to have to be careful introducing solids however, and that's another reason I'd prefer to wait til 6 months, but woudl that be cruel if she IS already desperately interested in food? My feeling is she's also enjoying the stimulation of experiencing food, so would it be a compromise to offer her safe foods to suck and chew but with me holding them? Sheila Kitzinger suggests this as an enrichment tool from birth! Hope someone can help!

Hi MamaWolf, welcome to the site.
As i see it, the main thrust of BLW is that when the baby is ready they will be capable of picking the food up, so while i actually held onto the first food my daughter ever ate (because she seemed to be jamming the whole peach in and i was yet to unclench about choking) i must say that I knew she was more than capable of self-feeding. So i've got to say that if it was my baby and she couldn't yet hold onto the food, i'd be inclined to postpone the other stuff too. but then, that's just my opinion.

as you know yourself, nutritious breastmilk has more calories than any baby rice or carrot puree, so if it's hunger then that's best to satisfy your daughter. rice is filling her tummy up, but it's empty calories.

if it was me, i'd try to get my supply up to meet her calorific needs and give her some toys to chew on so that she can practise eating, if you know what i mean? if i'd listened to my mother saying 'that child is staring at your food etc etc' i'd have had Babybear on purees by 10 weeks.

the WHO recommendation is 6 months for exclusive bfing, it's designed to protect the most amount of babies but presumably there will be some ready to eat earlier. for my child, i'd be inclined to have some latitude on the 6 months thing, but then if there are allergies that would probably make me even more determined to get to the 6 months mark...

what about more milk and offering simple fruit and veggies (not gluten etc, for allergenic reasons) on the table? if she really wants them, she'll get to them somehow. and more chew toys, definitely, hopefully she'll find them enriching until such times as she surprises you and grabs for the steamed carrot.

Not too surprisingly I agree with Aitch.

The thing that spoke to me about BLW was just how sane and developmentally appropriate it is (especially as something of an evolutionary biologist/ecologist). So for me, I'm a strong proponent of let them stick the food in their own mouths and if they can't do that, they aren't ready and don't have the mouth skills to handle it.

This is sort of the all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares problem, however. Because, while the bubs may be able to put the food in his mouth just fine, sometimes he can't handle it and I leap to the rescue attempting to preempt chocking on something too SOLID and large (even though I am quite laid back with the gagging, but my kid has gagged quite a bit more often than most here.)

Whether you do purees is up to you (as is everything, really... ain't parenthood grand?!)... but for me, I would put sitting up (ie in a highchair, not slouched backwards at all) as an absolute prerequisite for finger foods.

Now, I say all this as the mother of a kid who was really completely oblivious of all our food until he discovered watermelon at nearly 7.5 months, so we didn't really have to deal with a baby frustrated over not getting our food.

As Aitch said, I might be a little more wary with allergies, also. We've played fast and loose in this house with allergies, and have only discovered a few skin sensitivities, so I feel we've been lucky... but Elias was eating almost no quantity of food at all until he was 7.5 months.

I hope I haven't muddied the issue too much!

Hi MamaWolf
I agree with the others, but would also add that my DD was similar, desperately trying to grab our food from soon after 4 months, staring at it and salivating, etc. I held out for a while (against all sorts of parent/inlaw/DH pressures), and she was just over 5 months when I started giving her finger food - brocolli and then very overcooked carrot sticks. By then she could sit up and grab it herself, so it was more a case of my leaving it on the table where she could reach it, and keeping a close eye on the gagging. She smeared the brocolli all over her face at first, and gradually it started to go down, and by 6 months she had a wide repertoire of fruit and veg and was longing for other taste sensations. So she was an early weaner, but she could do it, and wanted to do it, and I think that's what blw is all about.
I would be wary of offering finger foods before she can sit up - and I know it's hard to remember that milk is more calorific than any amount of purees. It's easy for me to offer advice now (I tore my hair out between 4 and 5 months), but I think I'd try to leave food in front of her, in the famous fist sized or chip shaped pieces, and when she's able to pick them up and eat them, she'll be ready to. Meanwhile she might enjoy squishing them etc.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Bruno has been grabbing food & shoving it in his face since 4 months too but didn't eat any and we've just started BLW officially (this is week 2) & he still doesn't eat it.

