Baby led weaning
Printed From: OHbaby!
Category: Support
Forum Name: Infant/toddler feeding
Forum Description: From breast/bottle feeding and starting solids, to fussy toddlers, discuss it here!
URL: https://www.ohbaby.co.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=34035
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Topic: Baby led weaning
Posted By: Kellz
Subject: Baby led weaning
Date Posted: 13 June 2010 at 8:13pm
I have read the old threads, and have found Gill Rapleys Guidelines to baby led weaning on her website, but would like to know more about what foods to offer and when. Do u follow plunkets recommendations about food to delay to after 1 yr like eggs?
Has anyone sort medical advise before starting blw if there is a history of allergies? - It says to on the Gill Rapleys website, but I cant imagine our GP has even heard of it! I wont be giving Aiden any of the main allergic foods to start with anyway, and will be careful to never give him much of one particular food at a time anyway because of our family history.
Has anyone done BLW without reading her book? Has anyone got a copy of the book I could borrow please?
TIA!
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Replies:
Posted By: Delli
Date Posted: 13 June 2010 at 9:19pm
The only foods we have delayed giving were honey and peanut butter. And we will start giving them when Jude is 1. So we are fine with things like eggs , cows milk and seafood (although we are not big seafood eaters, except for fish). However, neither of our families has a history of food allergies.
We started off giving things like broccoli, peaches, nectarines, banana at afternoon tea and quickly progressed towards him having dinner (whatever we were having) with us as that was easiest for us. Then he started eating morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. Breakfast was the last to come as he never really seemed that interested in food in the mornings. Our boy loves his tucker. He eats everything and anything.
One thing I will say is don't be put off if he doesn't take to it straight away. At the start, it's more about playing than actually eating. My sisters boy (same age) does not eat anywhere near as much as Jude but he is still a thriving, growing, happy boy. Just go with the flow as much as you can. It's so awesome watching them figure out stuff for them selves. It's tempting to try and help them along a bit but they work it out!
Other finger food ideas I use are hummus on cruskit, cream cheese on rice cracker, persimmon (or any fruits!) and greek yoghurt. Jude loves soup and bread........ and anything really.
Baby Led Weaning is awesome. I love it!
------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: WestiesGirl
Date Posted: 13 June 2010 at 11:28pm
The book is great. I'd lend you mine but Im not in NZ. Could you borrow it from the library? I bought mine off ebay for a bargin price.
We started on things like soft fruit, nectarine, melons, banana etc, also soft veges and broccoli. Then we moved on to things like toast, cruskits, fruit loaf toast, noodles, spag bol.
As for allergies, I waited until 7 months to try Jackson on egg and peanut butter. Having said that, we dont have a history of intolerances or allergies so it wasnt a major concern to us, although we did keep it in the back of our minds.
------------- Our Angel July 08 Gone but not forgotten
And to complete our family, our princess has arrived
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 14 June 2010 at 7:16am
The dont have the book in our library here unfortunatly, and I have been looking on Trademe for ages now but cant find one on there either.
Thanks for the food suggestions- thats pretty much what I had thought of anyway.
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 14 June 2010 at 10:51am
Kellz, I bought the book from whitcoulls online for $25 inc postage. I'm still using it now though, sorry.
We've got allergy issues here too, so we'll be avoiding dairy, fruit, nuts and honey for a while yet - probably beyond 1 year. We are lucky at least that the reactions are *just* tummy upsets, rather than being life threatening. Still horrible though!
We started BLW in the last few days because I want a wee headstart on her going to daycare, plus she has been sitting up and pretty keen for a while now. So far she's eaten brocolli, cauliflower, carrot, kumara, potato, hummus on toast, gherkins, noodles, pikelets, lasagne and roast lamb (hehe). I am BF, so my diet reflects her allergies, so it's pretty easy just to give her some of what I'm having. She's actually eating a surprising amount, judging by what I clean up after a meal vs what I serve up, and by her nappies
I've got an awesome plunket nurse who is really helpful on the allergies, and also my mum had a few allergy babies too.
