Baby Led Weaning - Starting Solids - Page 3 « Back to Group Discussions

[TalkToMeNow]

Originally Posted by LunaLady 

Sorry, I guess I shouldn't have linked that article. I was just using it as a guide to help me in choosing what foods to introduce when and found it interesting and wanted to share. I wasn't linking it because I believe everything stated in that article word for word. I really was just trying to talk about introducing solids in general here, not debate on people's food choices or whether or not food affects children's behavior. 

Oh, I think it's fine! Everyone is just sharing their opinion. We know that! 

I can't speak for everyone else, but I know when I read something where the person states "I did xyz and so my kid is <insert magical skill>" it gets to me. Not because you or anyone else posted it, though! Just because that attitude is so irritating. I mean I ate a perfect diet, breastfeed for 3.5 years, and used gentle discipline. And my dd1 is a terror. A holy terror! I tried to build a perfect sibling relationship. I made my girls share a room from birth to build closeness. And they fight like cats and dogs. It's that icky, "you're doing it wrong!" attitude that gets to moms sometimes. Then we vent. No one is trying to shoot the messenger, though. :)

[TalkToMeNow]

As for food, Jasper is 4.5 months ish. So no food yet. He is definitely checking it out, though. He is so interested in what we are putting in our mouths. I'm excited to start feeding him, but not so much that I'm ready to begin that hassle. Lol. 

I'm so happy that his doctor gave me a first year food chart last week. I already know what I will feed him, but I was able to show it to dh. It has no meat for the first year! Yay! I can put off meat at least that long. I think she got it out of a vegetarian baby book, but he doesn't need to know that. 

I'm thinking that I will try to wait for 6 months. We'll see how it goes. I'm pretty slow (lazy) after that. Avocado for a week, then add banana, then sweet potatoes. That'll last a while. And I never bother with a food processor or a bullet or whatever. I try to stick to stuff they can just mush on their own. To me, food is just to play with for much of the first year. Breastmilk is still where all the nutrition is coming from. And I don't think I gave my girls water. I really can't remember when they started drinking anything other than bm, but it was definitely after 1 year. 

[Abraisme]

Yup, that's pretty much it.   Really, many of us have btdt with that attitude too..  Like, "myyyyy kids will NEVER do XYorZ"..  Ha!  Then you raise and few and realize that it's all a crap-shoot and you do your best day by day.  :)

 

Originally Posted by TalkToMeNow 

Oh, I think it's fine! Everyone is just sharing their opinion. We know that! 

I can't speak for everyone else, but I know when I read something where the person states "I did xyz and so my kid is <insert magical skill>" it gets to me. Not because you or anyone else posted it, though! Just because that attitude is so irritating. I mean I ate a perfect diet, breastfeed for 3.5 years, and used gentle discipline. And my dd1 is a terror. A holy terror! I tried to build a perfect sibling relationship. I made my girls share a room from birth to build closeness. And they fight like cats and dogs. It's that icky, "you're doing it wrong!" attitude that gets to moms sometimes. Then we vent. No one is trying to shoot the messenger, though. :)

[jbk21]

Originally Posted by TalkToMeNow 

Oh, I think it's fine! Everyone is just sharing their opinion. We know that! 

I can't speak for everyone else, but I know when I read something where the person states "I did xyz and so my kid is <insert magical skill>" it gets to me. Not because you or anyone else posted it, though! Just because that attitude is so irritating. I mean I ate a perfect diet, breastfeed for 3.5 years, and used gentle discipline. And my dd1 is a terror. A holy terror! I tried to build a perfect sibling relationship. I made my girls share a room from birth to build closeness. And they fight like cats and dogs. It's that icky, "you're doing it wrong!" attitude that gets to moms sometimes. Then we vent. No one is trying to shoot the messenger, though. :)

 

[KayPea]

Oren doesn't have his tongue-thrust reflex any more, and is mildly interested in food - I've given him tastes of my banana, etc, and he was really into it, and totally moved around in his mouth and swallowed it. He is, however, not at all close to sitting unassisted. He fully folds in half if I try.  And definitely has as many misses as hits when he tries to get things into his mouth. DD wasn't sitting unassisted until 6 months, so while Oren seems ahead of her so far in gross motor development (he's a full five pounds heavier than she was at this age - does that have something to do with it?) I still think we're weeks, if not a month or more away from unassisted sitting. I'm OK with that though, I thought I'd be likely to wait longer on solids with this second baby, since DD had so many early sensitivities that disappeared by 8 months (she had reactions with sweet potatoes and bananas, among other things.) But I don't think I'll be waiting as long as I originally envisioned - the need to follow the lead of my baby is really strong. I can tell he's gearing up for solids, and therefore, so am I. 

