how to begin CLW..

[fayth2012]

Hi, my baby is about 9 months old and has essentially been EBF. Within the past month or so, she has been given some fruit or veggies, such as celery, string bean, pear, apple, to try. She does not do much with it except lick it or suck on it.  My main question is, how big should the pieces be cut for her? Also, with the process of teething going on, ahw has been somewhat fussy and cranky at times. For example, i would be breastfeeding her, and she will be thisclose to being asleep, then she will either suddenly appear bright eyed and cheery, ready to play, or whiny and cranky. This makes bedtime/naptime a little long at times. Any advice for this? I am trying to establish a good bedtime routine for her, but  lately it has been hard. Like I said, she has been teething, and lately she has been taking a few catnaps during the day, instead of the usual long morning and afternoon naps. 
Any advice would be appreciated! 

[katelove]

That's all we did. Just started offering pieces of food when we were eating. We had the most success with "chip" or wedge-sized pieces. They needed to be big enough that she could grasp them with her whole fist and some would stick out each end. She didn't ingest much before she was at least a year old but she was learning the skills and experiencing lots of different tastes and textures.

As far as the sleeping/teething goes it may just be one of those stages you need to ride out. We were/are quite comfortable giving Ibuprofen for obvious pain although that is not a popular solution around here. If you wanted to try it, I would suggest giving a dose 30-45 minutes before your LO is due for a sleep.

All the best. It's really hard when they don't sleep.