------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 14 June 2010 at 11:05am
Cool, thanks for that! Thats an amzing range of things already! I have only seen the book for $35 plus postage, so thanks for that too!
Aiden just had his 5 moth imms this morning, so I asked the nurse about doing blw with allergies. As I suspected, she had never heard of it, but when I explained, she said as long as we were avoiding the usually likely allergens til after 1 yr, then she couldnt see a problem. After Isla and her intollerences/allergys I am mega careful with what I eat and what I give my kids anyway, and Aiden already has a lot of stuff that dont agree with him - through my breast milk, so Im gonna be careful as anyway!
T_Rex- are u going to exclude fish and eggs too?
I wont be giving Adien any acidic foods for a long time either- he has reflux but its controlled by my diet. I wont give him mandarins/oranges/kiwifruit/tomatoes til ove a year too.
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 10:27am
I see its $31 at whitcoulls online now - must fluctuate with the exchange rate.
Whats the problem with fish? Will have to look that up. She's had egg in pikelets already (oops!) so does that mean she's ok? Or might she react if I gave her scrambled eggs or something? Eggs and fish are ok based on family history. Dairy and fruit are the big ones for me to watch. She seems ok with tomatoes thankfully.
We tried porridge this morning but she couldn't get it into her mouth!
------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: SquishysMum
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 10:52am
We didn't wait for any food, but we have no history of allergies. With egg, the boy I look after has no reaction when it's in baking, but I gave him a hardboiled one one day and he got all itchy and miserable, and has tested allergic and is now total exclusion.
Kellz, I'd be happy to loan you my book if you like, PM me your address.
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 1:19pm
i didnt read the book... i just gave eden whatever so long as it was easy to hold... i did follow some guidelines though, like no honey till after one and if she had allergies i would probably have limited them and waited till later too. you can still follow the normal plunket guidelines, just dont puree the food... like it says pumpkin, kumara, carrot, pear, apple, pumpkin... so give those cut into chunky pieces so he can hold one end and chew/suck the other end. the point is the food needs to be held by bub, not small enough to fit in their mouths in one go.also i was careful about seasoning... no salt added to cooking the food to start with.
she really liked sushi when we started...
------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 1:42pm
T_Rex - Fish and eggs are the other common food alergens, so its recommended that they be delayed til after 1 yr if u have a history of allergys.
Definatly dont give bananas if u have history of allergies, cos they are allergy forming.
Like squishysmum said, some people with egg allergy can be fine when its in baking, but can react to raw or cooked egg on its own. Personally I would not give her anything else containing eggs til after 1 yr.
We are also only going to introduce a couple of things at a time, because if he reacts it is easier to work out which food was the cause of the problem, than having to sort through a huge raange of foods, and foods that have mulirple ingredients!
Sorry thats a bit OT!
Has anyway got any suggestions on how to cope with other peoples reactions/ scepticism/crticism about BLW over the usual weaning ,method?
I dont know anyone in real life thats doing it - a friend saw pics of Aiden on my facebook page of him eating celery and persimon, and got a 'what the heck were u giving him them for?' look on her face, and was like " u gave him celery?". All my firends here with babies similar age are all busy cooking up giant pots of puree!
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 2:36pm
If they are genuinely interested, I explain about it. If they are just being critical I say something along the lines of "oh, really? you still believe in the unnecessary puree method?" in a kind of "have you been living under a rock" tone of voice.
For the record, I have no problem with people usung the puree method, but I have issues with people passing judgement on my parenting choices and will respond in kind.
If I want to be nicer about it, I just ask what they would rather eat - food or food-slops?
------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: Bizzy
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 4:01pm
i got lots of sceptism but i used to just shrug and say i like it! its been great for her fine motor skills and so much easier for me! no matter what you do you will be judged, even if you did purees (cause you will either be judged for making them by those who buy and vice verse!)
