Solids? Has this changed any milk feedings? How do you time milk feedings around solids? S is now getting solids twice a day when I remember to give them to him. I aim for about an hour after he nurses.
Any teeth? Has this changed nursing / bottle? No teeth
Questions/AW? BLWers (yes, I'm 12 and had to add -ers to wean) this question is for you. What all have you been giving your LOs? I've been reading about it, but I think I've overloaded my brain and have no clue where to start.
GTKY: what was the best and worst thing about August? August is easily my least favorite month. It's so hot and humid here. I'm not sure if I can come up with anything good about it.
We give J all sorts of stuff. I started with purées at 4mo (as instructed by pediatrician) and moved toward blw. We only purée when on the go. She's had graham crackers, chicken, roast beef, salmon, cucumber, peaches, apples, mango, scrambled eggs, toast, French toast, watermelon, and s bunch of other stuff I'm forgetting. Just start as you go with what you are having or have on hand. You'll do fine!
Post by lilyelayne on Aug 31, 2015 23:09:08 GMT -5
hollydfromtn I started with grilled carrots & broccoli cause we were having steak & grilled veggies the night we decided to start BLW. If I'm eating a meal that isn't necessarily baby friendly, I steam some carrots or broccoli. Basically I look at my meal and see if there's anything shaped appropriately (long enough for him to hold & it stick out of his fist to chew on). I don't give him soft white bread (like rolls at a restaurant) because I'm afraid it'll stick to the roof of his mouth or his throat. Lots of BLW blogs I read cautioned against raw apples because they fragment easily & are a high risk choking hazard. DS is most successful with steamed veggies and watermelon. He's most excited about meat - given him baked chicken breast & stir fry steak. He can't eat the meat - though he gets close with chicken - but loves chomping on it. Meat pieces I tend to give him a large hunk. Again the idea is a handle and then enough to chew.
Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing? Nursing and pumping when I'm at work 2-3x a week
Solids? Has this changed any milk feedings? How do you time milk feedings around solids? Working on fruits and veggies. Tried peas tonight which she seemed to really like. Most of the time she doesn't eat much, but the only thing she hasn't been a big fan of are carrots. Frequency of nursing hasn't changed yet. She gets solids about an hour after nursing. At this point she's only having solids once a day most of the time but I'm going to increase to twice a day this week.
Any teeth? Has this changed nursing / bottle? No teeth yet, though she's still managing to make me sore by clamping down with her gums
Questions/AW? Not right now
GTKY: what was the best and worst thing about August? Best - a few really awesome, relaxed family days before the craziness of school starting back up (DH and I are both teachers). Worst - school starting back up. I miss maternity leave/summer home with my babies!
Post by hollydfromtn on Sept 1, 2015 0:43:01 GMT -5
Thanks, MapleMomma and lilyelayne that helps. Have either of you had trouble getting your DH on board with it? I wanted to give S some baked chicken the other night and H freaked out saying he was going to choke on it because he didn't have teeth. No matter what I said he was still too freaked out to let me even try it.
Thanks, MapleMomma and lilyelayne that helps. Have either of you had trouble getting your DH on board with it? I wanted to give S some baked chicken the other night and H freaked out saying he was going to choke on it because he didn't have teeth. No matter what I said he was still too freaked out to let me even try it.
My DH really lets me do whatever I think on those things because I've researched and he hasn't. I find strips of food work best. And remember, he's going to gnaw on the food and play with it. Very little will actually be ingested at first. That is ok! Food before one is just for fun.
Post by michelle142 on Sept 1, 2015 7:48:57 GMT -5
hollydfromtn we give DD pretty much anything we're eating. Strips of meat (sans seasoning), tender cooked veggies stripes, slices of fruit. I feel the key to BLW is variety, as long as it's cut into a portion they can pick up in their fist you should be good to go.
Haha a few minutes ago I didn't even know I could make my own pureed meat! Thank you for your help
I made a blend of chicken and sweet potato and LO hated it. Tonight I tried chicken with watermelon and peaches. It looked like vomit. LO loved it lol.
The fruit was watery enough that no extra liquid was needed.
Post by greenpony33 on Sept 2, 2015 8:58:46 GMT -5
How old is your LO? Almost 7 months
Are you nursing, pumping, supplementing?
Nursing and pumping while at work.
Solids? Has this changed any milk feedings? How do you time milk feedings around solids? We're trying to do 2 purees/day (breakfast time and dinner time). It hasn't cut down on his milk intake yet and I time the solids so it's about an hr or so after a feeding. But i think E is spacing his feedings out in his own, I think he has been trying to for a while but I was caught on the every 2/3 hr schedule and would offer sooner than he needed. It is hard to get use to every 3/4 hr feedings (or longer spacing) and not worry that he's getting enough.
Any teeth? Has this changed nursing / bottle? E has 8 teeth! 4 on top and 4 on bottom. No changes related to those yet. He has bit me a couple of times and it's hurt. The last time I reacted loudly in pain and he hasn't done it since (keeping fingers crossed!)
Questions/AW? hollydfromtnMapleMomma and lilyelayne and other BLW mommas- we are nervous to give E stuff because he does have teeth and is able get chunks of stuff off. We gave him a hunk of cucumber once and he was able to get a small piece off so we kinda freaked out about choking and haven't tried anything else outside of the mesh thingy since. Any suggestions?
GTKY: what was the best and worst thing about August? Best was our family vacation, worse was the crummy weather and horrible baby sleep on vacation.
Solids? Has this changed any milk feedings? How do you time milk feedings around solids? We're trying to do 2 purees/day (breakfast time and dinner time). It hasn't cut down on his milk intake yet and I time the solids so it's about an hr or so after a feeding. But i think E is spacing his feedings out in his own, I think he has been trying to for a while but I was caught on the every 2/3 hr schedule and would offer sooner than he needed. It is hard to get use to every 3/4 hr feedings (or longer spacing) and not worry that he's getting enough.
