self-feeding/baby-led weaning support thread... - Page 7

[Pumpkin_Pie]

I want to second the organic plain whole milk yogurt. DS absolutely adores it. Between the two of us, we go through a quart of it a week, and he probably eats about half of that. I eat it a LOT, and any time I am having some, he has to get in on it too.

As far as finger foods for him, freeze dried peas, corn, strawberries, bananas, apples, etc are fabulous. They are no mess, and full of healthy stuff for him. I have to admit, I do Cheerios. : DS loves them so much, and the ingredients aren't too bad overall. I also do Veggie Booty which is pretty non-messy as well. It gets some veggies in and is very portable. I am going to have to try beans. I hadn't thought of them as a finger food, but they would be great!

I am so loving this thread!!!

[Shannie77]

Originally Posted by tankgirl73

DD started around 6mo sucking on broccoli and asparagus. Sometimes she would bite, and sometimes she would swallow what she had bitten and sometimes she would play with it in her mouth a bit, then spit it out. She was experiencing the taste and "practicing" how to move food around in her mouth.

Around 7.5mo, she started actually *eating*. Deliberately swallowing and looking for more food, rather than the curious exploration of before.

I've come to think that one of the great benefits of BLW is *exactly* the fact that they are *not* actually ingesting much food at first. Rather than spooning multiple ounces of substances into their bodies to suddenly have to digest and deal with, it's a much more gradual introduction for their systems. And they are in complete control of how much -- if any -- food actually gets "inside", even while they're fully exploring the food on the outside.

This sounds like my DD. We started at 6 months and she really didn't eat anything. After she turned 7 months she started eating, and now that she is about to turn 8 months she gets really excited to eat and can skillfully feed herself the smallest pieces of food.


I always make DD her own food, although she will often have part of what we are having. DH and I eat well but not as well as I would like. I want DD to experience foods that DH and I don't like, and not be picky eaters like we were as kids.


My mom was definitly skeptical about BLW, although she never said so and was very supportive. Now that DD is eating so well on her own, I think my mom now sees the benefits of BLW. In fact she likes to show off how well DD eats and uses her pincher grasp. DH has never really known anything else, so when he sees other babies being spoonfed he just thinks it looks so wrong (although we do spoonfeed her some applesauce once in a while, so she also can experience that type of texture).

Anyone have any thoughts on bread for babies? I don't like to give it to her, but she loves it (takes after mommy). Tonight DH and I had sandwiches for dinner and she threw a fit until we gave her a little piece of bread. I feel like I want to stop giving it to her altogether. I am worried about her becoming a carboholic like her mommy.

[addiemom'07]

Baby girl has been experiencing all kinds of new food over the holiday season. She joins us for all sit down meals and has her own plate. Christmas morning she had eggs, bacon (meat) and english muffin (wheat). We give her small pieces she can pick up and put in her mouth, she doesn't eat a lot but enjoys the tastes and moving the food around in her mouth.

We do a combo of BLW and traditional baby foods. She gets fruit and breastmilk blended together in her evening bottle, she just tried papaya and loved it. Great taste and not too sweet. I've slowly convinced DH to cut back on the spoon feeding though she gets some of that too.

She loves Wendys Frosty by spoon and she had mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding pie by spoon on New Years Day. She's had Chinese (sweet-n-sour chix with no sauce, green beans, fortune cookies) Mexican (refried beans, shredded chix) and lots of other things including ham in Christmas day. She also loves baby carrot sticks because their the perfect size for her to hold and she gnaws on them with her two teeth She leaves little pieces of carrot all over herself.

We've thrown caution to the wind when it comes to introducing one food at a time or staying away from complex foods. My family has a history of adult onset gluten intolerance but DD hasn't exhibited any issues with what she's had. Her poop seems to have gotten a little more solid (it holds the shape of her butt cheeks when we peel off the diaper!) but not noticeably more frequent. She's not swallowing a lot but certainly loves food time with the big people

[Ubelle]

Originally Posted by acp

Are tomatoes something you're supposed to wait on? I hadn't heard that.

