New BLW-er needs direction

[Xerxella]

I've always been more into the pureed baby food camp. And, that worked fine with my first born. My second born is really a lot less interested in pureed foods and is much, much happier feeding herself.

So, please help the new BLW person here. Besides, cereals, what can I put on her tray to eat? All else I can think of is canned veggies. Peas and carrots and stuff. What else goes on her tray?

[Abraisme]

The standard "safe" first foods are - Pear, banana, sweet potato and avocado. Some other choices are below. I'm not one that worries about only using "safe" foods, I often let my LO try anything I'm eating (so long as it's a whole food).

*Fresh, steamed veggies like carrots, broccoli, squash or green beans.

*Fruit in fist sized pieces at first and then bite sized pieces as they get older.

*Organic cheerios

*Teething biscuts

*Shreaded meat in little pieces or meat bones

*Tiny cubes of cheese

*Scrambled eggs

[paxye]

Honestly... my kids all got whatever we were eating right from the start... along with the spices and seasonings etc... we would just serve it in sizes that we knew they were comfortable with...

I think a lot of people make it a lot more complicated than it needs to be...

[hotharmony]

I really suggest getting the book; Baby Lead Weaning it's great for explaining the whole concept and food ideas.

[Xerxella]

Eggs and cheese?

Wow! She's never had any diary. She's only 8 months old.

What about the whole allergies thing? We don't have any food allergies in our family, but does the whole introduce one food at a time thing just go out the window.

I may need to readjust my thinking.

[paxye]

After talking to an allergist at the Children's hospital in Montreal I was told that the research shows that allergy wise there is no difference in when to introduce foods (after 6 months) besides the fact that the older the child, the more they can communicate what is happening.

We only start foods later anyway... (starting at 10-11 months with my last two) so I really don't worry at all, though I do watch for reactions when they try something that has nuts etc. for the first time...

[lindsayjean]

Question for you all... My babe is 6 months old and starting to be interested in food. We probably won't give him much for a few months now, maybe just a broccoli floret or something every once in a while to munch on, but I am wondering about choking/gagging? I gave him a brocolli floret (which I think it the right size for BLW- he was holding the stem and chomping on the top) he got off some sort of big-ish chunks and I was so nervous about him choking.

[Xerxella]

I had the same experience as lindsayjean. I gave my daughter 1/4 apple and she immediately took her six teeth and bit off a chunk and then started coughing/gagging on it. Even some Trader Joes Organic Os she was having last night she chocked a little on. But, she's very good at getting them to her mouth...

[Abraisme]

From my experience babies choke a little bit while they're learning to chew and swallow. It's really pretty normal as it's a natural reflex to keep things out of your lungs. My DS would often gag a little, but he never got anything lodged in his throat. Justkeep an eye on them while they're eating and be ready to fish out any large chunks.

[JMJ]

There's a big difference between choking and gagging. Gagging is the baby's way of figuring out how to handle larger pieces of food. Developing the gagging reflex muscles actually helps prevent choking because they help the baby learn to get food (or anything else that your child puts in her mouth while you're not looking!) out of the way or swallow it. The gagging reflex will be triggered further and further back on the baby's tongue as she grows up.

Choking is a serious and immediate health risk. A child is choking if she cannot cough, breathe, or cry. (If she can do any of these, she is not actually choking.) Choking is uncommon with babies doing BLW, but they should always be monitored while eating and not be given solids until they can sit up well on their own. Assisting a choking infant is scary but relatively easy and usually quite effective. If you are unfamiliar with what to do, I recommend taking an infant/child CPR class regardless of what feeding method you choose.

I started out with soft foods: bananas, yams, avocado, etc. and quickly moved on to everything we eat with an emphasis on fruits and veggies.

[mckittre]

I just gave bits of what we were eating, never did the "one food at a time" thing at all, and didn't delay any foods other than real choking hazards like whole nuts. My baby is 11 months old now, eats well, and has not had trouble with any foods. Interestingly, although he refused spoon feeding when he first started eating, now that he's old enough to know which foods he likes, he'll let me spoon feed some of them (yogurt and such). I kind of think of baby-led-weaning as the "lazy person's way" to feed a baby. Dump a bit of what you're eating in front of baby and be done with it.

[Abraisme]

Originally Posted by JMJ

There's a big difference between choking and gagging. Gagging is the baby's way of figuring out how to handle larger pieces of food. Developing the gagging reflex muscles actually helps prevent choking because they help the baby learn to get food (or anything else that your child puts in her mouth while you're not looking!) out of the way or swallow it. The gagging reflex will be triggered further and further back on the baby's tongue as she grows up.

Choking is a serious and immediate health risk. A child is choking if she cannot cough, breathe, or cry. (If she can do any of these, she is not actually choking.) Choking is uncommon with babies doing BLW, but they should always be monitored while eating and not be given solids until they can sit up well on their own. Assisting a choking infant is scary but relatively easy and usually quite effective. If you are unfamiliar with what to do, I recommend taking an infant/child CPR class regardless of what feeding method you choose.