Any teeth? Has this changed nursing / bottle? E has 8 teeth! 4 on top and 4 on bottom. No changes related to those yet. He has bit me a couple of times and it's hurt. The last time I reacted loudly in pain and he hasn't done it since (keeping fingers crossed!)
Questions/AW? hollydfromtnMapleMomma and lilyelayne and other BLW mommas- we are nervous to give E stuff because he does have teeth and is able get chunks of stuff off. We gave him a hunk of cucumber once and he was able to get a small piece off so we kinda freaked out about choking and haven't tried anything else outside of the mesh thingy since. Any suggestions?
GTKY: what was the best and worst thing about August? Best was our family vacation, worse was the crummy weather and horrible baby sleep on vacation.
Honestly, it takes a lot of restraint, but you have to learn to recognize the difference between gagging and choking. I constantly remind myself that using a finger to swipe food out can push food back a cause more problems. Try starting with softer foods, like a peach or soft pear. I gave J a thin slice of apple the other day, and she didn't do well with that, so we took it away. She also doesn't do well with chewy soft bread, but does well with crusts.
Just take it one thing at a time. Strips of food or slices of fruits and veggies seem to be best.
Post by MapleMomma on Sept 2, 2015 10:01:19 GMT -5
Also, don't let others freek you out. My MIL has a tendency to panic and worry all the time about choking. I am always watching and listening to J but try not to interfere. I only give J foods that I know she does really well with in front of my MIL. MH and my sister (who lives with us) are much better about it and mimick how I care for her.
Post by lilyelayne on Sept 2, 2015 10:17:31 GMT -5
Re: BLW
DS has no teeth and still successfully gets bites, chews, and swallows. It's more common that he gets a bite, chews, and spits it out. There is a lot of gagging involved. Per the BLW book, this young their gag reflex is pretty far forward so gagging isn't as close to choking as it would be in an adult. That said, DS has choked once and it was scary, so know the difference and what to do if it happens.
You do have to let them gag as part of the learning process. They're learning how to move food around in their mouths and what is safe/successful and what isn't. I've heard there's lots of BLW videos on YouTube. To me, watching DS successfully feed himself is SO COOL and I can handle the gagging.
Fwiw the only time he's choked thus far was when he took a sip of water and must've washed something out of his cheek. So now I sweep his cheeks with my finger before giving his water cup. I have to keep his cup off the tray when he's eating or he'd just play with it the whole time.
It's a lot of trusting your baby and not worrying about the end result. I don't know how much food he's swallowing. If I put him in his high chair with food and he isn't interested, that's okay too. It probably helps that I exclusively nurse so I'm used to letting DS lead on when & how long he eats - and used to having no clue about amounts. I do see tiny bits of solid food in his poop, though, so he is ingesting.
DH isn't really a fan of BLW, and I feel guilty that he doesn't get to spoon feed since we don't bottle feed. He also says it's too scary to be enjoyable, but I see him get excited when DS is successful. But DH understands why I want to do BLW and he sees how much fun DS is having & how much he learns, so when I say we can do spoon food DH says no. DH has spoon fed some rice cereal and DS doesn't seem to understand it, but that's probably because we haven't taught him to accept a spoon from someone else.
Also, don't let others freek you out. My MIL has a tendency to panic and worry all the time about choking. I am always watching and listening to J but try not to interfere. I only give J foods that I know she does really well with in front of my MIL. MH and my sister (who lives with us) are much better about it and mimick how I care for her.
+1 to this. FIL wants to sweep DS's mouth every time he gags, and that's not how it works. You also don't want to scare your LO! DS does better if we're not all staring at him.
Post by MapleMomma on Sept 2, 2015 10:56:01 GMT -5
Also, this will sound weird, but I don't announce that I BLW. When I've seen people declare it, or talked about BLW myself, people got all weird about it. But when I literally just let her self feed, they act like its the most normal thing ever. People are weird about the term.
Also, this will sound weird, but I don't announce that I BLW. When I've seen people declare it, or talked about BLW myself, people got all weird about it. But when I literally just let her self feed, they act like its the most normal thing ever. People are weird about the term.
I read Baby-Led Weaning . It was pretty short & repetitive, so maybe grab it from the library. Just google searching blogs I got overwhelmed. If I have a particular food I'm concerned about, I'll google it. The rule seems to be if baby can't pick it up and successfully get it to his mouth, he's not ready for it. The converse is not always true, though. Like it'd be easy for DS to pick up raw apple slices, but several blogs say because apple fragments it's a high risk of choking.
I read Baby-Led Weaning . It was pretty short & repetitive, so maybe grab it from the library. Just google searching blogs I got overwhelmed. If I have a particular food I'm concerned about, I'll google it. The rule seems to be if baby can't pick it up and successfully get it to his mouth, he's not ready for it. The converse is not always true, though. Like it'd be easy for DS to pick up raw apple slices, but several blogs say because apple fragments it's a high risk of choking.
Agreed. J can pick up apple slices, but cant safely handle them yet. She went to town on some steak this afternoon though.
Post by lilyelayne on Sept 2, 2015 21:22:49 GMT -5
Between illness & vacation & a damn nursing strike, this is the first normal bedtime nursing session we've had in ages. It's like stress is just melting out of both of us.
Between illness & vacation & a damn nursing strike, this is the first normal bedtime nursing session we've had in ages. It's like stress is just melting out of both of us.
When they're sick you always hear to nurse more frequently and it's so hard when they're just not into it. Hugs!
Then Comes Family, LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising
program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.