Also, I'd also love ideas for good finger foods, especially to help DD work on her pincer grip. She's started to get more interested in picking up small things, but I'm not so into the idea of Cheerios, which seems to be the classic finger food parents like. Peas? tiny pieces of steamed carrot? bits of ground beef?

I thought I read that you are supposed to wait until 10-12 months, but then again that was from the same places that tell you to spoon feed your baby too. Tomatoes are acidic, would they be too harsh on the tummy? DD get's so excited when we are eating pasta (alot lately) I would love to start sharing some of my meal.

For finger foods - when we are home and mess doesn't matter - I cut up any of the food we are giving her that day into little pieces (pea size, I leave peas whole) but we have done apple, peas, avacado, cherries, blueberries (halved), Cooked rice, and carrot shreds as finger foods.

I'm looking for wheat free, cheerio alternatives - only because I want to wait on the wheat just in case and we need something less messy for trips. anyone?

Originally Posted by SparklingGemini

Question, did y'all start AT six months or did you wait until the end of the sixth month or longer?
~Rhiann

DD started 1 week before her 6 month birthday, she was sitting up well, mimicing chewing and spooning into her mouth while we ate. And she was not settling for a toy as a distraction. But then we took it very slow she ate once every other day or so.

We are trying to let her set the pace, but sometimes she seems to be going to fast. and other times she's not interested. Sunday DD attacked her plate of shredded carrots (we were out at a restaraunt) DD started a 2 fisted frantic eating like we never feed her.

There are no history of food allergies in our family - do I still need to wait on wheat? I am now because it is a high allergin - but part of me wonders if I need to.

[monkeybum]

Yaaaayy, so glad I found this thread!!

So after much humming and hawing and reading all your posts, I took the plunge and gave my 9 1/2 month old REAL FOOD today! Wahoo!

He has been gagging so badly on everything since we started trying things at 7 months. We started with little teeny bits of banana, avocado, mushed up steamed carrots, rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, rice husks, toast bits...he gagged on everything and threw up most times. I would wait a few days and try again, but with the same result. This continued right up until yesterday.

However, I noticed that he did ok with longer crusts of bread that he could hold on to and eat himself. He did not gag on those for some reason. I read all this great info and concluded that he does better when HE bites off food himself rather than me making little bits/mush...

So today, I gave him 1/3 of a banana, (big honkin chunk for him to hold on to) and with my heart a poundin', I watched closely as he DID NOT GAG!!!! Not once. He would bite bits off, and if it was too big, he'd spit it out, if it wasn't he'd eat it. He even ate a few very big chunks much to my surprise. And he had a blast!

So, feeling a little less fearful, I gave him a bunch of toast "fingers". He did great, didn't gag once and loved it.

Fast forward to lunch time, I peeled a whole apple and handed it to him, the whole thing big and round as it was. He sawed away at it with his 4 front teeth, did NOT bite off and choke on a huge chunk like I'd worried about, and generally really enjoyed his apple!! I don't think much went in, but he sure did great manipulating the bits in his mouth.

Then I got crazy and gave him shredded cheese. He devoured it and did not gag once.

So here I am after having him gag repeatedly on all the tiny bits I cut or mashed for him, (and the jarred stuff and the mushy cereals...) and he doesn't gag ONCE on a whole apple, big pieces of toast, huge chunks of banana. WHO KNEW!!! I am sooo excited!!!! MY BABY CAN EAT!!! *happy dance* I'm so proud of him!

Thank you mammas for showing me the light! Good bye gagging-causing mushy cereal and putrid baby jar food that stinks to high Heavens...Hello FOOD!!!

Kathy

[forestrymom]

Can I jump in?

I did baby-led with my dd and we will do the same with ds, but we probably won't start quite as early. She probably didn't meet the criteria for being completely ready when we started, around 5.5 months, but she could get food to her mouth at that point.

