Feeding your baby BLW style

Baby Led Weaning

This is a very active forum, I know there are some mums there who are changing from puree to whole food weaning.

Hi

I know Skye is eating enough because she just seems satisfied, sleeps well, still nurses well, looks healthy etc. I never have to encourage her to have 'just one more bite'. Some days she will eat hardly anything, lately she seem to be constantly eating!!! This morning she just had 2 tablespoons of rather stodgy porridge (stodgy because its easier for her to pick up that way). A lot of puree food has added water to make it runny which bulks it up and makes it look like more.

At 6 mnths Skye would eat perhaps 1 finger sized slice of chicken, a tsp of butternut, 2 peas and half a macaroni and be full. Now, at nearly 8 months she will eat 3 finger sized slices of chicken, a tsp of white sauce, 4 macaroni, tablespoon of veg etc. But I just dish up for her and if she wants more she gets it.

Regarding white sauce, Skye eats white sauce made with full-cream milk. I don't usually give her saucy pasta because it is slippery, but sometimes add pesto to pasta to change the flavour a bit (not often though, she will happily eat it plain!) She has also eaten yoghurt from about 6 months.

You might find that since he has been puree fed, he might be used to larger portions of food, but you could always offer some mashed food on spoons that he helps to feed himself. Skye eats yoghurt very well off a spoon if I load it and put it on the table.

Since you're breastfeeding, why not make a mild curry and let him try it? Skye enjoys strong tasting food

Hi everyone:) I have given Aaqil cereal and purity, so easy, so safe and I knew exactly how much he was eating (I jar, 4 tablespoons etc). My son over the last few days has decided to take matters into his own hands. He picked up some cheese strings off his dad's plate, held an orange slice which he stole off his gran's plate and sucked on it until it was no more, and today he helped himself to some rice, peas and gem squash of my plate. He made no gagging on the whole food as opposed to the purity. Which lead me to this thread:)

If I continued to let him eat what we are eating (curries excluded), how would I know if he is eating enough? (There is no 1 jar etc to quantify by?) Also how would I make white sauce for pasta for example if I can't use milk, and he is breastfed, so I don't have formula?

Thank you:)

An update:

Skye is loving her food! Today she ate chicken and veg soup. Got soaked, but she ate just about everything. She loves to eat plain Greek yoghurt with her hands Great fun! Her nappies are evidence that she is eating a decent amount of food

She usually eats 3 meals a day, but if she skips meal because she is sleeping then its not a huge problem, she just nurses more.

My boss is awesome. She says I can feed Skye the same as whatever I make for her boys so we all eat together around the table. Yesterday she stole the 1yr olds bowl of porridge (he had had enough and pushed it away) and she proceeded to eat what was left. She's also pretty handy with a spoon, if I load it she puts it in her mouth and then gives it back to me to load more! Very good at drinking out of a cup, as long as I hold it with her because she is a little over-enthusiastic. I do let her practise on her own with a little bit of liquid in it, but we did also get her the sippy cup like Claudia has and she figured that out quickly.

Loving this A favourite at the moment is peas (she picks them up 1 by 1 lol!)

About the cups. You do have to put a bit of effort into getting the liquid out, but its not the same kind of suck that you need with the traditional sippys and straws.... Not really sure how to describe it??? Put it this way, if you drop it, you do still get a bit of spillage (a few drops), but not so much to cause a problem. So the seal isnt terribly tight which means you dont really have to suck hard?? James wont drink out of a sippy (I think the spout confuses him??), but has no problem. At first it took a bit of perseverance on my part, but hes competant now, and it save spills when we are out!

I was out this last week looking at preschools (turns out there are HUGE waitings lists for the good ones in my area) and one of the teachers showing me around commented how good JAmes fine hand co-ordination is for his age. I'm convinced its because hes had to feed himself (boys are supposed to be slower with fine motor development as well...)

Niki wrote:

I have given Paige some weetbix fpor breakfast, soaked in a little bit of breastmilk , so its still in a block form, she ended up mushing it up with avo and munching the lot, loved it .

we went out for lunch today and Paige ate at the table with us, she had some foccacia crust, some roast potatoe and lamb and really enjoyed it, she also sucked on some of my husbands calamari steak for a long time, she seemed to think it was really tasty

we gave her some chedder cheese a night ago and it caused a red rash on her cheeks, it went away after about 20 minutes, I just removed the cheese and I will try agian in a few weeks.

I like those cups, will have to look for one, we have been helping her with a normal cup some nights, but most of the time give her a sippy cup, she seems to be enjoying the water, not sure if it sthe cup she likes or whats in it ...

So far we've stuck to dry cereal or fruit for brekkie (cornflakes etc), but I'm keen to try Weetbix with her, its just so hectic in the mornings with 3 kids under 3 needing to be fed!

Awesome how she ate lunch with you! We hardly eat out so should be interesting when we hit that milestone.

I also tried cheese with Skye the other day, she was less than impressed. She turns up her nose at most dairy so I'm leaving it for now.

I've seen those cups at Clicks and Baby City now...Skye also loves a cup, I have to watch out for hot tea and coffee mugs around her!

Hi Ladies

Thanks for the links Claudia and Sarah, interesting reads.

MommyN, thanks for bursting my bubble, I thought the mess of eating would get easier as my LG gets older, I guess the mess contues

Claudia and Sarah, I agree with the cereal comments, I dont think there ia any nutitional value, so wont be bothering with rice cereal, I have given Paige some weetbix fpor breakfast, soaked in a little bit of breastmilk , so its still in a block form, she ended up mushing it up with avo and munching the lot, loved it . Claudia I think I will try your home made muslei some time.

we went out for lunch today and Paige ate at the table with us, she had some foccacia crust, some roast potatoe and lamb and really enjoyed it, she also sucked on some of my husbands calamari steak for a long time, she seemed to think it was really tasty

we gave her some chedder cheese a night ago and it caused a red rash on her cheeks, it went away after about 20 minutes, I just removed the cheese and I will try agian in a few weeks.

I like those cups, will have to look for one, we have been helping her with a normal cup some nights, but most of the time give her a sippy cup, she seems to be enjoying the water, not sure if it sthe cup she likes or whats in it ...