------------- http://www.myfitnesspal.com/weight-loss-ticker">
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 5:08pm
Yeah thats tru Deb! Im sure I will become more confident, but since we only just beginning and Im a bit unsure of exactly what to feed him etc, and how its going to go, its hard when people are questioning my choice.
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 15 June 2010 at 7:16pm
SquishysMum- that would be awesome if I could borrow the book. Thanks heaps. Will PM you.
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Posted By: Bobchannz
Date Posted: 16 June 2010 at 2:52pm
Question re BLW - I only heard about it a few weeks ago and saw a newspaper article about it.
Are there any of the usual 'authorities' who recommend BLW? I'm thinking of Plunket, the Ministry of Health etc? I did see in the newspaper that some doctors interviewed at Starship Hospital were not supportive of it, and I can't work out if it is just another fad, or an actual change in feeding guidelines?
------------- www.makedomum.blogspot.co.nz
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 16 June 2010 at 4:17pm
I dont think its a fad or a change in guidelines either.
WHO recommend exclusive bf for the first 6 months before introducing solids - which is what BLW recommends.
Plunket would not comment when asked to by Little Treasures magazine article- most probably as they recieve sponsorhip from Watties who produce baby puree, much the same as plunket nurses are not allowed to comment about cloth nappys if asked, as they are sponsored by huggies.
In asian/african/indian cultures for example, babies are bf for a lot longer than in NZ, and I cant imagine that they puree all there baby food up either!
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Posted By: T_Rex
Date Posted: 16 June 2010 at 5:11pm
Pretty sure plunket recommend finger foods from 6 mths too? BLW isn't new - its just recently been given that name. All it really is is skipping the puree stage, and letting baby decide when s/he is full. Nothing particularly controversial there.
------------- http://lilypie.com"> http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: WestiesGirl
Date Posted: 16 June 2010 at 11:38pm
We also get weird looks and comments by people too and I just shrug them off. I love BLW and the fact that we can all eat our dinner at the same time and Jackson is quote happy to feed himself and very self sufficient at it now And I dont need to spend hours in the kitchen preparing and cooking bulk food to puree...
If you cant get a book to borrow try http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Baby-led-Weaning-Gill-Rapley-Tracey-Murkett-NEW-/110544601998?cmd=ViewItem&pt=AU_Non_Fiction_Books_2&hash=item19bcf8c38e#ht_1574wt_911 - here http://shop.ebay.com.au/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=Baby+led+weaning&_sacat=See-All-Categories - and here . Not sure what the NZ $$ is like at the mo but possibly cheaper than $35 from whitcoulls. Postage took about 2 weeks so not too bad for Royal Mail
------------- Our Angel July 08 Gone but not forgotten
And to complete our family, our princess has arrived
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Posted By: MamaT
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 9:47am
We haven't started yet, but after telling our families about it we have had a lot of sceptism and disapproving looks. My Dad is the only one who has got behind our choice. So, we have stopped mentioning it now.
I also get a lot of comments on the fact that we haven't started solids yet. Like Bizzy said, you seem to get comments no matter what you do, its ridiculous.
Will be interesting to see what reactions I get when we actually do start.
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 17 June 2010 at 7:25pm
Yeah I have hardly told anyone about the BLW since I havent had good reactions. I dont mention that we havent started solids yet either.
I have told my Mum about the BLW and have given her the articles to read so she understands what it is and why we doing it since she has a lot to do with my kids- she respects our decisions, and likes to be fully informed frist then gets right behind us, like she did with our homebirth!
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Posted By: Felice
Date Posted: 23 June 2010 at 1:33pm
I just wanted to suggest these two sites that I found really helpful and seems to cover all the issues :)
www.babyledweaning.com
http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/
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Posted By: DeePa
Date Posted: 04 August 2010 at 10:14pm
I come from a very long line of food mashing, spoon feeding (at 3 months if not earlier!), tummy sleeping, baby raring mums, aunties and older sisters including mother -in-law. My husbands mum kept asking about when I was going to start solids since TK was 3 months old. I haven't bothered explaining BLW to my family but my husbands mum is very interested in TK so I tried to explain BLW but she didn't seem interested.