We didn't do any of the allergy foods--strawberries, dairy, egg whites, citrus, nuts, etc until after a year, and even longer with some of those (nuts for sure). I also wanted to emphasize that it doesn't matter if they actually swallow anything at first. Breastmilk (or formula if the case may be) should be their primary source of nutrition until they are at least a year--solids should be for experimenting only!

:gvibes

[ShyDaisi]

Originally Posted by monkeybum

Yaaaayy, so glad I found this thread!!

So after much humming and hawing and reading all your posts, I took the plunge and gave my 9 1/2 month old REAL FOOD today! Wahoo!

He has been gagging so badly on everything since we started trying things at 7 months. We started with little teeny bits of banana, avocado, mushed up steamed carrots, rice cereal, oatmeal cereal, rice husks, toast bits...he gagged on everything and threw up most times. I would wait a few days and try again, but with the same result. This continued right up until yesterday.

However, I noticed that he did ok with longer crusts of bread that he could hold on to and eat himself. He did not gag on those for some reason. I read all this great info and concluded that he does better when HE bites off food himself rather than me making little bits/mush...

So today, I gave him 1/3 of a banana, (big honkin chunk for him to hold on to) and with my heart a poundin', I watched closely as he DID NOT GAG!!!! Not once. He would bite bits off, and if it was too big, he'd spit it out, if it wasn't he'd eat it. He even ate a few very big chunks much to my surprise. And he had a blast!

So, feeling a little less fearful, I gave him a bunch of toast "fingers". He did great, didn't gag once and loved it.

Fast forward to lunch time, I peeled a whole apple and handed it to him, the whole thing big and round as it was. He sawed away at it with his 4 front teeth, did NOT bite off and choke on a huge chunk like I'd worried about, and generally really enjoyed his apple!! I don't think much went in, but he sure did great manipulating the bits in his mouth.

Then I got crazy and gave him shredded cheese. He devoured it and did not gag once.

So here I am after having him gag repeatedly on all the tiny bits I cut or mashed for him, (and the jarred stuff and the mushy cereals...) and he doesn't gag ONCE on a whole apple, big pieces of toast, huge chunks of banana. WHO KNEW!!! I am sooo excited!!!! MY BABY CAN EAT!!! *happy dance* I'm so proud of him!

Thank you mammas for showing me the light! Good bye gagging-causing mushy cereal and putrid baby jar food that stinks to high Heavens...Hello FOOD!!!

Kathy

Yay!!

Happy dancers:
:::::

[MilkTrance]

At nearly 7 months, DS is still gagging and thrusting things out with his tongue. He also has no teeth.

I'm wondering when he will take food and whether I should do ANY spoon feeding at all, just to get him used to food? Or does that happen naturally?

Is there ANY correlation between picky eaters and late starting of solids?

(I suppose that would depend on what is considered "late" -- a couple of generations ago, babies were fed "solids" at two months!)

[WildNettle]

subbing to this great thread!
dd is just 5 months and we are not looking to start solids any time soon....she doesn't appear remotely interested and she certainly doesn't seem ready, but when we do, this is the route we're taking. it's great to have a thread like this, esp when everyone i know irl---even my "crunchy" friends---takes the mainstream approach to food.
i checked out the link in one of the earlier posts...does anyone have any other links, articles or books on BLW that i could share with friends and family who are curious/skeptical?

[Magali]

Originally Posted by MilkTrance

At nearly 7 months, DS is still gagging and thrusting things out with his tongue. He also has no teeth.

I'm wondering when he will take food and whether I should do ANY spoon feeding at all, just to get him used to food? Or does that happen naturally?

Is there ANY correlation between picky eaters and late starting of solids?

(I suppose that would depend on what is considered "late" -- a couple of generations ago, babies were fed "solids" at two months!)

I started my ds on solids at about 7 months, just because he would get really upset if I didn't share my food with him. It's been amazing how in only a month his self-feeding skills have really developed and he looks like he has been doing it forever. But, I really don't think there is any rush to start out your baby if he doesn't seem ready. I was planning on delaying solids longer...it's just that baby had a different plan.