However, he's happy with his milk so my worry is the opposite lol!

Just playing with some weird texture is good fun & practice for your LO.

Mamawolf, My Pudding was just shy of 6mths when she started BLW at lunch by grabbing my fork and scoffing melon off it. She still struggles, almost a month later to hold a lot of fruits as they tend to be slippery. She really prefers us to hold the food then she guides it towards her beak. If she's in the mood she'll have a good go at picking it up, which is great as it means I get to eat hot food whilst she chases a chunk of slimy banana round the highchair tray.

However, she adores mashed food such as swede and carrot mash, root mash and spuds which sh'e tried in pubs and restaurants. she manages to squish up great big handfuls of these. They also make an effective hair gel as I discovered an hour after she'd rubbed it into my scalp as I cleared up the debris from the pub floor! Water melon is also a good one for holding as little fingers can squish into it and get a grip.

I think they let you know when they are ready, sometimes through pure noseiness; Puds fave thing at the moment is to demand and swig my sparkling water from my glass, leaving me with the sort of food blowback I hadn't experienced since forced to share bottled pop with my baby sis in the 70s! ( Yes, I do continue to drink it. Pub water aint cheap people!)

Oh LOLOLOL and ROFL at the water blowback. My sister is rarely without a bottle of water and absolutely dreads Babybear asking her for some.

Just wondered if everyone else had discovered Aitch has got a forum at the above website? I had this blog saved in my favourites so it was only when I was at work with a little time on my hands that I discovered the forum. FAB!!!

oh my god, ROFL! is there no way of keeping a secret on here? we only switched it on last night...

i was going to tell you all about it (and put a big fat PRESS THIS IT'S A BLW FORUM button on the blog) once we'd ironed out some of the teething problems with registering etc etc. in the meantime last night i'd randomly emailed some of you who've emailed me in the past couple of weeks to ask you to test it out for me and ive me feedback. but now that cover's well and truly blown. how hilarious!

anyway, it's here, you are all most welcome to keep testing it for us (in fact i'd be somewhat pathetiically grateful if you would) and then i'll do The Big Announcement in a couple of days. LOLOLOL.

Oh and don't forget the posting things three times after you've already posted thing lol.

oh yes, that too.

OOPS - sorry I really didn't mean to blow your cover - I only had a few minutes to glance at it and was then wondering how I'd not found it before now!! That would explain it. Apologies again xxxx

Hi, I'm a newbie and wish I'd known about BLW earlier, just discovered the site.
DS was born at 28 weeks and is now 8mths actual but only 5mths corrected. I managed to breastfeed him, and exclusively breastfed til 6mths (3mths corrected). On the advice of Bliss, HV and doctors I started weaning him at 6mths actual age, 3mths corrected. TBH at that point I didn't feel that he needed anything other than breastmilk, but when you've spent the first 2 months in NICU you tend to listen to what the doctors tell you!
I've been giving him home made purees (organic fruit & veg in my defence) and haven't given meat, dairy or gluten yet. I'm still breastfeeding but it has cut down quite a bit cos he likes his food and does eat a fair amount.
Does anyone have any experience of BLW with premature babies, and also of moving from purees onto BLW food?
He can't quite sit up on his own yet so I don't think he's ready developmentally for BLW, but I can't really cut out the purees and go back to just milk. Any comments or advice please?

tink's your woman re preemies, i'll ask her to come and find you, beachbum. why don't you just start introducing finger food and then see what happens? you could phase out the purees then, or you could even do it gradually now and let the baby set his limits with milk again, if you think you could get your supply up. BLW is great, but everyone finds their own way of doing it. in fact, i think that's what i like best about it...