We started BLW in the weekend - TK is 5 1/2 months, and my husband and I absolutely loved watching him feed himself. I got the book a few weeks ago which helped to understand the 'science' around BLW i.e stages of learning, fine motor skills etc. My husband kept commenting how 'natural' it was to let TK feed himself....he loves it...we love it...and can't imagine spoon feeding him.
I started with too many types of food though so will cut back and start with fruit and veg only, however I did read that some readers avoid fruit (esp bananas) if there was a history of allergies. Only allergies in the family is TK's Aunty (daddy's sister) but that is it.
TK got eczema when he was 3 months and by 5 months it looked like it had cleared up. Anyone had a problem with eczema and started BLW? Anyone experienced any reoccurred? Though I should think that either BLW or spoon feeding wouldn't make any difference with his eczema.
Nice to read everyone's experience.
Thanks
Dee, C & TK
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Posted By: Kellz
Date Posted: 05 August 2010 at 8:48pm
Yep both my kids had/have ezcema. You are right- there would be no difference between blw and spoon feeding in relation to one causing eczema and not the other, it will be to do with the ingrsients and not if the food is mushed or not!
We are avoiding bananas, soy- cos DS reacts to it in my bm, and diary- DD was allergic.
Only introduce a new food every few days or even further apart, or introduce foods with more than a couple of ingredients - it will be easier to work out which ingredient or food is causing a problem if he does have a reaction/get ezcema.
We are been doing blw for 3 weeks now.
DS likes toast, homemade bread, corn cruskits with olivani and marmite/hummus/avacado, plain rice crakers and has tried pasta and rice.
Persimon, pear, apple, tried tinned peach but wasnt keen.
Celery, carrot-cooked, pumpkin, kumara, potatoe, parsnip, not keen on brocolli-pulls a real funny face each time!
Chicken legs, lamb chops and tried sasuage tonight and LOVED it!
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Posted By: DeePa
Date Posted: 09 August 2010 at 5:11pm
TK seems to get frustrated if he is not able to pick the food up in his hand to take to his mouth. Mainly I think because the banana is too slippery and I over cooked the broccoli and kumara so it just crumbled everytime he picked it up.
When he had banana I picked it up and started putting it in his hand/mouth which seemed to stop him grizzling but completely defeated the purpose of blw. I also feed him (bf) before he has his 'solids'.
If he grizzles again (and the food is cooked properly and not slippery) shall I leave him to figure it out or shall I take him off his highchair?
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Posted By: Delli
Date Posted: 09 August 2010 at 8:34pm
If he isn't interested in feeding and is grizzling a bit - take him out of his highchair and choose another time for him to have another go. It's more about playing and experimenting to start off with so keep it fun and don't worry if he doesn't eat very much (or at all).
Don't worry that they haven't got the hang of picking things like banana up straight away - it will happen very soon, babies are very fast learners I used to try giving Jude banana with a band of the skin still on around the bottom to act as a sort of handle so he didn't squish it by squeezing too hard but then he would always end up picking it up at the wrong end or turning it over to eat the skin. Lol. Have seen other people do that successfully though. Another thing is to put a bit of it on a spoon and give the spoon to him to put in his mouth himself.
BLW is awesome - stick at it, the rewards are totally worth it
------------- http://lilypie.com">
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Posted By: DeePa
Date Posted: 10 August 2010 at 8:58pm
Thanks Delli.
Has anyone found the need to give their baby water when starting solids (BLW)? I have noticed that TK's bowel motions have changed to once every 2 days and the texture has certainly changed (thicker) which i would expect, but just wondering if he maybe gets a bit constipated?
I still BF as per normal. He has had a couple of strange crying sessions where he has cried for 30 minutes straight. Very very out of character. After checking his clothes to make sure nothing is 'biting him', his temperature is OK and that he has a dry nappy the only thing I can think of is his tummy is a bit upset. He also refuses to BF and just grizzles/cries.
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