I wouldn't spoon feed at all, but that is just my opinion. The more time goes by and ds self feeds, the more sense it makes to let him do it himself and not try to shovel food in his mouth for him.

I would be interested to know about any correlation between picky eaters and late starting of solids/self feeding. I have actually been mulling it over in my head and all the picky eaters I know have been spoon fed babies. But I don't know any self feeders anyways...and are lots of kids just picky anyways? Or is struggling with spoon feeding caused kids to not see food as a positive experience, and caused a lot of pickiness?

[Dolphin]

I would love to join in too. Ds2 is 8.5 months and I have been trying the self-feeding route with him for about a month or so (ds1 was spoon fed and is a super picky eater now). I'm getting a little frustrated with it because every time I offer him something, he really does gag and get upset. He is sitting well by himself, and his pincer grasp is really good, but I don't know why he is having trouble with the gagging. DH is just looking at me like I have 3 heads but lets me continue trying. Maybe it's still too soon? I give him large hunks of banana and he always bites off pieces that are too big. We have tried soft pear, banana, steamed brocoli, peaches...

[ShyDaisi]

Originally Posted by Dolphin

I would love to join in too. Ds2 is 8.5 months and I have been trying the self-feeding route with him for about a month or so (ds1 was spoon fed and is a super picky eater now). I'm getting a little frustrated with it because every time I offer him something, he really does gag and get upset. He is sitting well by himself, and his pincer grasp is really good, but I don't know why he is having trouble with the gagging. DH is just looking at me like I have 3 heads but lets me continue trying. Maybe it's still too soon? I give him large hunks of banana and he always bites off pieces that are too big. We have tried soft pear, banana, steamed brocoli, peaches...

Well, I have two thoughts. First, maybe he needs some transitioning since he may be used to you feeding him already and getting frustrated that you now expect him to?? Maybe spoon feed a couple of bites to "take the edge off" of his expectation of food, then allow him to play more. Also, maybe the purees don't have as much flavor as the chunks of food you are giving which could cause him to be picky? Second, maybe he wasn't ready for solids to begin with. My DS is almost 9 mo. (4/12/07) and he still doesn't actually ingest much, if ANYthing! I don't really have any experience with this since this is my first child and we have done BLW from the beginning...but this is just me thinking out loud about the possibilities.

[wombatclay]

Links-

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/so...olids-how.html general info for introducing solids while nursing (through the toddler years too). Talks about giving larger pieces and how older infants often prefer self-feeding. Links to lots of studies/info/guidelines at the bottom of the page.

http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedseli...uidelines.html This is the link from the other post I believe. Lots of info on letting baby lead the way, along with personal stories.

http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/ Mostly personal stories, but also recipes and info.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby-led_weaning wikipedia page

http://www.babybanana.biz/page7.htm another personal page with info and stories

[ShyDaisi]

Originally Posted by MilkTrance

At nearly 7 months, DS is still gagging and thrusting things out with his tongue. He also has no teeth.

I'm wondering when he will take food and whether I should do ANY spoon feeding at all, just to get him used to food? Or does that happen naturally?

Is there ANY correlation between picky eaters and late starting of solids?

(I suppose that would depend on what is considered "late" -- a couple of generations ago, babies were fed "solids" at two months!)

At 7 mos my DS was doing the EXACT same thing, but I think it was developmentally on target. He is just learning how to manipulate the food in his mouth and discovering taste and texture as well. If the food gets to the back of his mouth before he is ready to swallow, he will gag to prevent choking. As long as he is breathing and making sounds, let him work it out. It is just part of the learning process. Honestly, my DS still does this at almost 9 mos., and, as I said before, ingests very little. Food is just for exploring right now, not nutrition -- that is what you (and your milk) are for

[Dolphin]

Originally Posted by ShyDaisi

Well, I have two thoughts. First, maybe he needs some transitioning since he may be used to you feeding him already and getting frustrated that you now expect him to?? Maybe spoon feed a couple of bites to "take the edge off" of his expectation of food, then allow him to play more. Also, maybe the purees don't have as much flavor as the chunks of food you are giving which could cause him to be picky? Second, maybe he wasn't ready for solids to begin with. My DS is almost 9 mo. (4/12/07) and he still doesn't actually ingest much, if ANYthing! I don't really have any experience with this since this is my first child and we have done BLW from the beginning...but this is just me thinking out loud about the possibilities.