Hi there. Tink was 31 weeks and I held out till six months from when she was born. Fortunately she was ready because I listened to some bad advice from my paediatrition and started sooner than I wanted to.

I know what you mean about the Unit, I often cried to Tink's Daddy that I didn't feel like I was the parent. They'd do things and tell me to do things or I'd feel like I had to justify myself to them and it really upset me. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be there two months like that.

Some babies do really well on their new age, while others need to follow their adjusted age and some have their own time scale that doesn't follow anything, it sounds like yours was one to follow adjusted age at least.

The only problem with cutting back on the purees would be that your supply has been affected, if you want to try to get him off of them before you start BLW then you could try cutting them back a little at a time so that you can adjust, adding extra expressing sessions in (if you haven't totally sworn off of them like I did). As he is not ready for solids it's possible that he will do better by having them cut out, I've heard of a few people who gave up solids for awhile. Aitch's advice is good, I was half way through typing the same thing when I opened a new window to see what she had said lol.

It sounds though like he will take really well to self feeding, Tink loves her food too.

Thanks both, think I'll cut down the amount of puree gradually and see if I can get my supply up that way. There's no way I'm going back to expressing again, like you I've done too much of that.
From a selfish point of view he did start sleeping through the night when he started on solids so don't really want to give them up completely (does that make me a bad mother), but I will start introducing finger food and see how he gets on.
Did you start straight on BLW when Tink was 6 mths old and could she sit up unaided when you started?
Realised I never changed the title so have changed it now - hope it doesn't mess things up

Don't worry about the title.

I don't think that solids would have much effect on sleeping through the night, the other way around if anything. It's mostly likely developmental and he may have been on the tail of a growth spurt.

The digestive system is linked from the mouth to the ahem... bottom. Until a baby is capable of taking solid food in without help at the top, they can't take it all the way down. They can't take it in the mouth until they are able to sit stabley, obviously. When they take in food they aren't ready for (you'll see it more when he's older and feeding himself) food passes undigested. In the meantime it is taking up space in the stomach where what they can digest could be. That's why I don't think that the sleeping through is related.

Tink was doing really well and had more than caught up by 6 months, she was sitting (I have pictures from the paed appointment where I was told she needed to eat, where she is sitting in a chair in the waiting room) and was capable of doing it. From my point of view I wanted to wait because she was born (as all premature babies) with little immune system and I wanted to do that extra 9 weeks to get her boosted.

where did you read that about taking in food that they're not ready for, Tink? i've never heard that before, and funnily enough our first clue that Babybear was actually eating anything was when we saw chunks of carrot in her nappy, which i have to assume she was ready for cos it's generally a first weaning food. it actually took ages for her nappies to become 'normal', for the longest time it was like a milk-fed baby's but with bits in. and worms, if she had banana... best to be prepared for that, if you're new to BLW. i phoned my mum in tears.

Gosh, two PC's later, I'll have a look and see where I found it, I've still not tracked down all my old links.

I remember stressing about the worms too (and sand - pears) I didn't want to say anything then my HV (the unsupportive to BLW one) said something about sand and worms and I was soooo much happier!

[Gill Rapley] Annalisa ... The baby doesn't 'know' his gut has sealed any more than he knows his legs are strong enough to support hime when he gets up to walk. it just seems to be that nature has ensured that all the various systems (gut, oral skills, immunity and manipulation) develop in parallel. So if a baby can't pick up a piece of food and get it to his mouth it's a fair bet his gut is still too immature to receive it.