As a big boy (17 + lbs, it's been a while since he was weighed, I'm thinking more like 18) is it conceivable that he's already needing more than breastmilk?  He just seems to be nursing a LOT these days, and he's already been through his 4-month growth spurt. I'm back to feeling hungry 24/7 like when he was a newborn, that's how much he's eating. We have all been sick with tummy illnesses lately, so he could just be catching up from when my supply was low, and he wasn't eating much.  

[seraf]

I don't think Shay is going to get enough calories from the amount of sweet potatoes he can eat to displace any milk calories he gets.  

Abra, the attitude of, "if he can't do it he's not ready" goes to so much more than food.  I love it.  DS1 always used to ask, can I climb that? My answer was always, "if you can get up there it's probably safe for you, if you can't, you're not ready to be that high."

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by KayPea 
As a big boy (17 + lbs, it's been a while since he was weighed, I'm thinking more like 18) is it conceivable that he's already needing more than breastmilk? 

I really think that it is a big misconception that babies "need" to start solids in order to get more calories.  I've read that babies can go somewhere around 16+ months with just breastmilk and be just fine.  Really, most babies are not ingesting much when they first start eating at a younger age.  When they get a bit older they can eat more and hence get more calories out of the food they are ingesting.  While I do totally believe in following baby's cues, a lot of times what is seen as the desire to eat solids is really just the desire to put everything in their mouths food or not (I'm not saying that is what's happening with Oren, but in general).

Originally Posted by seraf 

I don't think Shay is going to get enough calories from the amount of sweet potatoes he can eat to displace any milk calories he gets.  

Abra, the attitude of, "if he can't do it he's not ready" goes to so much more than food.  I love it.  DS1 always used to ask, can I climb that? My answer was always, "if you can get up there it's probably safe for you, if you can't, you're not ready to be that high."

  I say that to dd all the time.  Mom can I climb that tree?  Yes, if you don't need my help.
 

[KaliShanti]

I used BLW with my second child and it was great - so much easier and so much fun. Started 6 months when she grabbed a banana out of my mom's hand on vacation and shoved it in her mouth. :)

I'll do the same with Enoch (who is one of the youngest in here, 4 months today so it will be at least another 2 months). I started out with banana, avocado, mum-mums (they are made of rice).. and really just stuff we eat generally. My kids didn't rely on them as nutrition until closer to 10 months of age or so and I nursed them into toddlerhood.

I did give my kids sips of water frequently but that is mainly because we have extremely hot summers here and I felt like we were spending so much time sweating that my nursing couldn't keep up with their hydration needs.

[KaliShanti]

Also, my kids slow down their weight gain about 6 months anyway.

[Abraisme]

Yup, this was my thought when Olivine was 14mo and climbing up on our elevated bar and getting herself into her clip-on high chair seat.  My DH was a bit shaken by it, but I told him that I wasn't going to follow her around and micro manage what she did all day.  She had been walking for at least 5 months at this point, so her balance was really good.  She still has very good balance.
 

Originally Posted by seraf 

I don't think Shay is going to get enough calories from the amount of sweet potatoes he can eat to displace any milk calories he gets.  

Abra, the attitude of, "if he can't do it he's not ready" goes to so much more than food.  I love it.  DS1 always used to ask, can I climb that? My answer was always, "if you can get up there it's probably safe for you, if you can't, you're not ready to be that high."

[CDsMom1031]

How do you guys differentiate between grabbing for food because he's ready for it or grabbing for food because it's in eye sight and he grabs everything?

I about lost my burger tonight because Conner grabbed it and tried shoving it in his mouth...

[TalkToMeNow]

Originally Posted by CDsMom1031 

How do you guys differentiate between grabbing for food because he's ready for it or grabbing for food because it's in eye sight and he grabs everything?

I about lost my burger tonight because Conner grabbed it and tried shoving it in his mouth...

Well, I remember when dd1 was 5 months, she started driving me crazy when I ate. She wanted my food, and it was obvious that she wanted it more than any other object. I just sort of knew.

In contrast, right now Jasper would be just as excited to shove my napkin in his mouth as my meal. He just wants to explore things, and he really wants to explore things that I seem especially interested in. Do you notice a difference between the way he grabs for food versus other things?

[seraf]

Shay will stick anything in his mouth but he watches our food, licks his lips and his eyes get really big and if I catch his eye he smiles really big like its some inside joke.