I started out with soft foods: bananas, yams, avocado, etc. and quickly moved on to everything we eat with an emphasis on fruits and veggies.

You're right, I meant gagging..

[mizlizzy]

Ditto what mckittre said.
DD did not care bout food til after 7 mo, turned down purees, then she started trying to get bits of our food and I knew she was ready.
My daughter is a protein fiend. Now 11 mo, her favorite food is black beans which she loves to feed herself never choke. She loves meat, ( I Usually get organic meat). At first I would put it in one of those baby food grinders but it was a pain to clean and the texture was gummy. Now some will be grossed out by this, as I was when my sister in law said that is what she did, but we do the baby bird method- chew up the meat a little and then put it on her tray for her to pick up. It gets it to the right texture and is so easy. Your saliva starts the digestion process. I figure people have been pre-chewing meat for babies since pre-history, so I got over the ewww factor.

[AFWife]

Well, my DS just recently really got interested in food (h'es 9 months) We tried giving him bits of banana or apple when he was 6-7 months and it was fun while it was new. Only in the past few weeks has he started DEMANDING to eat while we eat. (Climbing me, crying, pulling at my plate, etc...) Basically, I give him tiny pieces of whatever we're having for dinner. The ONLY exception is that DH and I eat spicy on occasion and I set a bit aside for DS...I don't think his little mouth is quite ready for hot and spicy.

And I second what the PP said about choking and gagging. It was SO HARD to watch DS eat and gag on pieces of food while he learned to swallow. I just had to keep smiling and encouraging him while he coughed and looked confused. Just know what to do if choking does occur and how to recognize it. We had to pat his back a few times (mostly for our peace of mind) but we never had a major choking episode. And the gagging is pretty much gone now.

[redvlagrl]

We started BLW at 5.5 mths when DD grabbed a piece of banana out of DH's hand and shoved it in her mouth!

Early on I gave her a lot of steamed broccoli trees and bananas. I found bananas were hard for her to pick up so I broke them into 3 lengthwise (they do this naturally) so her little hand could grasp it. Rolling in cereal dust didn't help.

We also gave her scrambled eggs, cheese and frittata very early on when our table food wasn't suitable for her.

We didn't worry about the gradual introduction of foods because we don't have a history of allergies and the reading I have done suggests that early introduction of potential allergens van actually have a protective effect!

DD was about 8 mths before she really got the hang of eating whole fruits - peaches etc.

[Xerxella]

Well, I've been putting various veggies in front of her. Avocado and cooked carrots and peas, but all she seems to be interested in is Os and other cereals. The good thing is she has completely refined her pincher grasp so she can sort through the carrots and peas and then eat only the Os. :eyeroll

I still spoon feed her the jarred veggies and she seems fine with that most of the time, but I worry if left to her own devices she would eat only carbs.

[Michigan Mama]

This is interesting for us, as ds2 is almost 6 months and seems really interested in everything we are eating. He tried to eat ds1's ham sandwich the other day! The promptly spit up on it, eeeewwww.

Anyway, we do have a strong history of food allergies, so I'm sort of wondering how to go about introducing foods. Ds1 is allergic to potatoes, and sweet potatoes, too, I think. As well as dairy, onions, soy, peanuts & cashews, and a few other suspects. I actually think he's allergic to almost all legumes.

So I'm thinking I will just save all those suspect foods for much later and start with things I hope will be safe... Because of our allergy issues (I have a bunch, too), I will probably wait 4 days to a week in between and see how it goes. Allergist said to wait until after a year for the standard things like dairy, eggs, citrus, but also wheat...

I'm really a newbie at this, too, because we did standard mushy food intro with ds1.

[BlueWolf]

Originally Posted by Xerxella

Eggs and cheese?

Wow! She's never had any diary. She's only 8 months old.

What about the whole allergies thing? We don't have any food allergies in our family, but does the whole introduce one food at a time thing just go out the window.

I may need to readjust my thinking.

My ped told me to avoid any foods that are a known family allergy. Like I have a mild egg allergy, so I wont feed eggs to DD until she's older. I also wont feed her melons, shell fish or tree nuts or peanuts until she's over 3 years old as those are some more allergies I have. Everything else is fair game for me. Also keep in mind, that some environmental allergies are linked to some food proteins. I don't know off hand what they are. i.e. if you're allergic to ragweed you will also be allergic to ____.

[FischK]

I just wanted to drop in and say "hi". How've you been, Xercella? Your daughter seems to be growing great.

On the food issue, DS is really interested in food, and at this point he's had nearly everything - including dairy, wheat, strawberries, tomatoes, and peanuts (most of these accidentally because I was not aware of them until after the fact). We don't have any allergies in our family. He was also choking on things at first, but at this point, he appears to be chewing things quite well, and we give him all sorts of whole veggies (mostly sauteed), bread, and sometimes even pieces of apple.