[Gill Rapley] OK It appears that the gut takes a while to really get going. What is interesting is that, with purees, you don't necessarily notice this as you can't distinguish lumps in the poo. But it's almost certainly happening the same way. In fact, it's just occurred to me that the fact that we use purees for very young babies probably masks the fact that they aren't digesting the stuff!... I remember vividly a baby whose mum started to give purees at 10 weeks and the baby stopped gaining weight. Then she stopped the solids and weight went on again. Clearly that baby's tummy was being filled up with what might as well have been wallpaper paste, leaving less room for breastmilk (which she COULD digest)

Those were from the webchat.

I know that Tink still has problems digesting grape skins (grapes are my favourite example) most of the time the skins come out her mouth empty, but occasionally she will swallow them and they come out whole in her nappy - that's what I meant when I said you will see it.

I'm sure I had something else as well, but as I said there's been a few PC changes!

Don't worry about the title.

I don't think that solids would have much effect on sleeping through the night, the other way around if anything. It's mostly likely developmental and he may have been on the tail of a growth spurt.

The digestive system is linked from the mouth to the ahem... bottom. Until a baby is capable of taking solid food in without help at the top, they can't take it all the way down. They can't take it in the mouth until they are able to sit stabley, obviously. When they take in food they aren't ready for (you'll see it more when he's older and feeding himself) food passes undigested. In the meantime it is taking up space in the stomach where what they can digest could be. That's why I don't think that the sleeping through is related.

Tink was doing really well and had more than caught up by 6 months, she was sitting (I have pictures from the paed appointment where I was told she needed to eat, where she is sitting in a chair in the waiting room) and was capable of doing it. From my point of view I wanted to wait because she was born (as all premature babies) with little immune system and I wanted to do that extra 9 weeks to get her boosted.

Not sure what's going on, I couldn't see the message so reposted it, then still couldn't see it and all of a sudden there's two. Feel free to delete the second one Aitch.

It's interesting what Gill Rapley says about the purees masking the fact that the food isn't digested. When I give him pureed carrot or sweet potato his nappies are bright orange, I never clicked on that it's undigested, pureed food, but it makes perfect sense!

Don't know if anyone has already seen it - I did a search but nothing came up. So, I got Junior Magazine today and leafed through the Green Living supplement when I came across the following (hope quoting it on here is permitted):

38. Get weaning right
- The best time to introduce your baby to solid food is at around six months old. Don't try to start any earlier, especially if there are allergies in your family.
Latest research shows that babies are capable of chewing at this age so, if you choose to, you can miss out puréeing altogether. This is known as baby-led weaning. For more information, visit www.babyledweaning.com

How cool is this?! It then goes on to say what foods to start off with etc. All before it even mentions "more traditional weaning". I was well chuffed! You must be too Aitch. Good work!

Sandra

Wow, all credit to you Aitch! Well done, thats fab.

have you seen www.theweaningroom.com there's an interview with Gill Rapley there.

The Weaning Room: How do parents know if BLW is right for their baby?

Gill Rapley: By the baby's obvious engagement with, and enjoyment of, the process. Quite simply, it is my belief that BLW is right for all babies (provided they do not have an illness or disability which prevents it). However, for many reasons – mainly connected with issues of mess, anxiety and/or control – it may not be right for all mothers.


Yeah!

Hello all!

I´m posting this on here rather than the new board because I will lose all the unread posts I´ve missed from when I went away - feel free to copy over there for me Aitch, you need to put QUOTE=TinkerbellesMummy and /QUOTE each side lol (I don´t know where the brackets are on a Spanish KBD).

Having a great time in Menorca, Tink is loving it! She darts in and out of the sea, splashing the water and throwing her ball out for TD to go chasing off after - we won´t go into the eating sand and drinking sea!!!

Tink has learnt a new word "Oi La" (just like that) and shouts it at everyone she sees, the Spanish men go dotty over her, especially the waiters!

For some reason she has not only increased her solid intake but she is now taking upto four feeds a day! Plus, the biting has stopped, so it´s now a pleasure to feed her again. I´m really happy about it all because I was missing the day time feeds.

I´ll be back late Friday, I´ll try to post then if it´s not too late and I´m not exhausted!