[CDsMom1031]

I feel like he grabs for food in a more urgent manner, LOL. Like if I offer him stuffed animals or whatever, he plays with them, chews on them, sucks on them, etc... But when he went for my food tonight, it went straight to his mouth. When I took it from him, he got PISSED. Like, threw a hissy... So I offered him some baby food (Peas) and it seemed to suffice but not much. He really wanted my burger, LOL. I was like, "Just grow some teeth and we'll jump right on that bandwagon!"

[Paigekitten]

I give Éowyn a spoon (okay, like 10 spoons) to play with while I eat.  It keeps her busy enough that she leaves my plate alone, but it's still what everyone else has.  This week I let her mouth a carrot stick, but obviously she didn't ingest any of it.

[Mal85]

Greta wants food so bad! She just stares at us when we're eating. Her eyes follow the fork to and from the plate with her mouth opening every time we open our mouth to take a bite. It's hilarious to watch her. She also grabs for my glass when I'm drinking. We had started a little solids, just experimenting, but when we buckled down with getting her on the breast full time again we backed off of it. I gave her a carrot to gnaw on the other day and she loved that. She obviously didn't eat much of it, but I think it felt good on her gums where her next tooth is coming in. She's getting really good at picking things up and getting them to her mouth, so maybe it's time to get out the high chair and start letting her play with some food while we eat our meals... She isn't sitting on her own, but is pretty close. She doesn't really topple over to the side anymore, just leans really far forward if I let go of her.

[birdhappy85]

We were given the go-ahead from the pediatrician to start feeding Sora solids whenever we want, but maybe we should wait since she isn't sitting up on her own yet...? She still folds all the way forward. That wouldn't be a problem in our high chair, though, because it has a few reclining options. My sister gave us my nephew's old Fisher Price high chair for now (http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10822411), so we don't have to buy one! Yay for free stuff! (It's a good thing too because we aren't going to be able to buy a dining table for a while.)

Sora "stalks" our food too when we're eating. It once used to be so hard to get a break to eat while trying to entertain her, but now sometimes she's actually interested in watching us eat and is perfectly content doing so, so that's a win-win situation I'm looking forward to happening more often. She LOVES watching me drink. Sometimes I hold food under her nose and she loves sniffing it. I've caught her sucking and chewing on her lips and actually drooling more when I'm eating in front of her! Ha!

Funny thing happened yesterday... While holding her on my lap, I was eating an apple I cut up. I held a piece close to her face so she could check it out. When I went to move it away, she grabbed my hand and yanked it to her mouth so fast she almost got the apple in her mouth! I was like, "Hey hey hey, that's my apple. None for you yet..." and went to move the apple away again. Not a few seconds later she started hitting my hand with the apple in it over and over and over, almost frustrated-like, and knocked the dang apple out of my hand onto the floor! Then she looked up at me all innocent-like.  I swear she has more personality at 4 months old than some adults I've met. LOL!

[Jaimee]

Joanie, I'm not sure what pediatrician would not give the go ahead for feeding solids- it seems like something they do automatically after your 4 month visit.  It's just so silly to me.  Why rush?  She can't even sit up unassisted yet!  Why would someone want to recline a baby in order to eat?  It's just a statement about our culture that our high chairs recline now.  Personally I would wait to really introduce food to her, but that's me.  I know it's exciting to think about, but I wait until my babies are sturdy- can use both hands to feed themselves while sitting.  It really becomes more of a chore to feed a baby solids for a while.  It's messy, often wasteful, and if you're feeding special first foods that are specially prepared then it's more work for you as well.  Nope, no rush for me!

[birdhappy85]

Yeah, DH and I aren't in a rush to start Sora on solids either. I was fully planning to wait until 6 months. The doctor got into my head and had me unsure what to do. But the more I've been reading about it too, I like the idea of waiting a bit longer. The whole "open gut" thing in babies has me thinking about my own leaky gut situation with food intolerances and it pretty much freaks me out. Although I'm not really worried about banana and avocado being problematic... I just like the idea of babies gut being more fully developed.

[birdhappy85]

So clearly I didn't wait until 6 months to feed Sora solids, as I originally intended. She was showing all the signs of readiness and one day it just felt right. (She suddenly started sitting up more on her own one day too.) She started eating ravenously like she was so excited that there are different new exciting tastes out there. She loves it! She eats so well off of a spoon and swallows like a champ. I thought for sure there would be a learning curve but this girl knows what she's doing...

She has only tried banana, applesauce, and avocado. She is not liking avocado... Should I just keep trying and she'll get used to the taste?

Here's a cute pic of her with banana in her mesh feeder. She ate a whole inch of banana out of that thing!