self-feeding/baby-led weaning support thread... - Page 13

[Ubelle]

Originally Posted by Bunnybee

In the case of my daughter it wasn't true! I didn't know about BLW with her and the pediatrician said we could start cereal at 6 months (real age) even though she was 10 weeks early! (In my gut I felt this was not right and waited til 6 month adjusted). Anyway, she ate a lot of pureed foods for a long time because she didn't get any teeth until 15 months and I was worried about her choking. But I did give her real food (what I ate) before the teeth just cut it up real small and she loved it. SHe never had an issue with texture and loves all food! Broccoli is one her favorites and she weighs 32 lbs at less than 2 years old! I think whatever you feel your baby is communicating to you and what you feel as a parent is the right thing to do!

It sounds like your DD did get textures though, the food chopped up very small is different than a smooth puree - I have a friend whose son started puree's at about 4 months and was spoon fed purees until we was 1.5 and he had a hard time eating anything that wasn't pureed smooth - he still isn't a great eater - but I also know that ever baby is different and I still don't know if there is any truth behind the window of opportunity thing.

Originally Posted by CanidFL

Thanks for the advice on the in laws. I think the next time we are there (in 2 weeks) and it comes up, I will say something along the lines of “we are really excited to get DS started with healthy eating habits so we are only giving him healthy foods like fruit and veggies and we are going to let him feed himself rather then put things in his mouth. That way he is not forced to eat more then he should and he will learn to trust his own appetite and know when he is full”. How does that sound? It’s an easy way to put it and if they argue then I can tell them how when I was little, I was forced to eat everything on my plate and now I have issues with overeating so I don’t want to pass that on. If they still argue then I will just have to put my foot down and tell them this is the way it is and we are not discussing it anymore.

Tizzi – I think you are doing the right thing! Shame on those LC’s for trying to get you to wean. My pediatrician said that 100% of your babies diet should come from breast milk in the first year…the foods are just for fun at that point. Keep doing what you are doing and be proud for being so in touch with your LO.

I love that explination of BLW - I need to memorize it, it is so straight forward and covers everything. My brain always goes all funny when I try to explain what and why and I sound like an idiot, but I get all panicky because people look at me like I'm crazy for letting my baby feed herself.

[Tizzi]

Thank you again for the info and support. I sooooo needed to hear it. We've not offered solids today, as my daughter is not feeling 100% and I don't want food to be negatively associated with feeling unwell.

It was really interesting to read the discussion about texture and aversion, too, btw.

CanidFL - I really like your description of BLW. Says it all without being too involved or sounding like an apology for your parenting choices. I think it's one I'll store up and use when my DD starts eating!

Thank you all again. You've made this mama feel a lot happier!

[SeekingJoy]

Hi Mamas! DD is 6 months old and showing all the signs of readiness (sitting alone, grabbing my food, lost gag reflex, etc). :

Now what? I followed the mainstream "wisdom" of cereal and pureed jar food with DS at 4 months, and am really looking for a better way. But this thread is so long, I can't seem to find what to do now for DD. Cereal? Our veggies chopped up? I smushed banana with a fork for her and she really seemed to enjoy that this morning.

[zora]

Spoon and bowl recommendations needed

Hello,
my son will be 11 months old this week. He wants to use utensils; does anyone have any recommendations of some kid friendly utensils w/o BDA?
Thanks in advance,
Zora

[brandnewmommy]

Originally Posted by CanidFL

Thanks for the advice on the in laws. I think the next time we are there (in 2 weeks) and it comes up, I will say something along the lines of “we are really excited to get DS started with healthy eating habits so we are only giving him healthy foods like fruit and veggies and we are going to let him feed himself rather then put things in his mouth. That way he is not forced to eat more then he should and he will learn to trust his own appetite and know when he is full”.

Wow! That's a great explanation. I need to write that down and read it until it's memorized. I tend to sputter and stammer when trying to explain BLW. I don't do it justice at all. I end up looking like an idiot who doesn't know what the hell I'm doing.

Originally Posted by SeekingJoy

Hi Mamas! DD is 6 months old and showing all the signs of readiness (sitting alone, grabbing my food, lost gag reflex, etc). :

Now what? I followed the mainstream "wisdom" of cereal and pureed jar food with DS at 4 months, and am really looking for a better way. But this thread is so long, I can't seem to find what to do now for DD. Cereal? Our veggies chopped up? I smushed banana with a fork for her and she really seemed to enjoy that this morning.