See you all soon!

Tinkerbelle and Mummy

Hi Everyone!

Firstly I would like to say I am so glad that this site is avaliable, it had been invaluable to providing Ben my 6 month old and I with a good BLW experience. My question is :
Ben and I started our BLW journey a week ago and he is loving it so much so that we have already had tantrums and everything:-) when the food has run out.....
Seeing as we have only been going a week how much should I be feeding him ? he seems to just want to keep eating, for instance today he had 11.30 - 2 x 2.5 inch long quarters of cougette, 2 florets of broccili and 1 Carrot and then cried when I said no more. Later at Wagama's 3pm he had again 1x 2.5 inch Quarter of courgette and 2 Broccili and cried again!

Any comments would be welcome

Thank you

Heidi & Ben

First day back as a SAHM was filled with trauma and NO FORUM TO CRY ABOUT IT! Aargh! Just as I thought it couldn't get any worse........

Fingers crossed that Tech can get on top of it soon - we need somewhere for Aitch's birth story.

How is everyone?

Oh no Lin, what happened, sounds like a rough way to start maternity leave :( Are you on leave or have you given up work completely?

There seems to be slow progress on the forum we've moved from error message to "It works" to "testing"

Hope tomorrow is better for you x

I came back from trip all geared up to catch up on a weeks worth of forum (yay) only to find it wasn't there. Hope it gets fixed soon, am missing it lots. What happened Lin, you ok? Hope maternity leave improves (I just need to get to a point where I might need some) Hope everyone is coping with forum depriviation.

Nothing mega, mega - just a series of events that quickly led to The Last Straw and tears all round. Small had had a crap night, up at crack of dawn, DH preoccupied with new job so not really in touch with family life, hospital not forthcoming with appointment despite ongoing breech concerns, leaks in bathroom of rented house, back door not locking on rented house so couldn't go out having wrestled with Small for half an hour to get her ready.....

All those minor irritations that mount up and mount up until you scream with vexation - which I did - VERY LOUDLY in the back garden. I think it was the kind of day that only other Mums can understand. DH didn't take any of it in or show any sympathy - but he is under a lot of work stress......

Lin, I've got some tortilla wraps but didn't print off your recipe about how to make a fried thingy with them... Can you email me or post them somehow?

Quesadillas

Put a dry frying pan onto heat.
Spread one tortilla with passata or tomato-based sauce of choice.
Add veg - I do finely chopped onion, red pepper and wilted spinach - you could happily add bacon or chicken if its finely shredded.
Top with plenty of cheese.
Slide into frying pan and crisp on both sides until cheese has melted and tortillas are crisp. I think Morlyte used oil but I dry fry.
Slide out and top with avocado or guacamole.
Slice into wedges and hold yourself back.....

Hope Bruno likes them.

Hey Lin! Congrats on the move...yo did it! And now sit back and enjoy your maternity leave...ha ha!!
I know what you mean about having nowhere to go on bad days, when the forum is down... Feel free to facebook or e-mail me when you want a moan....some days are just so cr*p, aren't they??
Love, Adrienne x
(Adrienne Mary-Jean King on Facebook - Leeds
Have been trying to change the complete name thing on my facebook since I realised they don't actually mean 'Complete name'!!!)

Hi Adrienne

Its great to have finally touched down - we are living in Roundhay Park - between the showers.

Thanks for the Facebook offer - if I have another day like Monday I shall be in touch. Its a learning process for us both - getting back to eachother's company!

Hi,

Sorry for the delay in getting the forum back up and running. It's getting there.

Basically the server that it runs on blew up and took everything with it.

