Questions about BLW.

[Beauchamp]

I have a few "is this normal" kind of questions. I don't know anyone AP IRL, so, just wondering...

--is it okay to "skip meals" with BLW, as in, being really random about when she gets food, or should there be actual "meals"?

--is it okay to give the same kind of foods over and over? (she loves brown rice puffs and black beans, so we do those almost every day. Plus bananas when I shop. That's about all she willingly self-feeds. We've tried steamed carrots, steamed sweet potatoes, brown rice cereal, organic Sprout babyfood in packages, avocado bits, frozen blueberries (loved these for a day, now she spits them out every time.)

--should I let her completely self-feed or is it okay for me to put stuff in her mouth? She will take things if I put bits in her mouth, even when she's reached the "fun" point of dropping the food off the side of her booster chair.

I am a bit afraid of things like eggs, wheat, pasta, meat, etc, because I just don't really know where to begin, and I've heard a lot of stuff about allergies. Yogurt? Those Yo Baby yogurts seem nice, but she WON'T eat from a spoon.

I guess I am just looking for guidance and/or approval that I am not nutritionally messing her up. I know it's okay to give her bits of our meals, but lately we've been so tired and have been eating less than healthy stuff that I don't want to give her. So I've been pretty much specifically preparing things for her, and wondering if I should be doing more?

[sh0rtchica]

these are great questions! honestly - to me it seems like the biggest BLW tenant is go at your child's pace. to answer your questions:

- skipping meals is fine as long as your child is still nursing (or getting formula) on demand. i would constantly forget to feed my LO all the time, which still happens on occasion before the age of 1, most of the nutrients come from your milk. food is for fun and practice!

- mine would eat the same foods over and over again, which made me feel like a bad mom, but in the end it's all about what he'll eat! as yours gets older, you can try offering what you're eating for each meal. if you're not eating health (and i've BTDT), don't worry about it. just offer same old, or nothing! don't feel pressured to make sure your kiddo is getting all the food groups at every meal. i was worried about that and it drove me nuts.

- most BLWers are anti-spoon feeding, but i've found it to be useful with certain foods like applesauce and yogurt. yogurt is fine at that age, i've never used yo-baby, but just check the ingredients and avoid anything artificial.

do you have a family history of allergies? i was a bit worried about it at first, but then things just happened. i had pad thai and he ate some of my chicken before i remembered it was in a peanut sauce - no problems. the only things he has shown reactions to are salmon and pine nuts - go fig! other nuts, no problems. i kinda ignored most of the allergy advice, and now at 12 months he's eaten everything but honey. again - it's all about your comfort level in feeding certain foods to your LO.

BLW is so much fun and really should be relaxed and enjoyable for you both

[blumooned]

I agree with everything PP wrote.

We skip meals every so often and DS eats A LOT of the same things over & over. I've read that even for Toddlers (who may not be nursing or nursing less) that you look at the whole week's worth of food to get a picture of their nutritional content. Babies still get most/all nutrition from BM/formula.

I put stuff in DS's mouth sometimes. Like to offer him a taste off of my finger. Or if he's distracted, I'll hold up a piece of food to get his attention & sometimes he eats it right out of my fingers! Just don't force them to eat anything & watch their cues.

We stayed away from allergens until about 9mos then ignored them - we probably could have ignored them all together. No fam history of allergies here. The new recommendations by AAP say not to worry about them unless there is a fam history. The only things DS doesn't get are honey & choke-able foods.

DS loves YoBaby yogurt - so do I, it is yummy! He'll eat it from a spoon, but sometimes I put in on pieces of fruit, muffin, bread, etc. It's VERY messy this way, but fun too.

[ihugtrees]

My DD has eaten everything except berries, nuts, fish, actual milk, and honey. She's had sunbutter with no problem, but I'm paranoid. I am waiting until a year for those things. She does eat the same things over and over, but I try to give her a variety of fruit & veggie colors, plus a protein (sunbutter, cheese, egg, yogurt, cottage cheese, meat, etc) with each of her meals...I want her to like all the foods I don't like, so I'm trying to start her early, ha ha! Another idea for easy, quick meals is frozen broccoli, lima beans, peas, corn, etc. I can boil those or even throw them in the microwave and she loves them.