There's some great starter sites out there. My blog has a list of them.

Feeding Boo

Originally Posted by zora

Hello,
my son will be 11 months old this week. He wants to use utensils; does anyone have any recommendations of some kid friendly utensils w/o BDA?
Thanks in advance,
Zora

Forgive my ignorance. What's BDA? Is this another stupid toxin that I have to worry about now?

[Arwyn]

Metal baby and child utensils

Naked Baby also likes the bamboo set we picked up for him. It's just an adult size set (he gets the fork and the spoon ).

[kdtmom2be]

We also use metal utensils, but they are vintage from when I was a babe, my mom kept them. We also have a metal plate.

Originally Posted by brandnewmommy

I'm interested to hear others thoughts on oatmeal. I'd like to try to make some sort of breakfast bar or something out of it.

We make our oatmeal with water (this comment is specifically for Amy, no milk needed) and I tend to mix in a mashed banana and some molasses. I make it thick enough that DD can wave her spoon around and it won't fly off. I load it up for her (she's 9 months) and she puts the spoon in her mouth. If it were a little bit thicker I would probably just put a dollop on her plate. As it is she often holds the spoon and picks bits off with her other hand and eats it that way. :

Originally Posted by ssharon

What kind of rice cakes (brand?)? What age was he when you tried cantaloupe--my "guidelines" mention waiting on melon until older (closer to a year). Any thoughts on that? Also how did you (or anyone) do green beans? Did you buy fresh or frozen? How soft did you get them? I would definitely be worried about the choking with green beans. The only thing I thought of was the canned green beans which are often thicker and really soft--I just don't like the thought of giving her canned food.

DD has been eating cantaloupe for a few months. The worry with melons is that they can harbour salmonella.
Green beans we do fresh/steamed. I tend to cook them a bit longer for DD so they are extra soft and she picks them up and eats them. She really enjoys them and will shovel them in as fast as she can.
We gave her frozen corn niblets, steamed, the other day, and she happily picked them up one by one and mushed them up. Same with peas.

Originally Posted by ssharon

She has been breaking out a little on her face ever since I started solids. It has been really cold here so I am not sure if it has to do with the weather and her little exposure to it or if it is a reaction to one of the foods. Has anyone ever experienced this?

Absolutely, DD has that reaction whenever she has dairy. Sometimes it takes 2-3 days for the rash to show up, but I am certain that it is the dairy.

[acp]

Just wanted to update here.... DD (now 8 months) is embracing lots of new foods. We just got back from an out of town trip with my mom and a bunch of her friends, and they were all amazed at all the "real food" she eats, and thought it was very cool that she doesn't do "baby food."
She's a big spice girl - her favorite things tend to be beans (lentils, black beans, etc) with lots of garlic, onions, and other spices, and she loves red-pepper hummus and spicy guacamole. She also seems to love anything with grains. I originally thought we'd wait longer before giving her wheat, but I'm not super concerned with allergies, and she seemed so excited about little things like O's cereal. She loves O's (we get Organic Joe's O's), wheat toast, and rice cake (ssharon, I think you asked about the rice cake - we get them from Whole Food's. I think they're actually Quaker Oats brand, but they're no salt, organic, from brown rice).
And her latest obsession: grapes. I cut them up, since she still doesn't have teeth and grapes do seem like a choking hazard. Plus, she loves picking up tiny bits of things. But she LOVES them. I have to say, the more I feel comfortable giving DD just whatever we're eating, the more fun it is to watch her try new foods. I shared some of my turkey sandwich with her while we were waiting at the airport - she got some bread, some turkey, and some cheese, and literally just gnawed on my sandwich in between my bites. And I gave her bits of chicken and pork that I was having for dinner over the last week or two, though she still hasn't had tons of meat.
She still doesn't eat a ton quantity-wise, and I don't think the solids have affected her nursing yet, but she definitely loves exploring food!

[wombatclay]

A question... we let dd1 self feed when we introduced solids around 6 months and all went well. She is now almost 3yo and will eat ANYTHING (with the odd exception of cottage cheese) and she never had any problems in terms of self feeding. So I wasn't expecting anything funky with dd2...