More news as it happens

Hi,
Just discovered this site and its brill! We are sort of BLW our 6 month old daughter (started weaning at 5 months, she stole food from us and shovelled it in!), and she's doing really well. The only things we spoon feed her are her morning porridge (believe me, there would be hell to pay if Erin didn't get her porridge!) and meat. Everything else she manages herself. My question is how do we encourage her to spoon feed herself? I can't remember how we did it with DS, it was 4 years ago! He just kind of did it, and was using cutlery by the time he it 12 months. So, do we just keep giving her a spoon and the last few spoonfuls of yoghurt, porridge or whatever, or is there a set way of doing things? Sorry for the mega long post, I just can't remember what we did last time around!

Hi there and welcome. :) We just gave our little boy a spoon to hold pretty early on and encouraged him to dive and scoop (a method I stole from Brunosmum!) and eventually he started to do it himself, although there are many times (at 15 months) that he opts for his hands still!

Catherine

We did it the same way as you - spooned stuff like cereal or yoghurt - or at least we loaded the spoon and she grabbed and guided! Over the months she took more and more control until she was using it herself. We were helped by peer pressure at nursery so I guess your DS has a great role to play as model and coach!

Welcome to the blog and to the forum when it comes back.....

Ahh thank you for your hard work in trying to fix it! I'm sure that there are many shiney and tidy BLW households out there right now. :D

thanks tech


It's costing me a fortune not having the forum as I'm shopping instead :~O

Justie

Thanks for the update, Tech. Mind you, it could be a good thing if it takes a few more days to fix, my house looks like a show home - I even cleaned out the fridge and the pan cupboard today out of sheer boredom!

Want to come and do my pan cupboard next? ;)

Go Tech, Go Tech!

Small children are relying on you for getting some variety back in their diets & BLW Mums need the sanity fix (so NO Pressure there!).

Starts a mexican wave of bolognese-spattered support for Tech

....Although "TheBhoysCelticDen"?????....

Steady Tech - it could be culture clash too far.......

Um... I may be being extremely thick, but I don't get it! There is a forum, but not The Forum... and it won't let me log on and it I can't see anyone I know there and it's confusing me and I'm upset! Any help, anyone? Rubyrose

Looks like we've been hijacked!

Actually, its tech testing I think...

Hey all, Alex'smum here.....

The new forum thingi says I dont exist? Poor me. I feel like I am right here!

The Celtic Bhoys one, Alex'smum? I think its just a placeholder/testing thing and not the actual forum.

Ah! Well that will explain it then! :-) Thanks Morlyte..... I'm not that savvy on these things.

we're all a bit bemused without our forum. bewildered. desperate. lonely... I have had to make some very important decisions on my own. waaaaaaaaaaaah!

Very lonely here too, hoping forum fixed soon, I don't like being told I don't exist! Hopefully will all be right soon, miss reading forums. Miss sensible advice and thought provoking stuff.
Also was planning to raid the recipe section, has that all blown up in a puff of cyber dust?

hi eli,

you can find lots of recipes here on the blog, check the links at the top left of the page.

also feeling a little forelorn without the forum. esp. as this is my last few days and i am back to work on monday so no forum all day every day - waaaaahhhhhhh

svea

*joins in the bolognese splattering mexican wave*

Gimme a T, gimme an E, gimme a C, gimme an H
Gohhhhhhhhhh TECH!!!!

Ah that feels better!

Does anyone else use Babycentre? There is a BLW forum on there but it's awfully quiet. We could squat there for a few days, liven it up a little, maybe catch some newbies and then bring the party back here when the forum is fixed??

Or is everyone else on Facebook and I need to heave myself into the 21st Century and actually sign up there?

It's Pagea and Rosie by the way.