I skip meals for her all of the time...but if I'm home all day, I make a big effort to feed her 2-3 meals as she is going to be starting in childcare part time in the fall & I want her to be nursing a little less, eating a little more. And she LOVES eating, so I really kind of feel I'm depriving her when I don't give her meals. It's when I'm out that we skip meals.

My DD LOVES yogurt. I give her plain, organic, full fat yogurt with no flavorings. I only like really sweet yogurt or yogurt with cookies/candies mixed in, and I don't want her to be like that. At first, she made funny faces with the yogurt (I don't blame her! It tastes like sour cream to me!) but now she loves it even though it is plain! She also didn't want to eat off the spoon at first, and wanted to grab it, but I'm not anti-spoon-feeding and told her that mommy was going to feed her. So now she lets me. Yogurt is our no-fail item...its the one thing, besides, frozen blueberries (which I microwave to soften up, as super cold foods arent the best for anyones digestive system). She is always so eager to eat it that she is lunging for it with her mouth opened like a little piranha.

The only thing with spoon feeding is that I never force her. If she isn't leaning forward with her mouth open, I don't do silly noises or actions to try to get her to take a bite. When she is done, she is done. When we first started the yogurt, we rubbed it all over Samara's lips so that she'd lick them and taste it and be more interested in trying it from a spoon.

[Kmama2]

Can I call it BLW if I do everything according to BLW except I cut everything into bite sized pieces??
Thats sort of what I did for DD and what I plan on doing for Ds when he starts solids in a few months.

[Beauchamp]

Originally Posted by Kmama2

Can I call it BLW if I do everything according to BLW except I cut everything into bite sized pieces??

Oh. Is it *not* BLW if you cut things up? Because that's what I do, cut up into bite size pieces and let her pick them up.


By the way, we tried the banana Yo Baby Stoneyfield organic yogurt tonight and she WILLINGLY opened her mouth for the spoon (and this a is TOTAL non-spoon baby!) and she pretty much ate the whole container.

[Kmama2]

Originally Posted by Beauchamp

Oh. Is it *not* BLW if you cut things up? Because that's what I do, cut up into bite size pieces and let her pick them up.


By the way, we tried the banana Yo Baby Stoneyfield organic yogurt tonight and she WILLINGLY opened her mouth for the spoon (and this a is TOTAL non-spoon baby!) and she pretty much ate the whole container.

I thought one of the important parts of BLW was that everything was supposed to be french fry shaped.. or big enough for them to hold and bite pieces off????

[Heidi74]

Originally Posted by Kmama2

I thought one of the important parts of BLW was that everything was supposed to be french fry shaped.. or big enough for them to hold and bite pieces off????

In the beginning, that shape is recommended because babies who do not have a pincer grasp yet will find smaller pieces difficult. Once the baby is able to pick up small pieces, I don't think it really matters what shape the food is in. With both my boys I have often cut up food small, mainly because there has been less mess that way and it's good training for a baby learning a pincer grasp.

From what I've understood about BLW the main thing is that the baby self-feeds, not that the food is in any particular shape. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Beauchamp]

Oh, good. I feel better now! We started with avocado and banana in small bits, and it just wasn't going well, so we changed it up and tried brown rice puffs. They are really small, but this girl picks up the teeniest bit of lint on the carpet (and eats it), so I figured we'd go for the puffs...and they worked! She actually loves to eat them! So we have now added other foods, but the puffs got her pincer grasp down really well. I hope they have some sort of nutritional value, because she loves them and eats them every day.

For messier things we still do very small pieces. I am a bit afraid of her choking, although I know that some gagging is part of BLW when they learn to chew and swallow.

[sh0rtchica]

Originally Posted by Heidi74

In the beginning, that shape is recommended because babies who do not have a pincer grasp yet will find smaller pieces difficult. Once the baby is able to pick up small pieces, I don't think it really matters what shape the food is in. With both my boys I have often cut up food small, mainly because there has been less mess that way and it's good training for a baby learning a pincer grasp.

From what I've understood about BLW the main thing is that the baby self-feeds, not that the food is in any particular shape. Correct me if I'm wrong.

ITA with this. we started out with larger pieces, but now we HAVE to do smaller bits. if we don't DS tries to shove the entire thing in his mouth (poor kid has a huge mouth, takes after me), and then he can barely chew and ends up puking it all up. i keep trying larger pieces, hoping he's learned, but nope! all goes straight down the trap, no matter how large. he fit an entire lemon slice in there! lol.

do what works for your baby! that's why it's BABY-led weaning