But, dd2 is a little over 8mo now, she has 3 teeth, a fully functional pincer grip, sits perfectly well on her own (even pulls up and "stands"), and is thrilled with the idea of putting things in her mouth... but she WILL NOT eat. She seems to hate anything sweet (no bananas, apples, applesauce, oatmeal) but will nibble on savory solids now and then only to spit them out after they've been chomped into mush. Actually, she seems happier to eat mush. Since we've been traveling we did "spoon feed" a few times in hotel restaurants (out of consideration for the serving staff who probably wouldn't have enjoyed cleaning up dd2's excited splattering) and she loved it... she'd lunge at the spoon, mouth open, and gobble up whatever it happened to be (whatever I was eating, but mashed a bit to stay on the spoon...so a lot of chicken and rice).

Please tell me this is normal! I'm not about to start spoon feeding dd2, especially not after watching dd1 power through anything and everything she could get her hands on. But it's a little worrisome to me that dd2 seems to be dead set against solids. I'm perfectly fine letting her get the majority of her nutrition from breastmilk of course, but part of me is worried that she might have an underlying problem...

thanks all!

[tankgirl73]

Perfectly, perfectly, perfectly normal. And very, very common. Read back somewhat in this thread and you'll likely find several similar stories.

Remember that FOOD BEFORE ONE IS JUST FOR FUN. And even after one it's not absolutely essential for survival as long as they're still nursing. But anyway, the point is that with young babies, first foods are all about EXPLORATION and EXPERIMENTATION, not about NUTRITION or even INGESTION. Breastmilk SHOULD be a baby's primary source of nutrition until at least age one. It's like, 0-6mo, breastmilk only, 6-12mo, breastmilk, with some solids -- "some" can mean "almost none" or "quite a bit" or even "none at all".

She's enjoying putting foods in her mouth and mashing them up -- that's not "dead set against solids". There are many babies this age and even older that refuse to even put food in their mouths (and they're okay too!). She's doing EXACTLY what a BLW baby should do -- exploring this 'food' thing, enjoying different tastes and textures. But she's not 'eating', so she's not ingesting large quantities of less nutritious solids that take away from her intake of Perfect Mommy Milk!

One of the biggest arguments against standard spoon-feeding, IMO, is that even if baby enjoys it, they're getting more volume of their tummies taken up by lower-calorie, lower-fat, lower-nutrient solid food and thus reducing the amount of high-cal, high-fat, high-nutrient breastmilk they can take in. BLW solids has them actually ingesting MUCH less early on -- even if they're 'eating' a lot it's still usually much less actual quantity ingested than with purees.

My DD was a gourmand... she's now 14mo and has been eating just about everything for months now. She started herself just before 6mo, and it wasn't until she was 7.5 or 8mo that she started SWALLOWING. So I'm fairly confident that the NORMAL progression is a period of just exploring, followed by gradually increasing amounts of swallowing.

At first it's just a wee bit, then more and more. DD has even gone a full day (morning to bedtime) without asking to nurse, on a few occasions... she's just so happy eating our dinners!

[chemer]

My baby just starting feeding herself this week! I'm so excited. We waited until she was 6 months old. So far this week she's had roast squash wedges, banana, mango and broccoli trees. Well, she's squished all of them around her tray and actually tried tasting the mango and broccoli. She seemed to love the mango and gave that a good sucking.

Ok, I'm subbing in now.

[Arwyn]

It's very unlikely but possible that there's an underlying sensory or allergy issue, but much, much, MUCH more likely just that your daughters are two different people! I'd just keep letting her mash and spit and explore for now.

[wombatclay]

thanks... dd2 really is a very different kiddo from dd1 but it always takes me by surprise just HOW different. DD1 is almost 3yo and still a happy nursling, and I'm totally on board with the idea that breastmilk is food/solids are fun. But after the gung ho way dd1 chowed down on anything she could reach it's a bit disconcerting how little interest dd2 has in the whole affair.

DD1 has eczema related to a wheat/dairy sensitivity so I'm being a lot more cautious with dd2 and so I guess I also worried that maybe my hesitation was rubbing off on her a bit? Ah well, she'll eat when she's ready to eat!

[iris777888]

Originally Posted by zora

Hello,
my son will be 11 months old this week. He wants to use utensils; does anyone have any recommendations of some kid friendly utensils w/o BDA?
Thanks in advance,
Zora

Our babe is just turning one next week, so similar in age. He was given one of these baby spoons for Christmas and just started using it. It's a great size for him. Here are some others I've been looking at: http://www.tinybirdsorganics.com/Wood-Baby-Spoon.html

Also how did you (or anyone) do green beans?

