Feeding your baby BLW style

Sorry AngelsMom, it seems my email is down so I only saw your post now.

The signs of readiness for BLW is super simple and easy. Baby should be upright (be that unsupported or with support like the bumbo seat gives) but the most important thing is that if food/toys etc is placed in front of them, that they can pick it up, take it swifty and accurately to their mouth and the last thing is that they can make chewing movements with their mouth.

Milestones are a funny thing, some babies start walking at 9months, others only at 15 - 18 months. So developmentally some babies might be ready to start eating sooner than others. I know Ruru (Zodwas boy) was an early starter, my LG started at 5 months 3 weeks etc.

6 months to me is a guide, but nothing magical happens the day they turn 6 months old. Some people prefer to wait and when they do start their babies eat as if they haven't had anything in years, while others only really show interest at 7, 8 or 9 months.

For me 6 months is an average if you follow your babies natural development. It is said that the ability to take food to their mouth and 'chew' as it were happens at the same time as their tummy is ready to deal with more than just milk.

I can't really tell you what to do since you know your baby the best. If you do start however I would recommend that you start with fruits and veggies for a couple of weeks just to see how it goes. The rule there is soft but firm, think cooked butternut sticks as a good example. It's firm enough to hold in a fist yet soft enough to just become liquid when saliva is added. Then if you see all is fine, try introducing different things. (again, remember soft yet firm and bigish - think big enough that if they have it clentched in their fist that there is still parts sticking out at the top and bottom - usually finger sized works the best, long thickish stips)

Also remember that food is just for fun (until 1 year of age) and you should preferably continue demand feeding milk as they only realise that food makes them full around 9 months (again, for some a bit earlier, others a bit later)

And lastly, enjoy it.

Remember that they have to be upright and supervised at all times and they need to be in full control of what goes into their mouth. Gagging will possibly happen, but gagging is normal.

The difference between gagging and choking is that if you child is choking they will go quiet (as no air gets to the lungs) and have difficulty breathing, where as gagging sounds like they are going to throw up, they cough and sputter, again, very normal for BLW babies, they learn by doing this. It's usually best to leave them when they gag to expel what is bothering them because overreacting and grabbing them might shift the piece of food to the back. (*This is just for babies up till the age of 8 months - after 8 months the gag reflex slowly moves back and gagging leads more easily to choking if they haven't been doing BLW*)

Morning mommy's!

So I follow your thread every chance I get but I now need HELP my LG will be 5 months on Saturday and I think she is 'greedy' I am not sure how to explain this but my mom started giving her a taste of our food a while back so now I tried introducing cereal to her and she won't eat it BUT the moment I share my plate with her she goes crazy and wants to eat every thing(Not that I let her). Now my question is, is she not too young to try BLW with her? SHe can sit unsupported already and can hold up her head when she is lying down on her tummy that's why I decided to give her cereal.

Its ok to give baby spices, just not salt & sugar. Ruru has had some spices with his veges, cinnamon with cooked apples, ginger, garlic, pinch of curry powder.. Thats what he's had so far & he eats a lot when I do that, gues its not bland....
Has anybody ever made chicken stock for baby? There's a recipy I found for low salt chicken stock good for baby. Am trying to make his chicken more tastey. I dip it in pureed apricots for now, then he enjoys it a bit
Marijke the holiday was great!!Just messed up Ruru's routine with the time change & all but today he's back to his old routine. We had to sleep with him in the hotel coz he was always over tired & Id have to lie next to him to get him to sleep. We came back on Monday from holiday & only tonight is he back in his cot.
Great thing bout him is he can sleep anywhere so he slept in the baby sling & my lap a lot!!! The only problem we had was him loving people!!! He cried for complete strangers to hold him (so they had to, he looks adorable anyway & most had never seen an african baby before so they were also keen), then he'd cry when he had to come back to us. I was convinced ppl would think we are not his parents!!!
I bought purity for him to eat during holiday, had diarrhea by day 2 & was farting all the time!! So I went & bought baby rice & oats & diarrhea was gone within a day, no more purity for us!!!

Ruru sleeps in his cot in our bedroom. I rock him to sleep & as I put him down I lie next to him (Ruru's cot is very big, I actually fit in there with my legs curled up!! DH dsnt..... so mayb Im short ). When Im sure he's gone, I lift his head off my arm & thats it...
On the other hand DH dsnt rock him. He simply puts him down, lies next to him & Ruru drifts off to sleep by himself, then DH puts him in his cot.. When i try this it dsnt work, he wants me to rock him, when DH rocks him he dsnt sleep.
He wakes up around 4am for a bottle & goes back to sleep till 9am.
he started crawling on sat so now he sleep-crawls!! That wakes him up everytime. Its becoming irritating for mommy.

I have a very heavy baby (over 8kg's at 6months) and the whole sleeping thing is completely out of control. I wish I liked rocking him!
(for a while i'd liked convincing myself I actually did) Now with all the fighting I wish I had taken a baby led sleeping approached.

I give my LB Eggs but not whole because the few times I tried he would't eat it boiled. He only does Scrambled on occasion but then it's the whole egg. I have given it to him like that since about 11 months but he had eaten it all scrambled together by 9 months also to test for reaction although I had followed the marie buscuit rule with him anyway.

About the sleeping issue. With my daughter she was in her own room since 5 weeks but we always rocked her to sleep and it was torture getting her into the cot and leaving the room without waking her. "Ok don't stone me but at 13 mnths we had to sleep train her to self soothe because we couldn't rock her anymore and she kept fighting it. I read a book which helped alot and she was sleep trained by night 3.

My Son on the other hand refused sleep training point blank. i only moved him into his own room at 6 months and started to try sleep train, he refused and it was hours of hell for all of us. We reverted to rocking and he would still cry if I tried putting him down before he was fully asleep. So at a year or so one day he suddenly decided he could go to sleep on his own so eventhough I sit with him in the rocking chair and feed him his bottle (I know, naughty he is 18months but at christelle says, the are small for only a short time) but soon as he is done we go to the cot and I lie him down and leave the room and close the door and he goes straight to sleep.

Each child is so different, it all works differently from one person to the next and from one child to the next. My case in point, I have two totally different scenarios and outcomes.

Thanks Marijke

Here's what the BLW Book says about it:

Page 118

"Parents used to be advised to avoid giving babies egg whites. This is no longer considered necessary now that six months is the recommended minimum age for all solids, but eggs should be cooked thoroughly (including the yolk) because they may contain salmonelle, which can cause a serious stomach infection" From Baby-Led Weaning by Gill Rapley & Tracey Murkett