Theres a few of us on Facebook, join up!! :D

I am new to this site and very excited about skipping the puree stage, My little bundle of joy is almost 6 months and has been eyeing up our food for weeks now, she sits to the table while we eat and today played with some courgette which made it to her mouth. My question is more about the timing of feeding, Sophie is extremely active, i was reading on your site about a baby who was deemed underweight by the HV because she was active, i imagine that is what they would say about Sophie if i took her to the HV. She is well and truly on the move and never still. Whilst i believe that breast milk is perfect for her she seems to feed for such a short time i am a little concerned she is getting enough, i don't seem to be able to find any advice on how to introduce food and keep breastfeeding, can anyone tell me about there experiences when it comes to timing, did you continue to breastfeed every 3 1/2 to 4 hours and then just offer solids in between, did the babies still have a reasonable feed (milk), how do you know when to cut out milk feeds or spread them out longer, i guess i want to maximise her food intake but its important to me that she continues to get as much milk as possible but still gets used to solids. We don't have a strict routine but i am tempted to start developing one if its in her best interest. any thoughts or advice would be appreciated, Many Thanks

Hi Lindsey
Have you had a look the forum?
On the LHS there are green boxes, the top one is Main Page then below that is a box called BLW Forum - click now to talk to other BLW mums
If you set up a username and account and post your question there you are more likely to get an answer to your post.
I'm new to BLW and my LO is just a few weeks older than yours so I'm no expert.
At this age they become expert breastfeeders and can drain a boob more efficiently than before so as long as she is wetting & dirtying nappies I wouldn't worry.
My LO has 2 or 3 'meals' with us now depending on what we are up to and when we are eating. We started early (before 6 months) but took it very, very slowly just offering fruit & ved & ricecakes to start with and no even everyday. Like you we don't have a routine, just BF on demand.
I have found that it doesn't really matter if I BF before or after solids. If she is really hungry then I'll BF first and offer her a few tastes. Sometimes if she is happy enough then we'll do solids first but if she gets bored easily I know she is really wanting some milk. Just experiment and see what suits you and your baby best.
When you start BLW they don't 'eat' much food - yes they explore it, put it in their mouth, shred it etc but not much is really eaten. I'd say in the last week I've noticed that my LO eats more than before but it is a slow process and you can't compare quantities to what puree babies are taking.
Smac

Hi there,
I'm a bit stuck with BLW. My 7.5 month old son is really interested in food...loves it...grabs it and eats it no problem. BUT the the gagging happens followed by dramatic vomiting and emptying the entire contents of his stomach. I have been trying on and off since he was 6 months and even tried really smooth, runny puree to see if it would be better, but he only manages a tiny teaspoon before he vomits. I've been thinking maybe he's just not ready (lovely chubby bf baby) but he really seems to want the food. Only thing I can think of is that he has picked up some trauma as his first ever food was given as part of a ceremony when he was desperately tired and it was sort of rammed in his mouth and of course he choked.
What must I do now?

oh you poor thing, and what a pain in the ass to have a really pukey baby. if i was you i'd have a wee look at the BLW forum (can you see the link on the left?) and ask your question there as that is where most of the discussion takes place.
i'm fascinated to know what the ceremony was, by the way, but in my completely non--medical opinion i can't think that he'd still be gagging because of that. poor wee lad, though.
there are a few women on the blog who have had babies with spectacular gag reflexes and from what i remember of their posts, one day it just stops being a problem. not that this helps you right now... it does sound like he's just waiting for his gag reflex to move back a bit, doesn't it?

I'm wondering: doesn't the whole avoid salt-business disappear if you give cheese, hummus etc which contains salt?
My baby is now turning 6 months, and has 2 teeth, so I'm about to start giving solid food. Some of what I've learned about it makes things more difficult. Like: choking, delay gluten, delay cow's milk, no salt...

i think you just have to take a personal line with it, tbh, where you feel is reasonable and do-able. so for example i always felt okay giving dd1 bread and a bit of cheese once a day, maybe, but i kept an eye on her intake. so no hummus that day, unless i'd made it myself, that sort of thing. most of our food is made from scratch (including bread now, zut alors, although i haven't been able to give up salt there entirely) so it's not somehting i worried about unduly. but i wasn't cavalier about it either, just kept a weather eye.

by the way, you knw there's a forum now? loook, over there on the left.