Green beans are one of our DS's favorites and one of the first things he had. We either steam, boil, or microwave them. He has them often, because they're so easy. He did not at all like the canned version served at a relatives, I think because they were salted (and a much different color!).

[tankgirl73]

wombatclay -- I can relate to just the SHOCK of differences between siblings even when you "know" it's all normal... DS was a 'precocious' talker, and DD is 14mo and doesn't even say "mama" yet. DS was born with a full head of hair, DD still has just fuzz. It's just so WEIRD to me lol...

Then on to: Non-plastic kid's cutlery! We have the Oneida stainless steel baby utensils:
http://www.oneida.com/index.cfm/fuse...f-93fa43072610

We also have some Playtex ones that have plastic handles but metal ends.

And I've just ordered some bamboo ones:
http://www.greenfeet.com/bambudesc.a...=&WT.svl=image

(Along with a whole bunch more bamboo products lol...)

EDITED to add a couple cute pics of DD using the Oneida cutlery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovecat...7600330803313/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovecat...7600330803313/

[Bunnybee]

How do the wooden utensils hold up (with washing, retaining food odors etc)?
Also, to Tankgirl, we have Bunnykins dishes too!

[tankgirl73]

The bamboo is SUPPOSED to be great for that, though these particular ones I've ordered are handwash only. I'm looking forward to testing them.

I'm sure it's not much different than any other wooden utensil, like spoons, salad serving forks, bowls, etc. Require SOME special care but hold up really well.

And yes, we love the bunnikins! I still have MY old bunnikins cereal bowl! I can honestly remember working to deliberately finish my oatmeal so I could see the bunnies at the bottom of the bowl... We got those dishes for DD as a Christmas present, a complete surprise, and I *bawled*. My only disappointment is that they're the melamine ones (plastic) and not the nice ceramic. Oh well...

[wildflower18]

Happy to be directed to this thread! DS (5 mo) is just starting to show interest in food. He even stole a piece of lettuce from my plate yesterday and started sucking on it! I had planned to wait until he was 6 mo to start solids, but want to follow his lead as well. Not sure if he's showing all the readiness signs as he can't sit by himself yet...well not for more than a few seconds without falling over. Anyway...I'm happy to find this thread and be able to read up on things before we truly get started! I've only read a bit of the previous posts, but is feeding purees a bad thing to do? Does not pureeing the food make preperation easier?

CanidFL - My brother would sit at the table for hours by himself because his plate wasn't empty yet and now is very particular about foods. Until he recently had health issues, he didn't eat any fruits and very few veggies. My mother feels awful and if she had it to do over again wouldn't have pushed the issue.

[Arwyn]

I don't think purees are exactly bad, but I think it does nothing to help children learn about real food, its texture, how do eat it, how to move it around in their mouth, etc. And yes, not pureeing makes things LOTS easier. Food "prep" around here is looking at my plate and thinking "what would Naked Baby like out of this?" In the beginning, when he was just doing fruits and vegetables, we'd plan our meals a bit more with him in mind, making sure we had a veggie like brocolli or green bean, or we'd do sweet potato "fries" instead of baked sweet potato, or I'd order the plate that came with black beans, but that was it. And now he eats basically everything we do, I don't even really think about it anymore, just offer him pieces of whatever we're having.

So yes, much easier.

[Bunnybee]

Originally Posted by tankgirl73

The bamboo is SUPPOSED to be great for that, though these particular ones I've ordered are handwash only. I'm looking forward to testing them.

I'm sure it's not much different than any other wooden utensil, like spoons, salad serving forks, bowls, etc. Require SOME special care but hold up really well.

And yes, we love the bunnikins! I still have MY old bunnikins cereal bowl! I can honestly remember working to deliberately finish my oatmeal so I could see the bunnies at the bottom of the bowl... We got those dishes for DD as a Christmas present, a complete surprise, and I *bawled*. My only disappointment is that they're the melamine ones (plastic) and not the nice ceramic. Oh well...

Oh, the handwashing is fine, we don't have a dishwasher! Those sound cool. That is awesome you have your own Bunnikins! Ours were a Christmas gift to DD too (last year), hers are the ceramics ones, which I worried about at first but they are still unbroken after more than a year!