More BLW questions--

[trumpcard]

I posted several weeks back about our scary start to BLW and needing the courage to try again after several dramatic gagging incidents. We tried again and it has been going very well for the past 2 weeks.

DD (7.5 mo) is gaining confidence and developing her eating skills with each session. She is consuming quite a bit of food from the look of her diapers but hasn't cut back on her nursing sessions and even seems to have increased her night feedings.

She has eaten green beans, broccoli, carrots, sweet potatoes, apple, cucumber, banana, avocado and yogurt. She LOVES all of it and asks for more.

So, what is the next step?

According to the Gil Rapley book she can eat what we are eating with us. This hasn't been the case so far. She eats individual itmes.

Is there a method to getting DD onto "prepared" food. I don't mean prepared like out of a box, we eat healthy meals, I mean prepared like cooked foods that have many ingredients. 

If we have turkey soup for dinner, how do I serve her that? It's homemade with limited seasoning and salt and all the ingredients are safe but I can't see her eating it--it seems like another level of food pat what she's had experience with so far.

What if it's artichoke and chickpea stew? quiche? baked chicken with quinoa? enchiladas?

Can people share there success stories in transitioning babies to these fuller meals from the introductory solids?

Edited by trumpcard - 1/5/11 at 7:47am

[Baby_Cakes]

IMO, it depends on the texture.  Can you break it down into bite sized pieces that she can gum and mush up?  

Quiche is an easy one, just put a few small pieces in front of her.  That texture should be fine.  Baked chicken - tear/break up the meat into itty bitty pieces. You could pre-chew a little if you want to make it a little softer.  Enchiladas - same thing , just make small pieces that she can handle and get to her mouth.  The idea is to let her try whatever you're having so she can learn how to chew, swallow, and experience flavors.  Don't worry too much about her getting "enough" solids at this point.  Just let her play.

It's messy but fun, and she'll have such a broad palate.  Good for you for continuing!

[chel]

not sure of your lo age, but it sounds like you can dive right in.

i start around 10-11m with my kids.  i skip puree, and go straight for stuff that can be mushed easily by the child.  while i do try in the beginning to pick out individual ingredients, i rarely feed my lo a single item.

ie i would pick a piece of carrot out of a soup in the beginning, but soon go to feeding a spoonful of soup with assorted stuff.

[Knitting Mama]

Sounds like your baby is doing great! For things like the soup you mentioned, I just strain out most of the broth and give my baby the "goods" from within the soup. Same with the artichoke and chickpea stew. The baked chicken with quinoa also sounds good, if you tear up the chicken. The enchiladas are probably fine as is, as the ingredients are relatively soft. Quiche should also be fine.

If you're limiting anything (like we're not doing grains yet over here, for example), it's fairly easy to do modified table food. For example, if I was making your quiche, I'd just pull the crust off before giving pieces to my baby, who loves eggs. Or if I was making a veggie and pasta soup, I'd strain out the solids and throw the pasta back in. If I was making anything that combines protein, starch and veg, like a casserole, I just put aside some veggies for her.

[P.J.]

This was exactly my question as thus far DS (7 mo) has only had plain veggies and fruit and never eaten what we are eating. I make a lot of soup in winter and had the same question. I love love love beans and use them a lot, but unfortunately don't have the time anymore to make from scratch and almost all canned beans have added salt and/or sugar. Same thing with all the veggies not available fresh this time of year. (I get the eat seasonal/local thing, but doing that in this part of the world in winter would mean living on cabbage and broccoli alone, yuk!) Sometimes we get organic jarred beans which I think are plain, but that isn't always possible. Since salt is a no-no, it does make it hard sometimes when I use canned ingredients.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[octobermom]

 Not sure your childs age or such.. But while we had about 4-6 weeks of "trying foods" and checking for allergies ect once that was past honestly I jsut give my now almost 10 month old what ever we are having. I avoid excessive amount of sugared stuff no dirrect peanuts no raw meats, no exssive spice and no excessive dairy.. But thats it I give her stuff thats mixed seasoned sweet savory "spicy" (reasonably so) and shes eats jsut about everything. Honestly shes more likely to reject plain no taste foods.. I also at thesame time provide most fruits and veggies in there natural states so shes also used to that.. SO like last night we had brown rice with onions mushrooms peas and carrots some chicken season with basic salt pepper some fresh money dew melon we picked up from the local farmers market earlier that day and some rolls.. The baby ate up the rice including the veggies and mushrooms (didn't care for the onions)  ate up the chicken and the melon I didn't give her the bread though since  its one thing her tooth less self doesn't handle well..

Deanna

[trumpcard]

Thanks for all the replies and ideas. I edited my original post to add that DD is 7.5 months old.

She is doing well and ingesting quite a bit she is still not chewing her food much--lots of the pieces she gnaws off are just swallowed--so I am still seeing large chunks in her diaper.

I think I will just keep up with the practice of individual foods until I see her work on the chewing idea more. She doesn't have any teeth yet but I know she can start to chew with her gums before her teeth come in. I don't want to rush her but I don't want to delay her progress either. Does this seems like a good plan?

[Knitting Mama]

Absolutely, nothing says she has to start eating more complex foods anytime soon! Remember that eating is about practicing and learning new skills rather than about nutrition at this stage!

[Baby_Cakes]

Originally Posted by trumpcard 

Thanks for all the replies and ideas. I edited my original post to add that DD is 7.5 months old.

Oh geez!  No rush then!  You can keep things as single food items for awhile longer!  I figured for some reason she was much older!!  Sounds like a fabulous plan.  Follow her lead.

[katelove]

Hi,

Our daughter is 7.5 months as well. At the moment we are just doing what PPs suggested and pulling bits out of our meals for her. It's summer here though so we ae mostly eating salads and things which makes that easy. 

One night though DH made a lentil and roasted vege soup and we gave her a small bowl and a spoon. It was vey thick though, not a liquidy soup at all. She had a great time chewing the spoon and picking up the soup with he hands. I doubt she swallowed much but she would have got the taste.