Thanks for your thoughts I don't think I was clear in my first post - I didn't start solids at all until after 7 mos because he wasn't sitting unassisted, so I never did purees (with current bambino - ds 1 was spoon fed). I just started with chunks of soft fruit, but he has had trouble since the beginning. Maybe I should do a spoon or two then? Just to get him used to food?

[Ubelle]

Originally Posted by Dolphin

Thanks for your thoughts I don't think I was clear in my first post - I didn't start solids at all until after 7 mos because he wasn't sitting unassisted, so I never did purees (with current bambino - ds 1 was spoon fed). I just started with chunks of soft fruit, but he has had trouble since the beginning. Maybe I should do a spoon or two then? Just to get him used to food?

Not sure how you feel about cereals or grains in general but you could always try cereals and sort of spoon feed not sure if it is really spoon feeding)

With DD we made homemade rice cereal and she's had oatmeal and I make it thick enough to stick to a spoon and I would load the spoon and then just hand it to her. I've never seen her gag on the cereals - there are days she doesn't want to eat them, but never gags but she has been in control of her feeding still.

DD at 8 months still gags on foods, even foods she doesn't always gag on, I think they are still learning to manipulate the food that does get in their mouth - and if it feel weird they gag, bring it forward and either spit it out or try again (DD sometimes looks like a cow re-"chewing" her food - not meant in a mean way)

[iris777888]

Originally Posted by monkeybum

So here I am after having him gag repeatedly on all the tiny bits I cut or mashed for him, (and the jarred stuff and the mushy cereals...) and he doesn't gag ONCE on a whole apple, big pieces of toast, huge chunks of banana. WHO KNEW!!! I am sooo excited!!!! MY BABY CAN EAT!!! *happy dance* I'm so proud of him!

Yay!!! So happy to hear it. :

[wombatclay]

Anyone else have a "spicy" babe? DD1 loved soft/sweet foods... apples and applesauce, avocado, pear, sweet potato, slow cook oatmeal cut with breastmilk, etc. Actually, she loved everything.

DD2 though... she makes the most gods awful faces at anything "sweet". We eat a lot of apple and sweet potato and both provoke insanely funny faces from dd2. She HATES them. And forget oatmeal or avocado...she can't spit them out fast enough when they get into her mouth. But spicy bean chili, risotto, ginger rice, pepper rubbed steak, even orange peel (!) have gotten enthusiastic "more more more" approval.

Anyone else? Any suggestions from btdt mamas?

[monkeybum]

...and here we are a few days later, just happy to report in that the babe had spagheti (cut up) and meat sauce last night. He shoveled it in! He's loving the shredded cheese.

It is like a sudden turning point, he just stopped gagging. Knock on wood - he hasn't gagged at all this week!!

Gotta check out those links above!

[BarefootScientist]

Hey everybody, I just wanted to subscribe to this thread. I am attracted to the idea of BLW and am looking at some of those links ya'll posted. My DS is 6.5 mo and we've been doing solids for 2 weeks now. He's had banana, avocado, applesauce, hummus, and cooked carrots, all by spoon. But he usually tries to grab the spoon as it's coming at him and stick it in his mouth himself. I let him play in the banana and avocado but it doesn't get it in his mouth. He has had some steamed broccoli and cauliflower and brown rice, self-feeding style, which was a huge mess but he seemed to love. So maybe we will head more in that direction. I also let him suck on raw veggies when we were at restaurants a couple times, to keep him occupied. Once cauliflower and once a cucumber slice. I am paranoid about choking though. If he chokes on something, how much of a chance is there that I won't be able to get it out doing that whole back-slapping thing?