Weaning inspiration!

Lemoncurd

We didn't use purees for number 2 - just let him self feed suitable pieces of food from our family meals. We started with veg and offered fruit a week or two later. It was sooo much easier and he was much less fussy with his food than no 1.

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

I am getting ready to start weaning my dd and after months of reading up on the subject - my oh and i have decided to do it the baby led weaning way.

I wondered if there were any others who were doing this or considering it.

It would be great if we could swap hints and tips (and maybe even recipes) on how we can feed our babies as healthily as possible, whilst still managing to stay within our food budget.

It would also be nice for us to offer each other support - especially if we have had negative reactions to our choice to do baby led weaning.

Hope to chat to you soon

Magentasue

I did this with my four children much to everyone's disapproval. Started at six months with mashed banana and went from there. Never brought tins, jars or baby foods and most of it was stuff we were eating mashed. I don't know what current feeling is and how much you have to do with the likes of health visitors but you're right to find support. I found a huge amount of criticism that I hadn't expected.

Miss_Kitty_Fantastico

Hi Magentasue

thankfully my hv has been fairly quiet so far - she seems quite sensible in that she doesnt know much about it so she feels its unfair to comment.

i have found a lot of info via a baby led weaning site and its appears to be very popular now

i have just started out by letting dd have a lick of pieces of fruit and veg and we will start giving her actual food to chomp on in a few weeks.

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

We did it. From six months, baby can have whatever you're having (except nuts, honey and runny eggs). So C was just given some of our dinner to get her mouth around. Watch the amount of salt in your food; we're all eating more healthily now C is eating with us!

Breakfast was usually toast with unsalted butter, sometimes a bit of fruit puree or fruit chunks too. To begin with, I did softer fruit like banana, mango, very ripe pear (that was a fave actually!). Once her teeth started coming through, we moved on to harder fruits (but you could still give them before, no reason why not!).

Lunch was slices of omlette, crackers/rice cakes with soft cheese, pasta shapes with sauce, meat or fish sandwiches. I'd always offer slices of tomato and cucumber etc too. Home-made soft biscuits (I used banana instead of sugar) went down well as snacks. From about eight months, when the pincer grip develops, raisins, chopped grapes and cherries work too. When we first started, her favourite lunch was a mini ploughman's - buttered brown bread, fingers of cheese and apple or pear. Yum!

Dinners were all sorts - lasagne was great as I could slice it. Meatballs are also good. Risotto rice can be made into sticky little balls with a bit of grated cheese. Nice soft chunks of veg. Her absolute favourite food - even now - was corn on the cob. She had it as soon as her first teeth came through, in smaller pieces that weren't too heavy (you should have seen my mother in law's face, hehe).

I always spoonfed things that needed spooning; the odd bowl of porridge or weetabix, yoghurt, rice pudding. No harm in that I don't think, although purists may disagree!

gin

chips are a perfect first finger food!

Magentasue

Ah, I see. BLW is based around finger foods so maybe I didn't do it! Basically, we just offered what we had and if it was spoonable, we spooned it. If it was something like chilli, we'd mash a taste of chilli into rice or whatever and offer that. If it was pick-upable, we'd put some on the highchair tray.

I don't see a problem with spooning because it gives a wider range of foods and enables a baby to sit at the table with the family and join in. What my HV and others thought I should be doing was increasing the amount of solids and reducing breastfeeding where I just offered the solids and let the baby decide how much to breastfeed. That's what I thought you meant.

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

It sounds like you did something very similar in principle, Magentasue Milk is still the main food for babies for the first year anyway; solids only supplement until then. It's only recently, at 12 months, that my daughter wants to eat three good meals a day.

The principle of BLW is that babies sit at the table with adults and are involved with mealtimes, eating while they are eating. It's supposed to encourage them to experiment with different textures and tastes (jarred food, while nutritious, is very bland). The use of mainly fingerfood is to limit the possibility that you're stuck with a one year old who is terrified of anything un-pureed (not uncommon these days!).

A lot of it goes on the floor to begin with. In fact, not a lot goes in - but they don't need a lot to begin with. By around eight months, my daughter could eat sandwiches properly and with little mess (though she would much rather make a mess, given the choice!). My daughter was quite a low weight for her age, so to begin with I gave her porridge and fruit for breakfast with a spoon, then did lunch and dinner as finger food. I find it really adaptable and so much more fun for baby!

wendy+5

I wisj I'd known about this when my kids were younger. I think it's a fab way to get them used to 'proper eating'.

Penelope_Penguin

Hi there :beer: Just been chatting with my sister, who's a BF counsellor, about this. Interesting subject. After discussion with her, I'll merge this into the existing weaning thread, to keep ideas together.

Penny. x